October Grades 5-6 Book Club: Posted

For October's Grades 5-6 Book Club, we read Posted by John David Anderson. Anthony, Cassidy, Claire, J.T. and Maida were present. Here's some of what we talked about!

Frost’s mother says, “You find your people and you protect each other from the wolves” (p. 249). How well do Frost, Bench, Deedee, and Wolf fit this description? How does their group change in the course of the book? What other tribes exist at the school? Relate the idea of friend groups to your own experience of school life.

-Bench sucks at it

-I thought Bench was going to be the one who is super-nice to Rose
-Bench wouldn't accept a new friend
-Bench caught one football and is suddenly the super-powerhouse 
-They got in fights at times
-When Rose came, the dynamics changed
-Bench was no longer a part of the group
-Wolf went crazy
-Wolf was telling all of his secrets to Rose 
-Bench didn't get pushed out. It was decision to leave.
-Bench was uncomfortable because he thought that it would only be the 4 of them all of the time
-Under Armour Jocks, Ruby's group, Cameron and his gang, The Gossip Girls, 
-Annoying people, Artsy Crew, people who are smarter than everyone else, Under Armour Jocks, Gossip Girls, Shy people, Annoyingly Stupid 8th Graders, 

Describe Rose and her personality. How do most kids respond to her? Discuss the impact she has on Frost and his crew. Why does Wolf ask her to lunch the second time? Why do you think Rose and Wolf become friends so quickly?
-they don't like her
-they think she's poor
-she's outgoing
-she's risked her life on the Gauntlet
-they are both outcasts
-Wolf saw something about Rose initially that the others didn't see
-if she hadn't come, would the group have stayed together
-Bench didn't want to hang out with girl
-Deedee didn't want her at D&D but she ended up being an awesome warrior princess

Find examples of how Frost compares middle school to a war zone and specifically how he describes the use of sticky notes as a war. In what ways do the comparisons ring true? In what ways are the school and the sticky note exchanges different from war?

-middle school is a war zone because everything is crazy

-the lockers are tiny
-people are crying in the hallway because of too much homework
-people are mean to each other
-people are always mean to each other
-they are the ammo
-they say things that make people offended without the person sending it being identified

-no one actually dies (except for possibly on the Gauntlet)

What effect does catching the football and making a touchdown have on Bench’s life? When Bench and Frost are talking about why Bench changed lunch tables, Bench says, “It’s not even about you!” (p. 331). What does he mean? Discuss how Frost has misunderstood Bench. 

-he turns into a Jock-Boy

-it's about Rose!
-it was also about Wolf
-when he made the touchdown, it gave him an excuse to hang out with a different group and it made him feel like he was special at something

First Evan Smalls rides the Gauntlet, and then Rose and Cameron do. Describe the Gauntlet and how the kids at the middle school use it, including Evan. Why does Rose ride it? What’s her bet with Cameron? 

-as a dare

-as a way to impress people
-as kamikaze
-to get a girlfriend
-Rose rode it to save Frost and Deedee from getting their heads stuck in the toilet
-Rose did it to help her friends
-her bet with Cameron is that whoever falls off first loses. Cameron has to wear a sticky note for the day and the boys would get their heads stuck in the toilet

Discuss the meanings of the words “I’m sorry” that Rose makes Cameron wear, checking a dictionary for definitions of “sorry.” Why does Frost say the note is perfect?

-it's perfect because of all the things that Cameron has done to them, it's to say that he's repentent about what he's gone

-he stuck it on Frost's locker
-pitiful
-did he feel sad or did he have to wear the note to say that he it pitiful

What is the significance of the phrase “Total Roman” on Wolf’s locker? Who wrote them there, and why? Talk about why Wolf, after he sees the locker, goes home and destroys his models.

-after he saw that, he was determined to destroy everything in his past
-I've gotten that mad at people

After the bathroom bullying incident, Rose says to Frost that “telling the principal won’t work” (p. 271). Why does she believe that? After the words appear on Wolf’s locker, both Bench and Frost do tell the principal. Why do you think they decided to do so? What were the consequences, and was it a good decision?

-because they know who did it

-because it was hard to cover up the Sharpie incident
-were you surprised that Bench was already at the principal's office?

In the end, Wolf decides to go to another school. Why does he make that choice? Give reasons that it might or might not be a good move for Wolf.

-Because of Cameron
-he wants to escape the teasing
-he's not running away from his problems; he's solving them by running away

“Words are ghosts that can haunt us forever,” reads a sticky note on Jason’s locker (p. 340). What does it mean? Do you agree? 

-Wolf put it there

-if you say something that is negative, it can haunt you for awhile and follow you around

Rank book 1-5, with 1 being one of the worst books you've ever read and 5 being one of the best.

-Two 3s
-Three 4s
-One 5

Our next book club will meet on Wednesday, November 21 at 3:00 p.m. For November's Book Club, we will read Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart. 

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Grisby has been sent to the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys, a former lunatic asylum which is currently run by a sadist who enjoys punishing the boys and setting them against each other; but when a lightning strike kills all the adults the boys find themselves suddenly free--and trapped on Scar Island which seems to be sinking into the ocean.

Please be sure to pick up your copy of the book and register for November's book club at the Circulation Desk.

November Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

Beautiful Blue World by Suzanne LaFleur

Sofarende is at war. For twelve-year-old Mathilde, it means food shortages, feuding neighbors, and bombings. Even so, as long as she and her best friend, Megs, are together, they’ll be all right.
 
But the army is recruiting children, and paying families well for their service. If Megs takes the test, Mathilde knows she will pass. Megs hopes the army is the way to save her family. Mathilde fears it might separate them forever.



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.

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.

Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. 

Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in.

Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common -- but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.



Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Grisby has been sent to the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys, a former lunatic asylum which is currently run by a sadist who enjoys punishing the boys and setting them against each other; but when a lightning strike kills all the adults the boys find themselves suddenly free--and trapped on Scar Island which seems to be sinking into the ocean.