Slob by Ellen Potter

RL: ages 9-12

Well- you know how much our family loves OREOS- how could I pass up on a book where the main character loves OREOS and obsesses about his 3/day limit?

That was what initially attracted me to this book/story but after the first page I was hooked and connected to Owen Birnbaum, the main character, his humor and ability to deal with issues of bullies and negotiating friendships and family life.

Statistically speaking: Owen Birnbaum might be fatter than the average twelve year old boy but he is also smarter. While he spends his days being teased by his classmates and tortured by his gym teacher, he finds himself trying to out-smart the new school psycho who has started stealing his oreo cookies from his lunch.

Before you judge this book to be too sad- Life isn't all bad. Something happened a few years ago and he's learning to deal with his past and current challenges with humor and relying on his family and friends. Plus he's a genius and can invent cool stuff like a new thief catching device--to help capture the Oreo snatcher and an invention that reflects the past that he hopes will help heal his heart.

IT IS SUCH A GREAT BOOK! Like Owen points out- most books start out with some kid's first day at a new school where everything is new and slightly scary.

"The thing is, when you are fatter and smarter than the national average, practically every day is like the first day at a new school."

SLOB is a great book to kick off our for Back-to-School Season!

Week #5 page 146-181

MY BAD! I don't know what I was thinking yesterday!!! I completely forgot to post! We'll give you all an extra day to comment. I'll pull winners on Sunday!

So Sorry!





Here's a picture of a Balalaika instrument. I have no idea if this is standard size or not...

Lake Bailkal

Sunrise at Tokyo Bay...

Tokyo city

Adam gets caught in a penalty and moved back one time zone to ....

Hong Kong

Questions:

1. What did you think about the group of "LORDS" ? What do you think of their "game"? The prizes and penalty?

2. Do you have a list of things you would like to learn? Share some of those things with us.

Your special assignment/challenge is for one day work galley duty in your house. Take over dish duty and report. Was it as bad as you anticipated? Could you imagine washing dishes for 13 days straight?

Next week: read to page 217.

Week #4 pages 110- 145

Adam and Meredith are really moving now! From bridges in Sweden

To a cottage in Finland.

With Stoppers on their heels... Meredith and Adam make their way to Russia! ( With the help of an old retired sailor, Shypoke Crisp.)

(Small fact: Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area. Despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture.)

(I think those Russian Buildings look so cool!- like Candy Land houses.)

Questions:

Palindromes are words that are spelled the same forward and backwards. Adam and Meredith pass time on the l-o-n-g train ride through Russia making up Palindromes.

1. What is your favorite palindrome?

2. Meredith and Adam are 180 degrees (half way around the world) from California. Adam's starting point. What country is 180 degrees away from you?

3. Predict: Will Adam regret trusting Meredith? What do you think will happen to their team: The Phileas Fogg Voyage Project?

FYI- Just because I was wondering....

What's Up with Saunas?
Seems a bit crazy for Adam to find himself in a Sauna with Shypoke Crisp. But Sauna's are actually very popular and here are a list of some of the reasons why people use them.

1.The warmer temperatures in Sauna's assist our bodies to rid itself of body toxins. We have 2 natural ways as humans to loose these body toxins through sleep and exercise .

2.The warmer temperatures in Sauna's force our bodies to sweat therefore cleaning our skin.

3. Some people feel Sauna's are a place to find peace and solace.

WARNING:

Don't use a Sauna without your parents permission because you're body can overheat faster and there are lots of HOT rocks and spots in saunas. (More information HERE)

Week #3 Europe pages 74-109

Adam makes it safely to England with no scary

mishaps on the Queen Mary 2- whew!

(Double-decker bus and Big Ben are famous sites in London, England.)


Adam takes a quick side stop to stand on the prime-meridian.

FUN FACTS:
The Prime Meridian is the meridian (line of longitude) which is defined to be 0°.

The Prime Meridian and the opposite 180th meridian (at 180° longitude), which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Standing on the Prime Meridian is a popular touristy thing to do- if you find yourself in Greenwich, England.

On-to FRANCE!

Some sights of Paris :

Adam visited the Arc de Triomphe
The construction of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris was ordered in 1806 by Napoleon, the French Emperor.

Napoleon wanted to honor the Grande Armee, the name of the French army at that time.

The Grande Armee had conquered most of Europe and was then considered invisible. After his Austerlitz victory in 1805, Napoleon said to his soldiers : "You will return home through archs of triumph".

