February Grades 5-6 Book Club: The Illuminated Adventures of Flora & Ulysses

For February's Book Club, we read Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo. Here's a bit of what we discussed, based on Candlewick Press discussion topics.



What’s in a name? This book includes funny names, literary names, rhyming names, and superhero names. Which character do you think has the most fun-sounding name? What, if anything, can a name tell us about a character? 


The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto! is Flora’s favorite comic book. It includes special bonus comics at the back of each issue including Terrible Things Can Happen to You! and The Criminal Element Is Among Us. Throughout the story, Flora refers to many of the life skills and themes that appear in her comics. One lesson is CPR. One theme is that “impossible things happened all the time” (page 21). What other things does Flora learn from her comics? Name some of your favorite sayings or lessons from her comic books. 



Let’s talk about superheroes. What makes Ulysses a superhero? Are there special requirements for being a superhero? Are there special things that all superheroes seem to have? 


Flora describes herself as “a natural-born cynic” (page 6). What do you think that means? Dr. Meescham says that “Cynics are people who are afraid to believe” (page 129). Do you agree with her description? What things does Flora do that show she is a cynic? What things show that Flora is not a cynic?  


The graphic-novel interludes show Ulysses flying at the Giant Do-Nut (pages 103–104), his vanquishing of Mr. Klaus the cat (pages 132–133), his cheering up Flora and proving his superpowers (page 153), and his escape from Flora’s mother (pages 202–203). Does Ulysses believe he can fly when he first tries to? What details about his flying are captured in the pictures?  


How does Dr. Meescham support Flora, Ulysses, and Mr. Buckman? What do Dr. Meescham’s stories tell you about her? 


What is the funniest scene in the book for you? Describe it. 


On page 135, we hear the promise “I will always turn back toward you.” It is repeated many times throughout the story. What do you think it means?  


Describe the relationship between Flora and William Spiver. In what ways are they the same? In what ways are they different? 


Flora and Ulysses are both lost and trying to find home. Where do they end up? How does each one figure out how to get home? 


On page 216, a miracle is said to occur and William Spiver is able to see again. What do you think happens? 



Imagine this story told only as a comic book. How do you think it would be different? 



There are many quirky characters in the story. Whom do you like best and why? 


Throughout the story, Flora and her mother are at odds. How does this change in the end? What do we learn about Flora’s mother that we didn’t know? 


What would you like to see happen next for Ulysses and Flora?

We will be reading The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. 

"Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847." -summary We will be meeting on Wednesday, March 8 in order to discuss this book. Please pick up your copy and be sure to register at the Circulation Desk.

March Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Nineteenth-century American pioneer life was introduced to thousands of young readers by Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved Little House books. With The Birchbark House, award-winning author Louise Erdrich's first novel for young readers, this same slice of history is seen through the eyes of the spirited, 7-year-old Ojibwa girl Omakayas, or Little Frog, so named because her first step was a hop. The sole survivor of a smallpox epidemic on Spirit Island, Omakayas, then only a baby girl, was rescued by a fearless woman named Tallow and welcomed into an Ojibwa family on Lake Superior's Madeline Island, the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. We follow Omakayas and her adopted family through a cycle of four seasons in 1847, including the winter, when a historically documented outbreak of smallpox overtook the island.

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar

Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots. Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . . While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina -- Carol -- is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents move the grandfather she's never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by the crazy stories he tells her about a healing tree, a green-glass lake, and the bees that will bring back the rain and end a hundred years of drought. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible -- and what it means to be true to her roots. 

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours' walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya's in an astonishing and moving way.

January Grades 5-6 Book Discussion: Mountain Dog

For January's Book Club, we read Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle. Cadence and Lily were present. This is some of what we discussed.


Why was Tony sent away from Los Angeles to live with his great-uncle, a stranger, in the Sierra Nevada? 

-His mom was a dog fighter.
-She got sent to jail.


Is Tony happy about leaving Los Angeles?

