Going Where Its Dark

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

What is your biggest fear?  One of my biggest fears is to be trapped in a small space, and this book opened that fear.  I don't think I will be entering a cave in a long time after reading this adventure about Bucky.

Bucky and his best friend Dave live in the back country of Virgina and have developed a love of exploring caves. Just as Dave is about to move, Bucky discovers a hidden cave that has never been explored called the hole.  With Dave gone, Bucky is risking much to explore it on his own, and he has the summer to figure out how achieve this mission.

But that is not all.  Bucky struggles with a serious stuttering problem that leads to bully issues and worry for the family.  An unexpected connection with Bucky's uncle may be the one who can help Bucky's stuttering in an unsual manner.

This book has many sides plots and great selection of characters that continually interact with Bucky. The writing style of the cave exploration was so vivid that is increased my fear of small spaces and caves.

If you are looking for an adventure book and enjoy the idea of cave exploring this would be a great book for you.

GENRE:  Adventure/Realistic Fiction

AUTHOR: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

GRADE LEVEL: 6-8

Save Me a Seat

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

By looking at the cover of this book, you may notice the clear separation of two lunches from the cafeteria and two authors.  This leads to the premise of this book with two very different main characters struggling with school, Joe and Ravi.  Ravi has recently moved from India to America due to his father's change of jobs.  Ravi is very intellectual, athletic, and has enjoyed school throughout his life.  But school in America is not going as planned for Ravi; especially with trying to become friends with Dillon who happens to be a bully to Joe. Our other main character Joe struggles with school, especially with reading and reading out loud in class, and with having friends.  To make matters worse, his mother has taken a job in the school cafeteria and cause more problems for Joe.

Joe and Ravi appear to have little in common, but a single mission will bring them together over the course of this crazy week in school.

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

AUTHOR: Sarah Weeks/Gita Varadarajan

GRADE LEVEL: 5-6

Masterminds #2 - Criminal's Destiny

SPOILER ALERT - This is the second book of a series.  I strongly advise you to read the first book, and besides the first one is the best book of the series.  You can find the book talk here.

Our second book begins with our crew hanging out at the dormitory school in Colorado, but it doesn't take long for the Purple People Eaters to find them and the chase is on. They are on the run and learn that just telling the police will not solve their problems, but only expound them.  While one the run, our main character are faced with a dilemma - Should they break the law to try and survive, and if they do, does that stem from their DNA.  Are they becoming the criminals?  Can they escape their dreaded past?

There are many twists and turns, suspense, action, and excitement as they search for the truth, make their way back to Serenity, and even try to break someone out of jail.  And who could forget the agonizing question, "WHAT HAPPENED TO HECTOR?"  Many questions will be answered so make sure you don't miss book two in this thrilling series - Masterminds.

Masterminds

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

TEACHER ALERT - This is a great read aloud for class, and will keep the student guessing the entire time.  Great for predicting and characterization.

If you have read any of my blog posts, you know that Gordan Korman is one of my favorite authors.  When I first picked up this book, I knew nothing about it, but it is now part of my top ten list.

This story features five teenagers living in the town of Serenity - the happiest city in America.  All houses are the same with everything that children need from pools to basketball hoops in their driveway.  Some of our main characters love the life that Serenity offers, while others speak of leaving as soon as they can.  It won't take the reader long to see that this is not your ordinary town from the classes that are taught to the activities the children do.

The plot thickens when Eli is working on his computer and after an electrical surge is able to see the real internet.  American history that has been taught to him does not match.  The Boston Tea Party was not an actual tea party between the British and American to discuss their differences????  This is enough to lead Eli and crew to find the truth of Serenity and their lives.  There will be countless predictions and questions to keep you guessing the climactic reveal of their backstory.  And adventure and suspense will continue to build as they continue to take risk after risk to find the truth

Fastbreak - Student

Ungifted - Student

Lawn Boy (Student Book Talk)

What do you think is the highest paying job in the world? Perhaps, Professional NFL players, or the President. Maybe you will grow up one day making a lot of money for your job.

The main character (we couldn’t find his name) suddenly gets a chance at making money one morning. In only one day, he had made sixty dollars. It was only a matter of time before he had his own stockbroker, Arnold, who invests in money, and hired employees. And was even sponsoring a prizefighter…

But the main character doesn’t always constantly have good days. There are opponents that try to take over his business…

I really liked this book. I would usually not read these kinds of books, but this one really piqued my interest. The story wasn’t always happy, and there were challenges along the way. I can’t wait to read the sequel to the book, The Lawn Boy Returns!

