March Book Club: Liar & Spy

For March’s Book Club, we read Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead. Calvin, Cameron and Harry were present and Andreas participated virtually. Here are our thoughts…

Who if your favorite character in the story? Why?:

Cameron: The Moo Cow kid. Because he just goes MOO and is funny and is really little. He shows that little kids know nothing.

Harry: My favorite character is Bob English Who Draws because he draws, like me. I like how he has a nickname. And I like the sound of the name Bob.

Calvin: I like Bob English Who Draws because he's a cool kid who never did anything wrong to anybody else.

What did you think about the bullying in the book?:

Cameron: It made me feel sad because the guys who bullied Georges were mean. It made me feel happy Georges ignored them.

Harry: The taste test plan was genius.

Andreas: I think Dallas was a big bully and if I was the author, I would omit him but a bully is good with a story!


How would you react to the bullying that they endured?:

Cameron: I'd tell my parents, adults and teachers so that they could try to solve the problem together.

Calvin:  The bullying made me sad and happy. No one would want to be bullied. I was happy for Georges because he ignored them.

Harry: I thought the following thing with the bullying: "What the ...... is wrong with that person?" Dallas took control over all of the others even though he wasn't that strong. He was a total JERK.

What did you think of Safer?:

Calvin: At the beginning, I thought he was really nice. When he lied, I didn't like it.

Cameron: I thought he was cool. And then he lied and I didn't think he was cool. It was lamosity for him.

Harry: I think he was a dynamic character who needed to change. He seemed really nice in the beginning but he kept getting more and more mean. He was brave at the same time, though. When you discovered he lied, you didn't like him. He's a big baby.

Cameron: I think that he grew up afraid and stayed afraid. He got used to being afraid.

Re: Safer's phobias:

Cam: Maybe his parents should have done something earlier to get Safer some help.

Harry: Maybe his parents didn't know how bad his fears were.

If you could change a scene in the story, which one would it be? Why?:

Harry: I wouldn't change any scene.

Calvin: I would change the part where Georges finds Safer on the beanbag when he found out that he lied. I would make it so that it was the truth and Mr. X was real. But then this would be a different story.

Cam: I wouldn't change any scene. I really liked this book. And my mom did too. There was stuff in the beginning that made us ask questions and then it all came together at the end.

What about Mr. X?:

Calvin: I knew that Mr. X was fake all along and wasn't that surprised that he wasn't really bad. There were so many different parts that pointed to him being fake.

Cam: I wanted him to be real so that there would be some action with the saw in Mr. X's apartment!

Harry: I think it would be awesome to have a scary cliffhanger to the story.

Harry: I suspected that Safer thought that Mr. X was a psycho.


Then all of us talked about playing games with friends when we were little and how you would start believing in the make-believe.

Please rate this book from 1-5, with 5 being the best:

Cam: 4 1/2

Calvin: 4 1/2

Harry: 4

Any more thoughts?:

Calvin: In the book, there's the quote, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I think that Jason was pretending to be Dallas and Carter's friend so that he could be popular and not a target of theirs.

Cam: Jason separated himself from Georges knowing that Georges would get bullied.


Re: Taste as human experience:

Cam: I was playing football with pals. I was the youngest kid there. They had me be quarterback and I played really well. It was sweet. Sweet revenge for an earlier comment about my abilities.

Calvin: There was a hula hoop competition. The adults tied and the kids tied. I was one of the kids winners and it was umami.

The book for the next Book Club meetings is In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz. There will be copies waiting for you behind the Circulation Desk. We will be meeting on Wednesday, April 3 at 3:00 p.m. to discuss this book.

February Book Club: Seer of Shadows

For February’s Book Club, we read The Seer of Shadows by Avi. Harry and Cameron were present and Andreas participated virtually. We had a truncated meeting but Cameron and Andreas both seemed to really enjoy the book. Cameron mentioned that the book is a good mix of suspense, creepiness and historical fiction. Andreas went so far as to write"I LOVED THE SEER OF SHADOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so good that you felt like you were a spectator and I really liked how Mr. Middleditch actually used people's thoughts to get advantages. Avi is one of my favorite writers and you made a great choice!!!! Ps- sorry about the caps. I just wanted to show extreme happiness. :)"

Although we had  short meeting this month, we did watch book trailers for options of upcoming Book Club selections. The members enjoyed them so much that we decided to read almost all of them! So, we have the next three months of Book Club selections picked out. Yay us!

