Nora

U Dear Coach, Right now im working on SCAT i find it very interesting & it really speaks to me because i hate how wildlife is being destroyed. **The author got me intersted when Nick & Mara went into the everglades to try to find a panther & end up finding themselves part of getting rid of "the bad guys". I can relate to Mara because she is a worrier just like me!** Did you finish **__The girl with the dragon tattoo__** yet? Happy reading! -Nora
 * =**#**= || =**Book Title**= || =**Author**= || =**E, JR, C**= || =**Date Completed**= ||
 * = **1** = || **Theodore Boone** || **John Grisam** || **C** || **9/22/11** ||
 * = **2** = || **The Magician's Elephant** || **Kate Dicamillo** || **JR** || **9/22/11** ||
 * = **3** = || **Silverwing** || **Kenneth Oppel** || **JR** || **10/3/11** ||
 * = **4** = || **Ellie McDoodle** || **Ruth McNally Barshaw** || **JR** || **9/27/11** ||
 * = **5** = || **When You Reach Me** || **Rebecca Stead** || **JR** || **10/19/11** ||
 * **6** || **Where the moutain meets the moon** || **Grace Lin** || **JR** || **10/22/11** ||
 * **7** || **IQ** || **Roland Smith** || **JR** || **11/4/11** ||
 * **8** || **Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix** || **J.K Rowling** || **C** || **11/15/11** ||
 * **9** || **Girls acting catty** || **Leslie Margolis** || **C** ||  ||
 * **10** || **Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince** || **J.K Rowling** || **C** ||  ||
 * **11** || **Molly Moon's Incredible book of Hypnotismn** ||  || **JR** ||   ||
 * **12** || **SCAT** || **Carl Hiaasen** || **JR** || 2/11/12 ||

January 4 2012 Dear coach, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! This new year I am going to read alot of books! I have started a new series of books called the series of __Unfortunate Events__. So far I have read 2 out of 13 and I am working on the 3rd. The author got me interested when in each book he saysIf you want a happy book you should put this book down this instant because this book is anything but happy or having anything to do with happy My favorite character is Sunny because she is a toddler and doesen't say real words yet so the author translates. Hope you like __The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo__! Happy Reading!, Nora:)

January 2, 2012 Dear No-Ra,

I can’t believe that vacation is already over! I actually am even more in shock that it’s 2012! This school year is going by awfully fast. I was able to read over this vacation and that made me very happy. I did not however read the stack of MCBAs and other books that you guys have been so kind as to recommend to me. You see I got sucked in to a couple more adult books. One of the books might be one that you’ve seen around your house or you’ve seen that it is a movie; it’s called __The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo__. Just about everyone I know read and loved this book a couple summers ago. I must not have been able to read it then because I was reading MCBAs J One of the people who loved this book was my dad. He was really excited when reading it as the first setting of the book is in Stockholm the capital city of Sweden. (You know home of our Vikings.) I know that I told you guys that one of my very best friends lives in Stockholm and my whole family travelled there for her wedding eight years ago. My dad loved that he knew all the little places that were described in the story. ***Having some background knowledge of what you are reading about certainly helps you as the reader better understand what’s going on in the story and helps you to better visualize the places that are being described. This book was 640 pages long, and it was really hard for me to put down. This book was a murder mystery with lots of twists and turns. You as the reader spend the book trying to put together the clues of what is going on and figuring out who may be the “bad guy”.**

The big question now is- what book shall we read for our MCBA class read aloud? I would like to do something that might be slightly more challenging and one that maybe not too many people have read. We will have to investigate the chart! Your friend in reading, Ms. Sellers
 * One thing I might change about the story is the ending. The way the mystery was solved reminded me of another kid’s book I love called __Journey to the River Sea.__ Both in that book and __Dragon Tattoo__, the mystery is kind of solved with 100 pages left to go in the book and you as the reader kind of wonder- what’s left to say in this story? I guess it’s just a different kind of style that the author uses to not have the book wrap up immediately after the mystery was solved. But, I do feel like both books kind of dragged on a bit after the big climax/resolution of the mystery. There are two other books in the Dragon Tattoo series, but they will probably have to wait till February vacation.

PS- I promise to answer all your questions about Molly Moon, etc in my next letter!

