The Book Club Shelf

Indus Mock Newbery

[*Edited Jan 4, 2008:

We have narrowed our list down to the top seven based on reviews during the month of December.  We plan to meet Thursday January 10 after school to pick a winner!  Our list is very graphic (as in, picture-ish) - will the Newbery even consider some of these?  Only a week until we know for sure!  I struckthrough the books we have eliminated...]

Our school staff is currently in the thick of a Mock Newbery reading frenzy.  I had no idea the concept would catch on so well!  There are over ten teachers and staff who are reading books from our reading list - I catch people all day long having conversations about their critiques of the books.  We made a huge bulletin board with images of all the book covers, and people (including students!) are tacking their little "review forms" up on it.  It is getting quite impressive looking!

Our Reading List:

True Meaning of Smekday
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Remembering Mrs. Rossi
Feathers
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
How to Steal a Dog
Just Grace
Tracking Trash
How it Happened in Peach Hill
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Reaching for Sun
Cowboy & Octopus
Leepike Ridge
The Snowbaby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary's Daring Daughter

The Cricket in Times Square

Author: George Selden

Lexile Score: 780

Genre: Fantasy?

Maturity level: 1st grade+

Pages: 152  Chapters: 15  Average Chapter Length: 10 pages/ with pictures

Theme: Empathy,

Project ideas:  Get a pet cricket?  Build a cricket cage?  Maker an advertisement poster for Chester's concert?

First Line: A mouse was looking at Mario.

Main Character: Equally divided between Chester cricket, Harry the cat, Mario the boy and Tucker, the mouse.

Review in 25 words or less:  Certainly stands up to time, easy readable chapters, good sense of New York/ Chinatown culture, kids love it!

Grade: B+

  Good story, well told.

 

Links:

Edhelper CITS unit

CITS wiki

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Author: C.S. Lewis

Lexile Score: 940

Genre: Fantasy

Maturity level: Third grade and up.

Pages: 189  Chapters: 17  Average Chapter Length: 11 pages (including a picture or two per chapter)

Theme: Good vs. evil, trust, religion,

Project ideas:  I brought in some actual Turkish Delight to have the students try - make sure to use REAL lemon extract :)  It was good, but could have used more flavor.  I had the students make paper dolls of the Pevensie kids, coloring them on one side and writing details about the character (character maps) on the other.  Not too exciting, but it worked ok.

First Line: Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

Main Character: Despite the ambiguity of the first sentence, they are: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy

Review in 25 words or less:  Timeless classic.  Is there a childhood fantasy missing?  Let's see: save the world, ride a lion, become king or queen, battle centaurs, know more than all the adults do; check, check, double-check.

Grade: A+

A great story with so much to visualize.  I forgot how the last chapter is full of more complicated, proper "King-and-Queenly" english.  I read it aloud, I wondered how that chapter would have been grasped by my students had they read it alone.  Still my favorite: Giant Rumblebuffin - a personality that lives up to the name.

Author: C.S. Lewis

Lexile Score: 940

Genre: Fantasy

Maturity level: Third grade and up.

Pages: 189  Chapters: 17  Average Chapter Length: 11 pages (including a picture or two per chapter)

Theme: Good vs. evil, trust, religion,

Project ideas:  I brought in some actual Turkish Delight to have the students try - make sure to use REAL lemon extract :)  It was good, but could have used more flavor.  I had the students make paper dolls of the Pevensie kids, coloring them on one side and writing details about the character (character maps) on the other.  Not too exciting, but it worked ok.

First Line: Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

Main Character: Despite the ambiguity of the first sentence, they are: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy

Review in 25 words or less:  Timeless classic.  Is there a childhood fantasy missing?  Let's see: save the world, ride a lion, become king or queen, battle centaurs, know more than all the adults do; check, check, double-check.

Grade: A+

A great story with so much to visualize.  I forgot how the last chapter is full of more complicated, proper "King-and-Queenly" english.  I read it aloud, I wondered how that chapter would have been grasped by my students had they read it alone.  Still my favorite: Giant Rumblebuffin - a personality that lives up to the name.

Lookybook

OK This is way too cool - would it ever catch on?  Is it legal?  (Click the book, then click through the pages!)

The True Meaning of Smekday

Author: Adam Rex

Lexile Score: grrrr... I'm going to give up on Lexile if they don't start getting more current. (no score as of 12-2007)

Genre: Science Fiction

Maturity level: I believe this book could be appreciated at a number of different levels.  I don't think there is anything too overly violent or mature for a 3rd grader.  The main character's mom is abducted by aliens - extremely sensitive 2nd graders would maybe perhaps be at least considering some small piece of something resembling worry?  It may just be a bit long for younger readers, unfortunately.

Pages: 432  Chapters: No chapters, really, but sections are broken up with graphic storytelling Average Chapter Length: uh...

Theme: OK besides the obvious: aliens protecting humans from other aliens, How about racism, consumerism, or environmental conservation?

Project ideas:  Yikes.  Make a one-page graphic story of Tip & J.Lo? 

First Line: It was Moving Day.

Main Character: Gratuity "Tip" Tucci (all-time classic main character) and her Boov-friend, J.Lo

Review in 25 words or less:  Instant Classic.  Newbery Winner.  Subtle humor, obvious humor, keep-you-on-your-toes wordplay and inference; dazzling adventure and brilliant graphic novel sections

Grade: A+

This story is instantly in my top five favorite books.  I think that a book club would be all over it - there is a lot to discuss just simply taking the story at face value.  And then there is the neverending stream of allusion, allegory and metaphor that would keep a discussion well-fed for hours.  And then if you were still looking for something to talk about, there are the obvious themes of redemption, loyalty, and friendship.  Still not done discussing?  How about the underlying themes of racism celebrity, power, consumerism.

Links:

www.smekday.com