Meeting Melissa Guion

A few months ago I did a review on the book Baby Penguins Everywhere by Melissa Guion. I also met her at my local library when she came to visit. Little did I know I would get a chance to be interviewed on her site.

Head over there and check it out.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again - Review

This month our book club read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the story of an unusual family, the Tooting family. Mr Tooting loses his job and his company car which was a modern van. He decides to rebuild a camper van from old parts with help from one of his sons, Jem. What the Tooting family doesn't know, is the engine has a mind of its own. What started out as a normal family vacation turned out to be a great adventure. The van takes the family on a scavenger hunt, to the places they never expected, in ways they didn't expect.


Sasha said "I thought that the book was a funny adventure with a great mix of characters and it was very good. I would recommend this book to many people! I loved it!"

The whole book club agreed that the book had a slow start, but we were glad we stuck with it because it turned out to be a great story.

Cooper and Sasha liked Lucy. Jordyn liked the reporter from Car Stupide, the most famous television show in France. However, I liked Little Harry because at unexpected points in the book he would say random stuff, and he was very funny.


These are the discussions questions we used:

• Dad likes announcing his word of the day. What would your word of the day be today?
• If you could travel anywhere in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where would you go? Why?
• Dad believes that being sacked is an 'opportunity'. What does this mean? What opportunities have you had in your life so far?
• Who was your favorite Tooting family member and why?

Check out these great activities sheets we did at book club. You can also read what the author has to say about the book and series HERE.

To follow more of the Tooting family adventures you can read :

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time 
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon

My Weird Writing Tips Review

One day I was in a bookstore. I didn’t know it before I went there but there was an author coming in that day to sign the books he had written. He name is Dan Gutman. I have read many of the books he has written before so I knew who he was.

While he was there I bought a book called The Genius Files and had him sign it for me. I have not read it yet but I am looking forward to.

When we were talking, he told me about a book that had not even come out yet. I kept it in the back of my mind because I knew I wanted to read it. It is called My Weird Writing Tips.

Then, a month later, when I was at the library I saw it on the shelf.  I check it out. I really like it. I even read it 2 times. 

If you like My Weird School series you will enjoy this book. The first part of the book is about writing tips and the second part is about spelling, grammar and punctuation. He uses funny stories with silly characters from his My Weird School books.

This is a book for kids ages 8 and up but when mom read it with me she learned a little too. Can you believe she didn’t know the difference between its and it’s?

My mom ended up buying this book for me. She thinks I will read it over and over again because it tells you the rite way to wright. Oops, I mean right way to write.

Because of Mr. Terupt - Review

One day I was browsing around one of my favorite local bookstore when I came across this book called Because of Mr. Terupt. I read the back and thought it was very interesting because it was about a 5th grade class and I am going into 5th grade. So I decided to get it.

This book is about a teacher named Mr. Terupt. Only Mr. Terupt seems to know how to deal with all the kids in his new class. There are seven kids in the the class that this book is about. There is the new girl, the bully, the troublemaker, and the smart guy. Also there is a girl who doesn't know how to stand up for herself, the shy girl, and then the boy who hates school. Together, they are a lot for any teacher to deal with.

What I really like about this book is that it is divided differently than a normal chapter book. Each section is a month and each of the 7 kids tells about the month in their own voice. It made the book easy to read.

I would give it a 10 out of 10.

There is another book with the same characters. It's called Mr. Terupt Falls Again. I am reading it now.

For more information about the author check out the his web site.

Touch Blue - Review

Touch Blue

This book is about 2 sisters that live on a small island off the coast of Maine. Their school is shutting down because there are not enough kids to keep it open. Some families agree to take in foster children to add more kids to the school. One of those families was Tess and Libby's. Aaron, the boy who came to live with them, isn't happy to be there. Tess does her best to make him feel at home and shows him around the island. He knew he would not even be there if they had enough kids on the island so felt used. Tess also comes up with a plan for Aaron to see his mom again because she thinks that is why he is unhappy. Things may not work out as perfect as she planned.

