The Year My Parents Ruined My Life

Kate and her family are getting ready to move from sunny California to snowy Pennsylvania. It is the worst idea her parents have ever had. They flew out to Pennsylvania to look at houses, and every house they looked at was terrible! It was not her home in California. It was no where near her friends house, or walking distance from the beach and gramma was on the other side of the country. 

Her parents found a house, and back to California they went. Her dad stayed behind to start work at his new job, and mom and her sister went back to sell the house. They would stay in California until their house sold. The house sold quickly, and the last few days they stayed at gramma's. Josh her, hot surfer boyfriend, came by to kiss her goodbye, and Megan and Kate came up with a plan for her to move back. The plan was that she would save enough money and buy a one way ticket back to sunny California. She would live with Megan and her family, but that will take a lot of convincing of both of their parents. 

The flight to their new home, was filled with tears. When they arrived in Pennsylvania and to their new home. Dad said it was going to snow tonight, and today was Thanksgiving. The girls stayed at their new home, empty of everything and mom and dad went to find a grocery store that was open. The only one that was open was an Asian Market. So they had stir-fry for Thanksgiving meal. The Douglass family, who was their Realtor, invited them over to eat dessert. They loved all of Mrs. Douglass' cooking. 

The next day the snow had fallen and the moving truck had arrived with all their contents. Slowly the house began to fill, and become a home. The moving truck was all empty and the movers were ready to leave, but the semi was stuck from all the snow and ice. They invited the driver in for dinner, but all of a sudden they heard a loud crash! They all ran outside, to see a few cars wrecked at the corner from the snow and ice. The police had a tow-truck help free the semi, and off they went. 

The next morning, the family got a quick lesson in shoveling, they shoveling so much snow (10 inches to be exact). There was no school today because it was the first day of deer season. They thought that was weird, no school for deer season. The following day was their first day of school, they all got bundled up and off to school they went. 

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Having to read and write has really helped me as a reader. I feel like I can quickly write down what I wrote, and it helps me with my comprehension. There was a book that had a lot of details in it, so I would write down details as I read to help keep everything straight, to limit confusion. 

Tornado by Betsy Byars

The book starts off by everyone in the family having to seek shelter in the cellar. Dad was in the cornfield and had to hide in the ditch, a tornado was coming. The rest of the book takes place in the cellar, with Uncle Pete telling stories about a dog named, Tornado.

The first story he tells is how they found Tornado. Uncle Pete was a young boy, and right after a tornado hit their farm, they found a dog house. In that dog house was a dog, shaking and trembling for days. When Pete's dad said "dinner/." The dog perked up and was back to normal. He obviously knew the word, dinner. They asked around town, but no one knew of anyone missing a dog. They decided to keep the dog, but the kids were told not to grow attached.

The next story was about how Pete taught Tornado a card trick. Everyday after dinner, Pete and his brother would play cards. They would play war, but mom did not like that game, because the game always ended in a lot of fighting. Him and his brother were playing cards, and Tornado came up to him like he wanted to also play cards. He faced the cards towards Tornado, and told him to pick a card. He picked the three of hearts. Tornado refused to drop the card when Pete asked him to. Pete told his dad that Tornado knew half of a card trick, and he wanted to show him, but told him Tornado would not drop the card. His dad told him to drop the card and he did. He put the car back into the deck of cards and told Tornado to pick a card, he picked the SAME card! He was excited about this.

Another story was about how a stray cat would come to their house every night at five-thirty to eat dinner. After awhile, they decided to name the cat Five-Thirty. Tornado went to the pine trees and dug himself a hole in the shade, so he could lay in. A few days later, Five-Thirty found the hole and laid in it. This made Tornado so mad, he refused to leave until the cat got out of his hole. At five-thirty, it was time for dinner so the cat made its way to the house for dinner. Tornado dug, and dug trying to get the cats scent out of his sleeping spot. Pete's mom saw what was going on, and ordered Pete to fill the hole back in with dirt. From that day on Tornado refused to even look at Five-Thirty and never went back to the pine trees to lay down again. 

One day Pete and his dad went to town and Tornado was in the back of the truck. They came out of the store and there was a girl screaming "It's Buddy! It's Buddy!" Buddy turned out to be their Tornado. Pete was shocked, so shocked he couldn't move. He didn't know what to do or say. His dad couldn't do much, because Tornado was theirs. A few days later, Tornado found their way back to the farm! He was so excited! They never could find their owners, because the family never left them their name. They had Tornado for seven more years.

