In this book, six sixth-graders form their own secret society devoted to Egypt-related things. In the beginning, April moves from Hollywood to an unspecified Californian city famous for its university–her mother is busy pursuing a career as an esteemed actress. April, considered eccentric by many, makes friends with Melanie, who lives in April's grandmother's apartment; they discover their shared interest for imagining, and they invent the titular Egypt Game. Melanie's younger brother, a girl living in the apartment, and two boys from school all become involved in the Egypt game. But soon, a murder occurs, and the children are all cautioned to stay indoors–and the main suspect is the Professor, the reclusive man, in whose storage yard the Egyptians worship Egyptian Gods. Who is this strange human? And, who is the real criminal? This is a great book, full of good dialogue and realistic characters. It's witty and the writing is good too, but at times it seems a little dated, such as when the characters say "fink" and other weird words (this was written in 1967). I would recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction, as it focuses more on the friendships developing between the Egyptians than the actual mystery, though it is still important to the plot.

In this book, six sixth-graders form their own secret society devoted to Egypt-related things. In the beginning, April moves from Hollywood to an unspecified Californian city famous for its university–her mother is busy pursuing a career as an esteemed actress. April, considered eccentric by many, makes friends with Melanie, who lives in April's grandmother's apartment; they discover their shared interest for imagining, and they invent the titular Egypt Game. Melanie's younger brother, a girl living in the apartment, and two boys from school all become involved in the Egypt game. But soon, a murder occurs, and the children are all cautioned to stay indoors–and the main suspect is the Professor, the reclusive man, in whose storage yard the Egyptians worship Egyptian Gods. Who is this strange human? And, who is the real criminal? This is a great book, full of good dialogue and realistic characters. It's witty and the writing is good too, but at times it seems a little dated, such as when the characters say "fink" and other weird words (this was written in 1967). I would recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction, as it focuses more on the friendships developing between the Egyptians than the actual mystery, though it is still important to the plot.

In this imaginative tale set in a world resplendent with French food, swamps, and alligators, August DuPont endeavors to become a part of society. Up till now, he has been admonished by Aunt Hydrangea to stay inside, lest he be attacked by butterflies. But never could he have imagined that he would be introduced to three humans, all of his own age, while attempting to get Mud Pies. Never could he have thought that, on the next day, he would be introduced to another human, his aunt Orchid Malveu, who instructs him to find a valuable family heirloom. It is still surprising, though, when he discovers that he has summoned a zombie named Claudette from the grave. As August tries to befriend his rich cousins, all while keeping his zombie hidden, he discovers the history of the DuPont and Malveu families: specifically, their bitter rivalry over stolen hot sauce recipes, and he finds out the existence of an ancestor who practiced necromancy using the Zombie Stone, the expensive family heirloom Orchid wishes to locate. What I liked about this book about problems with zombies was its world-building. The imaginative setting where the story takes place, namely, Pepperville, a small town near the Croissant City, situated in a place reminiscent of Louisiana, is very interesting and causes the book to have a whimsical atmosphere. The zombie, Claudette, was amusing. Also, overall, the book was really funny and had good illustrations. The writing was okay: neither good nor bad, and there were too many semicolons in my opinion. But this is an engaging book to read for fun, and it has humor in it, though not much action

In this imaginative tale set in a world resplendent with French food, swamps, and alligators, August DuPont endeavors to become a part of society. Up till now, he has been admonished by Aunt Hydrangea to stay inside, lest he be attacked by butterflies. But never could he have imagined that he would be introduced to three humans, all of his own age, while attempting to get Mud Pies. Never could he have thought that, on the next day, he would be introduced to another human, his aunt Orchid Malveu, who instructs him to find a valuable family heirloom. It is still surprising, though, when he discovers that he has summoned a zombie named Claudette from the grave. As August tries to befriend his rich cousins, all while keeping his zombie hidden, he discovers the history of the DuPont and Malveu families: specifically, their bitter rivalry over stolen hot sauce recipes, and he finds out the existence of an ancestor who practiced necromancy using the Zombie Stone, the expensive family heirloom Orchid wishes to locate. What I liked about this book about problems with zombies was its world-building. The imaginative setting where the story takes place, namely, Pepperville, a small town near the Croissant City, situated in a place reminiscent of Louisiana, is very interesting and causes the book to have a whimsical atmosphere. The zombie, Claudette, was amusing. Also, overall, the book was really funny and had good illustrations. The writing was okay: neither good nor bad, and there were too many semicolons in my opinion. But this is an engaging book to read for fun, and it has humor in it, though not much action

The author Steve Sheinkin tells the tale of an event happening 160 years ago in this meticulously researched nonfiction book; he delves into the world of body snatchers and counterfeiters and relates the story of a plot to steal Lincoln's body and hold it ransom. The story goes: Ben Boyd the noted counterfeiter is arrested, so the boss of the ring, Big Jim, hires a team of counterfeiters, including Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes, to enact the body snatching plot. Yet Patrick Tyrell of the Secret Service is notified, and he promptly hires Lewis Swegles, famed horse thief, to act as a roper, ie, a spy. The story progresses as Swegles gathers information about the plan and Secret Service agents prepare for the planned date of the event. Written in a conversational style and including many interesting quotes from Tyrell's notes and the characters themselves, this book tells an engaging story and has straightforward language; it is also quite informative. This book is an example of good narrative nonfiction, and it's a great book for people of all ages.

The author Steve Sheinkin tells the tale of an event happening 160 years ago in this meticulously researched nonfiction book; he delves into the world of body snatchers and counterfeiters and relates the story of a plot to steal Lincoln's body and hold it ransom. The story goes: Ben Boyd the noted counterfeiter is arrested, so the boss of the ring, Big Jim, hires a team of counterfeiters, including Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes, to enact the body snatching plot. Yet Patrick Tyrell of the Secret Service is notified, and he promptly hires Lewis Swegles, famed horse thief, to act as a roper, ie, a spy. The story progresses as Swegles gathers information about the plan and Secret Service agents prepare for the planned date of the event. Written in a conversational style and including many interesting quotes from Tyrell's notes and the characters themselves, this book tells an engaging story and has straightforward language; it is also quite informative. This book is an example of good narrative nonfiction, and it's a great book for people of all ages.

A whimsical, strange, and absurd book this is, about a child with floating abilities. Barnaby was born on a Friday at 12 a.m. and has floated for many years. His parents are in quite a situation: they try sending him to The Graveling Academy for Unwanted Children but it burns down in a massive fire that nearly kills him. They send him to the neighborhood school; strangely, he gets in the newspapers for first being the 10 millionth person to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and subsequently for his quaint floating condition. The two parents agree to get rid of Barnaby, and it is his mother who finally cuts off his sandbags, which normally prevent him from floating, and leaves him to float to his doom. Now the story starts getting interesting: Barnaby is picked up by two women who own a coffee farm in Brazil. The rest of the book is spent detailing Barnaby's attempts to get back home to Sydney. Somehow, things keep happening, thus ruining his chances of getting on the flight to Sydney. This book is so weird that it was funny: the fact that the principal would allow a teacher to take their students to climb a bridge is unbelievable. Additionally, the author's humor was fun to read. However, the book was repetitive, stressing the same simple theme again and again, which, of course, is "be yourself". Many things don't scientifically make sense: for example, it is stated somewhere that Barnaby floated up to a spacecraft–this does not make sense because he would have died before that. Also, it is just frustrating how in that same exact chapter the astronauts keep saying "We are in middle space". There is no such thing as middle space and it means that the author does not know a lot about astronomy. But all in all, THE TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED TO BARNABY BROCKET was one of the better books I've read.