Cooper loved the book and gave it an 8 out of 10.
Grace said the story was so so but she thought it was well written. She kept reading it because we were talking about it at book club. She gave it a 7 out of 10.
Jordyn didn't really like it. 5 out of 10
Ava, the book overall didn't really interest me but some parts I enjoyed. 6 out of 10

Our group would recommend this to both boys and girls. One of the main characters is a boy but the story is told by Tess, a girl.

The Bell Bandit - Review

In June me and my friends read The Bell Bandit

 The book was about Jesse and Evan. They go to their grandmother's house for the holidays. When they got there they saw that her house was burned by fire. While their mom picked up their grandma at the hospital, as they were waiting they noticed the bell was missing.
Clearly there has been a crime. Grandma is heart broken when she realizes the bell is missing. She thinks Evan did it because she is having trouble with her memory. She dos not remembering the kids but remembers her daughter, their mom.
Jesse decides to look for the New Years Eve bell. She teams up with Maxwell, a friend who lives near their grandmother, to solve the mystery.

Ava's favorite part was at an old tepee that they built last summer. There grandma thought it was a bus stop.This part was funny and it was sad.

Grace liked the part where grandma goes missing because it is full of suspense.

Cooper liked when Jesse and Evan do a scavenger hunt.

Jordyn enjoye when Jesse and Maxwell were spying on 2 mean neighborhood boys. When Evan came to find them they got into a big fight with the boys. It was a happy part because they saved the frog

This series would definitely be liked by boys and girls. All of us girls liked it and Grace knows a boy in her class that is reading it and he liked it.

You will be surprised at who has the bell.

If you enjoyed The Lemonade War Series as much as me and my friends did check out the books' website.

Baby Penguins Everywhere - Review

Baby Penguins Everywhere! is about a lonely penguin. All of a sudden a hat floats by with a little surprise inside.

My favorite part of the story is when the first little penguin pops out of the hat. I like this book because I like penguins and this book is about them. See my penguin in the picture.

This book is a picture book, and even tough I am 10 I still enjoyed the book. I read it to my little brother and thought it was funny.

The part that made me laugh was when on the first page you could see the little hat behind an ice burg.

I cant wait to meet the author and illustrator, Melissa Guion, when she visits our local library in May.

Meeting Deborah Davis

Earlier this month I reviewed the book Speeding Down the Spiral. A few weeks later I went to the Glen Ridge Public Library to meet the author, Deborah Davis, for myself.

When I finally got to meet her and told her about my blog. She signed my copy of the book. 

Bookmarks

Do you have a favorite book mark? Well I do! Here are some of my favorites. 

Recently me and my sister entered a bookmark contest at my favorite local book store, Watchung Booksellers. This year's theme for the competition is: If you could go anywhere in your imagination, where would you go? 

Me and my sister knew right away what it would be. My sister wanted to go into the TV and meet bugs bunny. 

I wanted to go back in time to see what it was like. 

It might too late to enter now, but they have a contest every year with a different theme.

My Trip to the Guggenheim

After reviewing the book Speeding Down the Spiral: An Artful Adventure, I was inspired to go to the Guggenheim Museum for myself. I have been there before but this time I was looked more closely for the things in the book.

 

Outside of Guggenheim Museum 

When I was there I took a couple of pictures as well. You were only allowed to take pictures on the first floor though.

Window and art installation in Guggenheim

At the museum I saw some of the pictures from the book such as Women with Yellow Hair by Pablo Picasso and Still Life: Flask, Glass, and a Jug by Paul Cezanne.

Also at the Guggenheim if you wanted they would give you a headset to listen to some things about the art and a sketchpad draw to the art you see.

Art wall with Cray-pas

For more information about the Guggenheim Museum check out their website.

Speeding Down the Spiral Review

by Ava, 4th grade

Speeding Down the Spiral: An Artful Adventure by Deborah Goodman Davis Illustraed by Sophy Naess

This book is about Lizzie, her dad, and her brother’s visit to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It was summertime and Lizzie really wished they could be going to a water park instead. When her dad gets distracted Lizzie ends up chasing her brother down the spiral ramp that is in the middle of the museum.

My favorite part was when Ben, Lizzie’s little brother, falls into a big pile of black licorice.  