The book was super cute and sweet. It tells the story of man's best friend. I never thought by reading the title, that the book was going to be about a boy and his dog. I would recommend this book to people who love animals. 

Lost and Found.....

I was so excited to start reading this book again this week! I wanted to know how long Melissa could keep the secret!

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As I suspected, Melissa could not keep the secret for very long. She told one person, and they told another. The thing I think is funny, is everyone said "Don't tell anyone!!!" But yet, people found out about it.

Ray never told Jay that he told Melissa, so the next day Jay went to school and Melissa went along with it. At soccer practice, a James made a comment about Jay's knee and how it was bleeding the day before, and that his knee seemed to be better. James also had identical twins, who he could tell apart. Jay knew he was onto him. So he confessed to him about the secret he was hiding.

The nurse was going through her files and realized one file with two pictures. She brought this to Jay's homeroom teacher and the principals attention They all sat down and were wondering how this slipped through the cracks. How come every attendance office and secretary missed this huge mistake?  The nurse decided that when Jay came down to her office later in the day, for the yearly hearing tests, she would question him about this.

Ray walked into school, and he seemed very upset and uneasy. He found out the night before from Jay, that many kids know about their secret. Little did he know, so did the administration. He walked into the nurses office, which he was very uneasy about. He was nervous it would smell like puke or something gross. He walked in and the nurse explained what she was going to be doing, he put the headphones on and she asked if anyone in his family had a hearing problem, she asked him if his brother had any hearing problems. He said, "I don't have a brother." Then he confessed. He told her everything that was going on. She asked where he has been the past week, and he explained to her that they take turns coming to school every-other-day and that his parents did not know about what was going on.

He went into the principals office, and she phoned his mom. She was given permission to drive him home. They were meeting his mom at their house in 15 minutes. She also explained to Ray that there will be a punishment for this act they did. She told him that they did a terrible and dangerous thing, and that is not a good way to start off at a new school.

He arrived to his house to see his mom and dad. They walked into the house to find Jay, and he was no where to be found. He wasn't even in their secret hiding spot in the garage. A few minutes later the principals phone rang. It was the office at school. They told her the boy she just left with just checked himself back into school. Jay walked to school, and came to class late. He thought when he walked into first hour, that everyone would realize there were two of him. But when he arrived, Ray was no where to be found!

His parents and the administration came to agreement, that the boys needed to be separated at school. Jay would keep the same schedule, but Ray's locker would be far away, he would have a new homeroom, new class schedule. This way the boys can be independent and have their own lives and identities away from being the "identical twin boys."


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I thought this book was very good! I would recommend it to many people, just like how it was recommended to me!

Lost and Found by Andrew Clements - Part 2

Jay went back to school Friday, and had to figure out everything Ray had told him about the previous day. It was very hard to figure out who Melissa was, because that was the girl who Ray liked and they were lab partners later in the day.

The family went to dinner, movie and then the mall. Luckily Ray dressed as Jay, and visa-versa. There parents even fell for the stunt. They ran into some friends at the mall. Luckily the real Jay hid, so Ray could be Jay.

Alex called inviting Jay to play hockey. Mom said no, because the social studies project was not done. The boys decided Ray will go play hockey will Alex, and pretend to be Jay. Well, turns out mom caught them! She then sent the real Jay to go. Jay was so very excited because he really wanted to go in the first place. Ray was sad that their mom caught them in the act of switching places, but luckily she did not catch them in their REAL secret act!

The next day Ray went to school as Jay. He had to patch things over with Melissa, because he was worried that Jay messed things up the previous day. He got there very really and got the nerve to talk to Melissa. He told Melissa his secret and everything about what him and Jay had been doing. After he told her, he felt SO much better. He had the best at at school. But he had a feeling that maybe he should not have told the secret. But after-all, he did get her to sit by him at lunch!

I really have a feeling that in the next few chapters that the cat will be out of the bag, and they will get caught!

Lost and Found by Andrew Clements

It was Jay's first day at his new school. They had moved to Clifton, Ohio the day before from Denver. Jay's parents both work at the same insurance company. His mom was finally working full-time, so she would be away from the house longer during the day. So when his twin brother, Ray, got home from school, the house would be empty. Ray stayed home from school on their first day of school, so Jay went to 6th grade alone. When attendance was called in homeroom, Ray's name was skipped. Jay was very confused.

From the moment the twins were born, the world loved them. Their parents loved them so much, they named from Ray Jay and Jay Ray. They were identical. The only difference, Ray had a freckle that Jay did not have. Up until second grade, their mom dressed them alike. As they became older, being identical become annoying. Always have to correct people and getting caught in awkward situations. 

