Literature Circle Assignment: 7th Graders

I am so impressed with everyone's hard work with literature circles! I am extremely proud of how hard all of you have worked to do your readings on time and be prepared for your literature circle roles each class. I hope you enjoyed the experience and liked your book!

Here is one more assignment:

Please post a comment about the book you read for class. Post a minimum of 35 words about what you liked about the book or didn't like. Be specific. Did you like the main character, did you like the conflict he had to deal with, did you like the style of how the book was written? Be sure to explain why. If you didn't like something about the book, please explain that too. Don't give away the entire plot of the story or too many secrets, but tell enough so that it will inspire someone else to pick up this book or not.

8th Graders, If You Liked Lord of the Flies...

"If Stephen King had written Lord of the Flies, it might have looked like this." Voices of Young Adults Book Review

Gone is the story (okay warning a rather long story-over 500 pages) of an average kid on an average day where both turn out to be not so average. The very first page had me hooked. Sam is sitting in another boring class of his freshman year and suddenly the teacher "poofs" actually "poofs" as in disappears. You come to discover that everyone over the age of 14 disappears from their town. Besides adults disappearing, they also lose internet, phones and any connection outside of their town. "Maybe it's only us..." (sound familiar?) A major power struggle ensues between the town kids and the local boarding school prep kids which is extremely simliar to Ralph's and Jack's tribe. Okay, now comes the Stephen King-like portion of the book. Their town is near a nuclear power plant which may or may not have caused the disappearances. To add to the issues, some of the teens develop super-human powers and animals begin mutating- including talking wolves! The final issue of suspense is what happens when one of the teens turns 15? Will they disappear too or is the "poofing" over? I was very hesitant to pick up this book, the cover was a complete turn off for me, but once I started I couldn't stop reading. I love the main character, so much more than I ever liked Ralph from Lord of the Flies.

If you are interested in reading this book, leave a comment here or come and see me. I have four copies and I will lottery them off to see who can borrow them first.

BATTLE IT OUT, BOYS!

Which book was better? Tell the readers why.

The Outsiders

vs.

That was Then, This is Now

BATTLE IT OUT, BOYS!

Which book was better? Tell the readers why.

Hunger Games vs. its sequel Catching Fire?