The Reading Nook

Mack: Make Lemonade - So many metaphors — it made me want to re-read it because I want to “get” all of it.  It is annoying… but the book is really good.  I think I’ll re-read it.bgr
Deven: Graveyard Book — I started reading it, thought it was ok, but that his style of writing wasn’t fitting this book but then I read some more and it’s getting better.  (Scarlet sounds a bit older than 5.)  Mrs. Feldman also is reading the book.  We’ll report next week.

Leighton: YA Books - Whirligig, not the best book ever.  You’re sad but you’re not really quite THERE — the emtion didn’t seem quite “real.”  You can see the seams of the work.  Not satisfying with the all the short chapters of those inserted stories.  Breathing Under Water: I liked the book because I felt bad for the main character who is actually a “bad guy” who is a controlling and mean person over his girlfriend.  You struggle between feeling bad for the girl and the boy.

Mack: I really like those books that you can’t decide who is good or bad.

Zack: ’cause life isn’t black or white.
Ben: Imagine Star Wars from the Siths’ point of view.

We all communally condemned City of Ember MOVIE.  Zack and Arman both couldn’t stand how the movie start by telling everyone what Ember IS!  What’s with the giant animals.

James is reading the Pengragon series by MacHale.

Ben likes the series, too.  As the series goes on, you understand it more and more.

Grant: American Born Chinese — it’s really good.  It switches from story to story but connected at the end even if the ending does not make too much sense.

Zach L.L - Artemes Fowl series, re-read. Greatest series ever written.  Totally awesome.  They are totally believeable even though they are total fantasy.  Fareigheit 451.  Short easy read.  What could happen in the future if don’t stand up for what we believe.  Like, people should have free speech.  It starts off hard to understand but it comes together.

Kheyenna - Gregor the Overlander series.  It takes in NYC and it’s interesting. Like all the gigantic roaches and other creatures.

Leighton reviewed Graceling: She summarized the plot and expressed these opinions: the writing is awkward and the plot is confusing, and it is definitely not for the younger readers (like 4th graders) because there are racy scenes.  The ending is also too fast and not satisfying.  The epilogue is too long.  5 out of 10.  She then talked about a book, The Last Lecture - a memoir of a professor at CMU who’s dying.  He died.  It’s a touching and inspiring book - she cried 10 times!  Not that he’s a great author but he really touches you with the story — how sad it is for someone to think about leaving wife/children behind.  It is also about living out his life to the fullest.  25 out of 10.

Deven: He read Knucklehead.  It’s about Jon Scieszka’s boyhood.  It’s really funny.  He and his brothers did a lot of dangerous things, like setting the model airplanes to explode in midair.
Mack: Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm is really good.  And everybody exclaimed in unison: “That’s a great book!”

James: Seer of Shadows by Avi.  It was pretty good — it got off to a slow start and gave you a lot of details of the old New York City.  The main character is trying to be a photographer.  But he discovers that he is “bringing someone back to life from the dead.”  He liked it — 8.5 out of 10.   The ending was very good.

Grant: Cirque du Freak series is good.

Ben: The Last Apprentice — he’s the 7th son of the 7th son and becomes the apprentice of a spook.  In each book he has to fight off some witch or some monster.  And there is a journal in the end.  It’s a fantasy/adventure.

Deven loved the first of the series but the second book got worse and he started the third book and couldn’t get into it.  Ben said that he thought that the 4th and 5th books are good.
We also looked at some pop-up books that were sent to Mrs. Feldman from the publishers and LOVED the new book by  David Carter: Yellow Square.