The Reading Nook

Leighton, Zach C., Deven, Zach LL, Arman, Ben L., Mack,

Leighton’s Vacation Reads: Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys. Great descriptions. The girls are a little too obedient/pious. It got on her nerves. She likes Amy — because I have a 50-year-old doll of her! Little Men has insane boy characters so that is good — especially Tommy Bangs: exactly like his name. One time he tied the cook up with a clothline and left her there. He was smoking in his room and lit the house on fire. Jo’s Boys is ten years later — and there are bad things and sad things. Who cares about they’re characters in the book — they should LISTEN TO YOU when you yell and scream at them!

Deven’s Vacation: He was memorizing the lines for the Greek play. He’s almost done with 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. And he finished the newest Roman Mystery. He went to D.C. (driven there) and saw many cool sites.

Zach C’s vacation: He had a lot of fun in London and also doing absolutely nothing. They played a lot of video games. Mostly sports GameCube Games.

Ben L’s vacation reads: He read Destiny’s Way (Walter John Williams) — continuation of Star Wars — 30 years later. Alien species cannot be found by the Force — there is a void where they are. Yuuzhan Vong is the name of the species. The Jedi knights cannot find them. Jacen and Jaina are the twin children of Han and Leia. Jacen is captured by the Yuuzhan Vongs.

Arman registered his complaints that people talked too much and described the books in too much details!!!!

Mack’s Vacation Reads: I went to Boston where I worked part-time at a factory that makes kittens. They have surplus kittens so they employed me to eat them. It tastes very good when they’re in salt, catsup and vodka sauce. (He didn’t do much … so made this up.) He re-read UnLunDun.

Deven, Leighton, Kheyana, Zack C., Zach L-L, Ben, Mrs. Feldman and Miss Johnson.
Deven had a problem — he ran out of books to read.  We solved the problem by giving him 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. Zach L-L announced that he might obtain a copy of the 4th Percy Jackson book and created a little commotion.

Zach C recommended Sherlock Holmes for anyone interested in good stories to enjoy!
Artemis Fowl Files is great but right now the hardcover edition is out of print.
Myth-o-mania series by McMullan - suggested by Ben. The library only has books 1 to 4 but unfortunately, this series is also out of print.  Mrs. Feldman is on the quest of finding more copies from a different vendor.
We moved on to chat about Artemis Fowl series and Mrs. Feldman asked: “Why is Artemis Fowl Good?” (Since she has not been a big fan.)  Leighton’s answer: Awesome actions that you can re-read; I love Mulch Diggums because he has atomic powers (hint hint).  Zach L-L: Interesting plot. I can relate to the character because I can feel the emotions of the characters due to the author’s ability to write descriptively. (Not that Zach has the inclination to mastermind plots to take over the world!)  Kheyana finds that the code along the bottom of the first book very intriguing even though she did not bother to break the code herself.

Deven suddenly shared this info: JK Rowling might write an 8th book about the wizarding world but Harry will not be the main character.  As reported in Time for Kids.

Mrs. Feldman started reading a new book aloud to the group called: For Boys Only: The Biggest Baddest Book Ever.
Leighton objected to this subtitle right away, saying that it seems to be stereotyping boys to imply that they will be drawn to books that are big and bad.  However, we were all intrigued by the Introduction and also curious to know what’s inside the book.  Some passages were shared (like how to fight a shark - by punching it on the nose) and a section on Odds. (We weren’t quite sure how all the statistics pan out and where the information came from and how they were interpreted by the authors.)
Mrs. Feldman will finish the book and then Ben will read it.  We’ll pass the book around and then eventually can discuss this title fully some time in the near future.

Today’s meeting was “enhanced” with Brownie Power — thanks to Zach L-L.  And we are still all waiting for all those sequels to beloved series to come out this Spring Publishing season and in the summer….

This is an example of the assignment of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, based on a former entry from a student:

Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Original Language: English
Originally Published in: 1843
Setting: London, England. Victorian England: Christmas Present, Christmas Past, and Christmas Future.
Characters: The main character’s name is Ebenezer Scrooge, just known as Scrooge. Scrooge is a grumpy man who lives by himself and with no Christmas spirit. Tiny Tim, a little boy who is a cripple and would probably die without proper care or monetary support, is also an important character. Jacob Marley is Scrooge’s business partner who died years ago. Bob Cratcit is Scrooge’s clerk. There are also the three Christmas Ghosts.

Plot Summary: On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy banker who despises the holiday cheers and anyone who is poor, receives a visit from the ghost of Jacob Marley, who was Scrooge’s partner before he died seven years ago. Marley was very greedy during his lifetime but he does not want Scrooge to turn out like he did so he comes to tell him that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The three Ghosts show Scrooge his past, present, and future Christmases, and try to make him less greedy and more giving. One of the places/times he visits is his impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit’s house. There he sees Cratchit’s youngest son, Tiny Tim, a crippled boy with a generous loving heart. Even though the family has little, they have a lot of love and care for each other. Tiny Tim’s famous line is “God bless us, every one.” This scene of a poor family that maintains so much love and care for the world really touches Scrooge’s cold heart. Seeing his own funeral where no one will mourn his death also greatly affects him. In the end the Ghosts succeed in changing Scrooge and turning him into a loving, giving man with Christmas spirit.
Questions and Answers:

Q: What is Scrooge’s most famous quote when people wish him Merry Christmas at the beginning of the story?
A: Bah! Humbug.

Q: Who is Jacob Marley?
A: Ebenezer Scrooge’s dead business partner

Q: When was the story of A Christmas Carol taking place?
A: 19th Century England - 19th Century London - Victorian London

Q: What is the famous quote from Tiny Tim?
A: God Bless Us, Everyone.

Q: Who was Scrooge’s ex-fiancée?
A: Belle