Book Review – Elsewhere

Title: Elsewhere                                                                                                                                             

Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 271

When 15 year old Liz is killed by a taxi in a hit and run accident it is a big shock to her and her family. Liz wakes up in a bunk bed on a boat called the S.S Nile; she doesn’t know how she got there so she thinks she is dreaming. She meets some people on the boat and soon realises that she’s dead and on the way to a place called Elsewhere. Once Liz arrives in Elsewhere she meets up with her grandmother, Elizabeth that she was named after, who passed away before Liz was born. Liz’s grandmother helps her to feel at home but Liz still really misses her family and friends back on Earth.

 I really liked this book because it was very captivating and I hardly ever got bored while reading it. One part of Elsewhere that I found particularly interesting was that it was from Liz’s point of view and her looking back on Earth. I also thought it had a good sort of moral, to live everyday like it’s your last because it could be and you never know when you’ll have to leave Earth.

 Something else I enjoyed was how it was kind of like an alternative world and how mainly, things were different but some things also resembled Earth. In Elsewhere, instead of getting older, the people there get younger until they are babies again and can go back to Earth to start life again. This was a differently good feature of Elsewhere.

 I found it very hard to find anything really bad about this book but one thing that was slightly annoying was at the start. That was, the prologue was from the dog Lucy’s point of view. This made it kind of confusing at first when it then went into being from Liz’s.

 My favourite character in Elsewhere was Liz, the main character. I liked it how she was a realistic character and I thought she dealt with death pretty well. Another character I liked was Alvy, Liz’s younger brother back on earth. When Liz tries to communicate with her family on earth, Alvy’s the only one who believes that she could still be there. He has a very positive attitude and I think that’s good.

 This book was very enjoyable to read and took me on a journey through another world. I rate it 10 out of 10 and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who would like a good fiction read.

 By Sophie

I chose to put this book review on my blog because I really liked this book and if people who read my blog read this, then they might want to read Elsewhere. A book review is a good  way of retelling a book and saying the good and bad points of a book from my point of view.

Week 6 Term 2

This week in maths I have learned how to multiply fraction. First, multiply the denominator (bottom number) by the other denominator and the numerator (top number) by the other numerator. example — 1/3 x 2/5 = 1×2 =2 and 3×5 =15. so it would be 2/15. If it’s a mixed fraction like 2 4/5 just change it into an improper fraction before multiplying.

In English I’m still  learning about taking notes and using them to write a report. So far I’ve written one about elephants and I’m now starting one about cheetahs.

In band I’ve been learning a new song on my flute called The Phantom of the Opera. It’s really hard because it has lots of runs.

For the tech art that I’m doing at the moment is Fabric. In fabric so far I’ve learned about the different care labels on fabric, designed my jersey, made up a personal logo using the first letter of my first name, S.

This term everyone in my school has to participate in science fair. My topic question is ‘What is the effect of different substances on the melting time of ice?’ So far I’ve started researching about ice melting and have started my log book.

My goals for next week are

• To have done some more on my science fair
• To have finished both my book reviews that are due in week 6 and week 11.
• To have finished my report about cheetahs. 

Week 5 Term 2

This week we have started a new tech art, fabric. In fabric this year, my goal is to make a polar fleece jersey with a hood and pocket. The colours I’m having are purple, pink and black. Last year in fabric I made a bag, pencil case, ball and cushion.

In maths this week I have been l learning about comparing, adding and subtracting fractions. I’ve learned that, to compare fractions, it’s easy to change them into decimals, order them, then change them back. To add and subtract fractions, first make the denominators (bottom number)  then add the top numbers.

In English I’ve been learning how to correctly use dialogue punctuation, the punctuation used in speech. Like when to put a comma in a speech. Also I’ve been learning about note taking and topic sentences. A topic sentence is the main sentence in a paragraph.

Last week on Monday, me along with most of the band and choir members at TAI went to Totara Springs Music Camp. We rehearsed for hours the n on Tuesday night there was a concert where we showed the parents what we had learned. I’m in senior band and we learned to play some new pieces such as Bridge Street March and Stand By Me. On Wednesday we all came back to TAI very tired.

My goals for next week

• To have some planning done for my jersey in fabric.
• To finish some more of my maths
• To have a better understanding of dialogue punctuation by writing a story with speech in.

Week 3 Term 2

So far this term I have been doing music for tech arts, in music I have learned how to play some simple songs on the keyboard, made up some small songs with different sort of rythms and played them on the keyboard.  This term so far I’ve been doing probability in maths. I’ve learned how to do tree diagrams to show options and how probable they are. In English I’ve been doing vocabulary work like finding what a word means in the dictonary and picking out the word that  doesn’t belong in a group, for example  out of these words, maple oak bush fir elm, bush doesn’t belong. In band I’ve learned a new song, My heart will go on, from the movie Titanic. In french we’ve been learning how to talk about our families and we’ve been reciting numbers 1 to 20. In class for writing we’ve been doing explanations, so far I’ve written one about insects and now I’m working on one about how ice melts. Writing a explanation about how ice melts will help me with my science fair profect which is about which substance melts ice the fastest.

My goals for next week

To finish one of the book review for this term.

To finish my explanation on how ice melts.