Book Clubs

Don't forget that with the change of grades, it means a change of Book Club group for some of you! If you are going into 5th grade, you will now be part of the Grades 5-6 Book Club. So, be prepared to read The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier for Wednesday, September 10th at 3:00 p.m.!

August Grades 5-6 Book Club: Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis

For August's Book Club, we read Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis. Those attending were Ben, Evan and Harry.  Here are our thoughts...

If I could be a character from this book it would be:

Harry: I wouldn't want to be any character from this book. Most of the characters didn't have good explanations. And a lot of the characters die when they turn 14 and I wouldn't want that.

Ben: I'd like to be Marco because he's so good at sports. I would want to get the treatment.

Evan: I would like to be Cass because of his memory.

Ben: You would never have to worry about learning a second language.

Would you want to become one of the Select?

Evan: Yes, but it depends on whether there's a cure or not.

Harry: No, I would not want to be a Select unless they discovered a cure.

Ben: Yes, so I could summon flesh-eating piranha squirrels (and long story of what he's do with the army of squirrels).


If you were to become one of the Select, whether you wanted to or not, what would your special skill be that would add to the group dynamic? Name a skill that you actually possess and one that you would think you would like to have.

Evan: I could summon one of anything with my hands. I could eat through anything and that is my real skill. I am also invincible. Shape-shifting is something that I would like to possess.

Harry: I would like to possess the skill of one of the elements (fire, air, etc.). Drawing would be my skill. Another skill would be my ability to read the future by guessing what would happen after certain things.

Ben: My skill that I already possess is that I can summon cannibalistic flesh-eating squirrels. My power that I would like to have is to put duct-tape on anyone's mouth at any time.


Would you want to have Torquin's job? Do you think he's as thickheaded as he seems?

Evan: No, I do not want to be unsmart.

Harry: I would not want to have his job and he is as thickheaded as he seems.

Ben: I would not want to have his job and he is as thickheaded as he seems.


Do you agree with Marco's decision to run off with the Loculus?

Eva: I think that she should have because her father had a gun so she really couldn't fight back when he was abusing her.

Harry: I think she should have run away. Her dad was horrible. In the end, she got away from her dad and he was arrested.

Cam: And no one got killed. Except for Mickey's toe.

Do you think that Marco is a bad person by running away? Or is Professor Bhegad because he kept things from the kids?

Ben: Marco is bad and PB is not. PB is a really good person.

Evan: Marco might have been taken. We don't know he ran away. Maybe the bad monks came back.

Harry:The Professor maybe and I have conflicting feelings about Marco.

Please rate this book from 1-5, with 5 being the best:

Ben: I would rank it 7.2/800 but I loved this book. I know this doesn't make sense.

Evan: I would rank it a 5. I liked it and hated it.

Harry: I would rank the book a 4. It was good but it had a few plot holes.

The book for the next Book Club meeting is The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier. We will be meeting on Wednesday, September 10th at 3:00 p.m. Copies of this book will be available behind the Circulation Desk within the next few days. Please come with recommendations for October's Book Club selection. Thanks!

September Recommendations for Grades 5-6 Book Club

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
"One of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century."-Time magazine, on the Fairyland series.Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn't . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass , here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Fiction title for 2011.

Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine
In Caitlin's world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That's the stuff Caitlin's older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon's dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger's, she doesn't know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white-the world is full of colors-messy and beautiful. Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
This much-anticipated follow-up to Jonathan Auxier's exceptional debut, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes , is a Victorian ghost story with shades of Washington Irving and Henry James. More than just a spooky tale, it's also a moral fable about human greed and the power of storytelling. The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. With Auxier's exquisite command of language, The Night Gardener is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making. 

July Grades 5-6 Book Club: Leviathan

July's Grades 5-6 Book Club discussion was on Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. 

Did you understand the steampunk nature of the story, that the author was offering an alternate version of history?

"Steampunk is a style, of books, of clothes, of video games and movies, that draws its 
inspiration from old science fiction stories of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelley," she 
said, "set in a place and time where steam is the dominant form of high technology. It's a 
retro futurism." 

“Steampunk,” is part of the “Alternative History” genre of science fiction and focuses on an 
alternate Victorian age in which steam-driven computers and coal-fired robots are found in 
gritty industrial cities. Though the term was coined in the 1980s as an offshoot of 
“Cyberpunk,” writing in this vein has appeared since the early 1900s, being inspired by the 
work, life and times of Jules Verne. 

Did you prefer the Clankers or the Darwinists? What are the benefits of each philosophy?

Who was your favorite character in the book? Your favorite scene?

Did you like the ending of the book? Will you keep reading the series?

Can you come up with some new Clanker machines? What would they combine? What about Darwinist beasties?

Rate Leviathan on a scale of 1 to 5.



For August, we will be reading the book Seven Wonders by Peter Lerangis.