The hero two doors down is a book by Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s son.

The main character of the book is Stephan, who the story follows. Stephan lives with his 

mom and dad and is a Dodgers fan. Stephan is a very good baseball player living at the 

time of racial inequalities. Stephan is having a normal life until the day that people say 

that there is a rumor that a black family is coming to live in a white neighborhood.

A couple days later, a person tells them a Dodgers player was going to live with them. 

Finally, Stephan and his family find out Jackie Robinson was coming to live in there 

neighborhood. Stephan gets happy when the day comes when he is going to 

meet Jackie. They instantly becomes good friends. Will anything happen with Stephan 

and Jackie’s friendship? Or will they stay friends forever?

      I would connect The Hero Two Doors Down with The Only Game because

they both are sports fans. In fact, they both play baseball. I 

would also connect them because they both have strong friendships with other 

characters. Please read The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson and don't 

forget to read The Only Game by Mike Lupica. I guarantee you won't be disappointed! 

Nikhil Behere

Jennifer A. Nielsen

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

A Night Divided is a book by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The main character  of the book is Gerta, who 

the story follows. One day, the family plans to go to  the west side. Gerta’s dad, Aldous Lowe 

takes Dominic, one of Gerta’s brothers, and they go to the west side. However, they don't know 

that a wall was built around Germany. Gerta is sad, and a day does not happen without Gerta 

thinking about her father, her brother, and the wall, but mostly because when she goes to school, 

she walks right next to the wall. Years later, when Gerta is walking to school, she sees Dominic 4 

years older. She is overjoyed to meet him, but then he starts doing something strange. It looks  

like he is digging the ground. Gerta thinks that he wants Gerta to dig her way to freedom. But if they’re caught, they could be killed.Will Gerta and her brother dig their way to freedom? Or will a border guard find out with them at risk of dying?

If you liked the night divided, You should read the Enemy above would connect A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen to The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin because both of them are about survival. In the book, The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin, Anton has to try to live or else he could die by Nazis. Gerta’s story is not the exact same but the general jist of it is. Gert is trying to dig her way to freedom, while Anton is trying to live his way to freedom. Please read A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen and don’t forget to read The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! 

Jennifer A. Nielsen

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

A Night Divided is a book by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The main character  of the book is Gerta, who 

the story follows. One day, the family plans to go to  the west side. Gerta’s dad, Aldous Lowe 

takes Dominic, one of Gerta’s brothers, and they go to the west side. However, they don't know 

that a wall was built around Germany. Gerta is sad, and a day does not happen without Gerta 

thinking about her father, her brother, and the wall, but mostly because when she goes to school, 

she walks right next to the wall. Years later, when Gerta is walking to school, she sees Dominic 4 

years older. She is overjoyed to meet him, but then he starts doing something strange. It looks  

like he is digging the ground. Gerta thinks that he wants Gerta to dig her way to freedom. But if they’re caught, they could be killed.Will Gerta and her brother dig their way to freedom? Or will a border guard find out with them at risk of dying?

If you liked the night divided, You should read the Enemy above would connect A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen to The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin because both of them are about survival. In the book, The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin, Anton has to try to live or else he could die by Nazis. Gerta’s story is not the exact same but the general jist of it is. Gert is trying to dig her way to freedom, while Anton is trying to live his way to freedom. Please read A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen and don’t forget to read The Enemy Above by Michael Spradlin. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! 

Save Me A Seat

Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks 

Nikhil Behere

Save Me A Seat is a book by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks. It follows a boy named Ravi 

Suryanarayanan and Joe Sylvester. It all starts when Ravi moves to New Jersey. The story 

begins by introducing the reader to Ravi. Ravi moved from India to New Jersey. He moved to 

New Jersey because of his dad’s work. It also talks about Joe “Puddy”Sylvester. He got the 

nickname from Dillan Samreen, the bully of the class. In fact, Joe tries to stay away from him,

but Ravi doesn’t and he tries to sit by Dillon as hard as it would possibly be, but in fact, 

Ravi wants to be his friend because he is, as he would say, he is an ABCD, or American Born 

Confused Desi. That means that he is an indian because of his color, but he wears American 

clothes like usual Americans would. 

Did Dillin do it on purpose? Or was it an accident? What will happen next?

The quote I would use from the book that resonates me would be, “If you’re not careful, you’ll 

Turn into one of them. Your grandfather didn’t slave in the tea plantations so that his only 

Grandson would become some rude, overweight, beef-eating cowboy.’ I don’t think Perimma 

Likes America.” I chose this part because I thought it was weird that she had a misinterpretation 

of  America. That stood out to me because, I don’t know about you, but for me, that was a little 

bit funny. In conclusion

The hero two doors down is a book by Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s son.