Wednesday, March 6th: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.  
Wednesday, April 3rd: In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz. 
Wednesday, May 1st: Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. 

All meetings are held at 3:00 p.m. and include good conversation and a snack.

Interesting Note: Did anyone notice that all of these are repeat authors for Book Club? Liar & Spy is unrelated to When You Reach Me, while In a Glass Grimmly and Starry River of the Sky are "companions" to A Tale Dark and Grimm and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, respectively.

March Book Club Selections?

Here are some books that I am going to suggest to the Book Club at today's meeting. I think any of these would be a great read for next month. What do you think? Will these book trailers help you decide? Do you have any suggestions?

In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q2iJBXxhzDI

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-e-WQlt8MMA

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwTtvIPUS4s&feature=player_detailpage

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBduGaCKKko&feature=player_detailpage

January Book Club: The Hobbit

For January’s Book Club, we finished reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ben, Cam, Harry, and John were present. Arnav participated from NYC virtually. Here are our thoughts…

What kind of person is the main character? How do you know?

Ben: Bilbo Baggins was the product of two families. He inherited an adventurous side and a good side. He thought he was good but he ended up being adventurous.

Harry: He's a person who is split between two kinds of personalities: sensible and adventurous. His Baggins side is cautious but his Tookish side takes over during battle. He is very courageous and kind-hearted.

Who if your favorite character in the story? Why?:

Cam: My favorite character is Bilbo because he's kind of dorky and boring at the beginning. Once the adventure started, he got more fun to read because he got the ring and went on adventures.

If you could change a scene in the story, which one would it be? Why?:

Ben: I would change some of the parts where it talked about them being bored on the trail. It makes you bored.

Cam: I would change some of the parts with the party at Bilbo's house because some of it didn't make sense. The ending of the book was rushed.

Please rate this book from 1-5, with 5 being the best:

Cam: 4

John: 3.14

Harry: 5

Ben: 3

Arnav:
I think that this book was a 1000000 on a scale because who could do such a piece of writing so long ago. My favorite part was Gollum because the riddles were tricky and I liked how Gollum said "My precioussssssssssssssssssss." I pretty much liked everything because it was like an adventure in every chapter so it was like 19 books in one. All in 300 pages written in the 1950's. What a piece of work this book is!

We also solved many riddles (like the battle of wits between Bilbo and Gollum). In addition, we drew our own goblins, the bane of the first third of the book.

The next Book Club meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 6th from 3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Please note the shortened time. The book we will be discussing is The Seer of Shadows by Avi. Copies may be picked up behind the Circulation Desk. 

party. In January, we will discuss the book in full. 

December Book Club: The Hobbit

For December and January's Book Club, we read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ben, Harry and John were present and Andreas participated virtually. Here are our thoughts…

Ben: The songs are very detailed and if you listen (or read) them, you can find out a lot about the story.

Harry: It's an interesting mix of excitement and jokes and funniness.

John: I think that it seems like the story is really detailed so that sometimes it's hard to follow.

The book for the next Book Club meeting is The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.We will be meeting on Wednesday, January 2 at 3:00 p.m. to discuss the rest of this book.

November 2012: Dead End in Norvelt

For November’s Book Club, we read Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. Henry was present and Andreas participated virtually. Here are our thoughts…

What kind of person is the main character? How do you know?

Andreas: Jack is kind of an excited person because he was so happy when he got the three cards that gave him chances to do fun stuff and he got in the hang of writing the obituaries and was very focused and it seemed like he liked the obituaries because he made his own about a deer. He is also freaked out by dead bodies that he sees.

Harry: He's hard to describe. A little bit nerdy and has a little bit of a problem being tough. He has a problem with his bloody noses. He's weak and, like me, doesn't want things to be killed. This book really highlights that killing is bad. His dad's quote about being face to face with an enemy and preferring to shake their hand than shoot them is really appropriate. Just like he did. I wish that Cameron could be here to hear this description.

