| Booktalk
#1
Alex Rider is pretty sure the
police are lying to him. Suuuuure his uncle died in a car crash. What kind
of “accident” leaves a car riddled with bullet holes? Yesterday, life was
sweet, living large in London with his wealthy banker uncle, today, the
man who was like a father to him is dead, and all he gets is lies and mysteries.
The problem for Alex, though
isn’t about finding out the truth. Alex is clever and has an unexpected
gift for sneaking around. The problem is that when Alex does learn that
his “banker” uncle was actually a spy working for British Intelligence’s
MI6—MI6 then decides Alex is too good to let go. The utterly ruthless spymaster
running the agency gives Alex a life or death choice—finish his uncle’s
last mission—or else.
Now Alex is going deep undercover
to smoke out an international bio-terrorist and would-be mass-murderer.
No one would ever suspect a teenage kid—right--?
If James Bond were a teenager,
his name would be Alex Rider. Check out the non-stop action of Stormbreaker
by Anthony Horowitz
(by Kirsten Edwards of the
King County Library System for Evergreen
Young Adult Book Award, 2003-2004.)
Booktalk #2
Alex Rider’s parents were killed
years ago in a plane crash. He has been living with his uncle, Ian Rider,
his last living relative. Alex thought his uncle worked at a bank,
but he didn’t know what he did or even that much about him. When
Alex is told his uncle died in a car accident, because he didn’t have his
seat belt on, Alex can’t believe it, because his uncle was always so cautious
about seat belts. A series of mysterious events cause him to go find
his uncle’s car at the junkyard. His whole world is turned upside
down when he finds bullet holes in the car, and realizes his uncle was
murdered! But why? Why would anyone murder a bank employee?
This question leads him to discover that his uncle was a spy. Now,
Alex has to finish his uncle’s mission to get revenge. Will he survive?
Prepared by: Trevor Hansen
and Roberta Rivers for South
Carolina Junior Book Award 2005
Booktalk #3
Bullet holes through the windows
and in the car in his uncles BMW. Alex is starting to smell something fishy
going on but as soon as he starts to get on his bike to tell his care taker
Jacky what he saw, he sees a worker at the dump with a gun in a holster.
So Alex jumps into his uncles broken BMW and hopes no one saw him. No one
did, but when he pops his head up there’s a crane reaching down to grab
the top of the BWM that Alex. It’s too late, one of the claws has jammed
the car doors shut so he try's to claw his way out the window but his leg
is pinned to the ground by a piece of metal holding it to the bottom of
the car. Will he survive…? The story Stormbreaker is about a 14 year old
kid who’s parents died and just now his uncles death has something very
suspicious about it. Like the part that’s there’s a shower of bullet holes
in his car. Alex is forced to sign up for M16 to go spy on
the guy that has something very fishy going on . What will happen next,will
he survive will he die like his uncle or will he save the day? The only
way to find out is to read the book. What will happen? (Shane, student)
Booktalk #4
Alex Rider is a 14 year old
kid whose uncle, Ian Rider, was a spy! One day the police came to
Alex’s door and told him that his uncle had died in a car crash.
Alex finds out that his uncle was in a car crash, but his car had been
shot with bullets and that is how he died. Alex took on his uncle’s
job and became a spy for M16 (which is who his uncle worked for).
He goes to Sayle Enterprise to do the spying. While he is looking
around, he finds out that Sayle is making computers called Stormbreakers.
When Sayle turns all the computers on, a puff of smoke will come out and
all the school children would die. During his journey he always gets
caught and it is very dangerous out there. Read the book Stormbreaker
to find out if Alex stops Sayle from making the Stormbreakers. It
is a very good book! (Alyssa, student)
Booktalk #5
“Mrs. Rider? Anyone home?”
It was the police. What were they doing at Ian Rider’s house, and
in the middle of the night? Alex Rider had lost his parents when
he was young and now lived with his uncle Ian Rider in Great Britain.