The main character of the book is Stephan, who the story follows. Stephan lives with his 

mom and dad and is a Dodgers fan. Stephan is a very good baseball player living at the 

time of racial inequalities. Stephan is having a normal life until the day that people say 

that there is a rumor that a black family is coming to live in a white neighborhood.

A couple days later, a person tells them a Dodgers player was going to live with them. 

Finally, Stephan and his family find out Jackie Robinson was coming to live in there 

neighborhood. Stephan gets happy when the day comes when he is going to 

meet Jackie. They instantly becomes good friends. Will anything happen with Stephan 

and Jackie’s friendship? Or will they stay friends forever?

      I would connect The Hero Two Doors Down with The Only Game because

they both are sports fans. In fact, they both play baseball. I 

would also connect them because they both have strong friendships with other 

characters. Please read The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson and don't 

forget to read The Only Game by Mike Lupica. I guarantee you won't be disappointed! 

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Mrs.Bielis

#readit

Pie, by Sarah Weeks follows a girl named Alice who lives with her aunt Polly and her mom.  Her aunt dies at the start, and Alice is devastated. In her will, Polly gave her recipe to her pies to lardo, and she gave Lardo to Polly. Then, Alice and her friend, Charlie, solve the case for how to put a recipe to a cat.

My expert is, “‘ Thank you very much’. Alice was standing beside the bed when her Aunt polly reached a trembling hand out from underneath the leopard-print bedspread (Polly loved leopard print) and pulled the girl close to whisper in her ear. ‘Thank you very much.’ They would be the last words Polly Portman, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, ever spoke. Polly Portman was a natural born pie-maker. When she was little, even her mud pies were cut above what anyone else in the sandbox was doing. Recognizing her talent, Polly’s mother, Hester Portman, bought her daughter a little wooden rolling pin set her on a tall red kitchen stool, and taught her how  to roll out her first piecrust. As Polly grew, so did her pie-making skills. She learned that scalding milk   before adding milk would ensure  a custard as smooth as silk and that whipped cream should be whisked just shy of the point where it would turn into butter. She became an expert at cutting narrow strips of pie dough and weaving them into lattice crusts and discovered that if she raised the oven rack a notch when baking a meringue, the peaks would turn the color of toasted marshmallows. When Polly grew tired of making recipes in her mother’s cookbooks, she began to make up recipes of her own, learning to trust her instincts and listen to the ingredients. She could pinch a blueberry, sniff a peach, or bite an apple and know exactly how much sugar to use and whether a grating of fresh nutmeg, a squirt of lemon juice, or a dash of salt would enhance the flavor of the fruit. Polly had a gift for baking pies, and she poured her heart and soul into every one she made. Anyone who ate her pies always said the same thing- ‘You ought to open up your own shop, Polly!’ So when her parents passed away, leaving everything they had to Polly and her younger sister, Ruth,, Polly set aside half of her inheritance to live on, and the other half she invested in a dilapidated old storefront on the corner of Windham and Main in downtown Ipswitch, Pennsylvania. Almost as handy with a hammer as she was with a rolling pin, Polly converted the upstairs in a cozy little apartment. Downstairs she had built the pie shop she had always dreamed of having. It wasn’t much to look at, just a big room with a long wooden counter, a couple of tin pie safes, and a secondhand she’d pick up at an auction. But as far as Polly was concerned, the place was perfect. Being a humble person, she gave the pie shop a humble name- PIE. When PIE first opened its doors in 1941, Alice Anderson hadn’t even been born yet, but people in Ipswitch loved to tell the story, so she’d heard it a million times. The night before the opening, Polly was too excited to sleep. Finally, she gave up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the shop. By the time dawn spread its buttery light across the morning sky, there was a row of beautiful pies cooling on the counter and a crowd of people out the door waiting to buy them. Polly had put a great deal of thought into the pies she made that morning. She wanted to make sure there was something for everyone.For the berry enthusiast, she made a triple berry pies filled with melodies of ripe blackberries, and blueberries. For the more adventurous she created green tomato and concord grape pies. Of course there were traditional pies like cherry, apple and rhubarb with golden top crusts spread like quilts over the sweet warm filling,and cream pies galore- chocolate, coconut, and banana. Polly even managed to come up with something for the pie lover worried about an expanding waistline- a refreshingly tart low-calorie buttermilk pie, sprinkled with nutmeg.” To find out how Polly dies, and what she leaves behind with her, read Pie by Sarah Weeks.