-A little bit, because he's happy to get away from his mom.
-He thinks his uncle is cool.
-His uncle is a forest ranger who saves people and he's got a cool dog. 
 

Why does Tony have a hard time with math? 


-Because he had to count the bets and so has bad feelings about math.



Tony has a hard time trusting anyone. Who do you think is the first he trusts?

-Gabe.
-Gabe.
-He comes to trust Tio.


Why does Tony resist Gracie's efforts at becoming friends?

-Because she's annoying and talkative. 
-At the beginning, he might feel that he's not worthy of having friends.


What do you think is most important to Gabe?

-Having his Leo and Tio.
-His job of rescuing people.

 
Tell me about Tony's nightmares. Why doesn't he tell Tio about them? 

-Because Tio might keep him forever and at the beginning, he just wants to go home, back to normal, even though he doesn't really like his life in Los Angeles.



Would you volunteer to hide yourself in the woods so a search dog could find you?

-No
-No, because of bears, bats and badgers 
 

What happened when Tony himself got lost in the woods? Why did it happen, even though he knew the best rules for staying safe in the woods?

-He got lost because he was thinking about how he was such a disappointment to Tio.  


What does Tony's mom do that makes him angry? Does he finally reconcile himself to who his mother really is?

-She keeps getting into fights at prison. Often, she doesn't accept Tony when he comes to visit.
-He comes to terms with who is mother is.

 
Does Tony find happiness? 

-Yes, because he gets his own dog.
-Yes.


Did you like the way the story was told, in free verse?

-Gabe's chapters are too short. 



Did you like that the story alternated between Tony's perspective and Gabe's?  

-Yes because you want to see the two points of view.
-I think that it's nice to see how people (or animals) react to the same situation very differently.


How would you rate this book, with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst?

-5, a solid 5. It is one of my favorite books.
-4 because I wouldn't read it again but I would recommend it to others. It was a really good book. I liked the type of structure (sequencing and description).

In February, we will read Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo. We will meet on February 8 at 3:00 p.m.

"Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived."-summary
Copies of the book will be available at the Circulation Desk several days after January's book club. Please be sure to register for the club while picking up your book.

February Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

Fifth grader Tamaya Dhilwaddi and seventh grader Marshall Walsh have been walking to and from Woodridge Academy together since elementary school. But their routine is disrupted when bully Chad Hilligas challenges Marshall to a fight. To avoid the conflict, Marshall takes a shortcut home through the off-limits woods. Tamaya, unaware of the reason for the detour, reluctantly follows. They soon get lost. And then they find trouble. Bigger trouble than anyone could ever have imagined.
 
In the days and weeks that follow, the authorities and the U.S. Senate become involved, and what they uncover might affect the future of the world.

Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin

Struggling with Asperger's, Rose shares a bond with her beloved dog, but when the dog goes missing during a storm, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels, even if it means leaving her routines in order to search for her pet.

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.

December Grades 5-6 Book Discussion: The War That Saved My Life

For December's Book Club, we read the book The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Cadence, Grace and Lily were present. This is what we discussed, with suggestions from teentweenbooks.com.

1. Who is Ada? Why is Mam ashamed of her?  Why do you think Mam "wanted Ada to be a cripple?"

-Mam never wanted kids. 

-She didn't want to spend the money to fix her foot.
-She didn't want Ada to have a good life because of her foot.

2. What does Ada do when she is at home alone? Why doesn’t she share her secret with anyone?

-Learning how to walk. She doesn't tell anyone because her mom will hurt her.
-Mam would take her anger out on Jamie as well.

3. How do Ada and Jamie get out of London in the beginning of the story?

-They go early so that Ada will have time to walk to the station. Jamie learns for the first time that Ada knows how to walk.

4. Why are Ada and Jamie “the only ones not chosen”? Why do they end up at Susan’s?

-Because they are dirty, because of Ada's crippled foot and Ada won't be separated from Jamie.
-They ended up at Susan's because she had no choice.

