Our family listened to this book on tape in the car. Our 6- and 9-year-olds were entertained for hours in the car, as the whole family listened to the story. We thought the characters were interesting, and the last couple of chapters really held everyone's attention. I know my children were especially intrigued by how the main character dealt with his fears. It was a terrific way to pass the time on a long car trip.

A Week in the Woods

Rating: 5/5

A week in the Woods is a great book. It is about a 11 year old boy who has everything in the world. Rich parents, a cool house, great friends, and a great life. Then they have to move. This is common for them becasue his parents find better buisness elswhere. This time they move, Mark is really crushed. This was the first place he really loved and now they have to move to a small town in New Hampshire. The first week he gets there he goes to a small public school. He never pays attention in class and is always melancholy and grumpy. Then one day the science teacher, Mr. Maxwell hands out the information packet for a week long, camping trip in the woods. The whole 5th grade is going, but Mark doesnt want to go at all. Then one night he slept outside in his barn. He loved it so he wanted to try sleeping outside in the woods. His parent wouldnt let him so he had to sleep outside with his nanny. Leo, (nanny), also taught him how to snowshoe. Mark loved this. After about a week Mark loved the woods. So Mark gave his teacher his packet and got everything he needed. Finally it was the day. On the first day Mark's friend Jason got out his knife he had brought. He let Mark hold it and the next thing he knew Mark was in the back of Mr.Maxwell's truck about to be driven home! While Mr. Maxwell was talking to the ranger Mark jumped out of the truck and ran into the woods. For all day and all night Mr. Maxwell looked for Mark who was doing great with his food and he had also built a fire. They found each other in the middle of the night. Mr. Maxwell was in a lot of pain. When he was looking for Mark, a bolder had fallen on his leg and he was stuck. By the end Mark and Mr. Maxwell had become great friends and Mark had become much happier. If you want to read about a great adventure, some laughs, and a great story you should read this book.

A Week in the Woods

Rating: 4/5

Title:A Week in the Woods
By:Andrew Clements
Reviewed by: S. Chan
Period: 1

In A Weeks in the Woods, it is about a rich boy named Mark. He moves to a new town, new city, and even a new school. The original neighborhood was rich like him, but his new neighborhood were not so lucky. They weren't poor, but they didn't havew that much spending money. Mark felt kind of wierd, being one of the only people who rode in a very expensive car, wearing fancy clothes, and being so spoiled. One of his teachers, Mr. Maxwell, doesn't like Mark and his bad ways, like being rich, spoiled, and a slacker. However, Mr. Maxwell soon changes his mind about Mark when their class went out camping in the woods for a week. Mark gets lost, but Mr. Maxwell knew that it was important to find Mark, whether he liked him or not. When Mr. Maxwell does find Mark, they got to know each other better, and that ws when Mr. Maxwell cahnged his mind about his student. Mark gets used to his school and neighborhood, and from then on, he was like any other student in his school.

In the beginning, I thought the book was a little boring, since it just introduced the characters and the background of the story, like the setting. It didn't have much interesting actions in the first few chapters. One quote in the book that described Mark's move was,"Next stop, New Hampshire". It tells you where Mark moved and what happened during his move. The following quote describes how MR. Maxwell felt about Mark in the beginning when Mark was still a new student. "Because the only kind of people Mr. Maxwell dislike more then slackers were environmentally insensittive, buy-the-whole-world rich folks". That desribed Mr. Maxwell's first impression of Mark, which was not a good one. Another quote that described Mr. Maxwell's fellings was,"And the only people he disliked more than rich folks were their lazy, spoiled kids".

After the first few chapters, I started to enjoy the book a little. Mark was getting ready for the one-week camping trip with his class. On the second day of the trip, Mark gets kicked out for getting caught holding a pocket knife that was actually his frind's, but Mr. Maxwell didn't know that. Because of that, Mark decides to run away into the forests. After spending one night and one and a half day there, Mr. Maxwell finally finds him. I enjoyed that part because it had more suspense than the first few intorductory chapters.

My favorite part of the book was the end because it had a satisfying ending. It answered all my questions about the book, and I found out that once Mark got used to his new town, he actually enjoyed living there. I was glad that Mark got found, but it would be interesting to know what will happen if he didn't. Would Mark survive in the wild with a limited supply of food and water? Overall, I think it is a very interesting book, and I would recommend this book to readers that like nature and being outdoors.