Book Club Novel and Picture Books
for January
We didn't hear back from anyone the November/December book club picks, but we hope you might enjoy one of them over your Christmas Break. The first recommendation for January comes from Carissa Chainey. How fun to have an email from Carissa (with mom's help) recommending a book for kids to read. Here's what she wrote:
Dear Miss Young,
Hi. This is Carissa. I would like to give you a book recommendation - Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life.
It's a funny book with some comic drawings.
I would recommend for at least kids 7 years old and up because there's some rude words, but not bad words.
I would rate it 5 stars!
Hi. This is Carissa. I would like to give you a book recommendation - Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life.
It's a funny book with some comic drawings.
I would recommend for at least kids 7 years old and up because there's some rude words, but not bad words.
I would rate it 5 stars!
Your student,
Carissa Chainey
AR # 132957
BL: 5.4
AR Pts: 5.0
BL: 5.4
AR Pts: 5.0
I have not yet read Carissa's recommendation so for January, I hope you will join me in reading:
Email me and let me know what you think about these books or send a recommendation of your own.
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We are so excited to introduce you to a new use for the blog...a book club! It's super simple to join. Read the book! Invite your friends to read the book with us. When you are finished with the book give it a 0-5 star rating and send Miss Young your comments at her email ayoung@msd134.org. She will post your comments here for others to see. If you have previously read the book, it is perfectly fine to share your comments as well. Book club members that send ratings and comments may also send suggestions for future months. (Note to Parents: It is likely that you will be emailing me your child's comments, but I will also confirm this with you before I make a post and only your child's first name will be posted for safety.)
Each month we will post a picture book and children's novel for the book club so that students K-5 can participate, but don't let that stop you. Read both! Older kids, check out the amazing illustrations and fun stories in the picture books and families, feel free to read aloud the chapter books to your younger gifted children.
Here's the two picks for the upcoming weeks. Enjoy!
Book Club Novel and Picture Books
for November and December
It all started when Hart Evans zinged a rubber band that hit Mr. Meinert, the chorus director. Actually, it started before that, when Mr. Meinert learned he was out of a job because the town budget couldn't afford music and art teachers. Mr. Meinert got so mad at Hart that he told the sixth graders he'd had it -- they could produce the big holiday concert on their own. Or not. It was all up to them. What happens when a teacher steps aside and lets the kids run the show? Not what Mr. Meinert would have predicted. And not what Hart Evans would have guessed, not at all.
For more information on the author and his books -
Three Picture Books by Patricia Polocco
Santa! He's not even real!
It's not easy being Welcome Comfort-a foster child always moving from home to home and getting picked on by the kids at school. Even Christmas, the most wondrous time of the year, isn't so wondrous for Welcome, since he has no family, no presents, and no Santa Claus. But when Welcome meets Mr. Hamp, the school custodian, he finally finds a friend. And when Christmas comes around, Welcome is taken on an extraordinary adventure that changes his life forever.
It's not easy being Welcome Comfort-a foster child always moving from home to home and getting picked on by the kids at school. Even Christmas, the most wondrous time of the year, isn't so wondrous for Welcome, since he has no family, no presents, and no Santa Claus. But when Welcome meets Mr. Hamp, the school custodian, he finally finds a friend. And when Christmas comes around, Welcome is taken on an extraordinary adventure that changes his life forever.
Jonathan must adjust when his preacher father moves the family to Detroit. After lots of work, the church is almost ready for Christmas, but then ice damage gouges a hole in a church wall. Father and son find a beautifully embroidered hanging and buy it with the last of their money; as they wait in the snow for the bus, an old woman offers them tea from her thermos. The woman comes with them to the parsonage and they soon find connections between this new friend, the pasterer repairing the church and a story from the war many years before. Christian and Jewish holiday celebrations intermingle with the message that nothing in the universe is random.
Trisha loves the eight days of Hanukkah, when her mother stays home from work, her Babushka makes delicious potato latkes, and her Grampa carves wonderful animals out of wood as gifts for Trisha and her brother. In the middle of her family's preparation for the festival of lights, Trisha visits her closest neighbors, expecting to find them decorating their house for Christmas. Instead they are all bedridden with scarlet fever. Trisha's family is one of the few who has been spared from the epidemic. It is difficult for them to enjoy their Hanukkah feast when they know that their neighbors won't be able to celebrate their holiday. Then begins the first miracle of many during an incredible holiday season. Based on a long cherished childhood memory, this story celebrates the miracle of true friendship.