The construction of Arc de Triomphe was completed in 1836, long after Napoleon's death in 1821

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre-Dame is a Catholic cathedral built during the Middle Ages. (And one of the main tourist attractions with it's breath taking stain-glass windows.)

Eiffel Tower
History behind the Eiffel Tower: It all started with a Design Competition hosted by the French Government in the 1889. They wanted to mark the the anniversary of the French Revolution, and held a design completion for a suitable monument. From over 7 hundred submissions, the proposal by the noted bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel was chosen unanimously. It called for an entirely open-lattice iron tower 984-feet [300-meters] tall.

It was sitting at the base of this grand structure that Adam learned the hard lesson once again: TRUST NO ONE.

Caught by trappers- all for the want of a crepe.

If you would like to taste a crepe {click here} to my personal blog where I share some of our favorite crepe recipes.

Kobenhavn, Denmark:

This Little Mermaid statue is one of the most famous tourist attractions. Created by Edward Eriksen in 1913 who was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale.

This weeks questions:

Adam has had to deal with many trust issues this week. Who to trust? Who is trustworthy?

Mrs. J (His Pilot) had told him to trust no one.

What do you think about this advice? Now he has teamed up with Meredith... is that a smart move?

Prince Oh advises against Adam forming a team with Meredith... but he (Prince Oh) has lied to Adam too! Can Prince Oh be trusted?

And once someone has betrayed a trust... can you trust them in the future? What do you think?

MVP Book Club Give Away!

If you haven't gotten your copy of MVP yet don't fret! The publishers at Boyds Mill Press have offered to give 5 copies of MVP to our book club participants!!!

All you have to do to participate in our book club is:
(WITH YOUR PARENTS APPROVAL)

1. Comment on this post and tell us you're going to be traveling around the world with us!
( You need to be able to comment on our blog to participate- this summer we want to hear your thoughts as we read this fun and exciting book!)

2. Have your parents email me at Bookclub4boys@yahoo.com Subject: MVP Book Club and include an email address. (This way I can send out emails reminding you of upcoming book club opportunities to WIN FREE PRIZES!)

THAT'S IT! Do these two things by June 12th- and I'll pick 5 lucky comments from my box who will win a free copy of MVP!
So tell your friends and let them know.
We are going to have a great read this Summer!




Actual Book Club will start on Wednesday June 24th!
Read pages 1-39 by June 24th. I'll post a few questions and you'll have until Friday June 26th to answer them. Then Saturday- I'll choose one lucky comment to win the first prize in our weekly give-away!

Winter Room by Gary Paulsen

This is a short book: only 100 pages but written at a 5:4 level.
If you like to think about what life was like 100 or more years ago on a farm, this book is great. Elton, a young farm boy, explains how farms smell and sound. (Makes me a little glad I don't live 100 years ago on a farm- reading about how a manure pile smells in spring. Manure is a fancy word for poop by the way.)
But this book was very entertaining. About two boys living on a farm with uncles, their dad and mom. Small pranks they play and the stories the uncles tell at night to pass the time.

I liked it better than
The Barn by Avi (just if anyone wants to know.)
The Barn is also a short book about farm life- except this one is really sad. It too is only about 100 pages and written at a 5th grade level.
It's about a family almost torn apart by death and the aspirations of each character to go their own way... yet through tragidy they come together to finish a project ("The building of a Barn") that in the end... strenghtens and unites them again.

World's Dumbest Crooks by Allan Zullo

I give this book 5 stars.
It is funny. This book is actually a collection of true stories, some only a few sentences long telling how sometimes crooks make dumb mistakes. It's not just about criminals but also mistakes professional sports mistakes and funny stories like the mother who thought her son had a strange bump on the back of his neck, she took him to the doctor and he removed the old wad of gum.

My favorite story is about a robber who stole money from a store- ran down the street and turned to corner to only run into 2 police men whose guns were drawn on a murder suspect lying down on the ground! Talk about bad luck! He throws his hands in the air and gives himself up- to find out - they aren't real police officers! A TV show was filming and the fake police men looked at each other wondering what to do. But the real police were there shortly to take him away- for real.

Good book if you like to just pick something up to read.
Hubinator

Magic Tree House Series

This series is good for the younger chapter readers, and is very good at what it's made for-teaching kids about various subjects, as they go back in time.

In other areas, it has very little depth,such as the character's personalities- they seem so generic.

But, little kids who are only looking for action and don't care very much for these small things will enjoy the plot of going back in time, to see the various settings, such as ancient japan or the period of the dinosaurs.

In the later magic tree house books, they begin to go to fantasy areas instead of the past, which effectively takes away the educational aspect- probably more interesting for children, but it takes away one of the hooks that draws parents towards the series, too. All in all, if you have a child who's reluctant and enjoys action and a fast pace, this book is for them- with an educational feel, too.

Legend of Red Horse Cavern by Gary Paulsen

ONLY 55 pages but packed with action- mystery- murder!
5 Stars!

Summary from the back of the book: "Deep in the damp, dark caverns of the Sacramento Mountains, Will Little Bear Tucker and his friend Sarah Thompson discover the secret of an ancient Apache legend. But armed bandits are after them. A headless Indian brave haunts them. And when they lose their way, they may not escape the eerie underground maze alive."

I loved this book- I don't know what to say- without spoiling the suprises.. so I just used the summary from the book. (I hope that is not "cheating") The author did such a great job of making me feel like I was there with Tucker and Sarah. I would recommend this story to EVERYONE!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series about a boy named Greg Hefley, and his struggle through middle school. Though it is more so pitched towards 5th-8th graders, my mom laughed aloud at it a tons of times. Another good thing about these books are that it has made a lot of kids who didn’t like to read read more often. It has a lot of cartoony pictures to add to the humor. One of my favorite parts is when he makes a haunted house but he runs out of time so it is really lame. If you read the first one (the red one) you can read the others in any order and it doesn't really matter. A good read, you’ll find yourself laughing aloud more times than you can count. (unless, of course, you hate laughing but who doesn’t like a good laugh?)

The Chocolate Touch

4 stars

This book is about a boy who likes chocolate. He finds a coin on the ground and goes to the nearest candy store to buy chocolate. But it was no ordinary box of chocolate. It was in a big box he was disappointed when there was only once piece of candy in it. He was surprised, when he ate the chocolate it tasted sweeter then any chocolate he had ever had. What surprised him more was the next morning when he was brushing his teeth the yucky toothpaste now tasted like the sweet chocolate he ate the night before. So he ate all the toothpaste. But it doesn't stop there, now everything he eats turns to chocolate!

My favorite part was when he went back to the store owner to try and take the chocolate touch away. The owner was polishing a new coin hinting that this could happen again to someone else!

By Hockey-Sniper


Visit Bookclub4boys.com to see our FREE book club outline for this book!
Hockey- Snipers favorite part of this book club was dipping fruit into chocolate and then eating it!

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Carlson

97 pages long.


I give this book 3 stars. I enjoyed reading it but it was a little sad.


This story takes place in Paris around Christmas time. A friendly hobo named Armand is a pleasant fellow- until he reaches the bridge he lives under and finds some homeless children. Armand doesn't want to share his bridge but the children quickly win him over. Their mother is less thrilled with this new friendship or living arrangement, but without a proper home and anyone to tend the children while she works, she learns to appreciate the kind heart and good nature of Armand.

I really liked the ending of the story and the message of "families" are what we make them.

Junie B Jones Series

This series, written for young girls, is extremely funny- but, it might not be for very young girls. The incredible humor might go over their head, because they can relate to the main character a little too well.

A lot of people, even middle schoolers, can appreciate these books, but they are very short with large font. I recommend it for girls 2 grade through elementary.

The series follows the adventures of a kindergardener-1st grader who gets into all sorts of trouble doing seeming normal school activities, such as pet day- she has no pet, but is determined to bring something in… even a fish stick! The series isn’t easily described by the summaries, as most of the charm lies in Junie’s point of view, and how she sees the world so differently… her unique personality makes this book a very easy recommendation to young girls.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Only 80 pages long- I really liked this story so I give it 5 stars.

This story is about a group of girls in classroom 13. All the girls are wrapped up in who has the prettiest dresses and poor Wanda wears the same tattered faded blue dress every day. When Wanda states she has 100 dresses at home- the girls can't resist asking her and mocking her daily about it- especially Peggy and Maddie.

There is a twist to the story- but in the end the girls learn the truth about Wanda's 100 dresses!

It is the type of story that makes you want to be a better person. I don't ever want to miss an opportunity to be friends with someone like Maddie and Peggy.

Franny K Stein

I am doing a book report on Franny K. Stein. It is about a girl that is not like a regular girl.She likes snakes and bolts and spiders and worms. I like this book because there is a picture on every page. She lives in a messy room. She likes it but then her mom changed it, and it was super clean after.
The moral of the story is you can be a friend and it doesn't matter if you are different.

Oh- also what is cool about the book is there is one part where you have to CUT it! You cut three sections and then you can make different funny looking bodies, changing heads and feet.

Hockey - sniper