I first read The House on Pendleton Block over twenty years go. It was my first chapter book. I recently discovered it had been re-released and I was delighted to re-read it--remembering some of the characters and plot points as if I'd read the book last year. While the book's main character, Chrissie, seems to be written for girls, I enjoyed the book tremendously then and now. While Chrissie is not an only child, she is a loner who has a delightful imagination and keen insight. The vocabulary may be challenging for first and second graders, but I don't remember being confused way back when. The book is probably best suited to curious children with broad interestes in art, geography, gardening, friendships with the elderly, and architecture. What a delight to re-visit my first fiction experience!

This is a biography of Lenny Bernstein, in the genre of non-fiction. From when he was a little child, he loved music. The book tells you about him growing up as a music teacher, a piano player, a composer and a conductor of symphony orchestras.

I enjoyed reading about Lenny because there were a lot of things that were hard for him in his life and that he overcame. For example, school - he never had time to do his homework because he took music classes after school. His father hated music because the only music players he knew played at bar mitzvahs and birthday parties, and they only got paid with their meal. They were very, very poor, and he wanted better for his son. But Lenny played music and took classes against his father's wishes. He got through all the problems and grew up to be what he wanted to be.

Yes, I would recommend this book to a friend if you like music. Even if you don't like music, but you are really passionate about something and want to do it all the time, I recommend you read this because it shows that if you love something and you don't stop trying to get it right, you can do the thing that you love all your life.

I learned that a conductor leads an orchestra and a composer writes the music. I'd like to read the books that Leonard wrote and listen to some of his music. Reviewed by Stuart

Judy Blume's "Freckle Juice" is a short tale for young readers, with illustrations by Sonia O. Lisker. Blume tells the story of Andrew Marcus, a 2nd grade student who wishes he had freckles. Things get freaky when a classmate promises to sell him a "secret recipe for freckle juice."

Blume taps effectively into the culture of children's folk magic and urban legend with this tale. I was a bit turned off, however, by Blume's portrayal of Andrew's shrewish, hysterical, overbearing mother. After finishing the book, I thought, "When this kid grows up, he's going to have some serious issues with women!" I also didn't like the fact that the "villain" of the story essentially lies, swindles, and violates classroom discipline and suffers no consequences. Still, "Freckle Juice" is a fun story with a memorable "gross-out" factor.

Freckle Juice By:Judy Blume

This book is about a boy named Andrew who wants freckles like his friend Nicky he counted them and he has 86 of them but all Andrew had was to warts.Than a few days later a girl in his class named Sharon said I hear you want Freckles I have a secret Recipe for Freckle Juice. But Sharon said only if you give me 50Cents and that was a hole week of allowance. So the next day they switched it said . If you want to find out what the Recipe said Read Freckle Juice. By Richard

The following reviews were written by four 7-year-olds in aclassroom book club I led. We studied reviews from Amazon.com beforethey wrote theirs to see how there can be many different opinions on one title:

Rachel says: This book is about a boy named Andrew Marcus and how he wants freckles. I think it is funny because when he gets sick and his mother sends him to bed, she gives him two spoonfuls of stuff that tasted like peppermint and he dreams that a monster makes him drink two quarts of freckle juice three times a day. I would recommend this book to a friend because it is funny.

David says: This book is about a boy named Andrew Marcus and how he want freckles. I like this book better than The One In The Middle Is The Green Kangaroo, also by Judy Blume, because it was more fun to read and I like the story better. I recommend a friend read this book.

Ashleigh says: This book is about Andrew wanting freckles like Nicky Lane. I think this book is very funny because I like drawing freckles on my face. I want everyone to have this book.

Annie says: Andrew Marcus wanted freckles like Nicky Lane. He put freckles on with a magic marker but his teacher, Miss Kelly, gave him soap and told him he was good without freckles. I don't encourage yo to buy this book with your money because it is not a good story. If you want to see what I mean, check it out at the library.