Who if your favorite character in the story? Why?:

Andreas: My favorite character is Jack because it seemed like he was interested with the obituaries. He also let Ms. Volker perform a little "surgery" that he was afraid of. Jack is also taking risks to have fun without his mother watching him.

Harry: My favorite character...that's hard to say. I'm going to say that I really like Jack because he's the closest character to me in the story. I really liked Bunny because she's really funny. The way that she acts is what is so funny. She's so small and she's always telling people to toughen up. If there weren't people who were wimpy, there would never be funny stuff in comics. People in the comics would never be able to say "Let's never do THAT again!". And "that was fun, let's do that the next millennium!".

Where did the book take place and why did the author decide on that setting? How did the setting play a role in the story?:

Andreas: The book took place in Norvelt, a small Eleanor Roosevelt town in PA. Without this setting, Ms. Volker wouldn't get her job because Eleanor Roosevelt hired her in Norvelt.

Harry: The setting was the most important thing in the story. It was in Norvelt, a dying town and everyone was giving up on it. People didn't think about marrying and staying in the town.

 

If you could change a scene in the story, which one would it be? Why?:

 

Andreas: I thought that this book was perfectly fine. Nothing really scared me at all. There was nothing that I didn't like.

Harry: I'm going to tell you when I finish it.

Please rate this book from 1-5, with 5 being the best:

Andreas: 5

Harry: I'm going to tell you when I finish it.

Any more thoughts?:

Harry: The car was probably one of the only upsides to being grounded because he was able to drive the car. The book, in general, wasn't that exciting. It didn't have enough excitement.

The book for the next Book Club meetings is The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.We will be meeting on Wednesday, December 5 and Wednesday, January 2 at 3:00 p.m. to discuss this book. The December meeting will be to talk about our progress, any questions we might have, and to have a little holiday party. In January, we will discuss the book in full. 

October 2012: Pie by Sarah Weeks

For October’s Book Club, we read Pie by Sarah Weeks. Here are our thoughts…

If I could change one scene in the book, it would be:

Cam: When Alice and Charlie see the principal working out. It was so weird.

Harry: The same scene. I would change it so that the principal was trying to punch dead animals.

Ben: I would change the part where they describe Polly's dead body.

If I could be a character from this book it would be:

Cam: Charlie. Because he made a mixed up pie that ended up winning the Blueberry Award.

Harry: I would want to be the owner of the LARDO company because he's rich and got the recipe.

Ben: Lardo. Because he gets all of the tuna and sardines that he wants. It's cool that he gets all the food that he wants.

My favorite character is:

Cam: Lardo is awesome and a mystery. You don't know what force he has.

Harry:Lardo because he reminds me of Garfield.

Ben: Aunt Polly because her pie making skills are very valued in this age.

The character I wouldn’t want to bake a pie with is:

Cam: I wouldn't want to make a pie with Alice's mother because her pies look like dog vomit.

Harry: Alice's mom because they look and taste terrible.

Ben: I'm saying the same thing.

Were you confused by anything in this book?

Cam: Nope. It all cleared up by the end.

Harry: I was confused by how good friends Charlie and Polly were and Charlie ended up marrying Nora.

Ben: I was confused by how nice Polly was. I think it was a little obnoxious. I found it unrealistic.

The one character I would want to be happy forever is:

Cam: Alice, because her aunt died, her cat died, her parents died and she didn't marry, like Aunt Polly.

Harry: I can't say Alice, because she already is happy. Lardo because he wasn't always happy.

Ben: Lardo. Happy in Cat Heaven.

Please rate this book from 1-5, with 5 being the best:

Cam: 4

Harry: 3.5

Ben:  4

If you were absolutely amazing at something, what would it be? Would you keep it a secret?:

Cam: Awesome soccer. I would keep it a secret and then surprise the Portuguese soccer team.

Harry: ESP. I would keep it a secret and become a superhero.

Ben: Awesome dance move. I would keep them a secret. I'd put myself on YouTube with my face blocked out.

Any more thoughts?:

Ben: I like Lardo. Lardo is cool.

The book for the next Book Club meeting is Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. We will be meeting on Wednesday, November 7.