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~6th grade only~
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2009-2010
Final Quarter
For the 4th quarter, there are NO BOOK REPORTS!!
However... students will instead be reading novels in small
groups, and therefore will be expected to read independently outside of the
classroom in order to keep up with group expectations. When we are back
from Spring Break, students will choose from the following list of books, and
will get a timeline of duedates for assignments they must complete for that
novel. I anticipate students finishing the novel in about three weeks, so
they should be able to read a second novel as well.
Book Choices
Savvy by Ingrid Law
Grade 4–7—Mississippi Beaumont ("Mibs" for short) simply cannot wait for her
13th birthday. There's the allure of finally becoming a teenager, of course,
but in the Beaumont family, 13 is when family members get their "savvy," or
unworldly power. For Mibs's older brother Fish, it's control over the
elements, and for her mother it's the ability to do everything perfectly.
Unfortunately, Mibs's excitement is cut short when her father is injured in
a car accident. Convinced that her new powers will be able to save her
Poppa, she and some new friends climb aboard a bus toting pink bibles on her
birthday, in the hopes of getting to the hospital. Instead they find
themselves headed in the wrong direction with the cops looking for them,
Mibs's powerful brother seriously angry, and the son of a preacher man she
has a crush on coming dangerously close to figuring out the Beaumonts'
secret. Mibs's real savvy isn't what she expected, and neither are her
traveling companions. Though the story never lives up to the brilliance of
its opening chapter, Law has a feel for characters and language that is
matched by few. With its delightful premise and lively adventure, this book
will please a wide variety of audiences, not just fantasy fans. Definitely
an author to watch.—Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library
The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain
Product Description
People usually sell ordinary things at the annual church social. But
this year, a funny little man named Thaddeus Blinn sets up a curious
tent at the fair. He claims to sell wishes, "I can give you whatever you
ask for," his sign says. And it only costs 50 cents! Polly, Rowena, and
Adam are curious. Blinn sells them each a white card. All they have to
do, he explains, is press the red spot on the card and say their wish
out loud. When they do, funny and unexpected things begin to happen. Now
they have to find a way to stop the Wish Giver's magic.
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Editorial Reviews
Lois Lowry's magnificent novel of the distant future,
The
Giver, is set in a highly technical and emotionally repressed
society. This eagerly awaited companion volume, by contrast, takes place
in a village with only the most rudimentary technology, where anger,
greed, envy, and casual cruelty make ordinary people's lives short and
brutish. This society, like the one portrayed in
The Giver, is
controlled by merciless authorities with their own complex agendas and
secrets. And at the center of both stories there is a young person who
is given the responsibility of preserving the memory of the culture--and
who finds the vision to transform it.
Kira, newly orphaned and lame from birth, is taken from the turmoil
of the village to live in the grand Council Edifice because of her skill
at embroidery. There she is given the task of restoring the historical
pictures sewn on the robe worn at the annual Ruin Song Gathering, a
solemn day-long performance of the story of their world's past. Down the
hall lives Thomas the Carver, a young boy who works on the intricate
symbols carved on the Singer's staff, and a tiny girl who is being
trained as the next Singer. Over the three artists hovers the menace of
authority, seemingly kind but suffocating to their creativity, and the
dark secret at the heart of the Ruin Song.
With the help of a cheerful waif called Matt and his little dog, Kira
at last finds the way to the plant that will allow her to create the
missing color--blue--and, symbolically, to find the courage to shape the
future by following her art wherever it may lead. With astonishing
originality, Lowry has again created a vivid and unforgettable setting
for this thrilling story that raises profound questions about the
mystery of art, the importance of memory, and the centrality of love.
(Ages 10 and older) --Patty Campbell --This text refers to
the
Hardcover edition.
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Grade 4–8—Appelt brings Southern Gothic to the middle grade set. Three
separate but eventually entwined stories are told piecemeal. There is the
tale of an abandoned, pregnant calico cat who finds shelter and friendship
with the bloodhound, Ranger. He is the abused and neglected pet of Gar Face,
a broken-jawed recluse who lives in the Texas bayou, where he fled 25 years
previously to escape an abusive father. And finally there is the story of
Grandmother Moccasin, a shape-shifting water snake who has lain dormant in a
jar for a thousand years, buried beneath a loblolly pine tree. The threads
are brought together when Puck, one of the newborn kittens, breaks the rule
of straying from the safety of The Underneath, the sliver of space beneath
Gar Face's porch where Ranger is chained and the cats live. The pace of this
book is meandering, and there is a clear effort by the dominant third-person
narrator to create a lyrical, ancient tone. However, the constant shift of
focus from one story line to the next is distracting and often leads to lost
threads. Small's black-and-white illustrations add a certain languid
moodiness to the text. Themes of betrayal, hope, and love are reflected in
the three stories, but this is a leisurely, often discouraging journey to
what is ultimately an appropriate ending.—
Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole
Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover edition.