He went downstairs to answer the door for the police. “Hello officers,
um, just a question, why are you here?” Alex said. “We are
here because your uncle, Ian Rider, was killed in a car accident earlier
in the night. It was a simple mistake, he forgot to put on his seatbelt
and got hit by another car, then died.” One of the police said. That didn’t
make any sense. Ian Rider always put his seatbelt on. Even
that little thing, Ian never let Alex forget about. Whenever Alex
was in a car, he had to put his seatbelt on otherwise there was the world’s
biggest lecture. He closed the door and went to tell Jackie.
Jackie was an exchange student from America who was living with Alex.
Later in the story, Alex goes
to his uncle’s funeral. “Hello, I’m terribly sorry about your uncle’s
death. I’m Mr. Blunt, I used to work with Ian. I suppose I
should leave you to your thoughts.” When they left, Mr. Blunt bent
over to get into the car and Alex saw a gun in a holster in his jacket.
As soon as that happened, Mr. Blunt grabbed his jacket and clamped it tight.
Alex was wondering if the “accident” really an accident after all.
He was heading back to his house when he saw a moving van there.
Alex looked inside and it was empty except for the shattered glass on the
floor. He decided to go find a phone book and find where that truck
was from. He found it. It was a junk yard. Alex told
Jackie that he was going out for a while and didn’t know when he would
be back. He went to the junkyard and had to dodge all of the workers.
When he found his uncle’s car but it was fine. But when he got closer
to it he could see that it wasn’t fine at all. Now is when
you find out the rest by reading it yourself. (Kristy, student)
Booktalk #6
Alex Rider is on the brink
of homelessness. His parents are dead, his uncle just died, his American
housekeeper/caretaker’s visa is about to expire which means she will have
to be sent back to the U.S. Then he finds out that his uncle, Ian,
who supposedly worked at a bank and died in a car accident, was really
a spy for M16, Britain’s equivalent of our CIA, and the bullet holes in
his uncle’s car reveal the horrifying truth. The agency asks Alex to take
over his uncle’s unfinished mission, which is spying on Herod Sayle, a
big business owner. They believe Sayle, owner of Sayle Enterprises, is
up to something. He has announced that he is going to give one of his newest
products, the Stormbreaker computer, to every school in England.
The computer is supposed to help kids with school. Sayle is Egyptian, and
is supposed to receive English citizenship for his acts. So Alex enters
Sayle enterprises and finds everything normal. They even let him try a
computer and he finds nothing wrong. But with some snooping Alex
finds what horrible things Sayle is really doing. To find out what happens
with Alex read Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. (Andrew, student)
Booktalk #7
This book is a captivating
story about a 14 year old boy on a mission. Alex Rider was a normal
kid living with his uncle… or so he thought. When his parents die in a
plane crash he was sent to live with his uncle Ian Rider. But, when police
knock on his door telling him his uncle died in a car accident he is suspicious,
and when he finds his uncle’s car sprayed with bullet holes he knows something
is up, his uncle’s death was no accident, and he wants to find out why.
He doesn’t have to look far though, people from Royal and General bank
(or so it’s called) approach him telling him they are really a secret spy
agency named M16, and want him to go on a mission, find his uncle’s killer
and see what secret cost him his life. What will happen? Will
he succeed? And who will he run into on the way? To find out
read Stormbreaker! (Ryan, student)
Booktalk #8
Alex dropped his bike and ran
to his Uncle’s car, there were bullets in the driver’s side of the car
and red stains on the seat. Alex didn’t even want to think about what had
happened. He knew he had been told a lie.
Stormbreaker is about a 14
year old boy named Alex Rider. Alex’s parents died when he was young so
Alex moved in with his Uncle Ian. Alex had lived with Uncle Ian almost
his entire life. The bank Alex’s uncle works for tells Alex that his uncle
died in a car crash. When Alex’s finds his Uncle Ian’s car with bullets
in the side and blood stains on the seat Alex knows something else happened.