Nikhil Behere

Miss Bielis

Back in time with Thomas Edison, A Qwerty Stevens Adventure, by Dan Gutman, is about a boy named Qwerty. Qwerty lives with his mom, older sister, and younger sister. One day his mom gets mad at him for going to his friend, Joey Dvorak’s house when he wasn’t supposed to. SO, Qwerty did what he likes to do when he is mad, dig outside. When he’s digging outside, he discovers a box. He brings the box inside, calls Joey Dvorak, then realizes it is a machine that can send you wherever you want, whenever you want. So, he accidentally sends himself to Spain. He calls his sister and when she presses the ESCAPE key on the computer, he is immediately zapped back. After that, Qwerty was playing on his computer when he receives Morse code from Thomas Edison, the inventor of the machine. He says to come later to the past for an “emergency”. This was in the morning, so Qwerty put a note by her sister’s bedroom to hit the ESCAPE key. When his sister, Barbara, wakes up, she throws the piece of paper away, thinking it was unimportant.

Text on page 113 says, “‘Qwerty is missing!’ Madison sobbed, wrapping her arms around her sister and hugging her tightly.’Mom thinks he ran away from home.’Ran away from home? Barbara knew Qwerty. He would never run away. But he might have- There was a policeman standing at the front door of the house. Barbara went around the back and opened the door. She dashed up the stairs, threw her schoolbooks on her bed, and rushed into Qwerty’s room. The computer was on and Qwerty’s photo was still in the scanner. Barbara always told Qwerty he should turn the computer off every night, but Qwerty always insisted it used less power to leave it on all the time. Barbara clicked off the screen saver. The Edison website filled the screen. ‘Silly boy,’chuckled Barbara. He just sent himself to the Edison Laboratory down the road!’ Barbara was right. Qwerty was at the Edison Laboratory.  What she didn’t know was that Qwerty was at the Edison Laboratory in 1879. Barbara figured she could bring Qwerty back with a tap of the ESCAPE key. But what fun would that be? Instead, she decided to surprise him. She picked up the photo of herself that she had used to go to Treats and Eats and slipped it into the scanner She scanned herself and hit the ENTER key. Like that, she vanished. ‘Madison,’ Mrs. Stevens asked her daughter.’ Is Barbara home yet?’I saw her go around the back, Mommy,’ Madison replied. ‘When?’’A few minutes ago.’ Mrs. Stevens walked around the back but didn’t see Barbara. She went inside to look for her. Barbara wasn’t downstairs watching TV or in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator. She wasn’t in her room doing homework, though her schoolbooks were on her bed. ‘Barbara’! Mrs. Stevens hollered. There was no answer. She walked briskly around the house, a sense of urgency in her step, shouting Barb’s name. Nobody answered. Mrs. Stevens broke down. ‘Now my daughter is missing.’”

Then, something big happens.  To find out what happens next, read Back in time w/ Thomas Edison by Dan Gutman.

“‘Thank you very much’. Alice was standing beside the bed when her Aunt polly 

reached a trembling hand out from underneath the leopard-print bedspread (Polly loved leopard 

print) and pulled the girl close to whisper in her ear. ‘Thank you very much.’ They would be the last words Polly Portman, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, ever spoke. Polly Portman was a natural born pie-maker. When she was little, even her mud pies were cut above what anyone else in the sandbox was doing. Recognizing her talent, Polly’s mother, Hester Portman, bought her daughter a little wooden rolling pin set her on a tall red kitchen stool, and taught her how  to roll out her first piecrust. As Polly grew, so did her pie-making skills. She learned that scalding milk   before adding milk would ensure  a custard as smooth as silk and that whipped cream should be whisked just shy of the point where it would turn into butter. She became an expert at cutting narrow strips of pie dough and weaving them into lattice crusts and discovered that if she raised the oven rack a notch when baking a meringue, the peaks would turn the color of toasted marshmallows. When Polly grew tired of making recipes in her mother’s cookbooks, she began to make up recipes of her own, learning to trust her instincts and listen to the ingredients. She could pinch a blueberry, sniff a peach, or bite an apple and know exactly how much sugar to use and whether a grating of fresh nutmeg, a squirt of lemon juice, or a dash of salt would enhance the flavor of the fruit. Polly had a gift for baking pies, and she poured her heart and soul into every one she made. Anyone who ate her pies always said the same thing- ‘You ought to open up your own shop, Polly!’ So when her parents passed away, leaving everything they had to Polly and her younger sister, Ruth,, Polly set aside half of her inheritance to live on, and the other half she invested in a dilapidated old storefront on the corner of Windham and Main in downtown Ipswitch, Pennsylvania. Almost as handy with a hammer as she was with a rolling pin, Polly converted the upstairs in a cozy little apartment. Downstairs she had built the pie shop she had always dreamed of having. It wasn’t much to look at, just a big room with a long wooden counter, a couple of tin pie safes, and a secondhand she’d pick up at an auction. But as far as Polly was concerned, the place was perfect. Being a humble person, she gave the pie shop a humble name- PIE. When PIE first opened its doors in 1941, Alice Anderson hadn’t even been born yet, but people in Ipswitch loved to tell the story, so she’d heard it a million times. The night before the opening, Polly was too excited to sleep. Finally, she gave up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the shop. By the time dawn spread its buttery light across the morning sky, there was a row of beautiful pies cooling on the counter and a crowd of people out the door waiting to buy them. Polly had put a great deal of thought into the pies she made that morning. She wanted to make sure there was something for everyone.For the berry enthusiast, she made a triple berry pies filled with melodies of ripe blackberries, and blueberries. For the more adventurous she created green tomato and concord grape pies. Of course there were traditional pies like cherry, apple and rhubarb with golden top crusts spread like quilts over the sweet warm filling,and cream pies galore- chocolate, coconut, and banana. Polly even managed to come up with something for the pie lover worried about an expanding waistline- a refreshingly tart low-calorie buttermilk pie, sprinkled with nutmeg.” To find out what happens, and what Polly leaves behind with her, read Pie by Sarah Weeks.

