Captain Bayley’s Heir

Captain Bayley’s Heir

by G.A. Henty

Main characters:

Captain Bayley is a retired and wealthy officer of the East India Company’s service.

Frank Norris, an orphan nephew of Captain Bayley’s, is framed for theft and runs away to America.

Setting:

England and America during the gold rush to California.

Plot:

After runnning away to America, Frank Norris has many adventures including working on a flat boat on the Mississippi.  After that he is enployed to hunt for game for a caravan going out West.  Finally, he helps two miners down on their luck and strikes it rich in California.

I would recommend this book for its stirring adventures.

G.A. Henty wrote almost 100 books like this one.

Daniel (age 10): Caro, MI

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

by Laura Numeroff

illustrated by Felicia Bond

Main characters:

Boy is a good friend.

Mouse is curious.

Plot: The mouse wants to learn more and more and the boy helps him.

reviewed by Tess (age 7)

Horton Hatches an Egg

Horton Hatches an Egg
author: Dr. Seuss

reviewer: Ray (age: 9)

Main characters:
Horton is an elephant that is very nice. And he is faithful.
Mayzie is a very lazy bird.

Plot: The book is about an elephant that sits on a bird’s nest because she thinks it is boring to sit on an egg. When Horton sits on the nest, he sits in the winter. And hunters put him in a cage and take him to the circus. People come to see him and the bird came back and wanted the egg.

I like this book because it has an elephant that sits on a nest.

What I learned from this book: You should be faithful. And you should do things people ask you to do.

Ray (Age: 9)

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers was written by Alexandre Dumas a Frenchman who wrote many plays and novels including The Count of Monte Cristo.  He wrote the Three Musketeers in 1844.

The main characters of the book are d’Artagan, a young man seeking a place in the musketeers; Aramis, a musketeer only for a time, wanting to be a priest; Athos, a handsome, intelligent and quiet man, keeping his past a secret; and Porthos, loud and talkative, revealing his past openly.

The setting is Paris but other parts of France and London, England also come into play. The years of the story span from 1625 to 1628.

The main plot:

D’Artagan and the Three Musketeers fight for the Queen of France against the wiles of the Cardinal Richelieu. The villian Cardinal Richelieu plans to disgrace the Queen by stealing two of the twelve diamond tags that she gave to the Duke of Buckingham her lover.  The tags were actually gifts to her from the King of France.  The plan was to call the Queen to wear the tags at a public ball where the Cardinal would present the two tags and announce they were retrieved from the Duke’s possession thus exposing her infidelity.   When the Queen realized she needed the twelve tags back, she asked the maid of the wardrobe to go to the Duke and return with the tags.  However, the maid’s husband who admired the Cardinal told him about the Queen’s message to the Duke.

For the journey, the maid summoned d’Artagan to go in her stead to warn the Duke.  D’Artagan took the Musketeers with him but one by one they dropped out.  Athos quarrelled over money.  Porthos fought a duel and lost.  Aramis was wounded in an ambush.  D’Artagan succeeded in informing the Duke of the Queen’s plight.  The Duke ran to the altar but only found 10 of the 12 tags.  He resolved to save the Queen’s dignity so made two new ones and sent all of the tags back to Paris with d’Artagan.

The Cardinal’s plan was foiled.

What makes this book extraordinary and interesting is not only its main plot but also its many subplots.  But I will leave the subplots for your reading enjoyment.

Beware of some strong language in the dialogue.