Happy Holidays!

Mia's about four times this size now, but it's still adorable! Hope one and all are thoroughly enjoying break... it looks like everyone but me has been reading furiously. :) I've been playing on my xbox. I'm a bad librarian! My goal is to start Analie's book today at some point.

Okay, I won't take up much more time right now, but I wanted to give you all a fresh place to post about what you're reading and whether or not you like it. Joel and Garrison, when you guys finish Ender's Game let me know, and I'll set up a final discussion post!

Merry Merry, Joy Joy!
Mrs. P

Meeting and Book Exchange Thursday!

All right, Bookies,
Nathan came up with a brilliant idea. During our meeting Thursday, let's finish discussing Ender's Game (I believe we got through that book in record time!) and then do a sort of Secret Santa/book exchange. Bring in a (wrapped) book from your collection that you really like or means something to you or whatever that you are willing to loan to someone; we will then draw names and read the lent book over break. The book will be returned to you after we get back. I'll spring for PIZZA again as all of you seemed to enjoy that. Let's make it BYOB. If you guys want to provide something dessert-ish, I'll leave that to you. :) How’s that sound?
Four days to go...Woohoo!
:)
Mrs. P

Discussion--to p. 227

Can I just say how happy I am with where I blindly chose to set the page goal? It was perfect! :) Discuss the following:

1. Read Ender’s internal monologue on p. 184. Does it remind you of someone else in the story and how they think? Who and why?

2. The title of chapter 11 is “Veni Vidi Vici,” which means “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Why is the chapter titled this?

3. Why is the fight with Bonzo in chapter 12 important?

4. What is the special relationship between Ender and Bean? What innovations does Bean contribute to the Dragon Army?

That's it for now. Your thoughts?
:)
Mrs. P

Let's get on the same page...

I know it's going to be impossible until we all finish the book, but I meant it pretty figuratively. I have a dilemma folks-- it seems the majority of you have finished, but three have not. I think we should only discuss the book tomorrow through the original page goal (227). That way we won't ruin it for anyone.

Rachael, I think printing off teachers' comments is a capital idea! If you would do it, that would be wonderful (copying and pasting them into a word document to save paper would be excellent!).

And, looking ahead to our next book, what would we like to do? We could stick to the one-book theme, or we could each read individually and right after we return, hold a book talking session. Let's vote-- what say you?

I'll publish discussion questions for you to ponder shortly...
:)
Mrs. P

I Have a Confession

Due to the weather and my love of hot chocolate and a good book, I read WAY past the goal of chapter 13/p. 227. I have almost finished the novel. Therefore, I will leave it to you guys-- should we stick with the goal as decided, or should we push to finish it by Friday? Jamia might have trouble with that since she just got a copy of it Friday... Let's hear from her before we make a decision.

Hope you guys had an enjoyable weekend!
:)
Mrs. P

First Discussion questions to p. 120

Sorry this is so late! I just finished the assigned pages, but I'll be better for the next goal (which sounds like it might be finishing the book). Let's discuss:

1. Is childhood a right? Does a person robbed of a "normal" childhood have any possibility of stability as an adult? Does Ender have any chance of living "happily ever after"?

2. Why is Ender’s being a Third considered negative? What does this tell you about society
on Earth?

3. What can you tell about this society based on the fact that it has produced a place like the
Battle School?

4. Why does Ender keep trying to get past the Giant’s Drink in his game?

5. Read the conversation between Ender and Dink on pp. 120-121. What do you think of
Dink’s point of view? Do you think he’s right?

:)
Mrs. P

Let's Meet Friday!

I'll be honest; I was reading The Road for most of break (absolutely not for kids-- it gave me nightmares, and that's not easy!), so I am BEHIND our goal of 120 pages. I aim to be caught up by Friday, and this book seems like a fast read. I guess Kenneth would agree! {*grumble* finished twice over break *grumble*} I will post some discussion questions tomorrow, but until then, feel free to discuss or ask questions here.

:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- no meeting tomorrow!

Hey guys,

Tomorrow is going to be nuts, so can we discuss pages we would like to read over the next ten days here? I am thinking that the print doesn't look too hard to read... what do you guys say about going for chapter 9, "Locke and Demosthenes", p. 120 by our first meeting the Friday following break? It's a first thought; let me know if you have a different suggestion.