Nikhil Behere

Lucky Strike

#bookreview/adobesparkrubric

Lucky Strike, by Bobbie Pyron, follows a boy named Nate, whose friend is Gen, A.K.A., Jennifer, One day, she went to Nate’s house and Nate wanted to do something lucky because he was always unlucky. So they coin-flipped and Nate called it wrong more than 66 times. He knew that he was the most unlucky kid in his city. So one day, when he was playing with Gen, rain started to fall. Two minutes later, thunderstorms started and Nate got struck by lightning. He immediately went to the hospital. To find out what happens next, read Lucky Strike by Bobbie Pyron. 

I would connect this book to The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd. In this book, the

Main character is Emma and everyone in her family is special. However, her dream can’t come soon enough. These are the same because they both have special people that’s either them or they are related to. Also, they both have a goal. They are different because both characters want something. Also, they have different goals and different plot lines.  

Nikhil Behere

Miss Bielis

Back in time with Thomas Edison, A Qwerty Stevens Adventure, by Dan Gutman, is about a boy named Qwerty. Qwerty lives with his mom, older sister, and younger sister. One day his mom gets mad at him for going to his friend, Joey Dvorak’s house when he wasn’t supposed to. SO, Qwerty did what he likes to do when he is mad, dig outside. When he’s digging outside, he discovers a box. He brings the box inside, calls Joey Dvorak, then realizes it is a machine that can send you wherever you want, whenever you want. So, he accidentally sends himself to Spain. He calls his sister and when she presses the ESCAPE key on the computer, he is immediately zapped back. After that, Qwerty was playing on his computer when he receives Morse code from Thomas Edison, the inventor of the machine. He says to come later to the past for an “emergency”. This was in the morning, so Qwerty put a note by her sister’s bedroom to hit the ESCAPE key. When his sister, Barbara, wakes up, she throws the piece of paper away, thinking it was unimportant.

Text on page 113 says, “‘Qwerty is missing!’ Madison sobbed, wrapping her arms around her sister and hugging her tightly.’Mom thinks he ran away from home.’Ran away from home? Barbara knew Qwerty. He would never run away. But he might have- There was a policeman standing at the front door of the house. Barbara went around the back and opened the door. She dashed up the stairs, threw her schoolbooks on her bed, and rushed into Qwerty’s room. The computer was on and Qwerty’s photo was still in the scanner. Barbara always told Qwerty he should turn the computer off every night, but Qwerty always insisted it used less power to leave it on all the time. Barbara clicked off the screen saver. The Edison website filled the screen. ‘Silly boy,’chuckled Barbara. He just sent himself to the Edison Laboratory down the road!’ Barbara was right. Qwerty was at the Edison Laboratory.  What she didn’t know was that Qwerty was at the Edison Laboratory in 1879. Barbara figured she could bring Qwerty back with a tap of the ESCAPE key. But what fun would that be? Instead, she decided to surprise him. She picked up the photo of herself that she had used to go to Treats and Eats and slipped it into the scanner She scanned herself and hit the ENTER key. Like that, she vanished. ‘Madison,’ Mrs. Stevens asked her daughter.’ Is Barbara home yet?’I saw her go around the back, Mommy,’ Madison replied. ‘When?’’A few minutes ago.’ Mrs. Stevens walked around the back but didn’t see Barbara. She went inside to look for her. Barbara wasn’t downstairs watching TV or in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator. She wasn’t in her room doing homework, though her schoolbooks were on her bed. ‘Barbara’! Mrs. Stevens hollered. There was no answer. She walked briskly around the house, a sense of urgency in her step, shouting Barb’s name. Nobody answered. Mrs. Stevens broke down. ‘Now my daughter is missing.’”

