Next Up: Click Here to Start by Denis Markell

We had a blast making swords and discussing Five Kingdom's Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull this morning! Our next pick that we voted to read is Click Here to Start by Denis Markell. It also happens to be a Georgia Book Award nominee for this year. We are excited to read and discuss it on Monday, January 28th at 7:30am in the LS Media Center. 

Penguin Random House Books summarizes the novel as follows:
What if playing video games was prepping you to solve an incredible real-world puzzle and locate a priceless treasure?

Twelve-year-old Ted Gerson has spent most of his summer playing video games. So when his great-uncle dies and bequeaths him the all so-called treasure in his overstuffed junk shop of an apartment, Ted explores it like it’s another level to beat. And to his shock, he finds that eccentric Great-Uncle Ted actually has set the place up like a real-life escape-the-room game!
Using his specially honed skills, Ted sets off to win the greatest game he’s ever played, with help from his friends Caleb and Isabel. Together they discover that Uncle Ted’s “treasure” might be exactly that—real gold and jewels found by a Japanese American unit that served in World War II. With each puzzle Ted and his friends solve, they get closer to unraveling the mystery—but someone dangerous is hot on their heels, and he’s not about to let them get away with the fortune.


Copies can be obtained via Kindle at the LS Media Center, hard copy at the LS media center, or at your public library! Don't wait to read this awesome book about the life of a young gamer. 

Five Kingdoms: Sky Raiders, Book One by Brandon Mull!

We LOVED skyping with author Steve Sheinkin this month! It was AWESOME! Next month, we will be reading Five Kingdom: Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull, which we are super excited about! We will meet on Monday, December 10th to discuss at 7:30am in the LS Media Center. Books can either be checked out at our library or your local public library. Save the date! 

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

What a fantastic kick-off party we had?!  I mean, we Skyped with author, Taryn Souders, and we ate meatloaf for breakfast! (Sounds crazy, but it's actually delicious when the meatloaf is chocolate rice crispy treats!)  It really can't get any better than that!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the silly humor and likable characters portrayed in "Dead Possums are Fair Game."  We also really loved getting the inside scoop on all of those amazing characters from Taryn.  She even shared some math tips and tricks from her time as a middle school math teacher.

Our next book club should be equally as fantastic!  We are reading the book, "Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team."  We will meet to discuss the book, enjoy a book related treat and skype with the author of the book, Steve Sheinkin on Monday, October 29 at 7:30 am in the media center!

“Sheinkin has made a career of finding extraordinary stories in American history, researching them exhaustively and recounting them at a nimble pace for readers aged 10 and up . . . Thorpe's greatness may be aspirational, but Sheinkin's brisk and forthright delivery makes it seem entirely possible.” ―The New York Times Book Review

Book Club Launch Party: 2018-2019 School Year!

We are thrilled to host a book club launch party for 4th and 5th graders on Monday, September 17th at 7:30am in the LS Media Center. We will be discussing Dead Possums Are Fair Game by Taryn Souders. Please get your hands on a copy of the book either from our media center (copies available on a first come, first serve basis) or through your local public library. It's going to be a fabulous year of book clubs!



Check out the author summarizing this book in this short video:

If you would like to check out a Kindle or an iPad with the Kindle app from the LS media center to read the month's book club book, please have a parent complete this form, which can be turned into the Media Center.  

5th Graders Only: If you would like to bring in your own e-Reader for book club, please complete the Acceptable Use Policy Form and return it to Myla Young in the administration office. 

Book Club Extravaganza: How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me From Robots, Traitors and Missy the Cruel

We had SO much fun discussing Ghost by Jason Reynolds and dining on chocolate covered sunflower seeds! Do you know how sunflower seeds relate to the novel? We do! We also designed our own running shoes with augmented reality, which was pretty cool. Our next pick is extra special because it's our final book club of the year and we have some special guests coming.Third graders will be joining us so that we can show them the ropes for the fun year ahead in book club. 

Boys in 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades: Please join us on Friday, May 18th from 3:20-3:50 in the LS Media Center for a book club extravaganza. It's going to be a party!

Ghost

Imagine you are one of nine children all alone on a deserted island.  How will you survive?  Who will take care of you?  

I know what you're thinking, but this book is definitely not "Lord of the Flies."  What it is is a wonderful look at growing up, becoming independent, and moving through adolescence on a journey to maturity.  Seems heavy for a boys book club, but I promise you they devoured this book!  The boys loved discussing the connection Jinny had with the island and her friends, the adventures they had, and her responsibility to her community on the island.  

We recreated the island experience in our media center by ditching our shoes in a pile and eating our very own version of snaps and fish (craisins and swedish fish)!  We also recreated the stones and ink fish experience with garden stones and sharpies.

Amazing discussion, amazing fun, amazing book club--as usual!

And I already can't wait until our next meeting on Monday, April 16 at 7:30 am in the media center.  We're reading "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds.  I expected good reviews from the boys just based on the content and writing, but we already have people asking for the sequel.  This might be our best book club yet!  

A National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature.
Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this first electrifying novel of a brand-new series from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award–winning author Jason Reynolds.

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.

Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?

Orphan Island by Laurel Synder

We had SO much fun discussing The Odd Squad: Bully Bait yesterday at boys book club! We made our own graphic novels and had a meaningful discussion. Our next pick is pretty special. We will be discussing Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder. Laurel Snyder happens to be a local Atlanta author that is widely popular. This is her newest book about nine children living on a mysterious island. That's all I am going to give you! You have to read it to find out what happens.

We will meet to discuss it on Monday, March 5th at 7:30am in the LS Media Center. Can't wait!