September Grades 5-6 Book Club: The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

In September, we discussed the book The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.  Cam, Cecilia, Courtney, Harry, Julia, Isabella, Kelsey, Olivia, and Rileigh were present.

Did this story grab you in the very beginning? Why or why not?
-No, because it started off boring

-Yes, because they are traveling but in the beginning it doesn't tell you where. And because they met Hester.
-It caught me in the middle because it described the scenery really well. It got the picture in motion of the story.
-I liked the beginning because it was very detailed.


What did you make of Molly and Kip, traveling on their own? 
-I thought it was mysterious because they arrived at the house in a ragged old cart with a horse. They came upon a spooky old house that could have been any spooky old house. It ended up being mysterious.
-I thought it was weird that there were two kids without any parents with them.
-Some kids do travel by themselves.
-Meh.
-I thought that their parents leaving them behind trying to keep them safe seemed off.
-I thought it seemed normal for a scary story. 



What did you think of the Windsors when you first met them? Did you like them or not?

-I thought that they were evil.
-I thought that they were kind of scary but when we got further into the story, I liked them. I realized that they were a normal family who didn't know what was going on.
-I thought that they were mysterious. And that they were not a normal family because of their appearances. 

Did your feelings about the Windsors change as the book progressed?
-Eventually I started to feel better about them.
-I felt a tiny bit better about them. My feelings about Penny stayed the same because I always liked her.
-My feelings changed toward Mrs. Windsor (Constance) because the way she talks to everybody seemed really mean at first. But then I realized what was happening to her. She was almost dead, almost a ghost. That's when I started to feel sorry for her.


"We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified." The author begins the book with that quote. What do you think it means in relation to this story?

-Their wishes were granted and they almost ended up dead.
-Having your wished granted isn't always a good thing.
-Wishing bees dead means that there would be no more food.
-Mr. Windsor might have got less money because: he has just a little bit of soul left; because the Night Gardener taking their souls means that they don't need as much from the tree; the Night Gardener taking their soul makes them pale;the money became less and less because it had less meaning.

What do think about the idea of stories vs lies? 

"What really made The Night Gardener stand out for me, however, was that the point of the book (insofar as I could tell) was to establish storytelling vs. lies. At one point Molly thinks seriously about what the difference between the two might be. “Both lies and stories involved saying things that weren’t true, but somehow the lies inside the stories felt true.” She eventually comes to the conclusion that lies hurt people and stories help them, a statement that is met with agreement on the part of an old storyteller named Hester who follows the words up with, “But helps them to do what?” These thoughts are continued later when Molly considers further and says, “A story helps folks face the world, even when it frightens ‘em. And a lie does the opposite. It helps you hide.” Nuff said."- School Library Journal

-I think that stories are meant to be happy or sad or whatever, but lies are always the same.
-If you lie, you feel guilty about it. With a story, you don't feel as guilty.  
-A story and a lie can be very similar. A lie is almost always bad. 
 

What other stories about orphans have you read? Consider Anne of Green Gables, the Boxcar Children books, The Graveyard Book, the Harry Potter series, Oliver Twist, The Secret Garden, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. How are other orphan stories similar to and different from The Night Gardener? Why do you think stories about orphans are appealing to young readers?

-Because they are read by kids. By making the stories about orphans, there are no grownups around to boss them around. 
-I think that they are appealing to young adults because there are no adults to limit what the kids can do.
-The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Eight Keys were "orphan books".
-Star Wars too!

Did you think that this book was scary?
-At some points in the story, it was a little scary. "Are Kip and Molly going to die?" and other questions. The knives that Stubbs had scared me.
-There are scarier books: Elmo's World.

Write a short, scary story using these elements:  "giant", "witch", "haunted (place)", "cursed emerald".  We'll compare the results at the end. Three groups of three came up with these stories (or beginnings of a story).

The Cyclops with the Emerald Eye
CRASH! The plane burst into flames, right next to an amusement park. With the cursed emerald. Of course, that's why the plane crashed...  To be continued.

Elevator
Once there was an elevator. A haunted elevator! Zeus was angry at a witch that was in the elevator. She stole the cursed emerald of LATE DETH. Other people were in the elevator. Zeus threw a bolt at her and the elevator plummeted down to the Underworld. 

That is how the elevator got haunted.

The End

Deadman's Woods
One day a man was walking through the dark and disturbing haunted woods. Suddenly, a giant witch threw a cursed emerald at the man! And the man died. Then he turned into a ghost and haunted the cursed emerald for all eternity. One day a girl came walking through the woods and saw an emerald...   To be continued.

The Grades 5-6 Book Club selection for November 12th is Floors by Patrick Carman. This month's book is described as such: "Charlie had his chocolate factory. Stanley Yelnats had his holes. Leo has the wacky, amazing Whippet Hotel. The Whippet Hotel is a strange place full of strange and mysterious people. Each floor has its own quirks and secrets. Leo should know most of them - he is the maintenance man's son, after all. But a whole lot more mystery gets thrown his way when a series of cryptic boxes are left for him . . . boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances. Leo had better be quick on his feet, because the fate of the building he loves is at stake . . . and so is Leo's own future!"--summary. Copies of the book will be available behind the Circulation Desk within the next week. Please remember to register for Book Club so that we know how many people will be attending.