a story you'll long remember

Our latest summer read is 

One For The Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

"The last thing Carley expected 

was to be living with a foster family..."

courage for a day

Finish this sentence: 
If I could be any book character for a day, 
it would be ________because________.






Hmmmm.....
If I could be any book character...

I guess my initial thoughts go to Katniss Everdeen or Beatris Prior. What would it feel like to be so brave, and yet have so many hardships thrust upon you?

Then I think, no... I would be Scout (Jean Louise Finch, from To Kill a Mockingbird). What would it be like to be an objective observer in an unjust situation? What would it be like to have a hero for a father and an idealistically brave brother?


But in the end...

I think I would be Summer Dawson from the book Wonder. She's a great person. Someone I aspire to be like every day, not just for one day. She  has courage. She is kind and compassionate and empathetic. She's extraordinary.
I guess, I choose courage over heroism and bravery.


Who would you be... for a day. Why?

book/movie combos

Have you read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkin? It could be a great summer read for the whole family. It would be fun to read The Hobbit and then go see the movie this December.

I love the opening lines from the Hobbit; 

they always suck me in ...

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (1937)

What Book/Movie combinations would you like to experience this summer?


How about: 

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selzneck
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Any other good combo ideas?


If you read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and see the movie this month, please let me know if I should do the same!

the ending

If you could change the ending to any novel, 

which book would it be and how would you revise it?

Divergent

The latest Super Star book character... Beatrice Prior.
Or, to those in-the-know, 'Tris' - former member of Abnegation Faction now Dauntless Warrior. Tris is a Catniss-like, exceptional, kick-butt heroine (can you say 'kick-butt' in a book suggestion?).


In a dystopian Chicago, society has been divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Once a year, all sixteen-year-olds must choose a faction to which they will devote their lives.

One Choice - decides your friends

One Choice - defines your beliefs

One Choice - determines your loyalties 

... forever

... or something

summer slide

The other day I was talking to a friend about the 'summer slide'. It sounds fun, right? But it's not the kind of slide you're thinking of. It's not a trip to the water park or a slippery piece of wet plastic on the lawn.


In 2009 the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, described the summer learning loss as devastating... a 'summer slide' of reading loss that compounds with each summer. If you google 'summer slide' the list of articles and facts on this widening, on-going gap is what is devastating.


As luck would have it, it turns out that independent reading is perhaps the most effective way to combat any loss over the summer. A study of 1600 sixth-graders in 18 schools showed that reading just 4 - 6 books over the summer was enough to alleviate the summer slide. And as common sense would have it, summer reading helps improve spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. Really!

Turn your summer into a 'summer climb'. 4-6 books, you can do that... make it 6-10*. With approximately 88 days of summer vacation and a world of adventure and mystery waiting for you at your local library... 

the sky's the limit.

*If you ever need a suggestion for a book, just leave a message in the comments... I'll be sure to find you something you will love.