Book Review of LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow

Reviewed by a Summer Learning Program participant

Ultimately, this book frustrated me. I was really excited to read it, and though the idea of the book intrigued me, I was met with mediocre story telling, which really sucked because the importance of privacy and cyber security are things that I am passionate about. But I found all the characters to be flat, the secondary characters only there when convenient to solve a problem and disappearing when they weren’t needed for extremely long periods within the book. The dialogue was very frequently not very realistic and I felt that the main character did not really have a much of a personality, just being another pawn to get the ultimate message across. It is apparent that this book is agenda driven, and although it is an agenda that I can strongly get behind, the whole book felt more like a first draft. However, I can’t help but recommend it for the sake of the eye opening ideals outlined within it that will leave you thinking.

Book to Movie Review of ELLA ENCHANTED

Reviewed by a participant in the Summer Learning Program.

ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine

The book Ella Enchanted was very well written. Gail Carson Levine makes it seem like ogres and gnomes and centaurs are everyday things. She does a good job portraying Ella’s mean sisters in a realistic way. It was a very fun twist on Cinderella and very good.

The movie Ella Enchanted was very loosely based on the book. It added a lot of stuff that was not in the book. And they ruined the storyline. If I had watched the movie before I read the book, I would not want to read the book. So in my opinion, the book is way better than the movie.

Book to Movie Review

By a Summer Learning Program Participant

VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C.S. Lewis

The book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was very good. It was descriptive and you really got to know the characters well. It really brought a made up world to life. It made talking animals seem very real, and after you read it you almost expected your pet to start talking. I think that the book was way better.

The movie was very loosely based on the book. They put in a lot of stuff that wasn’t in the book. But I will say, they had pretty amazing graphics, making a lot of the made up animals and people look real. The movie is very good as long as you haven’t read the book and have something to compare it to.

Two Book to Movie Reviews

Reviewed by a Summer Learning Program Participant

THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien

The movie and the book were both really good, but in the movie there were multiple love scenes where in the book there were none.

GARFIELD by Jim Davis

I read Garfield and I watched the movie and I liked the book better because it was more funny and not so realistic.