BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews The Unteachables by Gordon Korman

Marshmallow enjoys reading books about school and friendship. She has already reviewed Blubber by Judy Blume, In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton, and Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins for the book bunnies blog. This week she reviews Gordon Korman’s The Unteachables., published first in 2019.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about school and friendship, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Kiana Roubini is living with her father and stepmother Louise while her mother is producing a movie. The book starts with Louise driving Kiana to her new school to register her for the year. But then, Kiana’s baby brother starts crying and her stepmom, who she rudely calls “Stepmonster” (in her mind), has to go back to their house, telling Kiana that they will be back soon.

Kiana waits for a long time and Louise does not come back. So Kiana decides that she will register herself. The school registration office is very busy and Kiana ends up with someone else’s class schedule. The room number the person is assigned to is 117.

When Kiana asks another student for directions, he seems friendly at first, but the second that he hears that she is in room 117, he quickly leaves. When she finds her way to “her” class, she finds that her fellow pupils are roasting marshmallows on pencils and eating them. (eek! why would anyone want to eat me! oh, okay, let’s continue.) Then she meets her teacher: Mr. Kermit is sitting at his desk solving crossword puzzles from the newspaper while his students wreak havoc upon the classroom.

The students in room 117 are not there to learn. All that they do is worksheets that their teacher doesn’t even grade. They were all separated from the rest of the children from the district because they are supposed to be unintelligent and unable to learn and so they just sit in the room and mess around. They are supposed to be misfits and delinquents. But soon, Kiana learns that they are actually pretty nice. She also learns more about Mr. Kermit and what made him seem so cold and distant.

You need to read the book to learn more!

Marshmallow is reading The Unteachables by Gordon Korman. — Marshmallow is reading *The Unteachables* by Gordon Korman.

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a very interesting book. It is very sad how all of the kids were removed from the “normal” classes and put in room 117. It is sad because they are actually the same as the rest of the kids. They all want to make friends, they want to learn, and they need adults to trust that they can actually learn.

My favorite thing in the book is the “Toilet Bowl”. That is Mr. Kermit’s coffee cup. It is huge! In one of the chapters narrated by Mr. Kermit, he says:

“I need coffee. I cheer myself up by picturing the Toilet Bowl on the shelf in the faculty lounge, dwarfing all the lesser mugs.”

Each chapter is narrated by a different character, and I think that it is very interesting that the author chose to do that. It is also very interesting that we hear the views of a lot of people, not only the views of the main characters, but also the views of the enemies of Mr. Kermit and class 117.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates The Unteachables by Gordon Korman 100%. — Marshmallow rates *The Unteachables* by Gordon Korman 100%.

Caramel reviews Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Tree House #7) by Mary Pope Osborne

Caramel has already reviewed three Magic Tree House books for the book bunnies blog: Night of the Ninjas (Magic Tree House #5), Afternoon on the Amazon (Magic Tree House #6), and Knights and Castles (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #2). Today he shares with us his thoughts on Book #7: Sunset of the Sabertooth. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Caramel tell us about this book. Let us assume readers already know …

Caramel: about the magic tree house and our previous reviews.

S: Yes, we put a link to each of your reviews of magic tree house books above. So this book also takes us to an adventure with Jack and Annie to somewhere new.

C: And it takes us to a different time.

S: Ok, tell us about this different time.

C: It is the ice age. There are sabertooths around.

S: Hmm, saber-toothed cats, according to Wikipedia, were “predatory mammals that are characterized by long, curved saber-shaped canine teeth which protruded from the mouth even when closed”. So their canine teeth looked like sabers, very sharp swords. And all saber-tooth mammals went extinct around 9000 years ago. So Jack and Annie must have gone back in time quite a bit!

C: Yes! But in the first Magic Tree House book Dinosaurs Before Dark, they had gone back to the time of the dinosaurs, so this is a bit closer to now.

S: So what happens in the time of the sabertooth? Why are Jack and Annie there?

C: They’re still trying to save their friend Morgan Le Fay, just like in the last two books. In the fifth book (Night of the Ninjas), a ninja gave them a moonstone. In the sixth book (Afternoon on the Amazon), a monkey gave them a mango. And in this one the Master of the Animals gives them a third item.

S: And they look at some cave paintings, don’t they?

C: They do. And that is where they see the picture of the Master of the Animals. But Sprinkles, we just took a virtual tour of one such cave in France!

S: Yes we sure did. Here is the Wikipedia link to Lascaux, and the link we used to go on this virtual tour. Did you enjoy taking the tour?

C: Yep. It actually felt like we were flying through the cave. And I really felt like I was inside the cave.

S: Yes, I thought the tour was really well made too. The drawings were quite striking, bright and visible.

C: They were awesome!

Caramel is reading Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Tree House #7) by Mary Pope Osborne. — Caramel is reading *Sunset of the Sabertooth* (Magic Tree House #7) by Mary Pope Osborne.

C: Let us talk more about the book.

S: Yes, good idea! What more do you want to say about the book?

C: Jack and Annie ride on a mammoth!

S: A friendly mammoth I hope?

C: It is! It took them back to the tree house.

S: So do you think you will read the next book in the series?

C: Yep. I want to know how they will save Morgan.

S: You are sure they will save her?

C: Yes, they already found three of the four things they need. So I’m positive about it.

S: Sounds good to me! So let us wrap this review up.

C: Yes! Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!

