It's not too late!

I just wanted to say that it's still not too late to join the book club. The club will read a different book each month so it's possible to join at any time. (Just please email me or visit the children's desk and let me know you are interested). And if you can't make it to the meetings feel free to read at home and write comments on the blog.

And although the club was initially designed for 4th and 5th graders, 3rd graders are also welcome to join. Anyone who likes to read and talk about books is encouraged to sign up!

New "Reading Together" Online

Hi everyone,

I had an idea that I thought we might want to try out with the December book. It's "reading together" through our Book Buddies blog. Basically, I've divided the book into five sections which I've matched to a reading schedule. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, Nov. 29th - Sunday, Dec. 2nd = Chapters 1 - 4 (32 pages)
Monday, Dec. 3rd - Thursday, Dec. 6th = Chapters 5 - 8 (30 pages)
Friday, Dec. 7th - Monday, Dec. 10th = Chapters 9 - 13 (34 pages)
Tuesday, Dec. 11th - Friday, Dec. 14th = Chapters 14 - 16 (31 pages)
Saturday, Dec. 15th - Monday, Dec. 17th = Chapters 17 - 21 (35 pages)

After each set of chapters I will post a brief summary to the blog along with questions and comments. You can choose to read along with me (and the schedule) and post your own questions and comments after each set of chapters as well. You don't have to do this, but I thought it might be a fun way to read the book and keep the blog up to date.

Also, keep in mind that due to the holidays, we actually only have three weeks until the next meeting instead of the usual four. Happy reading!

December Book Selection

The December book will be The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements. We will meet to discuss it on Monday, December 17th at 3:30pm.

It all Started when Hart Evans zinged a rubber band that hit Mr. Meinert, the chorus director. Actually, it started before that, when Mr. Meinert learned he was out of a job because the town budget couldn't afford music and art teachers. Mr Meinert got so mad at Hart that he told the sixth graders he'd had it - they could produce the big holiday concert on their own. Or not. It was all up to them.

What happens when a teacher steps aside and lets the kids run the show? Not what Mr. Meinert would have predicted. And not what Hart Evans would have guessed, not at all.

Out of chaos, infighting, compromise, idealism, and finally, a fragile peace, the sixth grade choral concert was born. And they called it Winterhope.

But would it be the last holiday concert of them all?

For more information check out Andrew Clements' website at: http://andrewclements.com/

November meeting

Hi everyone,

Monday's meeting of the Book Buddies Book Club was fantastic. We discussed our first book, Olivia Kidney. Everyone enjoyed getting to know Olivia and all of her crazy neighbors and we all agreed that Olivia is a fantastic character. Our favorite Olivia trait is her ability to communicate with spirits. All book club members felt that the book was interesting, fun and an easy read. Overall, we rate this book very highly and encourage others to check it out!

The highlight of the meeting was our phone conference with the author of Olivia Kidney, Ellen Potter. She was absolutely delightful on the phone and gave us lots of great insight into her life as a writer and her books. We discovered that Olivia was written in a cafe in Ithaca, New York and that now her favorite place and time to write is early in the morning in a special room in her home. She is currently working on two new books that will hopefully be available sometime in 2008 and there is the possibility of a fourth Olivia Kidney book in the future. Ms. Potter also revealed that she doesn't plot out her books before she starts writing them. In Olivia Kidney, she didn't know that Branwell was a ghost until she was far along in the writing process.

Ms. Potter encouraged all of our book club members who think they might want to be authors to start writing now and make time everyday to read and write. She also reminded us of the writing contest she is having on her website. For more details on that, check out: http://www.ellenpotter.com/forkids.htm

A BIG thank you to Ellen Potter for taking the time to talk with our book club. It was amazing to have the opportunity to talk to a famous author and have all of our questions answered. Thank you!!!

Book Club meeting Monday!

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that the Book Buddies Book Club is meeting Monday, November 26th at 3:30pm to discuss Olivia Kidney. Come with questions, thoughts, opinions and more! I'm looking foward to finding out what you all thought of the book...

Olivia Kidney Art

Peter Reynolds is the wonderful artist who did the cover art and interior drawings for Olivia Kidney. He has a terrific website and some behind the scenes info about his work with Olivia. Check it out at http://www.peterhreynolds.com/phr_oliviakidney.html