Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden

This case is an international case! The client is Rosamond in Sweden! She tripped there, and had a problem. She bought a troll as a souvenir. But she lost it somewhere. So she asked Nate the Great to find where she lost it with her letter. And she also said that if he don't take this case, she will ask the king of Sweden to find it! Nate the Great didn't feel like taking the case, but he decided to take it for the king of Sweden.
Nate the Great went around asking questions of Annie and Esmeralda. And he took some clues from them. Finally, he found where the troll is from a result of an investigation carried out by questioning and some clues!
I could find the truth like before! I became able to look for an important clue. But Sludge always find the truth earlier than me, and sometimes even Nate the Great! He is also great detective!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2006, "Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed

One day, Oliver bought a weed from Rosamond. Rosamond said that the weed is a special weed, and the special weed’s flower will grow and reach as high as the sky. But the weed looked sick. So, Oliver studied how to make a weed healthy from a book, Wonderful Weeds of the World. So, he planted it in a pot at the porch. After that, he went back to his house for a glass of water. And when he returned to the porch, the weed was gone.
This time, while I was reading, I found the truth! I was very glad, because I’ve never find the end of the matter. The important clues of this matter are the book, the Certificate of Ownership and dirt.
There is my favorite character, Rosamond in this story again. Nate the Great and his friends think her as strange girl. I think so too, but I also think that she is an attractive girl! I really like her. So, while I’m reading the series of Nate the Great, I’m very happy to appear her in the story!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2005, "Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great on the OWL EXPRESS

This case is little different from ordinary cases. A client of this time is Olivia Sharp. She is a cousin of Nate the great. She is also great detective. This case is being a bodyguard of her owl, Hoot. Hoot must see the doctor in Los Angels by a train. But Olivia got the strange letter from someone living at same building. They find that someone is trying to get rid of Hoot from the letter. The suspects are three on the train. They are the lady, the musician and the man like an Owl especially Hoot. But on the way to Los Angels, Hoot disappeared suddenly!
This story is little hard for me even I use the dictionary. But it is the first time I could find the reason! But it is very little. I felt strongly that Nate the Great is always a great detective again!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2004, "Nate the Great on the OWL EXPRESS", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the STOLEN BASE

The great detective, Nate the Great belongs to the baseball team, ROSAMOND'S RANGERS. The members of the team are Rosamond, Annie, Harry, Oliver, Esmeralda, Claude, Finley, Pip and Nate the Great. Rosamond also holds the position of a coach. Of course, she is a strange coach. So, the team is also strange. They use strange things instead of bases. They use a large tuna fish can as first base, an octopus made of gloopy purple plastic as second base, and a large dog bone as third base. But one day, the octopus belongs to Oliver is gone. So Nate the Great tried to find it, but Oliver's room is in a mess. And the clue is very hard to find.
The friends of Nate the Great are individual. Oliver the main character of this story is one of them. He has many eels, and he always follow someone. I like his pure enthusiasm!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2006, "Nate the Great and the STOLEN BASE", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the MUSHY VALENTINE

This case is special valentine case! The dog detective, Sludge was given a valentine from someone! Nate the Great began to find the person who sent a valentine to Sludge. But then, Annie took the case to Nate the Great. She lost her valentine to her brother, Harry. So, Nate the Great took TWO cases at once. But in reality, the two cases are the same case! These cases are directly related to each other!
I thought that this story is very cute! Especially Rosamond put on quite an interesting performance. She is strange and mysterious girl all the time. But Rosamond of this last scene makes me soft and warm! She is strange, but so cute girl!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2004, "Nate the Great and the MUSHY VALENTINE", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the Pillowcase

This case began with one telephone call from Rosamond at two in the morning! Nate the Great has taken and solved a night case of Oliver once, but this case is midnight case. Big Hex which is cat belongs to Rosamond lost its pillowcase, so Big Hex can't sleep. Nate the Great is sleepy detective. But he is also excellent detective. He took the case reluctantly. At last, he solved the case with dawning.
This is the eighth times, I read this series of Nate the Great. I like this story, "Nate the Great and the Pillowcase" the best of all I have read before!


