Sunday, December 5, 2010

December Books of the Month

Remember: After you finish reading a Book of the Month pick, you must write a commentary on this blog post and then tell me so that you can get your "thumbs up" to put on the bulletin board. If you don't do this, you won't get your extra credit points at the end of the month.

Mrs. Lever's Picks:
The 10 p.m. Question by Kate De Goldi
The Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld The Midnighters is a series of books, all books in the series count as books of the month.

Mr. Horvath's Picks:
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Partner Pick:
A Wrinke In Time by Madeline l'Engle

Classic Picks:
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Celebrity Pick...Mrs. Johnston:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

Author To Know:
Scott Westerfeld - any Scott Westerfeld novel that you read counts this month as a book of the month!!!

Jockey Hollow Book Club Pick:
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

34 comments:

Kace said...

I finished reading the pearl and so yesterday last night. I liked the pearl cause it really puts right out there that greed is a horrible dirty thing and teaches the lesson well. I loved so yesterday because it perfectly illstrates some of the social networks and how ideas move through our society, with an individual making an idea and society reacting to it.

Rockelle V said...

Can anybody tell me some of Scott Westerfeld books because i do not know any. Also was mrs johnston suppossed to tell us about her book pick?

AdamV said...

I do not like the December books of the month as much as the november ones. They must be good if they are books of the months but they are just not for me. I read the chocolate war and that was the only good book of the month from my opinion.

abbby said...

I think I'm going to read the Mightnighters. I've never really read any Scott Westerfeld books, but I think I will really enjoy this book.

Kace said...

to answer rockelle, theres peeps and its sequel the last days, then theres so yesterday, and then the uglies series. i plan on giving horvath my copies so by wensday so yesterday, peeps and the last days will be in his room.

luke r said...

I think im going to read a scott whesterfield book. he looks like a strong writer and i could use the extra credit.

ZoZo V. said...

I can not wait to read The Fetch. I have heard great things about it from Mr. Horvath abd Mrs. Lever! I went to the library and they are getting it from another library for me! I will probably get it very soon (a few days I hope!) and start to read it right away! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

AnnaCD said...

I have read the Scott westerfeld series The Uglies. They are futuristic book about a girl who lives in a society where when a resident becomes 16, they have a surgery that alters them into a pretty person. The first book, Uglies, is about a girl that cannot wait to become pretty. In the second book, the same girl goes out into the wilderness, and finds some people who left the "pretty" society, and she leaves her pretty world for them. And the last book that I read I can't tell about because it gives away the ending of The Pretties. Rockelle, I would definetly recommend these for you.

BinoR said...

i started reading the boy who harnessed the wind, it is good for people who are into science and who understand what goes on around the world

Kristen L. said...

I read When You Reach Me and finished it two days before December. Just my luck. I'm already starting to slowly forget it. It was a good book though! I don't know why I'm forgetting it. It is definatley a mystery and makes you think.

jenny said...

I read A Wrinkle in Time. It was a really good book that can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone who likes science fiction. The characters' distinct personalities are shown in the book, too.

julia h said...

I'm thinking about reading When You Reach me, but i don't really know what it's about. Could anyone give me a summary? I also think the series of The Uglies seems really good too, something i might read.

Kim said...

I read The Pearl last marking period and I thought it was ok. It's about a man who searches for a valuable pearl to become rich in order to help his family but it doesn't turn out the way he anticipated. It was different from other books I've read because there is a strong meaning to the book. However I did think it was kind of boring in parts.

jenny said...

I just finished The Pearl today. I thought that it had a strong theme, but that at some points it was predictable, like Kim said above. I think that since its only 97 pages, a lot of people should read it for easy extra credit.

caroline w. said...

I finished The Pearl the other day and I really enjoyed it. I liked that it was short. It was also a good piece of literature and it taught a valuable lesson at the end.

Kace said...

I finished peeps the other day and I most say I adore that book. It's a great apocyslpe book without the scary and horror. It takes an almost humourous aproach on parasites. It gives a lot of great facts without making it boring. I really suggest this to anyone, it's amazing.

jenny said...

To Julia: I just finished When You Reach Me and its about this girl who receives these letters from an unknown person. These letters are appearing in the weirdest places, like in her book, her coat pocket, and on a shoe stolen from her apartment. The book is about her trying to find out who wrote these letters and what she needs to say in a letter back to him/her. It was kinda weird but it was a good read.

Kace said...

I finished the last days, the sequel to peeps, today and It was great, but not as good as peeps. You don't have to have read peeps to read the last days, it'll just give you a little back ground info. The last days is full of music, and a bands struggle to become famous in a world that's falling apart.