5. When talking about Susan, Ada said, “She doesn’t like us. She didn’t want us, remember?”  Does Susan like the kids? Why or why not?

-She does. She doesn't like them at the beginning but she learned to love them,
-She ends up practically adopting them because she loves them.
   

6. Susan treats Ada with understanding and compassion. How does Ada respond to this kindness? Why?

-With tears and screaming. I think she's not used to it and she doesn't want it at the time.
-This book was so cringe-y because Susan put up with a lot from the kids. 

 
7. What do you know of Susan? Tell the untold story of Susan’s life as you imagine it might be.

-I think her life was sad because Becky died and she was alone and her dad thought that she couldn't be redeemed. 
-She didn't take care of Butter or leave the house that much.

8. Ada stated, “I knew Susan wasn’t real. Or, if she was a tiny bit real, sometimes, at the very best she was only temporary” (p. 202). Later, on page 216 Ada said, “Susan was temporary. My foot was permanent.” Is Susan temporary for Ada? Why or why not?

-In the middle of the book, Susan was temporary for Ada. Ada and Jamie are evacuees. 
-I think Ada said that Susan was temporary because she thought nothing was real. She thought that after the war was over, she was going to have to go home to Mam.

 

9. What does Jamie's teacher think about his being left-handed?

-The teacher thinks that it's the mark of the devil.

 
10. Is Ada capable of learning? Why is she afraid of learning at the beginning of the story? 

-She thinks she can't learn.
-She is very capable of learning. She thinks she is incapable of learning. 

11.  On page 206 Ada said, “Somehow Christmas was making me feel jumpy inside. All this talk about being together and being happy and celebrating—it felt threatening. Like I shouldn’t be part of it. Like I wasn’t allowed. And Susan wanted me to be happy, which was scarier still.” Why is Ada feeling jumpy, threatened, and scared?

-Because she never had Christmas, her mom has convinced her that she doesn't deserve happiness and shouldn't be around "normal" people.

 12. When the police officer doesn’t believe Ada’s story about seeing a spy, what does she do and say to convince him?

-She sees him looking at her crippled foot and says "my foot is a long way from my brain."

13. Why did their Mam come to take them back to the city?

-Not because she loved them. She was having to pay for their "child care" and didn't want to.

14.  How does the way Mam treat Ada differ from the way Susan treats Ada?

-Mam abuses Ada. And Susan loves her.
-Susan loves Ada. Mam hates her and abuses her.

15. Why do you think Kimberly Brubaker Bradley decided to title the book The War That Saved My Life?

-Because of the war, she was an evacuee, because she was an evacuee, she got placed with Susan and met Butter, and because of Susan, she got happier in her life.

16. In what ways did Susan save Ada’s and Jamie’s lives? How did Ada and Jamie save Susan’s life?

-They opened Susan's eyes and showed her that Becky's death was not the end of the world.
-Susan saved their lives by opening them into her heart and family. She showed them the secret of life.

17. What are your favorite details of the story?

-Butter.
-The part where Maggie's horse and surprises Butter. And then Maggie and Ada met each other.
-I liked that Susan was so nice and caring and perservered even though she didn't want the kids at first.  

 
18.  Do you like the ending? If you were the author, would you change the ending of the story?

-I would make it a happier ending (her house was destroyed and all of her memories were burned away).
-It was a terrible ending in that they got taken away.
-I liked the book but why didn't the mom tell them from the beginning that she didn't want them.


Rank this book from 1-5.

-4
-5
-4, but I would definitely recommend it. Not for kids younger than us.  

Our next Book Club will be held on Wednesday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. We will be reading Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle. 

"When his mother is sent to jail in Los Angeles, eleven-year-old Tony goes to live with his forest ranger great-uncle in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where Tony experiences unconditional love for the first time through his friendship with a rescue dog."

Please be sure to pick up your copy of the book and register at the Circulation Desk so that Miss Lisa knows how many snacks to buy!

January Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielson
When the Berlin Wall went up, Gerta, her mother, and her brother Fritz are trapped on the eastern side where they were living, while her father, and her other brother Dominic are in the West--four years later, now twelve, Gerta sees her father on a viewing platform on the western side and realizes he wants her to risk her life trying to tunnel to freedom.


Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica. The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart When Reuben discovers an antique watch that was mortared into the wall, he soon learns it has a secret power. As one secret leads to another, Reuben finds himself torn between his innately honest nature and the lure to be a hero. Now he is on a dangerous adventure, and with fearless Penny, mighty Jack, and the wise Mrs. Genevieve on his side, Reuben must outwit and outmaneuver the sly villain called The Smoke and his devious defenders the Directions, in order to save the city from a terrible fate.

November 2016 Grades 5-6 Book Club: Raymie Nightingale

For November's Book Club, we read Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo. Cadence and Grace was present. This is what we discussed, guided by questions provided by Candlewick Press.


What role does friendship play in the lives of Raymie, Louisiana, and Beverly? Are there any characters in this book whom you would like as a friend? Why or why not? 

-They have a rough friendship. Beverly is tough on all of them. Louisiana is always so positive. Raymie is always the average: Beverly is like one side of her personality and Louisiana is like the other side. 
-They didn't expect to become friends at the beginning of the book
-I'd like Louisiana as a friend because she's so positive.
-I feel like I'm a little related to Beverly. I can be tough like her.


Magical thinking is the belief that a thought, action, or event can cause something else to happen without any logical reason for that to be true—for example, the belief that wearing a certain shirt will make your favorite sports team win a game, or that avoiding stepping on cracks will keep something bad from happening. There are many examples of magical thinking in Raymie Nightingale. How many can you identify? 

-She thought if she won the Miss Florida Tire contest, she would get her picture in the paper, become famous and her dad would come back.
-Raymie said to herself that she knew she wasn't getting her dad back but she's still going to try.
-Beverly thinks that her dad will come back or that she can find him.
-Beverly thought she could see NYC from the top of a tower (in Florida).
-Louisiana thought that Archie would come back.   


What three words would you use to describe Raymie? Louisiana? Beverly? Describe how the traits of these characters come to life in the book. 

-Raymie: quiet, smart, independent. Louisiana: bright, bubbly, positive. Beverly: mean, hateful, has a good side


Over the course of the story, each of the Three Rancheros has the opportunity to move from being powerless to taking action. How do Raymie, Louisiana, and Beverly each take charge in their lives? 

-Raymie takes charge by realizing that life will not be perfect and her father will not come back. Louisiana takes charge by winning the competition. Beverly gives others the chance to be nice to her.






Which character seems to be the most changed by the story’s end? 

-Raymie. Because she goes from being lonesome, Beverly-Louisiana kind of girl, and then she goes to saving Louisiana's life.


The secondary characters in Raymie Nightingale are beautifully portrayed. What are your impressions of Mrs. Borkowski, Mrs. Sylvester, Louisiana’s grandmother, Raymie’s mother, Alice Nebbley at the nursing home, Ruthie, and Ida Nee? Why are these characters important? What do they bring to the story? 

-Borkowski is crazy, Mrs. Sylvester is an adult version of Louisiana, Ida Nee was not responsible


A question that echoes throughout Raymie Nightingale is “What is life all about?” Does the story give us answers? 

-Life is crazy
-Life can be messed up
-Life isn't always what you expect it to be


Raymie often describes having the feeling that her soul is shrinking. What do you think she means by this? What do you think she feels in those moments when she says her soul is inflating or growing bigger? 

-She has a very strong conscience
-Her soul is shrinking because she's depressed.


In December, we will be reading The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. We will be meeting on Wednesday, December 14 at 3:00 p.m. Please be sure to pick up your copy of the book and to register at the Circulation Desk so Miss Lisa knows how many snacks to buy!