Woohoo Thanksgiving break!
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia #5!

Hmmm... we'll finish with a bang!

What kind of car did Alice "borrow" in Italy?

Okay, so make your answers very complete, very thorough, and turn them in by noon tomorrow. DON'T FORGET TO PUT YOUR NAME AND GRADE ON THE PAPER! Three prizes will be awarded to the first three names drawn with all correct answers. Good luck, everyone!
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia Question #4

Here's number four...

Who finds Bella in the forest after Edward leaves her?

And now I'll post #5...
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia Question #3

Answer me this question numbered three:

What does Alice call Jacob to insult him?

Remember, all answers due Friday morning! I'm actually going to do the drawing early afternoon, so be sure you have your responses with YOUR NAME AND GRADE ON THEM into the library by noon at the latest.

And yes, you can use the book (or whatever resources) to look up the answer!
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia Question #2

All right, folks, time to make the questions a little more difficult! Answer me this:

Where does Jake say vampires have an advantage over werewolves?

Remember, bring all correct responses to the library on Friday before the end of the day to be entered in the drawing! The drawing will happen at 3:00 pm.

:)
Mrs. P

New Book Club Book?

At the end of our meeting today, Mr. Mehsling suggested we read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. No one present had read it (except for him), and I have been meaning to read it forever, so I'm in. We need to hear from Joel, Rachael, Nathan and our newbie, Maya. What do you guys think?

Just so you know, what made him think of it was a brief discussion of the Hunger Games... I think it would be interesting to read and compare the two!

Let's hear it.
Happy Weekend!
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia Quesion #1

I know I'm going to be busy tonight, so I'm posting Question #1 early (if you have no idea what this is about, read the previous post below!). Here it is:

Question #1:
1. What gift does Jane have that makes her so influential?

Don't forget to FOLLOW THE RULES as listed below!

:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Trivia Contest Begins!

The Rules:
1. Questions will be posted one at a time daily on the Rattlers Reads blog. Visit the blog tomorrow, Friday the 13th, and then Monday through Thursday of next week to see the questions.
2. You must turn in ALL responses on Friday, November 20th; answers should be numbered 1-5, and you should have your name and grade clearly visible on the page.
3. DO NOT post answers here on the blog, and DO NOT turn in answers before Thursday.
4. You must answer all five questions correctly. Duh!
5. The drawing will take place on Friday the 20th; winners will be notified that afternoon both in person and on the blog. Prizes are a surprise. :)

Questions? Add a comment here and ask away!
:)
Mrs. P

Pizza tomorrow-- + desserts?

Something tells me that it is really poor form to celebrate our finishing this amazing Holocaust book by gorging ourselves on pizza and sweets, but since there's no movie to watch (unless you guys want to watch a really excellent documentary on the Holocaust-- we can talk about that)or anything like that, and it is lunch time, well, we'll eat. :) I'll order the pizza; if you guys can comment here and tell us who will be bringing drinks (sodas or lemonade or whatever) and who will bring desserts, that would be excellent. We'll do a final discussion (BRING YOUR BOOKS!)and then toast with our pizza slices. Oh, and we'll discuss options for our next book-- thanks to Nathan for already coming up with some good suggestions!

So who's in for what?
:)
Mrs. P

P.S. I shut of the comment moderation again because it wasn't sending me notification emails; instead, you will find out a word verification process which supposedly will cut down on spam posts. We'll see.

Comment Moderation Is ON

Just an FYI guys-- I'm not sure what happened, but all of a sudden some serious spam has started to show up in our comments. I'm turning on the comment moderation feature (rather than your comments showing up immediately, they get emailed to me for approval first and then I publish them) for a while until hopefully everything goes back to normal. Sorry you won't see your comments immediately, but I promise I'll try to stay on top of moderating and get them published quickly!

:)
Mrs. P

Last Meeting for The Book Thief this Friday!

Just so we're all on the same page...
We're going to finish the book for our meeting Friday! I definitely haven't read enough this weekend, but I'll get on it tonight. :) I'm still at a loss as to what we should do to "celebrate" finishing this book. Any ideas? We could do a food thing-- order pizza? Everyone bring a dessert to share? What do you guys think?