Dear Ms.Sellers, Right now I have been reading__Molly Moon.__ I find it very interesting & I am at the part where Molly finds the book of hypnotismn. I am making some connections to the play ANNIE, because both of the main characters are orphan girls and they both are not cared for. What do you mean by Mari's family are "Aliens"? Are you planning to read any more MCBA's? In Molly Moon The Author got me interested when she gave that really funominal discription of the bathroom in the orphanige. I can realate to Molly because she is very dramatic and mischivious. Keep me updated on return to sender! Are you going to read that to the class as the MCBA? Your friend in reading, Nora :)

December 13, 2011 Hi Nora-

Long time, no write! What have you been reading lately? Over Thanksgiving, I finally picked up the MCBA __Return to Sender__. One of the things I noticed right away that I'm not sure I knew before is that this book is written by a previous MCBA author. Julia Alvarez also wrote one of my favorite heart warming books called __When Tia Lola Came to Visit (or Stay)__. *Very quickly after I started reading __Return to Sender__, I recognized some connections and similarities between the two books. Both books have main characters who are Hispanic and newly moving to Vermont. One of the main characters is an 11 year old girl named Mari. She is originally from Mexico, and is struggling with some family problems. She and her family have just moved from North Carolina to Vermont. The main character of __Tia Lola__ is, you guessed it, Tia Lola! Tia in Spanish means "aunt" and Tia Lola comes from the island of the Dominican Republic to visit her niece's family in Vermont. Right away I obviously recognized these two spanish characters in an unlikely setting of snowy, cold Vermont. __Tia Lola__ had a funnier tone or feel to the story as the funny and colorful aunt often embarrased the little boy Miguel. __Return to Sender__ has a more serious tone as Mari's family are illegal aliens and her mother went back to Mexico for a visit and has never returned. Mari has been writing letters to her mother, but not sending them since she doesn't know where she is and doesn't want to risk getting her family in trouble. I think the title __Return to Sender__ refers to what happens to letters that people try to mail to someone that either end up going to the wrong place, or the person doesn't live there anymore, or they forgot to put postage stamps on it. A red stamp like the one below is put on it to show that your letter had to be "returned to sender".

Don't forget to keep adding all your books to your log!

Your friend, Ms. Sellers:)



Dear Nora,
==== I am glad to finally write to you on the wordly widely web XD (laughing). I think you need more esay books to get a balence. ==== ====I realy loved your first write to Mrs Sellers, it was so funny end to begining. Maby you should work on sentence keads but its no troulbe at all. So far i think you are a exelent reader and am glad to be doing lit. leter with you. I think you should write more than 5-10 sentences in your letters. You have great kindness and i am glad to partner with you. ==== ====The book i am reading right now is __Alvalon__ and its a wonderful book. The book is about this brown, curlly haired girl (and two more later on becuse there on the cover) who works at a animal hospital. I only got to chapter two so i know little about the book. One of the things that happens is a huge cat ( examples: lion,panther,tiger,cheeta ) and it had huge claw marks and burns everywere. It was found at a sancuary ( Preseve ) and they dont know what hurt her. Some say toxic waste, others say a bear. I think its a magic creature like a dragon so i will have to keep reading. Finally, I recomend you read this book two and i also recomend you read __The secret of zoom__. What books are you reading??? ====

Emy :D
11/1/11 Dear Ms.Sellers, I am not doing that book because I want to do a new book.This is what I like to do:I like to read a book, finish it and move on to the next one.Right now I'm reading **__IQ__** I am really enjoying this book because of the mystery(as you might guess this is my favorite genre).The author got me interested when he made it sound like a mystery.I'm doing this book because ther is more of a plot to it. The character I most admire is Angela because (not many people know)is very sensitive. (don't tell anyone!).Are you excited for the book talks?,I'm a little nervous! Keep on writing!, Nora:)

October 28, 2011

Dear Nora,

Glad to hear that you finished __When You Reach Me__. I'm curious why you aren't doing this book for your book talk? I will tell you a secret- Mrs. McGinnity and her son loved this book when they read it this summer, but I just couldn't find the love for it. When I read the back of the book, I was totally hooked. I don't usually like scary or creepy books but I was really intrigued. I just didn't expect the ending that it had. *I made a text to text connection between this book and another former MCBA by Sharon Creech called __Granny Torrelli Makes Soup__. In both stories, we have a boy and girl main characters who are best of friends from when they are little who get in a fight and then things become awkward between them. I felt bad for Miranda through the story when Sal stopped being friends with her and she didn't know why. That must be one of the saddest things that could happen between two friends. I didn't realize that this author Rebecca Stead also wrote last year's MCBA __First Light__. Did you read that one?

