Nick+Mazz

=//iIi//Book Log=
 * # || =Book Title= || =Author= || =E, JR, C= || =Date Completed= ||
 * == 1 == || Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library || Chris Grabenstein || JR || Summer ||
 * == 2 == || Charlie Bumpers vs. the Teacher of the Year || Bill Harley || E || Summer ||
 * ==3== || Say It Ain't So || Josh Berk || JR || Summer ||
 * ==4== || Hit & Miss || Derek Jeter with Paul Mantell || JR || 9/16/15 ||
 * ==5== || Qwerty Stevens Back In Time Edison Mystery || Dan Gutman || JR || 9/22/15 ||
 * ==6== || Secrets According to Humphrey || Betty Birney || E-JR || Week of 9/28/15 ||
 * ==7== || Qwerty Stevens Stuck in Time With Benjamin Franklin || Dan Gutman || JR || 10/1/15 ||
 * ==**8**== || Athlete vs. Mathlete || W.C. Mack || Jr || 10/2/15 ||
 * ==**9**== || Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace || Nan Marino || C || Week of 10/19/15 ||
 * ==**10**== || The 39 Clue's: Mission Hindenburg || C. Alexander London || JR ||  ||
 * ==**11**== || Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School || Jeff Kiney || E || Week of 11/9/15 ||
 * ==** 1 2 **== || The Missing Book One: Found || Margret Peterson Haddix || JR-C || Week of 11/16/15 ||
 * ==** 1 3 **== || Zodiac || Stan Lee and Stuart Moore || JR || Currently Reading ||
 * ==** 14 **== || The Missing Book Two: Sent || Margret Peterson Haddix || JR || Week of 1/4/16 ||

15
|| Wonder || A.J. || JR-C || Winter Vacation ||
 * == 16 == || Flora and Ulysses || Kate DiCamaillo || JR-C || Week of 1/4/16 ||
 * ==** 17 **== || ** Fantasy League ** || Mike Lupica || JR-C || Reading Now ||

Mrs. Palmieri recommends...

 * ==#== || ==Book Title== || ==Author== ||
 * ==1== || Found- The Missing #1 || Margaret Peterson Haddix ||
 * ==2== || Among the Hidden- Shadow children #1 || Haddix ||
 * ==3== || Chasing Vermeer || Blue Balliet ||
 * ==4== || Airborn || Kenneth Oppel ||

Dear Room 7,

First and foremost, I hope you all had a wonderful vacation.

The question now is- what do we read next?

1. We go back and read Sunwing. I know many of you are still dying to know if Shade does find his father and whether he finds out the secret of the bands. It is an excellent sequel

2. Another MCBA- is there something else from the list that the class would like to hear?

3. I'm thinking I might want to read the other book by Nan Marino, author of Hiding out at Pancake Palace. This book is called Neil Armstrong Is __My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me.__  4. Or maybe I will pick another book I know that is great from a different kind of genre- like mystery or sci fi or fantasy

January 29, 2016

Hi Mrs. Palmieri,

I agree, when I was first reading __Hiding Out at Pancake__, it took me a little while to get into especially at the beginning when Cecilia was: __"The Boring Character."__ Although once I got into it it became much more interesting. One thing that helped me get through was that the other characters were much more interesting. Also, it was kind of suspenseful at the beginning. It gave me a little kick start and then I finally got into it and it was much more interesting and enjoyable.

No, I have not read the book __The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck.__ It seems kind of interesting and I might want to try it out. One time that I have disliked a character at first was in __Found.__ At first I disliked Katherine because she was annoying and full of her self. She had a small crush on Chip and payed more attention to him then her brother Jonah! She went to Chip's house to figure something out without drying her hair which suprised Jonah. Later we found Katherine did this more to figure out the secret then see Chip.

I am enjoying the book __Hiding Out at Pancake Palace__ for the second time. I am mostly just noticing the smaller details and quotes now that I am hearing it a second time. I notice things like how one of the characters does something as apposed to the first time I just saw more of the bigger picture.

That's all for now! Nick Mazz ~ ~ | |  {}  \___/__

January 28, 2016

Hi Nick,

I wish I had more time to read at home, but it was funny over this weekend I found myself thinking about Hiding Out at Pancake Palace__. I was thinking about what would happen next and I'm getting really excited to finish it! This is what happens when I get hooked into a book! I wasn't sure I loved this book at first. At first, I thought Cecilia seemed strange (alright, she IS strange) and I wasn't sure if I would like her as a character. I have found that if you don't like the characters in a book, it can make it very hard to want to keep reading the book.__