All right, I'm off to read.
:)
Mrs. P

As requested, Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

I haven't read this book, so hopefully there are enough of you out there to generate a fun conversation about this book/series. Which one is your favorite? How's the new one? What makes them so popular, you think?

Discuss!
:)
Mrs. p

As requested, Life As We Knew It!

We discussed this book some last year, but let's revisit. Who's read it? What did you think of it? I'll jump in later...

:)
Mrs. P

12 days and counting...

Okay, I really trimmed down the last New Moon post, so if yours got deleted, I apologize. I don't normally do that-- I try to honor everyone's voice-- but what was there was a little overwhelming. Or underwhelming. :) Anyway, we'll see how it goes here!

I will be adding posts for Life As We Knew It and Diary of a Wimpy Kid as requested. :)

Someone asked whose team I'm on... While I like Jacob as a character, to me he's just not the love story-- the love story is Bella and Edward. So count me on Team Edward I suppose. :) In the book, he's hard not to appreciate!

Others have asked what the Twilight Saga is about; click here to read the story behind the novel Twilight, and click here to read about New Moon (and the titles are hyperlinked to Amazon.com to so you can read synopses of the books). Hopefully this helps!

One of the posts I deleted actually made me stop and think after the fact-- someone said they didn't like Bella, but they liked the books. Now I am sorry I deleted that, because Bella's perceived weakness is probably the most common criticism of the books. So let's discuss it! What do we think of Bella? Is she Every Girl, or is she too weak to represent? Hmm...

:)
Mrs. P

18 Days Until New Moon Arrives!

The countdown begins!
We are coming up with some cool ideas for ways to celebrate this super-cool event, including the same sort of trivia game we ran for Twilight, so keep your eyes on the blog and your ears on the morning announcements for more info. To start, you must decide--
~Are you a member of Team Edward or Team Jacob?~

You will have to declare your allegience in the library, and then you will earn points for your team. I think. I'm working on it!

Regardless, if you haven't seen all the new and cool stuff on the official Stephenie Meyer website, click here to see the latest and greatest.

This one I really like! The New Moon Movie Blog is killing time before the movie release by re-reading the book together, a chapter a day! They are on chapter 7 now, so it wouldn't be too hard to catch up if you are interested. I might join in here soon!

MTV has a pretty extensive New Moon news page, so you can check that out as well by clicking here.

Any other sources of info you guys know about? Let me know!

:)
Mrs. P

Meeting Monday

There was some confusion, but let's meet on Monday. I thought that's what we had decided at the last meeting; that way everyone should have time to get caught up on pages and we'll all be able to move forward from there.

I am not going to post discussion questions just yet over Part Eight, because I want to give you this forum to ask questions. Has there been anything at all in the book that you are unsure about? Anything you wish to discuss? Let's hear it!

See you guys Monday... Have a great Halloween weekend!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- Meet this Week & Discussion Questions!

Hey guys!
After watching the lunchtime traffic for Book Fair and concessions, I am going to request a postponement of our meeting until Monday; it's just too crazy up here for Book Club time. Since I'm putting it off for a full week and some change, are you guys okay with adding on further reading? Let's go to Part Eight, p. 403. That's an additional 53 pages, which should be very manageable (and maybe give some of you time to catch up... KENNETH).

Some questions to ponder and discuss here between now and Monday are below. FYI-- these only go to our original page goal; I will post some for Part Seven after I read that far!

1. Zusak really starts piling on the figurative language and literary devices in this section. What stands out to you? Metaphors, similes, personifcation, foreshadowing, irony, etc... And that's just in the first few pages of our reading! What are some of your favorite pieces of writing (not just examples of the above)? Explain.

2. Max dreams of boxing Adolf Hitler, of fighting to the death, and he trains daily by doing pushups. Why would someone hiding in a basement barely staying alive train for a fight that will never happen? What does all of this represent?

3. What is the seventh side of the die (p. 244-255)? Are there seven sides on a normal die? What does this represent? This section is pretty difficult; what did you think of it?

4. There are a lot of references in the "Death's Diary" sections to actual historical events that you guys may or may not have knowledge of. No one has really asked any questions yet... Do you have any about these sections-- or anything else for that matter?

5. The last line of our page goals is as follows: "They were French, they were Jews, and they were you." What do you think Zusak was saying to the reader? How did this line change the way you were thinking about the book, or how did it make you feel?

Let's talk!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- Meeting tomorrow postponed!