Author: Gary Paulsen

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Grade Level: 5-6

Slacker

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

One of my favorite authors, Gordon Korman, is back with a realistic fiction novel entitled, Slacker. Cameron is a 7th grade boy that has one love in his life - video games.  This slacker's life revolves around nothing but any type of electronic game from Clash of Clans to Rule the World.  But all this is about to change when his love of video games causes a fire in their house and broken down door.  His parents have had enough and it is time for Cameron to break out and interact more with real kids. Cameron has to join an extra-curricular club.

No problem for our main character and his two friends who create a fake school club to keep Mom and Dad happy.  And that is where the dominos start to fall.  The author introduces more and more characters who are tied to this fake club, and before Cameron knows what is happening, this fake club has a guidance counselor and a growing member list.  With no way to stop it PAG - Positive Action Group - starts to make a difference in the dying community but enemies start to arise that want to halt PAG's success and reveal Cameron for the slacker he is.

The chapters in this book will switch between many different characters, giving you many different viewpoints and opinions during the plot.  Just because this is a Realistic Fiction doesn't mean there aren't many questions that need answering and even some surprises at the end.

AUTHOR: Gordon Korman

GENRE: Realistic Fiction, Humor

GRADE LEVEL: 5-7

Dead End in Norvelt

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

What is the longest period of time that you have been grounded?  In this realistic fiction novel set in rural America during the 1960's, Jack has been grounded for the entire summer.  One night as he was playing with his father's Japanese WW2 gun, it accidentally went off and shot through their neighbor's window.  Thankfully, no one was hurt, and his grounding would not affect the events of his summer.  One major character in this story is an elderly lady named Miss Volker who needs Jack's help in writing obituaries for all of the original inhabitants of Norvelt, but something is amiss as many of the inhabitants continue to die off from supposed natural causes.  There is also Hell's Angels threatening the town, a best friend whose father works at the morgue, parents who never seem to agree, a bomb shelter and an airplane being built in their backyard, and a police officer who rides a tricycle,

This novel follows a historical feel with humor mixed throughout the story line similar to A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO by Richard Peck.  There are interesting history facts sprinkled throughout the story that ties to the main characters love of history and the history of the town.  There are also humorous moments like the time the main character passed gas while hunting with his father, so he wouldn't have to kill a deer, or when it appeared Miss Volker's hand were "melting."  Finally, I really enjoyed that many of the events and the setting tie to the author's childhood, so it has a real-world feel which makes it more enjoyable to ponder what really happened and what was exaggerated.

One reason that I picked this book to read was due to the comment by another author.  Dave Barry is an author that I really enjoy.  If he liked this book, there is a good chance I would like it to.  This can be helpful in picking out your next book to see what books your favorite authors recommend.

AUTHOR:  Jack Gantos

GENRE:  Realistic/Historical Fiction

GRADE:  5-8

Above

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

DISCLAIMER - This book talk is for the second book in a series.  If you have not read the first book, I highly recommend you do not read this book talk as it will reveal what may have happened to characters from the first book.  The first book is entitled BENEATH by Roland Smith.




Alright, everyone, our main characters are back, Pat, Coop, and Kate, but they are still on the run from the Shadows.  After telling their story to the FBI, Alex, sends them off to different parts of the country to shake off any of the Shadows that might be following them.  The plot picks up when they all meet together in Oregon to fill everyone in on what has been happening, but it doesn't take long for the Shadows to find them and Kate is taken captive.  Coop, Pat, and Alex are on the hunt down the western coast to try and find Kate before Lod follows through with his new master plan.  That's right, the Lord of the Deep is back, and he has a new diabolical plan.

The main part of the book is the chase, but the author leaves many clues and questions for the reader to try and figure out and let's just say not everyone should be trusted.  This book should also answer any questions that you had from the first book in the series, BENEATH.  If you liked the first book, you should definitely read the second book to see if Pat and Coop can make it in time, will Kate survive after her betrayal, who will betray them this time, and can they stop Lod in time.

Author:  Roland Smith

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Adventure

Grade Level - 5th-8th grade