Magic Bus

Hey, guys. Hope everyone had a good final weekend of the 2011-2012 school year. Just a few reminders going into this week:

• Tuesday is the field trip to the Ruth Lilly Center. The kids should bring with them a sack lunch that is completely disposable. Permission slips were due Friday, so if you haven't turned yours in yet, get to it lickety, please.
• Wednesday is the fifth grade party. Yeah! Thank you so much to Mrs. Pitz and everyone else who is putting a lot of effort into this thing. Tutoring will prevent me from being there for the whole thing, but I truly appreciate all of the parents who are making this thing possible.
  
• Thursday is the talent show (I'm looking forward to seeing some interesting talent that day) in the morning.
• We are planning on having Math class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of this week!

All this having been said, I wanted to post some more book picks from some of the kiddos. This first one had no name on it, but the handwriting leads me to believe that this is from Mr. John K. Plus, it's a doubler, and John is a voracious reader, so I can see him not being able to decide on just one book:

I read many gooood books this year. My favorite two are One Step At a Time by Josh Bleill and Heaven Is for Real by Todd Berpo. These are the summaries:

One Step At a Time: I like this book because of two reasons. The first is that it's well-written, and because I have a lot of connections because he works with the Colts and lived in Indiana his whole life. To summarize this book in three or four sentences, I would say this is about a marine and recovery. After he recovers, he joins the Colts as a motivational speaker.

Heaven Is for Real: I liked this book because it's a truly amazing story. My summary of it is that a little boy gets sick and his appendix explodes and they don't make it. After a three days, they move hospitals. They found out it was really his appendix and put him in surgery. A year after his recovery, they go past the hospital and he tells them he saw angels. Then his story of his trip to heaven and back unfolds.

These are my two favorite books from this year.

Thanks, John. I love that you didn't even mention in the first book that he lost his legs. Evidently when this author visited Woodbrook last year, you were far more focused on his important message than his disability.

Here's another no-namer. No idea who this is. Kyle? No, I don't think you would have written about The Hunger Games. Not sure at this moment. Maybe I'll recognize the writing style.

My favorite book that I read in fifth grade is The Hunger Games. I like this book because it is very exciting and interesting. It is a book about survival. Each person fights for their district to feed their people. I recommend this book for mature elementary students to adults. It is a book that keeps you on edge at all times.

Hmm, no idea. But glad you liked the book!

Now let's hear from Christian. Surprise surprise, he chose a Rick Riordan book. His enthusiasm for these books has made me into a Riordan fan.

The Son of Neptune is about a boy named Percy Jackson who loses his memory, but he finds out later that someone made him lose it. That person is Juno, or Hera, and she did it so Percy could go on a quest. The quest helps save every demigod in the world.

To the point, Christian. To the point.

From the very curt Christian to the more verbose Yosuke, here's a review of Everything for a Dog:

Everything for a Dog is the best book I read this year. It is about a dog named Bone (later Buddy). He is a stray dog. He lived in a shed at the Merrions' (a rich family that hates animals). One day Bone heard a gunshot. A fox got shot. Then, his mom got run over by a car. Now Bone knew he was in a dangerous place. He needed to move.

There is another character named Henry that is in this book. He is a boy who wants a dog, but his dad has a bad memory with dogs. One day he finds Bone roaming around. Henry thought he would make Bone his pet. But his plans don't work so well. After a few days, his plans stop working. Henry stops seeing Bone. His dad notices that Henry is sad. Henry says everything he has been doing. His father gets his feelings. They find Bone and take him to the vet and take him home later.

Thanks, Yosuke. Sounds like a good book for dog-lovers. Lastly today, I'm going to post Will's review of another Rick Riordan book, Throne of Fire. Don't worry, folks, I'll post more tomorrow. There's only so much look-and-type I can do without getting a headache!

My favorite book that I have read this year was Throne of Fire. It is the second book of the Kane Chronicles. It is an exciting book, mostly about ancient Egyptian mythology. In this book, Sadie and Carter Kane must awaken the powerful sun god Ra. He has been in an ancient sleep because the goddess found his weakness and put him to sleep so her husband could be the sun god. But now the evil huge serpent Apophis is trying to break out of his prison and swallow the sun to end the world. Carter and Sadie must go through many obstacles to awaken and save the world.

Nicely told, Will. I have The Red Pyramid, but have yet to read it. I trust I'm going to enjoy it.

That's all for now. Look for more reviews tomorrow, or at the very least, soon.