Hey guys,

Book Fair Madness has begun, and between that and Mia the Puppy, I've had zero time to think about anything else much less read! The Teacher Preview luncheon is tomorrow during the lunch periods, so would you guys be okay moving our meeting to Tuesday or Wednesday? And do you have a day preference? Let me know.

So we're definitely going for Part Seven now!

I'll try to post questions tomorrow, but if I don't get to it, I'll definitely post some over the weekend.

If I don't see you tomorrow, have a great weekend!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- Discussion Questions to p. 238

We'll discuss these tomorrow-- feel free to begin formulating your thoughts about any/all here, so the participating teachers can respond!

1. How does Zusak use the literary device of foreshadowing to pull the reader into the story? Any examples that struck you from this page assignment?

2. Guilt is another recurring theme in the novel. Hans Hubermann’s life was spared in France during World War I, and Erik Vandenburg’s life was taken. Why does Hans feel guilty about Erik's death? Guilt is a powerful emotion that may cause a person to become unhappy and despondent. Discuss how Hans channels his guilt into helping others. Explain Max Vandenburg’s thought, “Living was living. The price was guilt and shame.” (p. 208) Why does he feel guilt and shame?

3. How is the use of Mein Kampf in this story ironic? Look at the description on p. 159 for a quick reference!

4. On p. 189, Death addresses how much he "likes" Max's "stupid gallantry". What insight do we gain into Death's personality? Into Max's?

5. Review p. 198-199. This is a pivotal moment between Leisel and her foster parents. What has happened?

6. "Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day. That was the business of hiding a Jew" (p. 211).What does this comparison mean to you?

7. "The Standover Man"-- How much do you love this gift from Max to Leisel? :)

See you tomorrow during 8th grade lunch!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- to page 238!

We were ambitious this time as so many people (who shall remain nameless) read ahead or wanted to-- but you guys are still behind me. Not for long, though! I'll post discussion questions Wednesday evening/Thursday morning. Until then, feel free to post questions and comments here!

:)
Mrs. P

Discussion Questions--to p. 123

I'm a little late with this-- sorry! I'll be better next week. :) Questions:

1. I love some of the word choice, imagery and figurative language in this book. What are some of the language choices that stand out to you? Where have you paused and thought about what was being shown to you?

2. Is Leisel a substitute for Hans and Rosa's children? Why or why not?

3. Death says that Leisel is "a girl with a mountain to climb" (p. 86). What is her mountain? Who is her climbing partner?

4. Hans Jr. calls his father a coward. How does it take courage to oppose Hitler?

5. FEEL FREE TO POST HERE any questions that you have... as you have them! We can discuss together.
:)
Mrs. P

Discussion Questions-- to p. 62

Let's discuss the following:

1. What do we think of the book so far? What stands out to you?

2. Does Death as our narrator "work"? What do you think of Death as a character in the story?

3. An ongoing question, but one to begin pondering: What is the significance of colors in the book?

4. The Grave Digger's Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. Why did she take the book (think back to what Death tells us)? How does Hans Hubermann react when he discovers the book?

5. Liesel believes that Hans Hubermann's eyes show kindness, and from the beginning she feels closer to him than to Rosa Hubermann. How does he gain Liesel's love and trust? How was Hans "worth a lot." ? (p. 34)

6. Rosa is described as "her face was decorated with constant fury." (p. 33) What made Rosa so angry?

Now... your thoughts!
:)
Mrs. P

By popular demand... The Hunger Games!

I suppose one person could be considered "Popular Demand". :) I read this book over the summer and really enjoyed it; I can't wait to read the sequel (Catching Fire, on our shelves now) when I get a free moment! That's all I will say for now; Analie and Joel, take it away and I'll jump in later.
:)
Mrs. P

New Moon Movie Info!

Want the latest and greatest news about New Moon? Click here! This page seems to have it all. Also, be sure and stop at Stephenie Meyer's website page that is dedicated to all things New Moon to hear Death Cab for Cutie's song from the soundtrack and the latest trailer. Due out 11/20/09... when should we start the countdown, people?