Then, something big happens.  To find out what happens next, read Back in time w/ Thomas Edison by Dan Gutman.

Save Me A Seat

Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks 

Nikhil Behere

Save Me A Seat is a book by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks. It follows a boy named Ravi 

Suryanarayanan and Joe Sylvester. It all starts when Ravi moves to New Jersey. The story 

begins by introducing the reader to Ravi. Ravi moved from India to New Jersey. He moved to 

New Jersey because of his dad’s work. It also talks about Joe “Puddy”Sylvester. He got the 

nickname from Dillan Samreen, the bully of the class. In fact, Joe tries to stay away from him,

but Ravi doesn’t and he tries to sit by Dillon as hard as it would possibly be, but in fact, 

Ravi wants to be his friend because he is, as he would say, he is an ABCD, or American Born 

Confused Desi. That means that he is an indian because of his color, but he wears American 

clothes like usual Americans would. 

Did Dillin do it on purpose? Or was it an accident? What will happen next?

The quote I would use from the book that resonates me would be, “If you’re not careful, you’ll 

Turn into one of them. Your grandfather didn’t slave in the tea plantations so that his only 

Grandson would become some rude, overweight, beef-eating cowboy.’ I don’t think Perimma 

Likes America.” I chose this part because I thought it was weird that she had a misinterpretation 

of  America. That stood out to me because, I don’t know about you, but for me, that was a little 

bit funny.

Hello Universe

Miss Bielis

#adobesparkpreview

Imagine you are deaf and you are pushed in a hole while everyone is looking for you. Master

storyteller Erin Entrada Kelly presents to you her newest Newbery Medal Award book Hello Universe. This book is about a boy named Virgil, who sees life in a different way then others because he can’t hear and is deaf. It is also about his two friends Valencia, who is stubborn and Tanaka, who has psychic abilities. Also, one of the main characters in the book is Chet, the biggest bully in Virgil’s neighborhood. One day, Virgil was walking to an appointment he had with Tanaka, along with his pet guinea pig, because he wanted to see the future . Along the way, Virgil saw Chet, who was looking for a snake his friend had told him was in the woods. They saw each other, then Chet pulled a prank on Virgil by dropping his guinea pig in a nearby well. Virgil jumps in but is soon trapped in the well as Chet leaves. Will they find Virgil and get him out safely? Read to find out. 

I would connect this book to Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. These two connect because both have a problem, like Mr. Terupt getting hurt, and how a group of people can solve major problems. These books are also similar because they both have different chapters off the different points of views. These books are different because in Hello Universe, they don’t even know each other so much that they don’t even go to the same school. In conclusion, read Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly and don’t forget to read Because of Mr.Terupt by Rob Buyea. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Miss Bielis

#readitadobesparkpreviewwithconnectionsbookreviewwithadobesparkvideorubric

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your aunt lost her memory and came to live with you? Or what it would be like if your dad left you and your family? This is what Jamie Reardon has to go through in the book, Jumping the Scratch, by Newbery Away. As if the bad things couldn’t stop, later, his aunt, Sapphy loses part of her memory. Sheard Medalist author, Sarah Weeks. First, Jamie’s best friend, a cat, Mister, passes aw can remember old things, but she cannot develop any new memories, so she comes to live with Jamie. Later on, Jamie hears that a magic trigger can help Sapphy develop new memories. For example, if she smells a pie that she remembers the smell, that could help her get all of her memories back. One day, Jamie hears of a psychologist who could teach Jamie the magic spark he was looking for. However, when he calls, he realized it is just a weird girl in his school named Alice. Will Alice help unravel Jamie’s past and get his aunt to gain her memories again, or will she let Jamie down, and fail to give him what he was looking for? Read to find out. 

The book Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks is similar to  to So B. It by Sarah Weeks. These books connect because, both of them have parents that they don’t know about; for example, Jamie doesn’t know about his dad and Heidi doesn’t know about her parents. Also, they both display a kid, who has many struggles and is very unfortunate. Heidi lives with herself, her mom, and her neighbor Bernadette, and Jamie lives with his mom and aunt, Sapphy. In conclusion, read, Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks and don’t forget to check out, So B. It by Sarah Weeks. I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed!