We began with our Punished! trivia and I was very impressed with how closely many of the kids read the book. Numerous details were remembered including all of the details of Logan's quests.
We began our discussion by talking about the title, Punished!, and why the author chose to go with that title. For obvious reasons (Logan is punished in the story) it makes sense but some members felt that it was too much of a spoiler and gave too much away. We then shared some ideas for what we think makes a good title and how much of a book's plot the title should give away.
We talked about Logan's first encounter with Professor Wordsworth and what the professor means when he tells Logan "words aren't always enough." Even though Logan apologized for running into him and being disrespectful, he wasn't truly sorry. As is always the case, actions speak louder than words and Logan should have been more sincere. If he was, maybe he wouldn't have been punished.
We talked about puns, how they are very annoying to people, and about the other types of word play used in the book: anagrams, palindromes, redundancies and oxymorons. We knew about anagrams and oxymorons prior to our reading of Punished! but many of us did not have experience with palindromes beforehand.
Some of us were surprised that Professor Wordsworth helped Logan finish his quest by helping him find the last palindrome, but others thought that it made sense because he had started to like Logan and was impressed that he was actually following through on working to reverse the punishment.
We agreed that although the story would have been different and interesting had it been narrated by another character, Logan was the best person to tell his story since the punishment happened to him. The only other character we could see narrating it would be Logan's best friend Benedict.
Overall we were a little bit mixed on Punished!. Not everyone loved it and I think a few club members thought it was a little too easy and straightforward for us. But others enjoyed following Logan as he completed his quests and enjoyed the different types of word play.
Following our discussion we worked together on an activity packet where we had to create anagrams and palindromes and decipher oxymorons based on the clues given.
It was a terrific meeting and our last meeting of the school year! Book Buddies will resume in September for another great year of books and reading. Thanks to all the club members who came, read and contributed as much as they did this year. Stay tuned for all of the details of the upcoming summer reading program!
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