What will you read next? Can I recommend any new books to you?

I have many favorite books. In fact, I have a "Top Ten" list that I made for Mrs. McGinnity when she moved from third grade to fifth grade as recommendations

for her. Tell me what genre is your favorite- realistic fiction, adventure, fantasy, historical fiction? and are you looking for a Just Right or maybe a Challenging book?

Let me know and I'll write you a little more about some of the books in the next letter.

Your friend,

Ms. Sellers:)

Dear Ms.Sellers,

Thank you for the very nice note.I am actually really enjoying __WHEN YOU REACH ME__ it's a really fantastic book and I just finished it today.On a scale of 1 to 5 stars I would rate it a 5.I would rate it this high because I loved the mystery,comedy,and there even was a little romance! The author got me interested when the main character starts to unravel the mystery. The character I most admire is Miranda Because she is an over thinker like me. I know you love __SILVERWING__ but do you have another favorite book?

Smiles,

Nora:)

October 15, 2011

Dear Nora,

Thank you so much for your first letter/wiki response! I'm glad that you are also enjoying the "Silverwing" tv show. I enjoy parts of it too, but since I love the Silverwing book sooooo much, it's kind of hard to accept the differences of the tv show. Last weekend I went to see the movie of "The Help". This was based on a book that I read and really enjoyed last spring. We could call this book historical fiction as it takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. __***The setting of this story is important as it will help us know that this is a Southern town during the Civil Rights movement.**__ This book is told from the point of view of three main and very different characters. (You would recognize this author’s style as our favorite Kenneth Oppel did something similar by having alternating chapters as seen by Shade or Goth, or even Marina in __Sunwing__.) In this book, we see the story through the eyes of a girl named “Skeeter”. No, Skeeter is not her real name, but a nickname. Her real name is Eugenia Phelan. The other two main characters are African-American maids named Minnie and Aibileen.

I knew this book was going to be pretty good because I had a very hard time putting it down. Since each chapter alternated between different characters, I found myself peeking ahead at the end of each chapter! It was really hard when the author left you hanging with something that happened to Minnie, and then moved on to Skeeter. Of course, I can appreciate the author’s style in trying to keep the readers reading. ***I would like to read another book by this author because I enjoyed her story-telling style and really liked the characters she made.** The end of the story was kind of cliffhanger, and I must have really liked the book because I really worried if everything turned out ok for Minnie, Aibileen and Skeeter. The movie was made to be less of a cliffhanger- I guess the movie makers wanted to make everything feel really good in the end!

I've seen you reading __When You Reach Me__, and I'm curious to hear what you think of this book!

Talk to you soon, Ms. Sellers:)


 * October 3rd 2011 **
 * Yo! Ms.Sellers, **
 * I love 5th Grade and love being in your class!My favorite book that we're reading so far is __Silverwing__ I also like the show but not as much as the book.The book is like the show because it has the same charaters (Shade,Marina,Goth,etc.) and also the main ideas from the story too.The book and the show are different because the book is more discriptive and the show has things that don't happen in the book.I think I do like the show but not as much as the book. **
 * smiles **
 * your loudest student, **
 * Nora **

September 27, 2011 Dear Room 7, I’m very excited to hear all your thoughts about what you’re reading on your individual wiki pages. I’ve really enjoyed all your enthusiasm about __Silverwing__. Even though this is my twelfth time reading it, I still get really excited about sharing it every year. ***The genre of this book is definitely fantasy since I don’t believe that bats and owls have wars or detailed adventures together. I also consider this to be a genre of my own invention- called Animal Adventure. I love the character Shade; he’s one of my all-time favorites.** *If I could talk to Shade, I would ask him if he thinks it was worth it to break the law and see the sun, especially after what happens to his colony as a result. Your friend in reading, Ms. Sellers J