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A note from Mom: We started this challenge because none of my boys were very interested in reading chapter books. They devoured graphic novels right and left and even loved to draw and write their own stories, but they weren't interested in reading. I told them that if they read 12 books in a year, I would buy them a book at the Scholastic Fair in November. Cole started off slowly until he discovered Percy Jackson, and then he took off like a speed reading demon. He read both Percy Jackson series, the Nine Pound Hammer series, half of the Gregor the Overlander series, and much more. He only wrote about eleven books here, but he definitely read twelve and then some.)
12 Books in 2012
****SPOILER ALERT****
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1) SPACEHEADZ #1
RATING: ****
It is about a boy who meets some weird schoolkids who claim the are spaceheadz. The girl starts eating the boy's pencil.The boy goes home greatly annoyed by them. He tries to call the AAA.(AAA stands for Anti-alien abduction.) The boy tricks the so called "spaceheadz" to go to the pizza parlor to wait for the AAA. Then the spaceheadz prove to him that they're spaceheadz and show him what would happen if the didn't save the world. The boy then tricks the AAA agent into attacking the pizza parlor owner. That's pretty much the end!
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2) JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
RATING: ****
It's about a boy who is treated very badly by his aunts. An old man gives James alligator tongues that can change James' life. He unexpectedly drops them so they run away. The next morning, the peach tree that is in his garden has a giant peach on it. During the night, James finds a hole in the peach and goes into it. Then he finds six giant bugs in the peach, and sets on an adventure with them. (That includes finding cloud men and going to America.) The End!!
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3) THE POWER OF THREE
RATING: *****
Ash Ketchum, along with his friends help, tries to stop Team Galactic from destroying Sinnoh. Team Galactic kidnaps Looker, a member of the international police, and also Team Rocket. Then when looker escapes, he finds a gem and brings it to the police station. Suddenly, the gem explodes. It was really a bomb! When Ash Ketchum finds Team Galactic's hideout, he launches an attack. Team Galactic was almost beaten! THAT'S THE END!!!!
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4) FANTASTIC MR. FOX
RATING: *****
Mr. Fox lives under a tree. He needs food.He goes over to Boggis', Bunce's, and Bean's farms to get food. They get very angry with him. They sit over the hole to get out of Mr. Fox's home. Because of that, Mr. Fox thinks him and his family are going to die. Until Mr. Fox comes up with a brilliant idea. He invites every animal to his hole, and then (again) he steals food from the farmers farms. When he gets back, he announces that all of the animals can stay underground with him for the the rest of their lives! What happened to the farmers, you say. Well you can still see them up there waiting for the fox to come out.
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5) THE LIGHTNING THIEF
RATING: *****
It's about a boy named Percy Jackson, who during school, fights his teacher who turns into a Fury. (The chapter is called "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher.") He fights a minotaur. His mom gets captured, so he has to go to Camp Half-Blood. While he's in Camp Half-Blood, he makes a friend named Annabeth, he gets offered a quest. The quest is to return Zeus' lightning bolt to Zeus. While he's on the quest, he's really hungry, so he goes to Auntie Em's statue factory. While he's there, he realizes that Auntie Em is Medusa. After he beats Medusa, he goes to a big city and fights Echidna. He loses to her but escapes to the river. When he gets back on the platform, everybody blames him for causing the explosion. After that, he fights Ares. After he beats Ares, everybody realizes that he's not a bad guy and blames Ares for it. Then he goes back to his mom and his mom tells him to choose if he wants to go to Camp Half-Blood year round. He chooses not to go year round but chooses to visit Camp Half-Blood one more time before the year is over. While he's there, he gets attacked by Luke. He loses, but escapes, and that's pretty much the end of the book.
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6) THE SEA OF MONSTERS
RATING: *****
It's about Percy Jackson. While at school, He fights Laistrygonians, and that destroys school. Then he goes to camp half-blood and fights automations. Then he finds out that Chiron has been fired. Tantulas, the new activities director, tries to kill him because he and Annabeth leave long island to save Grover. They get on to
The Princess Andromeda and find out it's Luke's
demon ship. They leave immediately. (of course) And go to Polyphemus' island.They trick Polyphemus By pretending they're Nobody. (notice the N instead of n) It works! They get off the island with the Golden Fleece! Then they go back to camp half-blood and heal Thalia's tree! But Thalia comes back to life, and Kronos' plan works! (Chiron gets his job back!)