Bookies-- Inkheart the Movie

Let's get the movie party started! Please have a parent/guardian email, write or call me to give you permission to watch the movie during 8th grade lunch later this week. How about we start watching it on Wednesday during lunch? That gives you guys two days to take care of the permission thing, which really should be more time than necessary. I would say we would watch it the entire period 3, but I don't think that's going to work for you jazz band/yearbook folks, right?
I'll shoot emails to the SSR teachers who need word from me about that; please let me know who that would be!
:)
Mrs. P

First Chapters Assigned!

All right, Bookies and Participating Staff Members...
We met today, and the group decided to read to page 62 by Wednesday, 9/23. We had said by Friday, but to particpate in the blog, you will need to be ready to go! The overall goal is to finish The Book Thief by Thanksgiving break so that we can crank into another novel over the holidays. Woohoo holidays! :)
By Wednesday next week, I will post some discussion questions over what we have read, and we'll see what everyone has to say. We will then meet on Fridays during 8th grade lunch to process the blogged conversation, and then I will post "minutes" from that meeting--including our next chapters assigned-- on the blog for all. This will be the way the weeks will progress until the book is complete. Concerns? Questions? Let me know. Until then, happy weekend. Woohoo weekends!
We missed you, Joel! Hope you feel better soon.
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies, Let's meet Friday!

All right, so let's do our initial meeting this Friday during 8th grade lunch-- will that work for you guys? I can spring you out of SSR as needed... oh wait, I just remembered that we get a lot of SSR classes in during that first SSR time. So let me check the library reservations tomorrow and see what's what. But we'll call it a tentative plan until otherwise notified.

If you haven't already done so (Rachael, Kenneth, Jamia!), come on in and sign out a book. I'm still trying to dig up books for teachers, so we'll see what I can do. I'm excited we're doing this!

Speaking of excited, I haven't seen much enthusiasm for watching Inkheart. Are you guys in a take-it-or-leave-it mode? If so, I'll just send it back from whence it came. :) Let me know.

That's me for tonight. Hope you guys are doing well!

:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- The Book Thief it is!

This will be our next book, if that's okay with you guys! It's a little bit fantasy, a little bit historical fiction, and a little bit realistic fiction (when Death isn't making a personal appearance as the narrator), so hopefully it will be a lot bit satisfying! I'm ILLing copies right now from other schools.

And, FINALLY, I have gotten Inkheart for us to watch if you guys are still interested. We could watch it in the library during 8th grade lunch (I'll spring you youngsters out of SSR)... so who's still interested?

Show of hands, please! Let me know:
1. If you're in for The Book Thief
2. If you're in for watching Inkheart

:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- What shall we read?

The possibilities are almost endless... any suggestions? I am in the middle of The Book Thief and am enjoying it immensely; would you like to join me and have this be our first book of the year? Find out more about The Book Thief here.

But again, I am open to suggestions! Should we meet and discuss? And I know I dropped the ball again, but do you guys still want to watch Inkheart together? We would have the library all to ourselves during lunch/SSR, so let me know!

:)
Mrs. P

It's really happening!

I am here. School is back in session, and for all intents and purposes, summer IS over. I've been in denial for a couple of weeks, but after Back to School Night last night, it's time to face facts! :) Enough with the drama.

So let's use this post to comment about our favorite book we read this summer! I'll start; click into the post to read what wins my vote!

Welcome back, everyone!
:)
Mrs. P

Half-Blood Prince-- The Movie!

So I saw this on Wednesday, and I would love to know what you guys think of it! Did you read the book? Did you read the book recently? What did you think of the adaptation? Did you like the ending? Finally, taking all things into consideration, if you were to assign a letter grade, what would you give it?

Discuss! I'll jump in soon.
:)
Mrs. P

Summer, continued!

Hi everyone!
I know I haven't posted in a while; sorry about that. Things have been a little crazy for me the last few weeks, but I think I've turned a corner and I can finally start enjoying summertime again! Lessee... I'm reading Savvy right now, which won the Newbery this year (rare that fantasy books win Newberys, so of course I have to give this one a go!), and did I talk about Hunger Games in my last comment? I can't remember... but allow me to say, I thought it was EXCELLENT. I read it in one travel day-- could not put it down, seriously! Great character development and a good idea for a story. I recommend it highly.

