ReadWonder

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Tournament of Champions by Phil Bildner

How I Heard About It: Phil's Rip and Red series is one of my favorites for middle-grade readers. I remember reading the first book and just being blown away. I loved it and knew my fourth grade readers would as well. It actually became a "Breakfast with Books" book club selection the last couple of years. We have been lucky enough to chat with Phil via Skype. I also loved Rookie of the Year. I was excited to learn that the third installment was coming out in June of this year. It was an honor that Phil arranged for an ARC to be sent to me so both myself and my readers could continue the adventures of Rip and Red.

What It Is About: Rip and Red are back with all the excitement, fun, and "antics" that you would expect. Their fifth grade year continues with their awesome teacher/coach Mr. Acevedo and both boys are ready for more basketball. Their coach has arranged for the boys to be part of a basketball team that will travel to a different city for the games. This travel opportunity presents both boys with new challenges and goals. Rip is excited about the chance to play in the big tournament, but isn't so sure about the make-up of the team players that the coach has put together. Red has made a lot of progress in his life, but still has certain "issues" that are trigger buttons. Being away for the tournament could be one of them. As his best friend, Rip wants to make sure Red is with the team for this tournament. Both boys get to know some of the other players and the "stuff" that they too have had to endure in their short life. The biggest surprise comes to Rip when an unexpected visitor shows up and wants to be a part of his life. This may be more of a challenge than playing basketball out on the court.

What I Thought Of It: I had the day off on Friday and spent a big part of it enjoying this third book in the series. It was a complete joy to return to RJE school to see what these two awesome boys were up to. I like the fact that so far all the books have taken place during the fifth grade year. Each book has covered a different "season" of the school year. It was fun to read about the boys taking their team and game out on the road for a "bigger" tournament where there was more at stake. The introduction and further exploration of some of the other characters was enjoyable to read about. I especially enjoyed getting to know Diego and his story. The surprise visit by a new character was also a twist in the plot line. This is an awesome addition to the series and I know my readers are going to enjoy it as much as I did.

Who Should Read It: The Rip and Red series is absolutely perfect for readers in grades three, four, five, and sixth. The chapters are a perfect length, the illustrations add greatly to the plot, and the story line is engaging, fun, and interesting for our middle-grade readers. If you and/or your students have read the first two books in the series, then you for sure need to put this title on our TBR list. Happy Reading!

Rating: 4 STARS out of 5 Stars

The Kept by James Scott

How I Heard About It: While at the public library I came across this title in the audio section. The title and cover seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't remember where or when I knew of the book. After reading the "blurb" I decided to give this novel published for adults a try.

What It Is About: The story takes place in the late 1800's/early 1900's. The setting is upstate New York on a farm of a family where the mother is a midwife. She has combined her profession with her personal life, but has kept this secret to herself. Three men "invade" the property and kill the father and four of their children. Elspeth returns to the farm to find the carnage. She is sure her whole family has been murdered, but is to learn that one son, Caleb, has survive this horrific event. Caleb's mother is injured and it is up to him to "nurse" her back to health. Once they are both in better shape, they set off on a journey to find these horrific men and bring them to justice. Both mother and son face many dangers along the way, but continue to rely on each other for support and survival. They come up against some violent, mean, and terrifying people. All the while they keep their eye on the end result of finding these three men that turned their lives into a nightmare.

What I Thought Of It: First off, I think it was a very good thing that I listened to this book on audio instead of reading the text version. It was a long story, lots of description, and at times the plot moved along slowly. The tone of the story was quite dark, depressing, and full of violence. The writer did a tremendous job of setting the scene, the tone, and mood of this fictional tale. The plot was developed without one detail left unwritten. The story was unique and like nothing I've ever read. In my opinion, it could have been a tad shorter, but listening to it was as hard as reading it might have been. I could totally "visualize" the setting, the characters, and the path that these characters took.

Who Should Read It: This is definitely a read for adult reader that like true literature, as my students call it. The plot is slow moving, the characters are well developed, but the subject matter is quite dark, deep, and not for the faint of heart. When I looked at reviews of the book it seemed readers really loved the story or had a hard time with hit. I think I'm someone in the middle. Happy Reading!

Rating: 3 STARS out of 5 Stars

Friday, March 3, 2017

Friend Friday #179 (Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart)

Hi! I'm Milana and we read the book called Scar Island written by Dan Demeinhart.

I thought this book was amazing because it was an interesting story and a scary one too!

My favorite part in the story was when Sebastian caught Colin steeling candy from him because that was a risky thing to do.

The character that I liked best was Jonathan because he was the most interesting character to read about.

I think the author wrote this book because he wanted to write a story that was part scary, part wild, and part about survival.

I would recommend this book to our friends because we are reading it for our book club and everyone is loving the story.

Reading to me is great because I love to read and have read such great books this year. This one was one of my favorites.

*Milana is one of my favorite readers to work with.
*She is such an open reader and will try anything and everything.
*We are reading this book for our "Breakfast with Books" book club.
*Milana was the first one to finish the novel and spread the word on how great it was.
*It is such fun to share some of my favorite books with my readers!