FAVE FIVE

Well, here we are at the end of The Wednesday Wars discussion.  I hope you enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.  Here is a list of my five favoritie books that you should not miss!

Tangerine

By Edward Bloor

Paul Fisher is legally blind, but he can see things others cannot.  His family moves to a town in Florida called Tangerine and Paul struggles to adjust.  Tangerine is a very unusual place. Lightning strikes at the same time every day and sinkholes are a hazard.  On top of that there are secrets in his family that Paul is very slowly uncovering. Find out how Paul manages to become an awesome soccer goalie despite his eyesight, learns the how he lost his sight, and uncovers some truths about his family. 

Lunch Money

By Andrew Clements

Greg Kenton has always had a talent for making money.  He notices that the sixth graders he attends school with always have some extra change to spend.  It’s not long before he figures out a way to get them to buy something from him.  But he didn’t count on Maura Shaw, the girl across the street and one of his classmates.  Maura is good at all the things Greg is, especially making money.  Every time Greg thinks he has everything figured out, Maura appears and spoils it all. Read this very funny book to find out how Greg and Maura settle their differences.

The Emerald Atlas

By John Stephens

Michael, Emma, and Kate have lived in orphanages all their lives and believe their parents will come back for them. They will not even let anyone call them orphans. They are sent to an orphanage in a rundown town called Cambridge Falls. They find a mysterious book, hidden in the orphanage and it takes them back fifteen years in time. The action is nonstop and you find yourself holding your breath through each cliffhanger. The children meet witches, dwarves, scary creatures called screechers and many other interesting characters. They discover that they are destined to go on a quest and have special powers, and begun to learn more about their parents.  This is the first book in a new series.  If you liked the Harry Potter books or the Chronicles of Narnia, you should give this book a try. 

Al Capone Does My Shirts

By Gennifer Choldenko

In 1935 a boy named Moose moves to the island of Alcatraz where his father works as a prison guard.  Moose’s sister, Natalie is autistic and the reason the family has moved to Alcatraz is “all so my sister can go the the Esther P. Marinoff School, where kids have macaroni salad in their hair and wear their clothes inside out and there isn’t a chalkboard or a book in sight.”  Find out how Moose deals with all of this and how he manages to help his sister when no one else can. 

The London Eye Mystery

By Siobhan Dowd

The London Eye is a tourist attraction in London, England.  It looks like a big ferris wheel and people ride to the top where they can see twenty five miles in any direction.  Ted and Kate take their cousin, Salim to the Eye.  A stranger gives them a ticket and they send Salim up.  When it descends, Salim does not appear.  Kate who is very impatient and Ted who is autistic and thinks differently must pair up to find their cousin.  If you like mysteries, this one will keep you guessing and surprise you in the end.

 

 

You spoke, we listened: Upcoming books!

A few weeks ago, we surveyed our book club members about what books you wanted to read next. Well, the results are in!

Here’s what we’ll be reading here on the Together Book Club over the next few months. We put them in order of how many votes they got, with the most votes first:

January/February:

March:

April:

May:

Reminder: Help us pick the next book!

Don’t forget, my trusty blog readers, we want your opinion about what book to read next. Don’t miss this chance to weigh in. You can read descriptions of the books here, and then vote below.  Thank you for your input!!!

Help us pick the next book!

We want to hear from you! Vote in our survey below and tell us which book sounds the best to you for our next Together Book Club book. Vote by Tuesday, November 15th and we’ll announce the winners that week. Here’s more info about the books:

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. Lucky, age ten, can’t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. It’s all Brigitte’s fault — for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she’ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won’t be allowed. She’ll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she’ll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own — and quick. But she hadn’t planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the world’s heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past. When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He’s best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled—a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.