Bookies, about the movie-- I had some thoughts while I was out of town. Why don't we have our movie day sometime in the couple of weeks before school starts? I am assuming everyone will be rolling back into town by then and it will help us all ease into school mode. Does that sound good? The movie is out; I've put it in my Netflix queue, so we'll be ready to go. If this is acceptable to all of you, we'll figure out a day to meet up at the school, I'll get it lined up so we can have it going on the big screen in the Rattlers Den, and we can do popcorn and whatnot. What say all of you?

And just in case you're NOT in book club but you ARE reading this blog... feel free to join us on this movie day to watch Inkheart! I say the more the merrier. :)

Woohoo Summer!!
:)
Mrs. P

WOOHOO!

Happy Happy Summer, Everyone! What are we all reading? I am halfway through The Last Olympian, and it is not letting me down. Very fun! I am reading for the same YA Lit class I took last summer, so I will update you guys on the books that I am working on as it happens. I would love to hear what you are reading, too, so comment and let's chat!

Bookies-- a special note to you! I just checked on Netflix, and Inkheart comes out on June 23rd. I still feel horrible that we didn't make it to the theater, but maybe we could plan a day to get together and watch it at the library? I'll bring popcorn and sodas... :) What do you think? I can't make that weekend-- we'll be at a wedding in Delaware-- but maybe later the following week if you guys are interested. Let me know!

:)
Mrs. P

Book Club This Week!

Hey Bookies!
We had a lively discussion today about a pivotal section of the book! We discussed:
1. Why the author has Scout save Atticus and Tom Robinson when the Cunninghams show up at the jail
2. Whether or not Mayella is like her father
3. What Atticus meant when he says the length of the jury's deliberation might be "the shadow of a beginning"
4. The conversation Dill, Scout and Jem have with Mr. Dolphus Raymond outside the courthouse (starting p. 199)

Plus more, I think. :) If anyone has anything they would like to share about these conversations (whether you were at the meeting or not), go ahead and comment here.

Also, we decided to try to finish the book by Friday so that we will have time to watch the movie. We had originally thought to use ch. 29 and a backup (at least get to this point), but the more I think about it, the more essential it is that we get finished ASAP and get these books back to their home libraries. They are way overdue! Could you guys sally forth and finish by Friday, please? Otherwise, we may have to skip reading to the end and just watch the movie. As I recall, it's very faithful to the end of the book.

Here we go!
:)
Mrs. P

Mockingbird chapters 18 to 22

Howdy Bookies!
If you missed the meeting last Friday, we had a good discussion about the book up to chapter 18. We decided not to add too many chapters this time, so we're only reading up to chapter 22-- to clarify, not chapter 22 itself. A great deal happens in this small section, so please take your time and really chew on it. I will tell you that the last lines of chapter 21 are easily some of my favorites and make me cry every time I read them. :)

I never promised you guys that this would be an easy book to read. The language, the situations, and the plain hatred detailed are hard for us in this place and this time to really understand. Some of you have made connections to the Holocaust unit you are doing in Mr. Thibault's class; I believe this is excellent thinking on your part, and I want you to continue to assess this story in that way-- while just enjoying Scout's stories, as well!

I hate to crack the whip, but I want everyone caught up by our meeting time this Friday. If we're going to have time to watch the movie before school lets out, we've got to get a move on. It would also be great if everyone could be at the next meeting so we can debrief about Tom Robinson's trial and all that went on together. As Analie alluded to in an earlier comment, I encouraged everyone at the last meeting to use sticky notes or some such thing to mark passages that you have questions or comments about so that we can discuss them either here on the blog or in person on Friday. If you need stickies, come find me this week and I'll throw you a free pack!

I think that's it for now. On Wednesday, I'll do another post with questions for you to think about and comment on as we approach the next meeting Friday.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
:)
Mrs. P

Mockingbird Update

Hi Bookies!
Just a quick update before our face-to-face tomorrow! I forgot to bring my book today so that I could give specific information, so one of you will have to fill in the gaps for me please. We were to read to chapter 18, correct? And what page would that be in your copies, exactly? How are we doing? Are we ready to discuss?

And do you guys have anything specific you would like to discuss? Questions, comments? If you can, post them here so we can ponder the answers before tomorrow's meeting.

Hope you're enjoying the book as much as I am!
:)
Mrs. P

Book Club Update

So we met Friday as planned, and I think we had a good discussion about chapters 1-9 in the book. Some questions we pondered were

1. Why do you think Jem, Dill and Scout make a game of Boo Radley's life?
2. What do you think the items left in the knothole say about the person who left them there?
3. Why does Jem cry when the knothole gets cemented over?

