Monday, October 6, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 
To learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? visit Mentor Texts

While this one is not on our Newbery Book Club master list, it was published in 2014 so it is a contender. And it's Andrew Clements. How do I resist?

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How much do I love Andrew Clements’s books? Let me count the ways!

The cover is the biggest drawback to this book. It doesn't do the story justice.


Genre: Realistic
AR level: 5.3
Grade appropriate: 3rd and up

RATING BREAKDOWN:
Overall: 5/5--This is another home run from Andrew Clements.

Creativity: 5/5-- I loved the kid obsessed with maps and Andrew Clements’s teachers are always doing things you don’t expect!

Characters: 5/5-- I identified with Alton and liked him a lot! I liked his imperfect teacher and his friend Quint who speaks in way too much slang!

Engrossing: 5/5-- Finished in one day…

Writing: 5/5-

Appeal to kids: 5/5-- The cover might put them off. Kind of passive. But if we can get them to check it out I think they’ll be hooked!

Appropriate length to tell the story: 5/5-- Almost too short! I wasn’t ready for it to end.

CONTENT:
Language: none
Sexuality: none
Violence: none
Drugs/Alcohol: none

~~~
This one is not new, but a popular series in the library. I have wanted to read it for a while and saw an opportunity. 
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Genre: Adventure
AR level: 4.8
Grade appropriate: 3rd and up


RATING BREAKDOWN:
Overall: 2/5-- Honestly, I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. It was really silly so that will be a plus for a lot of kids.


Creativity: 3/5-- A man creates a list of genius children to help him run the country after 9/11. They are being hunted down throughout the story.


Characters: 1/5-- Eh...


Engrossing: 2/5-- Not so much.


Writing: 2/5-- see my notes on appeal to kids.


Appeal to kids: 5/5-- The kids will love it. It’s silly and heavy on the action. Not so heavy on character development or cohesiveness.


Appropriate length to tell the story: 3/5


CONTENT:
Language: none
Sexuality: none
Violence: mild-- fighting off bad guys with frisbees and twine.
Drugs/Alcohol: none-- bad guy smokes cigarettes.





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