Battle of the Books

We will be having our first Battle of the Books competition tonight at 6:30 in the school gym.  Team members should wear their Battle of the Books t-shirts and arrive no later than 6:15 pm.

At our Barnes and Noble event tonight, the list of books for the second competition was announced.  The next four books will be:

• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• Great Serum Race by Debbie Miller
• Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Jake Drake, Bully Buster by Andrew Clements

These books will be available for check-out in the library before we leave for winter break.

Book Synopsis:

Claudia is bored with her life.  Her parents don’t understand her and her friends are boring.  She decides to run away for a short time – just long enough for everyone to really miss her.  She doesn’t want to be uncomfortable during her time away from home, so she decides to take up residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  She needs money and asks her younger brother Jamie, a miser, to go with her.  Once settled in the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in an art mystery.  An angel statue purchased by the museum at a bargain price could possibly be an early work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions.  Claudia is determined to find out before she leaves the museum.

Additional resources:

Quia games: http://www.quia.com/custom/3227main.html

FAQ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/FAQ/htm/franken.htm

Book discussion guide from Scholastic: http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=1340_type=Book_typeId=884

Meet the author http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/konigsburg.html

Book Synopsis:

Fourteen year old Peak Marcello is born to climb. The problem is he lives in the city, and doesn’t have any mountains to climb. Peak hones his climbing skills by scaling skyscrapers. However, when Peak is caught illegally climbing a skyscraper, he suddenly finds himself on his way to Kathmandu to live with his father, a well-known professional climber. Peak hasn’t seen his father in many years, but he soon learns about his dad’s plans. Joshua Wood, Peak’s father, runs an expedition company that is struggling to make ends meet. Taking the youngest person ever to the summit of Mount Everest would gather a lot of publicity for his company. However, many of Joshua Wood’s customers are not excited about Peak joining them on the trip. Eventually Peak’s training is passed off Joshua’s head Sherpa. Peak trains with the Sherpa’s grandson, a Nepalese boy his own age named Sun-jo. Together Peak and Sun-jo face many challenges. In the process, Peak learns many things about himself, his family, and what really matters in life.

Additional Resources:

• Hear author Roland Smith talk about Peak in this video from Scholastic:  http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/books/fb_detail.asp?bid=388&src=ms_new
• Visit Roland Smith’s home page: http://www.rolandsmith.com/index.php

Book synopsis:

Winter is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. At only three months of age, she was wrapped tightly in a crab trap line and was unable to escape.  Winter was rushed to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, a marine animal hospital. No one knew if Winter would survive, but she did.  Unfortunately, Winter’s tail was badly damaged and eventually it fell off.  Winter began to swim more like a fish than a dolphin which was causing damage to her spine. A company that makes prosthetics for humans had the idea of fitting Winter with a prosthetic tail.  Over the last year, Winter has been learning to swim using this tail and is doing amazingly well.  She has completely healed and has learned to eat fish on her own.  Winter has become an inspiration to adults and children alike.

Additional resources:

• Meet Winter - Watch highlights from Scholastic’s webquest that aired October 7th: http://www.scholastic.com/winterstail/
• Winter’s Tail website:  http://www.winterstail.com/

Book titles for the first competition have been released.  The titles are:

1. Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish
2. Winter’s Tail by Juliana Hatkoff
3. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
4. Peak by Roland Smith

We have multiple copies of these books available for checkout in the media center.  Most titles are also available for purchase at the book fair. 

Our first competition will be Tuesday, December 15th in the Haverhill gym.  The competition will consist of 16 questions – eight that will be answered with book title and author and eight that will be answered with a specific fact and author – and 2 bonus questions.

Thank you to all our coaches for volunteering your time to help with Battle of the Books!  With over 50 students participating this year, your help is much appreciated.  Please plan to attend a coaches meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 6:30 pm in the media center.  At this meeting we will be discussing team rosters, practice schedules, and book lists.

We are gearing up for our seond Battle of the Books season.  Battle of the Books is a voluntary reading incentive program open to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.  Information and registration forms have been sent home.  Forms must be returned by October 9th. 

There will be a Mandatory Parent Meeting on Monday, October 12th at 6:30 pm in the media center.  We are looking forward to another great year!