I can't remember the rest. :)

We discussed a quote that I think is on p. 59 in your books discussing Egyptian inventions-- "delete the adjectives and then you have the facts"-- something like that. Did you figure out what that meant?

I also mentioned that there is all sorts of language and phrasing in here that might be confusing or hard to understand; if you guys run into stuff (vocabulary, phrases, whatever) that you don't get, please get clarification! You can either comment here on the blog, come find me in the library, or of course ask your folks! As I've told before, this book was not written as a children's book, so I would expect that you would need some help along the way.

Hope you're enjoying it-- we're getting to the meat of the story, now! We'll meet again this Friday after reading up to chapter 13 (that is what we decided, correct? One chapter after Pt. 2 starts?); let's try to get everyone there. And yes, we WILL watch the movie when we finish the book, so we better get cracking!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies-- Meeting Tomorrow, 8th Grade Lunch, @ the Library!

Be there!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies! Let's Get Started!

All right, guys-- we had decided to postpone reading ANY chapters until after spring break, contrary to some of the conversations you have been having recently. :) Well, "after spring break" is here, and I am anxious to get started. Where can we read to by next Friday, you think? I am now aware that some of you are officially ahead... what if we say we'll get to chapter 9 by Friday the 10th? Will that work? In your copies, that's page 74. Let me know!
:)
Mrs. P

Mockingbird Chapters for Thursday

I don't think we are going to make our original goal, people, so let's go ahead and revise it now. Let's go to chapter 9, which I think in your copies is p. 74. That should be a little more manageable!

Hope you're doing well on the testing...and Happy Friday!
:)
Mrs. P

Bookies! I Have Chosen!

All right, Current--and Possible!--Book Club members, we are going to read To Kill a Mockingbird. I have ordered enough copies for the members we already have, but if anyone would like to join us, please let me know because we would love to have you! This is my favorite book of all time, so I am really looking forward to reading this with you guys. I feel certain that you will all love it as much as I do. It also has one of the best movie adaptations ever, so we will for sure watch it once we finish reading the novel. Maybe we can steal a couple of SSR periods and do extended lunch-and-a-movie dates... what do you think?

Speaking of movies, I know you guys are bummed about Inkheart; I am too. If it comes out before school lets out, we'll definitely have a watching party. No release date on it yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled!

Back to Mockingbird, I should have the copies tomorrow, so do you guys want to meet tomorrow during 8th grade lunch and decide on pages to read by next Friday? Let me know.

:)
Mrs. P

March Book Club Choice

This is a simple post. What should we read together next? We had talked about reading a classic, and I suggested that you guys talk with your parents about what their favorite reads were when they were your age... Did anyone come up with anything? Do we still want to pursue a classic? I like the idea, but if someone feels strongly about a different genre, I'm willing to listen!
:)
Mrs. P

Mrs. P's Latest and Greatest!

So I read this book for my adult book club (my pick, so of course I picked a YA novel!), and everyone in the club surprised themselves by really liking it! I thought it was a really well done first novel. I hope she writes a follow-up to it soon. :) Katsa is a strong female heroine and a good character for girls (and boys!). This is one of the best fantasy books I've read in a while. 4 stars! :)

The Last Olympian!

Hey Rattlers!

Rick Riordan just released the title, cover and availability date for the fourth Percy Jackson book, The Last Olympian. Look for it on May 5th of this year! Click here to find out a lot more.

Are we excited?!
:)
Mrs. P

What do we think, Bookies?

Okay, who's finished? Who's not, and where are you? Let's start there, and then discuss the following:

1. At what point did you realize that good would triumph over evil?
2. Do any of the "good" characters have any evil in them?
3. What did you think about Basta as you finished the novel?

Let's talk!
:)
Mrs. P

Book Club Meeting This Friday!

All right guys, we have to bust a move to get this book in the bag. :) Let's be ready to discuss up to chapter 50, "No Luck for Elinor". That means we all need to be prepared to discuss through page 456! Can we do it?

I got Joel Duran a copy of the book last Friday (his got destroyed), and he will be joining us if he can get caught up... say hi, Joel, so people don't think you're a figment of my imagination!

:)
Mrs. P