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7) THE TITAN'S CURSE
RATING: *****
When Percy Jackson is at school (with Thalia) the teacher turns into some kind of lion monster (i don't remember what it is) and kidnaps Annabeth. Then the hunters of Artemis arrive (including Artemis). Then Artemis says that there a great danger and she must stop it. So She calls her brother, Apollo to take them to Camp Half-Blood. While at Camp Half-Blood, They are anointed another quest, to find what ever dark forces are lurking about and destroy them. In the end the dark force is Atlas, and two of the quest members sacrifice their life to finish the quest. The End!!!
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8) THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH
RATING: *****
This book is about Percy Jackson...again. Percy is going to a new school. On the first day of school, he bumps into cheerleaders. He hears a loud, hollow metal clang. The cheerleaders welcome him. Later in the day, he meets the cheerleaders again, and they suddenly turn into some vampire things with metal legs. After Percy defeats them, which sets the school on fire, he runs away and meets his friend Annabeth. Together, they go to Camp Half-Blood. While playing capture the flag, they find a pathway that leads to the labyrinth. Annabeth and Percy are assigned a quest, which is to block off the labyrinth so Kronos' army can't get through. They go through the labyrinth and accidentally end up in the jail that Kampe, the lizard monster, guards. They get out and say that there's no way to block off the labyrinth because it will just heal right up. At the end, Kronos' army attacks. The demigods barely win, but they do win. The End!
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9) THE LAST OLYMPIAN
RATING: *****
Percy is hanging out with his friend Rachel in his stepdad's car when suddenly a black Pegasus lands on his car with a huge rider. Percy knows what this means, so Percy and the other guy fly off. They land on Kronos' demon ship (which was mentioned in the second book) and destroy it with Greek fire. Then all of the demigods go to Manhattan and fight Kronos' army while Percy fights Kronos. Kronos escapes, and Percy and the rest of the demigods go to Olympus. Kronos reappears there. At the end, Luke (who is mentioned in the first book) lets Kronos use his body as a vessel, but he temporarily takes control over his body and stabs a knife in himself. Then Kronos is sent back to Tartarus. That's the end!
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10)
THE NINE POUND HAMMER
RATING: *****
This book is about a boy named Ray. So Ray is traveling with his little sister Sally on a train for orphans lead by G. Octavius Grevol. Ray thinks Sally doesn't need him, so he jumps of the train. Then, while traveling for a really long time, he meets a guy named Peter Hobnob who reckons he is a pirate. He was surrounded by devil's oak acorns. (which are poisonous) He saves Hobnob, so Hobnob gives him a dandelion which will summon Hobnob whenever he wants to. Then he finds a giant named Conker, and a girl named Si. They go to a place called Shuckstacks, where a group of medicine performers are performing (obviously!). When Ray hears some hypnotic singing, he decides to investigate. What he finds is a Greek creature called a siren. She's named Jolie. Ray and Jolie become friends. Then Ray learns of the GOG. An evil mechanic who works for an evil spirit called the MaGog. When the PITCH DARK TRAIN attacks Shuckstacks, Ray finds out that the whole orphan train is in it (with Sally!). So he attacks. WHile he fights the GOG, he recognizes the face. It was Grevol. Conker defeats the GOG but vanishes. Along with Jolie. THE END!
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11) THE MARK OF ATHENA
RATING: *****
Actually, I would rate it 10 stars. It's very good. This book is about Percy and a new character named Jason. The last two books in the Heroes of Olympus Series (which I did not write on this) tell about Percy and Jason by themselves. When it gets to The Mark of Athena, they meet. Jason and Percy arrive at a Roman camp. Their friend Leo, the captain of their ship, accidentally bombards the Roman camp. This makes them become enemies of the Romans, and they have to run away. While away, Percy and Jason have to fight each other. At the end, they rescue a boy named Nico, and Nico tells them where to get to Tartarus. So they go, and that's the end.