(by Marjorie, W. S. and Rosalind W., 2006, "Nate the great and the Pillowcase", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the BORING BEACH BAG

This case happens at the beach. Oliver's blue, blank and boring beach bag was gone. Oliver needs it, so he asked Nate the Great to find it.
It is the first time, I read these stories of the beach case. But Nate the Great an his friends are very attractive as usual. I enjoyed thinking who is the key person of this case.
To tell the truth, this story is little hard for me to understand without my dictionary. I want to read more books to read English books fluently someday.


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2005, "Nate the Great and the BORING BEACH BAG", A Yearling book)


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Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail

This commission is something strange. At first, this commission is from Rosamond, and the import of it is to find the birthday present for Nate the Great. The people who receive a present searches for it? As a matter of fact, today is not his birthday. Rosamond is still something strange. The birthday present which Nate the Great discovered is also eccentric, and still strange.
But I like Rosamond! She looks very cool and mysterious in appearance, but she is a playful girl in fact!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2005, "Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great Goes Undercover

This is the first time of Nate the Great's night case. His neighbor, Oliver has a trouble. A garbage can of Oliver's house is tipped over every night, so Oliver asked Nate the Great to find out who messes up the garbage can. Nate the Great identify the culprit as a skunk once. The skunk certainly picks over the garbage at night, but it doesn't peck through the garbage can of Oliver's house.
They are back where they started with the case. So, I thought. But it was wrong. Conversely, Nate the Great became certain who is the culprit. The culprit is really shocking for me! I felt strongly the excellence of Nate the Great!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2006, "Nate the Great Goes Undercover", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the MISSING KEY

A little superior detective, Nate the Great has secretly given his heart to Annie. Annie had a trouble. She can't find a key of her house. Today, she will have her dog, Fang's birthday party at her house, so if she can't find the key, she can't have a party. The culprit is Rosamond. Rosamond hid the key in somewhere. The hint of somewhere is "A strange, round, big and safe place". Nate the Great searched high and low for Annie's key. This denouement is also unexpectedly! To put it briefly, "It's darkest beneath the lamp."
In this connection I may add that Rosamond who made the trouble is my favorite character! She is mysterious and strange, but she is also cute and beautiful. She is very charming for me. The series of Nate the Great has many nice characters, it is also attraction of this story, I think.


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2007, "Nate the Great and the MISSING KEY", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the Lost List

This time, the client is Claude. Claude is apt to lose something. True to form, this commission is about his grocery list he lost. A deadline is lunch time. A great detective, Nate the Great begin to find it.
I like the series of Nate the Great, but this story, the Lost List is specially intersting. I really like this. This series is so fascinating because of unpredictability of the denouement, but this end of the incident is very surprising. I thought that the very important have no relation to the grocery list. I missed the important thing. I can't be the great detective like Nate the Great!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2007, "Nate the Great and the Lost List", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great and the PHONY CLUE

This is the series of a little superior detective, Nate the Great. This time, he solved a riddle of paper.
One day, he, Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge found a thin and strange paper. They began to try to find it out. The piece of paper seems to be a torn piece. So, they found other pieces step by step. This case isn't very easy, but he is Nate the Great, finally he brought the whole matter to light! This story is so interesting with many preparation!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2007, "Nate the Great and the PHONY CLUE", A Yearling book)



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Nate the Great

This is the story of one little detective, Nate the Graet. He takes pride in his work. If he is asked, he will hurry to the scene. Nate the Great is an excellent detective who likes pancakes so much.
This time, the commission was from Annie. She lost the picture drawn by her, so she wants Nate the Great to find it. They search high and low for her picture. But they found it nowhere. At last, they went back to Annie's home. Then finally, the superior detective, Nate the Great found the picture!
To tell the truth, I thought that this story is very cheap because it is an illustrated book for children. But my thought was wrong. The denouement was very thoughtful and sensational. I became a fan of Nate the Great!


