The Piper's Son
Melina Marchetta's brilliant, heart-wrenching new novel takes up the story of the group of friends from her best-selling, much-loved book Saving Francesca - only this time it's five years later and Thomas Mackee is the one who needs saving.
Watch a video of the author Melina Marchetta
James Dashner
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can
remember is his first name.
Watch the book trailer video
~ David Benedictus
Illustrated by Mark Burgess
This is a companion volume that truly captures the style of A. A. Milne-a worthy sequel to The House at Pooh Corner and Winnie-the-Pooh.
Watch the videos about the book and Jim Dale as he reads from the book
The 2010 Newbery Medal winner is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
~ Roald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Format: Paperback 96 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0142410349
Released: August 16 2007
Publisher: Puffin
Ages: 9-12
Themes: animals
Price: $7.50
Our loyalties are defined from the start; after all, how could you cheer for a man named Bunce who eats his doughnuts stuffed with mashed goose livers? As one might expect, the farmers in this story come out smelling like ... well, what farmers occasionally do smell like.
This early Roald Dahl adventure is great for reading aloud to three- to seven-year-olds, who will be delighted to hear that Mr. Fox keeps his family one step ahead of the obsessed farmers.
When they try to dig him out, he digs faster; when they lay siege to his den, he tunnels to where the farmers least expect him--their own larders! In the end, Mr. Fox not only survives, but also helps the whole community of burrowing creatures live happily ever after. With his usual flourish, Dahl evokes a magical animal world that, as children, we always knew existed, had we only known where or how to look for it.
Fiction Activities
Vocabulary List for Fantastic Mr. Fox
Lesson Plans for Fantastic Mr.Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox A matching game to reinforce characters in
this popular Roald Dahl novel. http://www.quia.com/custom/2198main.html
Reading Quiz http://www.puiching.edu.hk/~pc-ckc/fox.htm
Novel Study http://www.tlt.ab.ca/projects/Div1/Grade3/fantasticfox/foxy.html
Vocabulary PowerPoint FantasticMr. Fox
EThemes http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000553.shtml
Rainbow Journey Two http://www.e-magine.education.tas.gov.au/n-touch/surftherainbow/projecttwo/fox.htm
Lesson Plans http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading48/lesson_plans_for_fantastic_mr.htm
Vocabulary Exercises Activity1 http://www.shorncliss.qld.edu.au/000884.asp
& Activity 2 http://www.shorncliss.qld.edu.au/000885.asp
Fantastic Mr. Fox NovelStudy http://www.tlt.ab.ca/projects/Div1/Grade3/fantasticfox/foxy.html
Novel Study http://www.lgsd.k12.nf.ca/imc/PrimaryNovels.asp
Buy the book - amazon
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Going Bovine (Hardcover)
~ Libba Bray (Author)
In this ambitious novel, Cameron, a 16-year-old slacker whose somewhat dysfunctional family has just about given up on him, as perhaps he himself has, when his diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jacob, "mad cow" disease, reunites them, if too late. The heart of the story, though, is a hallucinatory—or is it?—quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness. Just like the crazy—or was he?—Spaniard, Cam is motivated to go on a journey by a sort of Dulcinea. His pink-haired, white-winged version goes by Dulcie and leads him to take up arms against the Dark Wizard and fire giants that attack him intermittently, and to find a missing Dr. X, who can both help save the world and cure him. Cameron's Sancho is a Mexican-American dwarf, game-master hypochondriac he met in the pot smokers' bathroom at school who later turns up as his hospital roommate. Bray blends in a hearty dose of satire on the road trip as Cameron leaves his Texas deathbed—or does he?—to battle evil forces with a legendary jazz horn player, to escape the evil clutches of a happiness cult, to experiment with cloistered scientists trying to solve the mysteries of the universe, and to save a yard gnome embodying a Viking god from the clutches of the materialistic, fame-obsessed MTV-culture clones who shun individual thought. It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.—Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA END
Author Libba Bray talks about Going Bovine
When You Reach Me (Hardcover)
~ Rebecca Stead (Author)
Sixth-grader Miranda lives in 1978 New York City with her mother, and her life compass is Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. When she receives a series of enigmatic notes that claim to want to save her life, she comes to believe that they are from someone who knows the future. Miranda spends considerable time observing a raving vagrant who her mother calls the laughing man and trying to find the connection between the notes and her everyday life. Discerning readers will realize the ties between Miranda's mystery and L'Engle's plot, but will enjoy hints of fantasy and descriptions of middle school dynamics. Stead's novel is as much about character as story. Miranda's voice rings true with its faltering attempts at maturity and observation. The story builds slowly, emerging naturally from a sturdy premise. As Miranda reminisces, the time sequencing is somewhat challenging, but in an intriguing way. The setting is consistently strong. The stores and even the streets–in Miranda's neighborhood act as physical entities and impact the plot in tangible ways. This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.
Solace of the Road
~ Siobhan Dowd
Holly’s story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her.
Memories of mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school, and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blond locks she feels transformed. She’s not Holly anymore, she’s Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the supersharp talk. She’s older, more confident—the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland, and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the
world head-on. So begins a bittersweet and sometimes hilarious journey as Solace swaggers and Holly tiptoes across England and through memory, discovering her true self and unlocking the secrets of her past.
From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer, the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog.
The 1981 edition (now out of print) of this little classic on puppy rearing was a word-of-mouth best seller. This substantially revised and expanded edition benefits from an additional decade of observation of puppy behavior by its authors and includes effective, up-to-date methods for educating puppies to become good canine citizens. Along with Job Michael Evans's The Evans Guide for Housetraining Your Dog (Howell, 1987), this is required reading for new puppy owners.
"This book may be as important for puppies as preschool is for children" -- (Dog Fancy)
The Book Thief
by Marcus Zusak
Reading level: Young Adult
Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it,The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Markus Zusak talks about the writing of The Book Thief
Reading Group Guide - discussion questions
Marcus Zusak talks about writing The Book Thief
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