When one of Ian Rider’s friends, Mr.Blunt, who worked with Alex’s Uncle,
takes him to the bank they pass Alex’s uncle’s office. Alex tries to get
in but it’s locked, so he climbs out the window and lands in his Uncle’s
office. Alex finds a file named Stormbreaker but before he can get to it,
a man comes in and shoots him with a stun dart. When Alex wakes up he’s
not in the office building anymore. Alex doesn’t know where he is until
Mr.Blunt comes in and tells him that his Uncle Ian was a spy and the agency
which is called M16 asks Alex to go into 2 weeks of training then take
the mission his Uncle died on. The mission is called Stormbreaker, and
Alex accepts. M16 tells Alex that a man named Mr.Sayle is planning to ship
out these special learning computers to every school in England and in
return Mr.Sayle is getting something he always wanted, but not what everyone
thinks he wanted. Soon Alex finds himself at Sayle’s house pretending he’s
someone else. At first, every thing’s fine and when Alex tests out
the computers nothing seems to be wrong, but when he finds out that Mr.Sayle
is working with a contact killer, Alex knows that something is up.
When he tries to find out what’s going on, he gets caught, and Mr.Sayles
assistant threatens Alex with a knife, he thinks it’s all over for him.
But then something surprises Alex. Mr. Sayles assistant actually lets Alex
go then tricks him into going to her office to get a phone to contact the
spy agency. When Alex walks up the stairs he’s in for a surprise. Alex
walks into a trap and falls into a big body of water, but when Alex looks
down he sees a huge jelly fish. The worst part is Alex finds out that each
Stormbreaker computer contains a small hidden compartment with a powder
that can kill you. There will be a huge ceremony honoring Mr. Sayle, and
at the ceremony all the Stormbreaker computers will be launched when the
Prime Minister presses a button. Will Alex get out? Find out by reading
Stormbreaker. (Katherine, student)
Booktalk #9
This story is about an ordinary
English schoolboy who never knew his parents and was raised by his uncle,
Ian Rider. Alex is faced with bad news at the beginning of the story. According
to the police, Alex's uncle had died in a car accident. When Alex goes
to inspect the car he draws a different conclusion based on the bullet
holes. Alex then questions what really happens and finds out his uncle
was a spy. Alex is asked to finish the investigation his uncle had started.
In my opinion, this is one of the greatest books I've ever read. Every
part of the book is non-stop action. It's hard to stop reading because
you always want to know what happens next. If you're the kind of person
who loves non-stop action and suspense that won't let you stop reading,
then you've got to read this book. (Brandon, 8th grade, Maroa-Forsyth
Middle School, Illinois)
Booktalk #10
In Stormbreaker, Alex's uncle
dies in a "car accident", but Alex thinks that the cops were covering for
someone. So Alex goes under cover and finds Ian's car with bullet holes
in it. Who killed Ian? If you like fast paced stories, like Lightening
Thief and Swindle, then you will love this book! --Devin Hester's
# Fan, Brookview Elementary, Waukee, IA
Booktalk #11
It's already hard enough for
14 year old Alex Rider, when his parents are dead and he's been living
with his uncle pretty much his whole life, but when his Uncle, Ian Rider,
dies, things get even harder... and stranger. These people that worked
with his uncle ask him a question that will change him forever..... read
to find out what happens!
----Nancy Drew, Brookview
Elementary, Waukee, IA
Booktalk #12
Alex Rider is a 14 year old
boy in a normal life, he thinks his uncle works for a bank. Then one night,
his uncle is driving home and supposedly gets in a car accident. But, Alex
figures out what really happened and goes on a mission to save the world!
---Eragon, Brookview Elementary,
Waukee, IA
Booktalk #13
Alex Rider is a teen who lives
in London. He lived with his uncle and his housekeeper, Jack. His uncle
died and he finds his car because he supposedly had a car crash and was
not wearing a seat belt. However, Alex knew that his uncle would never
leave the block without putting on his seat belt. And what about his office,
why was all the stuff gone? Alex knew one thing, his uncle did not die
in a car crash, he must have died some other way! Alex was going to find
out how!
--- Zelda, Brookview Elementary,
Waukee, IA |