Caramel has enjoyed reading Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Tree House #7) by Mary Pope Osborne, and recommends it to all bunnies who love to read about Jack and Annie's adventures with the magic tree house. — Caramel has enjoyed reading *Sunset of the Sabertooth* (Magic Tree House #7) by Mary Pope Osborne, and recommends it to all bunnies who love to read about Jack and Annie’s adventures with the magic tree house.

Marshmallow reviews George by Alex Gino

This week Marshmallow reviews a book by Alex Gino, George. about a transgender child and her struggle to be accepted as who she is. The novel has won several awards and was both highly praised and significantly criticized for various reasons.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about finding one’s identity, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): George is seen by everyone around her as a boy but she feels like she is a girl. She wants to be called a she and she wants to wear skirts and make-up. She keeps magazines for teenage girls hidden in her room, and imagines that she is there with other girls in the pictures. When she looks in the mirror, she calls herself Melissa.

George’s class is reading Charlotte’s Web. She cries at the end when Charlotte dies. The boys in the class laugh and say that she is not a “real” boy. But she doesn’t want to be a boy. When her class decides to put on play for Charlotte’s Web, George really, really wants to be Charlotte, the brave, kind heroine of the story. But when she auditions for the part, her teacher thinks that she is joking. George is devastated. The teacher says that she can be Wilbur or some other character because she was very good, but she couldn’t be Charlotte because there are too many girls that want to be Charlotte.

One day when George gets home, she sees that her mother has found her magazines. Her mother does not understand it when George tells her she is a girl. George feels that her mother does not see who she is.

When George’s best friend Kelly gets the Charlotte role, she tries to be supportive, but she is actually very jealous. Seeing that her friend is sad, Kelly hatches a plan. There are two showings of Charlotte’s Web. Kelly will perform in one and George will perform in the other. George knows that she can perform Charlotte’s part very well but she is worried about what her mother and other people will think of her.

(In this summary I used the name George for the main character as the author does themselves all the way until page 181, but also please remember that deadnaming is not ok.)

Marshmallow is reading George by Alex Gino. — Marshmallow is reading *George* by Alex Gino.

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a very moving book in which the main character looks like a boy but she feels like a girl. It is very sad when she is not able to be Charlotte in the play because she had her heart set on it. It is very interesting how she calls the magazines her “friends”.

George is a very good book that moves the reader and it is very sad how the main character really wants to be a girl and everyone keeps on telling her that “he” acts like a girl. It is also very sad how her mother tells her that she shouldn’t be dressing up like a girl and that “it’s not cute anymore.”

George is very well-written and it has a lot of interesting and different characters. It is really good for those who themselves don’t feel like the gender that they look like to other people. But all bunnies can appreciate the story because everyone feels different in some ways.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates George by Alex Gino 95%. — Marshmallow rates *George* by Alex Gino 95%.

Caramel reviews Cars on Mars by Alexandra Siy

Readers of the book bunnies blog know that Caramel loves nonfiction books where he can learn about real things. See for example his review of a book on samurai, another on knights and castles, another on elements and the periodic table, yet another on dinosaurs, and finally another on engineering. Today Caramel shares his thoughts on a neat book by Alexandra Siy: Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet. As always, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Caramel reviews Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy. — Caramel reviews *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, tell us about this book.

Caramel: It’s about rovers.

S: What is a rover?

C: They are vehicles that go on Mars or other planets. When humans can’t go there themselves, they send the rovers to the planet to explore. They rove it.

S: Hmm, the dictionary definition of roving is “travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander”. So I guess these vehicles go around a planet just exploring and recording and measuring and so on, right?

C: Yep, basically.

Caramel is reading Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy. — Caramel is reading *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy.

S: So this book is about the rovers on Mars. Why is that important?

C: Because we want to know what is on Mars. It apparently has tons of iron.

S: Is that why it is called the red planet?

C: Yes. Iron is red.

S: Apparently Romans called it Mars because red reminded them of blood and war and Mars was their god of war. And Greeks called it Ares because Ares was their god of war. But today we are still very interested in Mars. Why do you think this is so?

C: It’s a planet that is kind of like earth in many ways and it is one of the closest. And maybe we can use the iron in there.

S: There is a lot of iron on earth too, so we do not really need to go to Mars for it, but it is of course interesting to learn about other planets, especially one so close to ours! and for many years people thought there were other living things on Mars. Have you heard of Orson Welles and his radio play about the Martian Invasion?

C: No I did not know about that! It sounds very interesting. Can we listen to it?

S: Yes, after we are done with this post, we will definitely listen to this recording. So let us get back to our book. What else would you like to tell us about it?

C: The book has many pictures of Mars and the rovers. There is Spirit and then there is Opportunity. And the book ends with this:

Although they found proof of past water on Mars (mission accomplished!), Spirit and Opportunity keep on keepin’ on. Noone knows when or where they will finally stop. But Steve and everyone else who is part of this far-out road trip hope that some day there will be tire tracks and footprints, side by side, on Mars.

S: That ends on a really positive note. But we now know that Spirit did not go on for too much longer and stopped communicating in 2010. Opportunity did go on for a lot longer, till 2018. So this book is a snapshot of the life stories of these two rovers.

C: Right. And you can learn a lot about Mars and space travel and making vehicles that can go around on other planets when you read it.

S: That sounds like a good read to me. And you can check out this NASA page to learn more about the newer rovers and more generally about NASA’s Mars program. What do you want to say last?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!

Caramel enjoyed reading Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy with a Martian friend. Can you see this little alien? — Caramel enjoyed reading *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy with a Martian friend. Can you see this little alien?