(by Marjorie, W. S., 2004, "Nate the Great", A Yearling book)



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BOOK REVIEWS #12 (Rapunzel)

Rapunzel is a famous story written by The Brothers Grimm. A disobedient girl, Rapunzel is a main character, and others are wicked witch and brave Prince Hans.

One married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rose lived in a small house on a beautiful garden. But the garden belonged to a wicked witch, so nobody can enter it. One day, pregnant Mrs. Rose wanted green vegetable in witch's garden. Mr. Rose went down into the garden with terrible fear, and pulled up a rapunzel. At that time, he was discovered by the witch! The witch said that she would eat him. Mr. Rose requested leave that for his life. Then, the witch suggested to give her a baby in exchange for quiting to eat him. At last, he accepted her demand.
As soon as Mrs. Rose gave birth to a girl, the witch appeared to take the baby. And the witch named the girl Rapunzel. Mr. and Mrs. Rose lost their precious child.
And then, Rapunzel became more beautiful as her grows older, and also she had long long golden hair and blue eyes. For fear that someone would snatch Rapunzel, the witch shut in a tower with no door in the weird, deep forest. Rapunzel had to be at the top of the tower. And the witch climbed the tower with hung Rapunzel's long hair from her room.
Rapunzel spend boring days, because she saw nothing special, had nothing to do. One day, one prince named Hans happened to pass by the tower. He noticed Rapunzel, and she asked him to the tower to seek help from a restraint from the witch. Then, they thought out a means to escape from the tower. It was that Prince Hans bring a ball of silk, and Rapunzel make a ladder from them.
Their plan was going along smoothly. The ladder became longer, almost completion. But one day, Rapunzel made a slip of the tongue by vocal about Prince Hans. The witch became enraged and transferred Rapunzel to the middle of the desert to never see him! At night, Prince Hans not knowing that, climbed the tower as usual. But the top of the tower was unusual. There was no beautiful girl, but there was a wrinkled old woman. The witch sneered, and pushed him off from the top of the tower. Fortunately, he was saved from death, but he lost his sight.
Prince Hans didn't give up. He was searching Rapunzel everywhere for months. Finally, he got intelligence about a beautiful girl with long golden hair and blue eyes from a camel seller. He hurried to the desert by a carriage. And then, they pledged to meet again! Rapunzel threw her arms around his neck and began to cry filled with joy. Just then, her tears fell onto his eyelids. And surprisingly, his eyes began to operate normally!
After that, they got married and lived in Prince Hans' castle with their children named Pumpkin, Lettuce and Sprout!

Rapunzel is very famous story all over the world. Of course I know, but I have never read it. So, I read it for the first time. And I felt the strength of love and women. Rapunzel is so wonderful story, I think.



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BOOK REVIEWS #11 (The Burglar's Breakfast)

This story is a burglar, Alfie Briggs' one day. He only wanted to have breakfast... But?!

Alfie finished night thieving, and came home to have breakfast. Having breakfast is important thing for him. On his way home, he decided to eat cornflakes as breakfast. But he found that there was no box of cornflakes! And then, he found that there was a trail of cornflakes on the street from the door. It was definite that someone stole his cornflakes, so he started to hunt down the culprit. He traced a trail, and finally found the culprit! It was a dis pleased goat with two sharp horns! Alfie gave up his cornflakes, and changed his mood. He decided to eat scrambled egg for his breakfast.
On his way home, he stepped on shells of eggs beside the hedge. On the other side of the hedge, there was one good-humored fox surrounded many shells of eggs. At that time, he noticed one thing. The eaten eggs was Alfie's! Alfie decided to eat sardines as his breakfast with anger.
But there was no sardine in his refrigerator. He had somebody who stole his sardines in mind. His expectation was right. A cat stole his breakfast! He became very angry, and kicked it out of the house. The left alternatives of breakfast menu was a few. Next, he choose waffles for his breakfast.
There weren't waffles he wanted. There were just beaten waffles. Two mice were culprits, but they didn't eat whole waffles. Still, Alfie had no mind to eat waffles. Then, he spotted one thing in a kitchen.
It was a juicy grapefruit! So, he need only the sugar now. But the sugar was stolen by creepy ants! Furthermore, the ants stole the sugar under Alfie's nose! Alfie was roused to anger, and threw away the grapefruit with breaking through the window.
Finally he went out to have breakfast, and had enormous breakfast at a cafe. But he was not in the mood, because he felt the feeling of burgled people for the first time. He decided to wash his hands of burglar. At that time, he found an article on a newspaper. It was an advertisement offering employment of a detective service office. He thought back to what he did today. He followed a trail of cornflakes, tracked down his eggs and devious fox, caught a cat which stole Alfie's sardines, and spotted that creepy ants stole the sugar. He had confidence to be a detective in himself.
In fact, the detective office hired Alfie the same day. There was no precedent like Alfie. But he became an expert detective, and he was actively involved in catching many crooks.

