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