Sounder by William H. Armstrong

Sounder is a great story. It is about a boy who is black and his family is poor. The author doesn't tell you the boy's name. The family has a dog named Sounder. The main characters are the boy and Sounder.
The dad is a sharecropper and Sounder is their hunting dog. The dad gets taken to jail. Sounder runs after the truck to save the dad and the dog gets shot. Sounder is hurt badly and wanders off after he gets shot. The boy finally finds him. The dad finally gets to come home.

Railey's Rating: Thumbs up. It is a good book.
Railey Recommends this book to kids in third grade and older. It is a bit sad and scary when the dad gets taken away to jail and Sounder gets shot.

Brave

Brave was the second movie I ever saw in the movie theater. I went with my mom.
The movie is a mother-daughter movie.

Merida is a teenager aged Scottish girl who loves to ride her horse and do archery. She is a princess and her mom wants her to be a real lady. Merida would rather ride her horse and do archery. Merida doesn't want to get married. Her mom wants her to.

Merida's dad is the leader of the four clans and her mom wants Merida to marry one of the sons of the clansmen. So the mom organizes a contest with the three other clans. The person who wins gets to take Merida's hand in marriage. So Merida competes in the archery contest and wins her own hand in marriage! Her mom is really, really mad!

Merida is mad, too! So she runs away, finds a witch and asks the witch to make a potion to change her mom. Merida bakes a tart and puts the potion inside. Merida's mom eats the potion tart and turns into a bear! 

And just like that a new adventure starts.

The rest of the movie is about Merida trying to change her mom back into herself. The witch gives some hints of how to fix her mom but Merida has a hard time figuring out the clues.

There is also a scary bear that Merida and her mother and all the clansmen have to fight. Some of the parts with the bad bear are really intense. But it's a really good movie.

I learned that you should learn to work together with your mom even if you have a hard time trusting each other. 

Railey's Rating: Two thumbs -WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY up!

Railey Recommends: The movie is rated PG. There are some really intense parts with the scary bear so it is probably best for third graders and older.

Railey's mom says: As with all movies it is up to your parents what you can and can not watch. This movie was okay for our 8 year old but not so much for our 6 year old or our 3 year old.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a book about a boy named Greg who's in 4th or 5th grade and has an older brother whose name is is Rodrick. Rodrick is in a band called the Loaded Diaper. Greg also has a younger brother named Manny. Manny is in preschool and is a big tattle-tale. He also has a dad, a mom and a friend named Rowley. Rowley goes to the same school as Greg and is funny. He is a pulling pranks and laugh out loud at the fart kind of funny.
Greg's dad is usually happy. His mom is usually not. She makes the boys do stuff that they don't like to do - like read literature books when they are more into comics.
One of Greg's uncles is kinda mean. He told the kids to call the dad Aunt Josephine. And he also scared Manny with tales of the potty monster that meant he had to re-potty train.

Railey's Rating: Two thumbs up! WAY up!

Railey Recommends: If books were rated I would rate this book PG because Greg and Rodrick get into fights a lot. There is bathroom humor and rude talk. Sometimes the boys are sassy to their mom and dad. It is an older elementary age, middle school and older kind of book because of the humor.

A note from the mom

Hi! My name is Stacie! I'm an adult. Actually, I am Railey's mom, to be specific.

Railey loves to read. Almost as much as she likes to climb trees and create her own crazy adventures!
She is excited to write some reviews and give recommendations of books she's read.  We thought we'd throw in some reviews of her fave movies, too!

All of the reviews posted have been written by Railey and reviewed by me. This is her place for her thoughts so I don't always edit her work, I like that she's a kid! I do however work with her to make sure her ratings are appropriate but you'd be surprised how right on she is!

I hope that you will enjoy her thoughts and find her reviews helpful.
Happy Reading!

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Raina is a sixth grader who has dental drama. She has a very big life. First she hears she has to get braces. Then she knocks out her two front teeth. She gets braces, a retainer, earrings, boys, earthquake, headgear, and friends that turn out to be not so friendly. Raina goes from middle school to high school.She finally finds new friends and learns to show her real ability. Then she finally gets her braces off! True story!

Railey's Rating: 2 Thumbs up! WAY UP!

Railey Recommends this book to anyone who likes comic book style books. And anyone reading at a 3rd grade level or beyond. There are lots of boy talk/crushes in the book. And it may be best for older elementary kids.

What's so great about reading?

Hi, my name is Railey. I'm a kid.I learned how to read when i was in the middle of kindergarten. Now i am going into 3rd grade! The way I learn to read is to believe in myself! i hope you have fun learning to read or if you already know how and if you don,t i hope you enjoy my blog!

I love reading! Reading is awesome because your mind gets to make the pictures itself.
Next,when people write the words it helps you learn to spell the words.
Last, reading is good for your mind because it stretches and challenges it.
Plus it's really fun to read about different adventures.
All in all, that's why reading is awesome!




                                                  FROM,
                                                 RAILEY