This story is one burglar's one. But there is somehow a warm, friendly atmosphere in this story. Alfie is lovable person, I think.



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BOOK REVIEWS #10 (The story of Chocolate)

This story tells the history of chocolate. So many people participated in advancement of chocolate.

The beginning of chocolate's history is a thousand years ago. The people lived in the rainforest in central America, Mayan tasted pods of cocoa trees. They let the beans of cocoa trees rot under banana leaves, and dried them in the sun, then ground the roasted beans into a paste, and in conclusion stirred them in water with spices. They drunk them for pleasure. But to tell the truth, it was very bitter. And then, Mayan began to cultivate cocoa trees. Even more, Mayan kings and priests drunk it every day, and cocoa beans used as tool of a ceremony in a wedding, or as money. Chocolate is so important for Mayan. In evidence of that, they painted cocoa trees on their pots, walls... everything!
Hundreds of years later, a group of merchants visited Mayan village to find exotic goods to dedicate to their emperor. They are called Aztecs. Mayans presented Aztecs cocoa beans. Aztec merchants brought back them, and emperor had a liking for them. But getting cocoa beans was hard for Aztecs, so poor people couldn't get them. A chocolate dream of the poor spread rapidly. They thought that chocolate came with the god, Quetzalcoatl from a paradise. They built grand temples to deify Quetzalcoatl, and offered chocolate drinks.
In 1519, a Spanish explorer, Hernan Cortes invaded Aztec. They had many battles. Emperor of Aztec, Montezuma wanted to make peace, the battles ended. Montezuma gave Cortes chocolate drink. But Cortes kept Aztec under Cortes' control. In 1528, Cortes carried back so many treasures of Aztec including cocoa beans. After that, Spanish prince, Philip heard about the drink, and sent to central America for some Aztecs. He got chocolate paste from them, and made it more sweeter and hotter. A gossip of chocolate spread, and drinking chocolate is all the rage with rich people.
Improvement of many equipments brought big business of turning cocoa beans into chocolate drinks. In 1847, an English chocolate maker succeeded making chocolate bar by trial and error! With this as, so many chocolate makers started making chocolate bar, and there was a trend for trying to give birth to new style of chocolate. In 1883, one candlemaker made delicious milk chocolate.
By the 20th century, the today's methods of making chocolate bars accomplished, and so many chocolate makers competed to invent new great chocolate. In 1907, Milton Hershey made new shape chocolate. It named "Kisses" and it was a big hit. In 1912, an American candy maker, Howell Campbell made first mixed chocolate snack. He stirred peanuts, caramel and marshmallows into chocolate, and he called it "Goo Goo Cluster". That same year, another big invention was born. A Belgian chocolate maker, Jean Neuhaus invented hard chocolate shells to stuff mixed chocolate in them. After that, so many factories (large or small) got heated about making original chocolate snack.
In 1824, John Cadbury opened a tea and coffee shop in England. He also sold original chocolate drink. After his shop succeeded, he organized a cocoa and chocolate factory. In 1911, Frank and Ethel Mars began to sell homemade butter-cream candies. In 1923, a melted milk chocolate bar they made caught on! It was nougat with caramel and milk chocolate on its top. After that, in 1941, their son named Forrest invented never melt with body temperature chocolate snack. It's sugar-coated chocolate drops. They named it M&M's, because the chocolate drops were made by Mars and an American, Bruce Murrie gave some money for their project. Now, we can buy it all over the world.