I like the book because it was funny. I also liked how it told me about some art pieces that are displayed in the Guggenheim. Not only do you see pictures of the art in the book but you learn a little bit about the things you see.

This is a picture book; it’s kind of short, but not too short.  I think this book is for younger kids but I am 10 and I liked it too. I even enjoyed reading it to my younger sister.

A part that made me laugh was when Ben flew across the opening of the spiral ramp. On that part I also felt like I was seeing through the main character’s eyes because I bet Lizzie was afraid her brother was going to fall down the middle of the spiral. That’s how I felt too.

You can read about my visit to the museum here. 

Next Month's Pick

Grace chose The One and Only Ivan for this month's read. She purchased it at her school's recent book fair and thought it would be a great choice for the group. 

Here is the Book's description from Amazon:

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

Enjoy!

The Lemonade Crime Review

The Lemonade Crime is a continuation of the book The Lemonade War which our group read last month.  At the end of the first book in the series a crime takes place. Money was stolen from Evan who stole it from his sister who earned it selling lemonade. Evan's little sister Jessie is really mad because she worked really hard to get that money with her friend Meghan.

Jessie has a hunch of who took the money.  The suspect is Scott Spenser.  When the kids in school start talking about Scott's new X-Box 20/20 the siblings get mad. They are even more convinced it was him.  Jessie gets the idea to hold a trial to prove that Scott is the culprit. She organizes everything even the punishment. 

Ava really enjoyed the end of the book and how things were resolved. She was surprised at the verdict of the trial. The book didn't end how she thought and she liked that.
Grace really liked the part when the court was going on and everyone was all together on the playground and they were trying to figure out if Scott Spencer took the money or not.
Jordyn enjoyed the part when they were in line and Jessie accused Scott Spencer of taking Jessie's money. She was surprised the way Jessie spoke up to Scott because she was younger than him.
Copper's favorite part was when Jessie made Spenser sign the documents for the trial. It seemed funny for a little girl to be doing grown up things.

The ideas of kids running their own trial is unrealistic its likely that they would need adults to supervise.  but it was still neat to read about it.

Overall the girls preferred the first book in the series, The Lemonade War but would still recommend The Lemonade Crime to others,  and are even interested in reading the next book in the series The Bell Bandit as well as others in this series.

Both boys and girls will like this book because the main characters are a boy and girls. I think boys would like it because it has an X-Box in it and I know boys like X-Boxes. I also think girls would like it because a girl is one of the main character and the girl planned the trial.  

The Secret Zoo Review

Book Review By Ava

The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick

This story is about a nine year old girl named Meghan who mysteriously disappears one night. After the commotion Noah, (Meghan's brother), asks his closest friends, Ella and Richie (The Action Scouts), to set out to look for her. They go through a whirlwind of adventure. That includes finding a secret zoo.

My favorite part of the story was when Ella, Richie, and Noah find the secret zoo when looking for Megan. They find it accidentally after finding clues left for them by the animals.

The main characters are Noah, Ella, and Richie. We also get to know some pretty cool animals from the secret zoo such as Podgy the penguin, Blizzard the polar bear, and Hot Dog-one of the many other prairie dogs. 

All three of them are adventurous and are always trying there hardest and never giving up.

In the story Meghan gets lost and Noah, Ella, and Richie try to find her.

This story is a chapter book.

There are no illustrations in this story. I think it really didn't need illustrations because it was so descriptive  and I could imagine being there.

I liked the story because it had mysteries, adventures, and made me laugh. 

Some parts made me laugh like when Noah took that crazy ride on podge

I think girls would like it and maybe some boys as well.

February's Pick

This month we will be reading The Lemonade Crime chosen by Ava. This is a follow up book to The Lemonade War  which the girls really liked last month. 

Here is a brief description from Amazon.com:

Just as The Lemonade War, which sold more than 260,000 copies, put business into the
hands of Evan and his younger sister, Jessie, this equally exciting follow-up puts the
law into their hands. Using the rules of our legal system as a guide, they turn the playground
into a courtroom and put Scott Spencer, alleged thief, on trial, with fourthgraders
serving as judge and jury.

Release date: April 3, 2012 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: The Lemonade War Series (Book 2)