Half Brother

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ben Tomlin is introduced to his new brother on his thirteenth birthday. After being an only child for thirteen years, it's a little difficult adjusting to a new brother, especially since his new brother is a chimpanzee. Ben soon learns to love this brother as he works with him teaching him sign language. The problem is that Ben's father sees Zan, the chimpanzee, as his research project. When the project is questioned, Ben realizes how much he truly loves Zan, and realizes he will fight for Zan's safety.

The book introduces some interesting thoughts about animal experiments--even those with the best of intentions, in an enjoyable, easy to read story.



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The Red Blazer Girls : the Ring of Rocamadour

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The red blazer girls are a modern day version of Nancy Drew. The new heroine is named Sophia St. Pierre. One day in English class Sophie sees someone in the window of the church across the way and she is asking for help. When Sophie and her friends go to find out who the person is, they discover that she is an older woman who needs help solving an old family mystery. The girls become involved in helping the woman solve the mystery, which is finding the "ring of Rocamador." The ring rightfully belongs to the woman's daughter. In order to find the ring, the girls have to solve mathematical puzzles that were created by the daughter's grandfather 20 years ago. The reader can't help but try to solve the puzzles too, which makes for some interesting math problems. The book was fun to read because of likeable characters (although many of the adult characters were pretty stock creations), and the application of math to solving the problems. The book could be a great possibility for math class literacy.



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