The Book Club Shelf

The Willoughbys

Author: The Lois Lowry

Lexile Score: not yet available, probably in the 900s due to length of words but - alas! - there is a glossary

Genre: fairy tale of the dark and irreverent variety, parody

Maturity level: 3rd grade, although the kindly old man does consider "patting the nanny's behind affectionately as she bends over."  (gasp!)  At what maturity level can children safely discuss offing their parents?

Pages: 174 if you include all postscripts, which you should.   Chapters: 20  Average Chapter Length: 6-7 pages

Theme: parody, fairy tale, love and hate, child-parent relationships

Project ideas: write a subversive fairy tale

First Line: Once upon a time there was a family named Willoughby: an old-fashioned type of family, with four children.

Main Character: No real main character, the story is quite evenly divided between the cast

Review in 25 words or less:  Not sure about this one.  Fun to read, but not Lowry at her best. 

Grade: B

The Willoughbys was really fun and fast to read.  Lois Lowry has stuffed it full of wonderful words and a fast-paced plot.  (The part where the parents die is literally an aside within a sentence it moves so quickly.)  The darkness of the story about children who want to be orphans and parents who wish to be free of their children certainly held my attention, much in the style of A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

I don't know if there is a literary term for this genre - meta-literature?  It is a story that is about stories; in that it pokes fun at fairy tales, refers to classic literature, and constantly calls itself old-fashioned.  For some reason, while reading this, I just felt like these ideas were somewhat tired.  It's almost like the book is too pleased with itself for me to join in on the pleasure.  I certainly think it is clever, and I still think Lois Lowry is the master of middle-grade fiction.  Obviously she wrote this book for the sheer enjoyment of writing - even putting it right on the cover "nefariously written by..."  I have come to expect her work to be so tight, and this book is wildy scattered and full of gaping holes.  She is too good to leave unanswered questions, so there is an epilogue, but it just quickly patches everything up so it can be over.  Thank god she didn't have the candy-inventing old man name his new candy bar "Baby Ruth" as she set up the reader to believe would happen.  That would have ruined it.

As a book club book, I am just not sure what to do with it.  I can definitely say that it has given me a lot to think about, as has every Lowry book, but it isn't because of the themes.  This book has left me considering how I feel about its style.  Would it give students that same discussion fodder?  Will they catch the allusions (well, actually, direct references) to classic literary characters?  Will discussing how to get rid of their parents lead to high level talk?

While reading the story, my mind kept wandering to one question.  Are all children's books tools for teaching reading?  I mean, at some level, all books help us all become better readers.  But, specifically, are children's books - when read by students who are still increasing vocabulary and understanding of literary styles and flexing their comprehension strategies - always tools for improving reading?  I really am having trouble finding what a student would gain from this.  It certainly is a great exercise in vocabulary building, what with its Very Own Glossary.  But beyond that, I think other Lowry books fit the book club shelf better.

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Author: Richard and Florence Atwater

Lexile Score: 910

Genre: realistic fiction  (OK fine, not-so realistic fiction.)

Maturity level: 3rd grade

Pages: 137   Chapters: 20  Average Chapter Length: 7 pages

Theme: Dreaming big, travel, science themes of penguins or antarctic exploration  

Project ideas: Study penguins, mail-order a live one and keep it in the refrigerator

First Line: It was an afternoon in late September.  (um, no offense, but maybe not the best first line ever?  How about, "Mr. Popper filled an ice-cube tray, jamming it into the freezer amongst all the frozen fish."  Just off the top of my head.  OK that's pretty boring too, but you get the idea.)

Main Character: Mr. Popper, and Captain Cook the Penguin

Review in 25 words or less:  Stands the test of time, the story moves along nicely, lots of good juicy words and imaginative scenarios.

Grade: B+

I have read this book five times now with 3rd graders.  For some reason, I always dread rereading it.  But then, during the story, I get back into it.  Some stories are like that I guess.  Some are Re-readers and some are not. 

A few things I somehow forget between readings I would like to write here and hopefully remember for next time:

1.  Mr and Mrs. Popper live in Stillwater!  They also visit Minneapolis.  A study of major cities and states would not be entirely out of place paired with this book.  The penguins visit Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee and New York.  i asked the students what states these cities were in as we read, and I did not get a lot of correct guesses.

2.  The book is filled with fabulous alliteration!  Making note of this early on gets the kids looking for it as we read and cements the concept for them.  Popper's Performing Penguins

3.  This time through, I paused when the penguins made noises: "gook!" and "ork!" were some of the more common ones.  On cue, the students would make the sounds.  It really kept them on track following along, and they seemed to really enjoy attempting the sounds in various intonations.  (How does a penguin ask a question said as "ork?" versus making an exclamation of "ork!")

4.  A few years ago, I attempted to read the entire book as though it were "Mr. W's Penguins."  Each time it read the word Popper, I substituted my last name.  Well, I ended up forgetting fairly regularly, and the kids were more concerned with reminding me than with comprehending the story.  I guess they were paying attention at least.

A great book for book club; not a lot of deep, high level themes to pore over.  A good 3rd grade starter book, perhaps.

Being Teddy Roosevelt

Author: Claudia Mills

Lexile Score: none yet, my guess = 600

Genre: realistic fiction

Maturity level: 3rd grade (the kids in the book are 4th graders)

Pages: 90   Chapters: 10  Average Chapter Length: 9 + an illustration or two per chapter.

Theme: Overcoming obstacles.  My book club students had several other themes that only fit for a chapter or two, such as biographies, music, & forgetfulness

Project ideas:  Research a famous hero and have a biography tea party!

First Line: Riley gave up.

Main Character: Riley, who is studying Teddy Roosevelt.

Review in 25 words or less:  Wonderful middle grade fiction, good themes and fun story lines, personal connections come easy and learning about biographies along the way is a bonus!

Grade: A

This is an absolute must-have for the 3rd grade book club shelf.  Riley is a forgetful 4th grader with a life full of challenges.  He desperately wants a saxophone, as his class will soon be starting instruments in music.  His parents are divorced and there is very little money for such extravagances.  In class, his teacher has assigned the students a famous person to study, report on, and ultimately dress up as for her annual "Biography Tea."  Riley gets Roosevelt and throughout the story finds connections between Teddy and himself - ultimately transcending his obstacles and getting what he wants most.

This book is SO CLOSE to perfect!  I really wish it had more connections between the historical figure biographies and the students studying them.  Specifically, I wish the pairing of Riley and Roosevelt worked out better.  He ends up having to rely on his friends (was that a theme of Teddy Roosevelt's life?) to accomplish his goal.  Some of the connections for the other students are actually quite wonderful - his best friend, Grant, is studying Ghandi and has some brilliant episodes of humility, poverty, and compassion.  One of the girls in class studies Helen Keller and her attempts at blindness and deafness add some interesting scenes, however lacking in actual deep connections.  It would have made for such great discussion to have some more conflict with the students and their biographies. 

I shouldn't take anything away from what is really a wonderful story.  My students enjoyed it thoroughly and had wonderful discussions about earning money, emulating their heroes, and friendship.  I won't put it in the top 5, but it is definitely a staple of the 3rd grade shelf.