I just finished reading Bill the Boy Wonder and it was a very interesting biography.  The illustrations are extremely vibrant and are similar to a graphic novel.   It's about the life of Bill Finger and how he created a certain superhero.  Can you guess who?  If you like reading graphic novels, pick up Bill the Boy Wonder.

Three Times Lucky

If you like mysteries, then Three Times Lucky is the book for you. The main character in the book is Mo, a girl with a unique name and a unique family. She lives in a small and quiet town, and helps run her family's cafe. Then one day trouble rolls into town with Detective Joe Starr. He has come to try and solve a murder which occurred in the next town over . Several days later a man from Mo's town is found dead too! Mo and her best friend Dale decide to take matters into their own hands and find the murderer themselves.

Full of twist and turns, this book had me guessing right up until the last moment. See if you can figure out the "whole story" before Mo does!

Read it before you see it!

My mom taught me that the book is usually better than the movie version, so I always try to read books before I see the movies that are based on them.  I have been seeing lots of commercials for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, the movie based on second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan.

I highly recommend the series, and if you haven't read it yet, you have time to catch up before Sea of Monsters hits theaters in August.  If you've already read the books, why not reread Sea of Monsters if you're planning to see the movie?  That way you will have it fresh in your memory so you can compare and contrast the two!

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I finally started my RIBCA summer reading and just finished the book Wonder . The book was so good, I read the whole thing in only a few hours! It's about a fifth grade boy with a facial deformity who is going to school for the very first time (he was previously home schooled). During his school year he makes new friends, experiences cruel bullies, and shows just how strong he really is! I laughed, I cried, and I finished the book feeling inspired!

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

    I loved this story!  It was a little sad at times.  My favorite part of the story was when Ruby was  introduced into  the story.  Through her innocence she made Ivan think about his past life and current living conditions.  She helped him see his life at the zoo and his art in a new way.  With Ruby's arrival comes change and Ivan realizes he can change things for all of the animals for the better!

Support With Evidence!

You know what I love about these students' responses?  They answered all the parts of the question AND used evidence from the story to support their answers!  Make sure that when you are posting your answer you take the time read what the question is asking and do the same!


Mary C., Grade 2, SFE read Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery by David Adler.  She writes:   
 

My favorite character in this book is Cam Jansen. I like her because she is smart. Cam has a photographic memory and she says click to remember the pictures she took with her mental camera. She uses these pictures to solve the mystery of her grandparents missing luggage.






Kaitlyn P., Grade 4, SFE read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl.  She writes:

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator had awesome characters and my favorite is Mr. Wonka. There are many reasons why he is my favorite character. First of all, I like him because he is smart, funny and interesting. Mr. Wonka is funny because when the president asked him who he was he started talking in an alien language. Mr. Wonka is smart because he knows what every button in that glass elevator does. (There are millions of buttons in there!) Wonka is interesting because he has this giant chocolate factory with over 2,000 rooms. He is also interesting because in his factory he has lots of tiny creatures called oompa-loompas. The oompa-loompas are like Wonka's "test monkeys"/butlers and sometimes they sing songs. In conclusion, Mr. Wonka is my favorite character. I wish he was real!!! (I would love to meet him!!!!)

Paige H., Grade 4, SFE read Just Grace by Cherise Mericle Harper.  She writes: 

My favorite character in the book is Grace. One character trait to describe her is that she is caring. First, she sent cute postcards of Crinkles the cat to Mrs. Luther. Mrs. Luther broke her leg and had a cast on and Grace felt bad and wanted to try to cheer her up. Also when Sammy Stringer was crying, Grace smiled at him to make him feel better. Last, when Crinkles the cat was missing Grace found him and she gave him back to Mrs. Luther. Grace is a nice person and she does kind things for others. I would have given her a super star.

Isabella J.-L., Grade 5, WLC read Judy Moody Gets Famous!  by Megan McDonald


The favorite character in the book I read is Judy Moody. The character trait I would describe my character as kind, grumpy, and jealous. Judy was kind at the end of the story because she took the hospital dolls and fixed them to look like the kids that were there that were sick or had something broken like an arm or a leg that's what made her kind. Judy was grumpy in the book because she tried a lot of stuff to get famous and it didn't work and one almost worked because she got in the news paper you just couldn't see her face. Judy was jealous that one of her classmate's Jessica Finch got her face on the front page of a newspaper for winning the spelling bee and Judy tries to get her face on the front page of a newspaper too by doing things to try to get in the paper to. That's my favorite character and my characters trait and my evidence. 




Riley C., Grade 5, WLC read Frindle by Andrew Clements.  He writes:

My favorite character in Frindle is Nick and his character trait is creative. One thing he did to be creative is they live in New Hampshire and it was February so it was cold so he decided to turn his home room in to tropical island by spreading white sand all over the floor, turned the temp. up in the classroom to about 90 degrees, and having all the boys and girls in the classroom to make palm trees out of green and brown paper and tape them to the corners of all the desks. Another thing he did to be creative is all the cafeteria food in his school is bad so he told everyone not to by lunch so that they would eventually have to start making better lunches so kids will by them. The last thing he id to make him creative is he created a new word (frindle) and he was only 11. That is why Nick is my favorite character and his character trait.

Pete at the Beach!

I'm sure by now that most of you have heard of Pete the Cat, that cool cat who loves to sing rocking songs.  There is an ever-growing collection of groovy Pete the Cat picture books (look for Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses coming this October!)  but what you might have known is that there is also a new collection of Pete the Cat Early Readers for beginners.

Although these titles don't come with any catchy songs, they are great practice for young readers and as far as I am concerned, completely entertaining for readers of any age, no matter what their reading level!  My pick is Pete at the Beach - take it with you to this beach this summer and build a sand castle along with Pete and his mom!

It's all good.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone's summers have been going great so far and that you are doing something special for Independence Day.  To celebrate, I wanted to share a patriotic book/song suggestion: This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie (words and music), Kathy Jakobsen (illustrations) and Pete Seeger (musical tribute).   This has always been one of my favorite patriotic songs, and I love the folk-art inspired paintings in this book version.

If you get this book, you'll see it comes with a CD that you can read/sign along with or you can watch this video to get the experience right from your computer:

Highly Recommended!

As I was driving in my car the other day, I heard the radio announcer talking about the best books to read this summer.The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate was at the top of the list for kids ages 9-14.  I am really looking forward to reading it. I know Mrs. Goodnow read it to her class and all said they enjoyed it tremendously.  It also received the Newbery Medal for best children's book of 2013 and is on the RICBA 2014 list. Wow!  I'll keep you posted. Happy reading!