I really like chocolate! But I didn't know the history of chocolate. I'm glad to know about that.



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BOOK REVIEWS #9 (THE DINOSAURS NEXT DOOR)

One inventor Mr. Puff lives in a tall, little odd house. His neighbor and friend is Sam. Sam often visits Mr. Puff after school and see many his inventions.

One day, Mr. Puff showed one thing to Sam. They were dinosaurs eggs! Just then, one blue spotted egg began to jiggle and finally hatched! After that, others also hatched and there are four little dinosaurs! Mr. Puff and Sam fed them some cat food and salad after the dinosaur book belongs to Sam.
As days go by, dinosaurs grow and become bigger and bigger. Mr. Puff began to feel fear of them. So, Mr. Puff talked about that to Sam. Sam said him "Can't you invent something to stop growing of them?" The words impressed Mr. Puff, because Mr. Puff invented a machine to make things shrink or grow.
They made dinosaurs shrink with the machine smoothly. But when then try to shrink last one at the bathroom, Sam slipped and missed the target. Mr. Puff and Sam became as small as dinosaurs! So even small dinosaurs was mighty menace for them. But then, the cat which was so big for them of Mr. Puff helped them.
They began to ready for returning to their original sizes. They got to the extent of shifting the lever of the machine. If they shift it, they will be able to return. But they are too small and light to shift it. Just then, Mr. Puff's cat jumped on the machine and shifted it with her paw. They returned to real them! Then, Mr. Puff and Sam caught the small dinosaurs in a harry.
After that, Sam often came to saw Mr. Puff's cat and gives her a saucer of milk as a proof of his thank.

I really like dinosaurs since I was a little girl. I don't know the cause of that, but I had so many books or picture books about them and I liked watching them. So, this story made me so excited!



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BOOK REVIEWS #8 (JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE)

This story is about long ago in Greece. There was a boy, Jason who was to have been the king of the island Iolcos. The throne was stolen by his uncle, Pelias.


When Jason had grown into a fine young man, he decided to get back his throne from Pelias and visited him. But Pelias set troublesome conditions as reward of the throne. It was to bring the Golden Fleece which was far away in a place, Colchis. Jason accepted his demand unwillingly.

After that, man named Argus built his ship. And Jason collected the crew. Then, so many people hoped to join his adventure. They were Orpheus (a musician and a beautiful huntress), Hercules (the strongest man in the world), North Wind's twin sons (who has wings on their ankles) and so on. Jason received all the people. Jason named the ship Argo and crews Argonauts.

After a departure, they had many obstacles, for example a battle with so big and hairy king Amycus, removing Harpies and escaping from clashing rocks. But they got through them in cooperation with crews.

At last, they reached Colchis. Jason visited the king of Colchis, Aeetes. And Jason told him the reason why came here. But Aeetes attached a condition that digging up a field with tame two bulls and sow the field with dragon's teeth. Jason and crews didn't know what to do.

At that time, there was a person who tearing her hair out in the palace. It was Medea, Aeetes' daughter. She fell in love with Jason at first sight and heard Aeetes' impossible condition. She racked her brains how to help him. Then, she asked the goddess, Hecate for help. Hecate told her to make a magic potion with herbs from the woods and Medea obeyed the order. She asked Jason to drink completed it. Everything is ready.

The next morning, the battle with two bulls started. Two bulls had huge brass hooves and sharp, scary horns. They also breathed out fiery breath. But it had no effect for him with the magic potion. Jason had no trouble tamed two bulls and discharged his duty.

And then, where he'd sown the teeth, soldiers were growing out of the ground. Jason couldn't compete with so many soldiers, so he threw a big stone into the ground. The stone killed one soldier. Just then, soldiers began to look for the culprit and killed each other. Jason avoided the crisis.

