39 Clues

Hi I’m Daniella Wilson from Class 804. I would like to tell you about The 39 Clues: The Maze of the Bones by Rick Riordan.
When Grace dies she invites her family members including her granddaughter, Amy Cahill and her brother Dan to choose their inheritance. They can inherit one million dollars, OR, they can follow 39 clues around the world. Some members of the family choose to take the money and run; others choose to stay and join the quest but only one team can win. Amy and Dan choose to take the challenge and it changes their lives.
This is the first book in a series of ten books. Each book will be written by a different author. The 2nd book One False Note was written by Gordon Korman.
The book comes with cards and there is a game you can play on-line (at www.cliqueme.net)where you can be a character and solve the clues. I recommend this book if you want a breath taking, exhilarating read.

December Birthday

Library Field Trips

I've always enjoyed taking students to the library! It's like a miniature field trip. And there is something about our 339/313 library that helps kids relax and calm down.

And I love to go to the library myself. In the library, I don't always feel like I have to monitor and stand guard. Instead, I can sit in a rocking chair and conference with students or read in peace.

When I was in grade school, I always loved going to the library and reading. Especially when other students or socializing in general was too much for me. I'd go to the library, sit in the same spot each time (in front of the "Graphic Novels" section) and read. I usually read the same books over and over again. My favorite was D'aulaire's "Book of Greek Myths" and any Garfield comic book. Oh, and I can't forget Calvin and Hobbes!

Thank you, Ms. Reiss, for creating and maintaining such a beautiful, peaceful library. Our students are very lucky to have such a calming library to escape to!

:)

Disgusting Books

By Dwight Robinson class 809

Did you know we have disgusting books in our library?

Disgusting Bugs

Disgusting Plants

Disgusting Food
Disgusting Jobs.

These disgusting books are written by Connie Miller.

real life maggots










Fire Ants

Click here to learn more about bugs:

November Birthdays

Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini was born on November 17, 1983 in Southern California. He has lived most of his life Montana. It was the jagged, snowcapped, Beartooth Mountains, of Montana that inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon.
Christopher was home schooled by his parents. He was only fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon. All the characters in Eragon are from Christopher's imagination except Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister. He gave the book to his parents to read and the family decided to self-publish it. Christopher drew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye for the book cover. The manuscript was sent to press and the first books arrived in November 2001. The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book at libraries, bookstores, and schools.
In the summer of 2002, author Carl Hiaasen’s (“Hoot”), stepson read a copy of the self-published book while on vacation in Montana. Author Carl Hiaasen, brought Eragon to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. The editor of Knopf Books contacted the Paolini family and in August 2003 Knopf published Eragon.
After an extensive tour of the U.S. and England for Eragon, Christopher began writing his second book, Eldest, which continues the adventures of Eragon and the dragon Saphira. In December 2006, Fox released the movie of Eragon in theaters around the world. Brisinger his third book was released in September.

October Birthdays

Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson was born on Halloween in Qing Jiang, China in 1932. She was one of five children. Her parents were missionaries and they moved around a lot. She taught sixth grade for a year and she was a missionary in Japan. In 1962 she returned to New York where she met and married John Paterson.She and her husband John who is a Presbyterian pastor live in Barre, Vermont. They have four children.

Her family was touched by tragedy when her son's best friend was killed by lightning. In dealing with this tragedy and her personal grief, she wrote The Bridge to Terabithia, her first Newbery Medal winner. Her work is successful in portraying strong characters that are often set apart or cast out from society. For example, Jip, as an infant was literally cast out of the careening wagon by his mother. Leslie, in Bridge to Terabithia, is a newcomer and viewed with suspicion by many of her classmates. Mason, in Flip Flop Girl, sets himself apart by his refusal to talk. Gilly takes pride in making herself undesirable and in making her host families so miserable they cast her out. Louise, in Jacob Have I Loved is spurned by her grandmother. Lyddie is deserted first by her father and then by her mother. Each of these outcasts as well as many of Paterson's other characters are strong in spite of or because of their alienation and are often in pursuit of their own identities.

Paterson encourages young people to read fiction. She believes that through fiction, readers can experience life at a safe distance while preparing themselves for later experiences in their own lives. Young readers respond to her believable, well-developed characters whose stories are true to life.

Katerine Paterson has won many prestigious awards including:
Scott O'Dell Award, the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award for Children's Literature, American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Award, the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year Award, the School Library Journal Best Books Award, and the Children's Book Council's Children's Choice Award.

Novels by Katherine Paterson:

Bridge to Terabithia

This Newbery winner is a tale of friendship, of secrets and of
grief. Leslie is a newcomer to the fifth grade and a threat to
Jess's title as fastest runner in fifth grade.

Flip Flop Girl

A child, so disturbed by his father's death and his feeling that
something he said caused that death, becomes a mute by choice
and later decides to speak.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

In this Newbery Award winner, we meet Gilly, a foster child
who has successfully manipulated the system for years.

Jacob I Have Loved

Feeling deprived all her life of proper schooling, friends, a mother,
even her name (they call her Wheeze), and by her beautiful, talented,
popular twin sister, Caroline, Louise finally begins to find her identity
and the courage to pursue it rather than to dwell on her jealousy.

Jip, His Story

Jip lives at the poor farm. When he was three, he fell off a wagon which
careened down the road and no one ever claimed him. Because of his dark
skin and hair he was assumed to be a gypsy and so was named Jip. Soon
the mystery of Jip's birth and desertion becomes clear.

Authors born in October:
Philip Pullman

September Birthday

Rahl Dahl

Rahl Dahl was born in South Wales on September 13th 1916. He was a fighter pilot in World War II. After the war, Dahl came to America and began writing stories. His first children's book, The Gremlins was written in 1943. First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt liked it so much she invited Dahl to the White House.

Dahl married Patricia Neil, a famous actress, they had five children. Dahl’s stories began as bedtime stories to his children. He once said, “Had I not had children, I would not have written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.” Dahl had many diverse hobbies, he grew enormous onions, he enjoyed breeding orchids, he raced greyhounds and helped invent a special valve used in surgery to drain fluid from the brain. Rahl Dahl died in 1990 at the age of 74.

Books By Rahl Dahl:

James and the Giant Peach,

Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Twits,

Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Danny the Champion of the World, The BFG

Authors born in September:
Paul Fleischman
Jack Prelutsky
John Steptoe
Tomie DePaola