Rockelle said...

My aunt got me the uglies series about two years ago for christmas and i started to read them but i did not like them. Maybe i will start reading them again and see if i change my mind.

maya pirulli said...

I read "A Wrinkle in time" when i was in forth grade but i still remember it vividly. I really admire the authors creative ideas, it went much farther than any typical science fiction book. It was a slow read but in my opinion worth it.

kami said...

I read, "When you reach me" last year, and I thought the book was very bizarre. The premise was interesting but very "out there." It was about this girl who is suddenly shut out of her best friend's, Sal’s, life when he randomly gets punched in the stomach for no apparent reason. Then Miranda's house key is stolen and she begins to get strange letters from an unknown person. I really liked that the author decided to jump right into the story with Sal getting punched, “When you reach me” was a mystery with a twist

Bella p said...

I just finished the chocolate war. This book was very different from other books I have read. I think boys would mostly like it because its about all boys and some fights. It is about an all boys school and they have to sell chocolates but one fresmean refuses and this causes conflict. If I was a boy I would have enjoyed it more, but it was still suspenseful at the end and pretty entertaining!

emilyfry. said...

I read When You Reach Me last year, like Kami said and it was really good. It was so confusing until the end, but it was worth it and I think because it was so confusing it wanted to make me keep reading.

Anna M said...

I read the book The Red Pony and i was actually disappointed. I thought this was just going to be a classic book and an easy read. I was right about the easy read but the story was very sad and depressing. Also there were only 3 chapters that were very long and they all separated different points in this boy's life which made it hard to follow. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are just looking for a very short book to add to their book log.

Bella P said...

I read The Red Pony and it was a short read. As Anna said, it was sad at times. It was also boring a points. However, it was still interesting to read about this little boys life. It is interesting because it takes place in the past and is different from books these days, since it is a classic. Anyone can read this book. Overall, this book was an ok read.

Kace said...

I finished midnighters and it's a good little thiller book. It's got a lot of action and suspense. It's a good book.

jenny said...

I just finished the 10 P.M. Question. I didn't really like it. I kinda just wanted to get it over with. It didn't have a lot that made me want to keep reading, but I did anyway.

Tyler W. said...

I just finished Leithan by Scott Westerfield. The story is written in two pints of view and it takes place at the begging of World War 1. One point of view is told from the prince of Austria while he is on the run from his own government in his massive walker. His parents have just been executed because the emperor has found out about a secret agreement that makes Prince Alex his successor. Alex and a small crew are running across Austria to try to make it to neutral Switzerland d where they can hide until the emperor dies. The other point of view is told from a British Girl (Deryn) trying to pass off as a boy to get into the air force. During a training mission she gets stranded on a Huxley (a fabricated beast) and finds herself on the mighty Levithan as she tries to protect her secret. This story features alternate past as even now days we cannot fabricated beasts and make walking war machines

maya pirulli said...

I thought the 10pm Questions was a really good book, i like the kind of books that make you think about the way you live your own life. The ending was frustrating though because i want to know what happened, i find it funny that i wasn't sad about sydny leaving.

Bailey Horton said...

I just finished reading When You Reach Me, and I thought it was great. The mystery was really interesting because the narrator, who is also the protagonist, knows the answer to the question on the reader's mind throughout the whole book. This captivated me, and made me want to keep reading. The book was written in third and second person, but the book doesn't reveal until the end who "you" are.

Danielle said...

i read The Pearl and i thouight it was a good book, but some parts were a little confusing. some parts that were confusing were like when it said "the song of family" or "the song of evil" and is that just symbolism? also sometimes i didnt get whos perspective it was written in. sometimes it talked about the towns feelings about the pearl but then switched to Kino and that just confused me.

bella p said...

I read a wrinkle in time. I liked this book a lot because it was different and exciting. Some characters were weird and it kept the story interesting, like Mrs.Whatsit, Mrs.Who and Mrs. Which. They guided Meg, parts of the time, through her crazy adventure. Overall, this was a good read.

Kaitlyn O said...

This is a little late but I never commented on A wrinkle in time when I read it in December. I thought that it was a very interesting book and not like a lot I have read before. I really liked the adventure that the kids take to find their father. I thought that it was a very original idea that was fun to read. There was always another twist in the story every page you turned which I really loved while reading this! Overall it was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun whimsical adventure in a book!

Georginax82 said...

This is a pretty late responce but, since Scott Westerfield was the author of the month (December) I read his book Midnighters and I also read some of The Uglies series. Midnighters was an alright read. It hooked my in for the first few chapters but by the middle of the book I lost the hook I had in the beginning. Overall, it was an alright read (in my opinion).