At last, time came to get the Golden Fleece. But Aeetes planned that his army will burn Argo and kill all the crew tonight. Medea overheard that plan, and she let them know about that in a hurry. So Jason instructed his crews to hide in Argo and went out to get the Golden Fleece with Medea soon.

The Golden Fleece was hung from the massive oak tree's branches and guarded by vast and scary snake. So, Medea put the snake to sleep with the magic song. Jason took advantage of a momentary chance and got the Golden Fleece!

After that, Argo departed soon, but Aeetes who heard the news chased after them. After all, Argo was surrounded by his army. Just then Medea proposed one idea. It was to kill her brother, Absyrtus who was in charge of the ships. They practiced that idea and Medea killed her brother with her hands.

The strategy succeed, but Medea was tortured by a feeling that her has done wrong. So, they stopped at the island to ask the gods for forgiveness. Circe who is a beautiful enchantress said "The gods have forgiven you!" They felt easy to heard that and they went back to Iolcos with the Golden Fleece. Finally, Jason became a king of Iolcos and Medea became a Queen.


This story is rewarding to the reader for me! ... I know the summary is too long, but this book has so many good scenes!



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BOOK REVIEWS #7 (The Incredible Present)

This story's main character is a girl whose name is Lily. Her parents are out to follow in the footsteps of the explorer with their balloon, so she lives with her Granny.

Tomorrow is Lily's birthday. But her parents aren't in their house. She was looking forward to her birthday present from them.

At the birthday, she got four presents including from her parents' present. She opened them in order. The contents are a book (to learn 1001 boring facts), a basket of smelly soap and a box of writing paper. But they couldn't please her. Then, last present was from her parents. It was a small box with a label. The label said that this bag can bring anything you want! She lost no time in requesting some crayons. And there was a box of six crayons! She pleased that, made a list of things what she want. But at that time, she noticed that there was another label with the bag. The label said that the bag could bring only six things.

She thought over and requested three things. They are a bed-making robot, a space buggy and a witch's kit with real spells in it. But every her hopes went something wrong. The result irritated her. To boot, her birthday lunch is not special, spinach. So, she wanted a zapper that turns all your greens into chocolate ice cream, and she zapped spinach with what became real. But against her will, a zapper turned ALL the green things into chocolate ice cream! A lawn, trees, Granny's hat... Everything in sweet brown!

So, she hoped last time to bring her parents. In a moment, they came their home by a balloon and returned into the bag. A bed-making robot, a space buggy and a witch's smelly CAT vanished and so many chocolate ice creams returned into green. And they told her that they stop exploring and being an inventor beside her. She was very glad to hear that. The family started new happy life with all the member of family.

This is not an ordinary fantasy story. This story tells us preciousness of the family. It's real heartwarming story.

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BOOK REVIEWS #6 (The Canterville Ghost)

Main characters are the Otis family and the Canterville Ghost, Sir Simon Canterville. The members of that Otis family are Mr. and Mrs. Otis and their four children. Also there are twins. And Sir Simon lived at the Canterville Castle. But five hundreds years ago, he murdered his wife. And seven years later then, Sir Simon also disappeared.

One day, the Otis family moved in the Canterville Castle. The former resident warned that this castle is haunted, but every member of the Otis family didn't care about that. Meanwhile, Mr. Simon planned how to surprise the Otis family. But no matter how many times he surprised, Mr. Otis corresponded to him coolly and the twins surprised him conversely or worked mischief. Because of that, Sir Simon became exhausted. And finally, Sir Simon disappeared. So, everyone thought Sir Simon was no more. But some weeks later, Mr. Otis's daughter, Virginia found Sir Simon in the strange room. Virginia blamed Sir Simon for his mistake which he killed his wife. But she pitied him to hear he was starved to death. So, she decided to help him to he can sleep calmly. The way was praying with him in his secret chamber. After that, the Otis family gave his fine funeral. At last, Sir Simon could go to his long sleep.

Before I read this story, I thought this is scary story. But it was wrong. I really emotioned. I will add this book to my favorite books.

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