November Recommendations for Grades 7 and Up Book Club

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Berlin 1942 When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has a word for everything, and big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories.The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. The mad welter of feelings Mattie has for handsome but dull Royal Loomis, who says he wants to marry her. And the secret dreams that keep her going--visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer.Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace's drowned body is fished from Big Moose Lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder.Set in 1906 in the Adirondack Mountains, against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. 

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.

November Recommendations for Grades 5-6 Book Club

Floors by Patrick Carman

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!


The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

In a city that runs on a dwindling supply of magic, a young boy is drawn into a life of wizardry and adventure. Conn should have dropped dead the day he picked Nevery's pocket and touched the wizard's locus magicalicus, a stone used to focus magic and work spells. But for some reason he did not. Nevery finds that interesting, and he takes Conn as his apprentice on the provision that the boy find a locus stone of his own. But Conn has little time to search for his stone between wizard lessons and helping Nevery discover who--or what--is stealing the city of Wellmet's magic.


Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino

In Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino, eleven-year-old musical prodigy, Elvis Ruby, was supposed to win the most coveted reality show on television, Tween Star . None of the other contestants even came close to his talents. But in the middle of the biggest night, with millions of people watching, Elvis panicked. He forgot the words to the song. He forgot the tune. He forgot how to play every single instrument he'd ever known and froze on national TV. So Elvis must run from the paparazzi camped outside his door and spend the summer working with his aunt and cousin at Piney Pete's Pancake Palace in the remote wilds of New Jersey. It's the perfect place to be anonymous, that is until Elvis meets Cecilia, a girl who can't seem to help blurting out whatever's on her mind. An NPR Best Book of 2013

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.