Wednesday, November 21, 2018

November Grades 5-6 Book Club: Scar Island



For November's Book Club, we read Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart. Anthtony, Ayden, Claire, J.T., Madison, Maida, and Reagan were present. This is what we talked about.


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

-Colin because he's a thief and he's sneaky and he's smart
-Colin because he seems smart (if he got the lisp out of the way) and he would be someone I'd like to hang out with
-Colin because he's smart
-Jonathan because he didn't really need to go to Slabhenge but he took the blame for someone.
-Colin because he steals food
-Jonathan's sister because she didn't have to watch Jonathan go to Scar Island



What do you think of Sebastian:

-I think he felt bad for himself and took it out on others

-he felt like he had to be the leader of everyone
-he's power-hungry and evil and he's cool


Talk a little bit about friendship and loyalty in this story.

-Colin was loyal and a great friend to Jonathan. 
-Jonathan was a good person because he went to save Colin from drowning
-at the end, everyone banded together



Do you think it's realistic that everyone got along at the end, even after everything that happened?

-I don't think so
-it's not realistic because it happened so quickly. Sebastian changed personalities so quickly.


Did you like the author's use of only gradually giving out the details of Jonathan's backstory? Did you get frustrated, wanting to know more about his past?

-I got frustrated
-I kind of liked it as well as hated it


How do you think you would have reacted when all of the adults on the island died? Do you think you would have gone along with Jonathan's/Sebastian's plan? 

-I wouldn't have told anyone. I wouldn't have gone along with Sebastian.
-I would have stayed for another day to see how it went and then saw how it all was.
-I wouldn't be on the island in the first place.


What do you think about the ending of the book? Was it a good conclusion to all of the adventures that the characters had? 

-Nope
-It was a cliffhanger


Do you think that there will be (or should be) a sequel to this book?

-There should be a sequel
-There should be an epilogue to every single book
-An epilogue or sequel might ruin the ending of this book


Please rate this book from 0-5, with 5 being the best:

-One 3
-Five 4s

*The readers were generally upset over the ending and the slow reveal of information and feel like they would have ranked it higher if not for those issues.
  

We will be meeting on Wednesday, December 19 at 3:00 p.m. in order to discuss Greetings from Witness Protection by Jake Burt. 

"Thirteen-year-old Nicki Demere is an orphan and a kleptomaniac, making her the perfect girl to portray the Trevors' daughter in witness protection, but she soon learns that the biggest threat to her new family's security comes from her own past."

Please be sure to register for Book Club and to pick up your copy of December's book at the library Circulation Desk.

December Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson

Eleven-year-old Imogene (Impy) has grown up with two parents working at the Renaissance Faire, and she's eager to begin her own training as a squire. First, though, she'll need to prove her bravery. Luckily Impy has just the quest in mind—she'll go to public school after a life of being homeschooled! But it's not easy to act like a noble knight-in-training in middle school. Impy falls in with a group of girls who seem really nice (until they don't) and starts to be embarrassed of her thrift shop apparel, her family's unusual lifestyle, and their small, messy apartment. Impy has always thought of herself as a heroic knight, but when she does something really mean in order to fit in, she begins to wonder whether she might be more of a dragon after all.  


Greetings from Witness Protection by Jake Burt



Thirteen-year-old Nicki Demere is an orphan and a kleptomaniac, making her the perfect girl to portray the Trevors' daughter in witness protection, but she soon learns that the biggest threat to her new family's security comes from her own past.


Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz


Ten concentration camps. Ten different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis, who have taken over. Everything he has and everyone he loves have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner - his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will - and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?



The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall


Arthur T. Owens grabbed a brick and hurled it at the trash picker. Arthur had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head. But none of that matters to the judge—he is ready to send Arthur to juvie forever. Amazingly, it’s the Junk Man himself who offers an alternative: 120 hours of community service . . . working for him.
 
Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things: glass bottles, foil, cardboard, pieces of wood, lightbulbs, coffee cans, and mirrors. He can’t believe it—is he really supposed to rummage through people’s trash? But it isn’t long before Arthur realizes there’s more to the Junk Man than meets the eye, and the “trash” he’s collecting is being transformed into something more precious than anyone could imagine. . . .

June Grades 5 & 6 Book Club: Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor

  For June's Book Club, we read the book  Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor   by Ally Carter.  Nicole, Natalie, and Julianna were...