January 2020 Grades 5-6 Book Club: The Nameless City

For January's Book Club, we read The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks. Ian and Sophie were present. This is what we talked about.


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

-I would want to be Kaidu because he's awesome
-I would want to be Rat because she is acrobatic and can jump from roof to roof.

What did you think of the relationship between Kaidu and Rat? Did you find it believable?

-Yes because anybody can be friends.
-Opposites often become friends in books.

Would you like to have known more about Rat's background?

-Yes


Would you like to know more about the Nameless? Do you think that they had justification for trying to assassinate the General of All Blades and his son?

-I would like to know more about them.
-They did not want to take the name of their occupiers.
-The assassination attempt was not justified but it also was not as extreme as what could have happened.


What feelings did this book evoke for you? Did you feel like you could relate to anything in the book? 

-Exhilaration.
-I'm like Rat in that people don't pay attention to me.
-Non-stop action and I didn't want to put it down.

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

-Yes. But there is still a lot for them to do. 

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

-See above.

If you got the chance to ask the author of this book one question, what would it be?

-What is up with Rat's hair?
-Why does Rat have so many scars?
-Why didn't Rat steal the food for herself? Why did she rely on Kaidu? 

How original and unique was this book?

-I thought the plot was pretty original.
-The storyline was completely original to me.

What did you like least about this book?

-Rat is so picky. She wants Kaidu to bring her some food, she gets mad when Kaidu can't do the physical feats as she can.
-The dad could have been more of a dad to Kaidu.

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

-4
-4

We will be meeting on Wednesday, February 19 at 3:00 p.m. in order to discuss 

Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood. With Nazis bombing London every night, it’s time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. He suspects his stepmother is glad to see him go, but his dad says he’s one of the lucky ones—one of ninety boys and girls to ship out aboard the SS City of Benares to safety in Canada. Life aboard the luxury ship is grand—nine-course meals, new friends, and a life far from the bombs, rations, and his stepmum’s glare. And after five days at sea, the ship’s officers announce that they’re out of danger. They’re wrong. Late that night, an explosion hurls Ken from his bunk. They’ve been hit. Torpedoed! The Benares is sinking fast. Terrified, Ken scrambles aboard Lifeboat 12 with five other boys. Will they get away? Will they survive? Please be sure to register for Book Club and to pick up your copy of February's book at the library Circulation Desk.

February 2020 Grades 5-6 Book Club Suggestions

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz

Survive. At any cost.

10 concentration camps.

10 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?


Based on an astonishing true story.





Lifeboat by Susan Hood

With Nazis bombing London every night, it’s time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. He suspects his stepmother is glad to see him go, but his dad says he’s one of the lucky ones—one of ninety boys and girls to ship out aboard the SS City of Benares to safety in Canada.

Life aboard the luxury ship is grand—nine-course meals, new friends, and a life far from the bombs, rations, and his stepmum’s glare. And after five days at sea, the ship’s officers announce that they’re out of danger.

They’re wrong.

Late that night, an explosion hurls Ken from his bunk. They’ve been hit. Torpedoed! The Benares is sinking fast. Terrified, Ken scrambles aboard Lifeboat 12 with five other boys. Will they get away? Will they survive?





Once Was a Time by Leila Sales

In the war-ravaged England of 1940, Charlotte Bromley is sure of only one thing: Kitty McLaughlin is her best friend in the whole world. But when Charlotte's scientist father makes an astonishing discovery that the Germans will covet for themselves, Charlotte is faced with an impossible choice between danger and safety. Should she remain with her friend or journey to another time and place? Her split-second decision has huge consequences, and when she finds herself alone in the world, unsure of Kitty's fate, she knows that somehow, some way, she must find her way back to her friend.