Al y Oli, dos vampiros sin dientes, by Elvira Alvarez Menendez

This is a funny book. Al and Oli are two vampires without teeth (except for Al). Oli does not have teeth because she is just a baby. Al thinks he loses all his teeth, but it is just grandma's dentures and he puts them on and then he gets his grandpa's dentures and puts them onto Oli. The kids with the dentures hide away, so dad calls the police to see who is after their teeth and children.

If you want to read a funny book about vampires that is not scary, then get "Al y Oli, dos vampiros sin dientes."

The Ice Dragon, by George R. R. Martin

This is a little book, it was shorter than I expected. This book is boring because nothing much happened. Adara is a girl who was building castles and touching little ice lizards and then she touched an ice dragon and then she rode an ice dragon. This book was sad and the boringest part of all was the battle.

[Note from mom: He is right that the book is short. We read it in one sitting in a little over half an hour, the end of each chapter bringing pleads of, "Just one more chapter...", so I don't think he thought the book was boring as we read it. However, it is a sad book, and my guess is that is where the problem lies. We both ended the book with a few tears in our eyes. Adara is a little girl (7, at the time most of the story takes place) who is cold both physically and emotionally, having lost her mother at birth. That in and of itself is sad. During the climax, in a very moving moment, Adara realizes that she loves her family above all, and the cold leaves her. Sacrifices are made, and there is a happy ending, but there is a cost. This is also a graphic book, to some extent. The ugliness and the stench of war are not prettified. The "boring" battle contains descriptions of charred flesh, frozen limbs, screaming, death. It is not as graphic as some of Martin's other work, but it is not your regular kiddie fare. Overall, I think this is a book a 10- or 12-year-old would enjoy. At 7, my kid who cannot stomach Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was a little overwhelmed.]

Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry

One day a girl named Gooney Bird came to school and her classmates wanted to hear stories about Gooney Bird, like how she got her name and how she came from China in a flying carpet. Sometimes things are unexpected, like the flying carpet was not a magic carpet -- it flew out of a van's window with Gooney Bird in it and unrolled! I like Gonney Bird because she has some extraordinary stories to tell her class.

If you like unsuspectingness, surprises, and outrageous real stories, you should read this book.

Gracias a Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo

This book is about when Opal, a girl, goes to a store called Winn-Dixie and saves a pet there that wasn't hers, but she pretended that it was hers. And the first name that came to her was "Winn-Dixie", so that's what she called the dog. Thanks to Winn-Dixie, Opal became friends with a lady who was so blind glasses wouldn't help, the pet store lady who has a guitar, a girl that sucks her fingers, and a boy and a girl that tease Opal for being friends with what they call a witch.

I liked this book because it had friendship -- one girl with no friends would have five friends -- and sadness and funnyness at the end. My favorite character was Winn Dixie, the dog, because she is funny and she is smart. At the end Winn Dixie gets lost, or is she?

Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, by Megan McDonald

Stink is Judy's little brother. In this book he thinks he is shrinking. He is sad because he thinks he will always be shorter than Judy. The book is also about presidents. Everyone likes Abraham Lincoln because he is the tallest, but Stink's favorite president is James Madison because he is just like him. They are both called James, they are both from Virginia, and James Madison was the shortest president.

Whatever happens in the real world, Stink makes a comic out of it. For example, when a toad licks Stink's class newt, he writes a comic where he turns into Newt Boy, a super hero, and Amphibian Man (a bad guy) tries to eat him, but Newt Boy jumps into a vat of hot pepper sauce and Amphibian Man thinks he's too hot and spits him out!

I liked this book because I liked his comics. I liked that at the end he knows that when he was a baby he was taller than Judy Moody when she was a baby.

Judy Moody, Around the World in 8 1/2 Days, by Megan McDonald

Judy is a young girl, 8 years old. Join their adventures in class 3T, learning new things with Rocky and Frank and Amy Namy. This book is about when Judy Moody tries to go around the world in 8 days with Rocky, Frank and Jessica Finch. But Rocky and Frank got mad at Judy. Will Judy be able to get around the world in eight days ALONE? Find out when you read Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1/2 Days.

I liked how there was a problem and a solution like in other books. I learned that when a friend gets mad, they are always still friends. On the way, I learned facts about Italy, tarantulas, and Nelly Bly, Daredevil Reporter.