When Jay got home from school, he was questioned by Ray about everything that happened on his first day. He didn't really want to talk, or tell him how none of the teachers had Ray on their roster. Jay secretly enjoyed the day being twin-less, with no one even knowing about Ray. Ray even enjoyed his day so much at home being twin-less, he faked being sick the next day. 

On the second day of school, Jay went to school and talked to some new friends from the first day of school. Ray was never brought up, and he never brought him up either. He noticed his file on his teachers desk, was twice as thick as the other students. He knew exactly why too. He enjoyed another day without his twin brother at school. 

Jay came home with a brilliant idea. They would take turns staying home. Ray would pretend to be Jay and not worry about the name Ray ever at school, since the school did loose his files. The only trouble they might possibly get in was being grounded and a trip to the office. 

Ray's first day of being Jay went perfect. He loved being a normal person without a twin. He even was lab partners in science with the prettiest girl in 6th grade. 

Jay had a perfect day at home, he watched TV, read, downloaded a game and much more. Ray came home and they agreed to do this one more week then confess. 

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Loving this book! One of my friends who teaches 5th grade told me about this book. The book has a lot of information to keep straight, so I have been taking a lot of notes to remember exactly who is who and who did what! 

A Jigsaw Jones Mystery: The Case of the Mummy Mystery #6

It was the day before Halloween and Mila came over to Theodore's house to help dig for worms. they decided they would find a few worms and let Joey choose the yummiest one to eat.

The next morning Joey seemed quiet nervous, because at recess he would be eating the worm. Eddie had sold 7 tickets for this event. It was time to get dressed in their Halloween costumes. When Theodore came back to the classroom, his bag of worms had vanished. Mila went to find a witness. A few minutes later she came back with Helen. Helen started to tell Theodore about what and who she saw. He quickly grabbed his journal to take notes.

All the talk over the missing bag, made everyone panic. Students were hiding under desks, they were so scared. All of a sudden Theodore noticed Joey had his bag. He went to talk to him, but after opening the bag, he noticed it was the teachers pumpkin pie! He remembered she also had the same grocery store bag that day.

They all rushed to the auditorium to find the pie contest. They found their principal about to pen the last pie box. They stopped him just in time. He was very upset and told them worms do not belong in school. Luckily he didn't know the real reason they were there.

The Halloween party was a success. Ms. Gleason even won the pie contest! Almost everyone in the class had bought a ticket to see Joey eat a worm. Joey at the worm in 3 bites. School was over and they all went home to trick-or-treat hoping NOT to see a mummy!


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I thought this book was very good! I would recommend it to any student. The first page of the book caught my attention, when I usually struggle to quickly get into reading a book.

A Jigsaw Jones Mystery: The Case of the Mummy Mystery #6

Last week while garage sailing, my favorite summer activity, I picked up a few of books out of this series. I have never heard of them, but they sound super good!

The  books starts in the trees house in Theodore's backyard. Theodore is a detective. Joey was telling Mila and Theodore that Bobby told him if he ate a worm, he would give him a dollar. When Joey got done telling Mila and Theodore about this ordeal that was going to take place on Halloween, he told Theodore that he wanted to hire him as a detective so he could make sure feel Bobby didn't cheat him out of his dollar.

Theodore overhead his brothers whispering about something. He convinced them that they should tell him what was going on. They all decided they had to talk in the basement. as soon as they were about to tell Theodore, mom called down that it was dinner time. Theodore told his mom to call him Jigsaw like the rest of his friends do. They all headed up to dinner and Theodore was telling his parents about how Joey was going to eat a worm. With all the talk about worms, no one had the appetite for spaghetti. Grams was making jokes about how delicious the worms for dinner were.

After dinner the boys all headed down go the basement to tell Theodore about their secret. They told him that a mummy was the Halloween legend. The mummy was the one that took Mrs. Estep's cat, Twinkles a few years back. The mummy also turned Mr. Reilly's hair white when he saw him, and he nearly died of fright.

The next morning while waiting for the bus, Joey was working his way up the food chain, starting with eating an ant. He wanted to make sure he was ready go eat the worm on Halloween.  While on the bus, heading to school district everyone was talking about the mummy and what the mummy has done to people. Theodore decided it was time for Jigsaw Jones to be a private eye. He started to take noted.

Everyone at school was thrilled that it was Halloween. Besides the parties this was the day Joey was going to wat the worm. Eddie decided that Joey should get more than a dollar for eating a worm, and to do so he was going to sell tickets. Joey and Eddie would split the money in half.


To be continued......