__This happened to me last year when I read aloud my class the MCBA,__ The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck__. Did you read that one last year? The female main character of that book was Laurie, and she was quite unlikable! She was snobby, kind of nasty, and altogether kind of tough to tolerate. It took a little while but class and I really go into the story and soon I better "understood" why Laurie acted the way she did. We liked the book so much, we decided to immediately read the sequel,__ The Magician's Bird__. Reading that was easy because we already knew and understood the characters. Do you find that you like to read sequels or books in a series because she kind of already know a lot about the characters?__

__*Feel free to tell me about a character in the book that you just read/or are currently reading__

__Back to Cecilia- so at the beginning she seemed strange, but now I find myself feeling sorry for her. She is lonely and kind of an outcast. I'm sure it's not easy to be her- and it definitely feels like she really wishes she had friends. On page 125 it says, "It wasn't like Cecilia wanted to be friends with Natalie. All she wanted was to wave and have them wave back." It's such a simple thing- you don't realize how much it might mean to someone just to be friendly towards them.__

__I know that you already read this book- but are you enjoying here it a second time? Are you noticing anything differently then when you read it?__

__Your friend,__ __Mrs. P__

Hello Mrs P,

Happy New Year!

I agree that the theme in Hiding Out in Pancake Palace is maybe being yourself. I also think that it might be that there is such thing as **TOO** much fame. The dad is really pushing Elvis (Aaron) to be famous and is kind of living **HIS** dream of being famous through Elvis.

I just finished reading Sent and Flora and Ulysses. I enjoyed Sent very much. It was suspenseful especially at the end when they pulled Chip and Alex out at the last second, right before they would have died. The one thing that was frustrating was when they just prepared to jump right into the next adventure. I had the same problem in the first book. I need a little break to regroup and take everything in. That is tough when one adventure ends as the next begins. Although I still enjoyed the book.

As for Flora and Ulysses, I liked that book too. It was action-packed and things happened out of no where like all of a sudden Ulysses went from typing to about to be hit over the head with a shovel. I enjoyed how it was mostly realistic. Pretty much everything was realistic other than the flying squirrel. It was very enjoyable.

That's all for now. Signing off, Nick Mazz ~ ~ ' '  []  \_/

January 3, 2016 Hello Team 7-

Welcome back from vacation!

I found myself thinking about our new read aloud during this break. I always get excited when I'm reading a new book out loud to my students that I also haven't read.

Several of you were talking to me about your book talks before we left for vacation. I know specifically people were wondering about how to figure out a book's "theme" or "author's message". This sometimes feels like it will be hard, but might not be as tricky as you think. Think about what the author is trying to teach you, the reader, through the story; what big life lesson do they want you to know. One of the themes in Silverwing __is teamwork, or believing in yourself.__

__What do we think might be the message in__ Hiding Out at Pancake Palace__? Let's think about what we know so far. Elvis is cutting off and coloring his hair- something he is famous for and he has to hide away from the world because of this embarrassing thing. I wonder if the message might be something about "being true to oneself" like don't be pretend to be something else, be who you want to be. I'm also wondering if Elvis really wants to be this famous star- or is this something his dad really wants? Again, since I'm reading this with you guys I'm just guessing (speculating)__

__I don't think we know as much about Cecilia yet- but I predict she and Evis (Aaron) are going to help each other in some way. She wants to find out if the trees sing- he likes to sing. __

__Guess we will read more and find out!__

__Your friend,__ __Mrs. P__

December 17, 2015 Hola Mrs. P.,

I also enjoy reading some holiday classics around Christmas. Sometimes I try to find the book version of a movie I have seen before. Hopefully I get some good books for Christmas. At the moment I am reading The Missing Book Two: Sent & The Zodiac. I am enjoying both at the moment. I expected The Zodiac to be action-packed becasue it was written by Stan Lee and it is. As for Sent I'm also enjoying it a lot even though it can be very confusing at times. It is very suspenseful at the moment. Katherine and Jonah are trying to save Chip and Alex before they go to war and possibly die. BTW I forgot to mention I am also reading the book Wonder on my Kindle and Phone. It is about a kid named august with a disorder that had lots of surgies which makes his face much different. I finished the regualt part of the book and am now reaing a version of the book by someone that there wasnt a part from his point of view. I enjoy all the books a lot and I hope you have a happy holidays.

From MAZZ:)

December 6, 2015 Hi Nick,

As Christmas approaches, I often like to reread some favorite holiday themed books from my own childhood. When I was your age and a little younger, I loved to read The Little House on the Prairie __series. These wonderful stories are from the childhood of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, as she grew up in the late 1800s in places like Wisconsin, Kansas, and eventually the Dakota Territory (today South Dakota). This time of year can be so busy and crazy and I always enjoy seeing how simple this pioneer family made their holidays. Sometimes we get so caught up in "buy, buy, buy" or " I want" that I really like reading these descriptions of the simple food and presents that they had and the happy holiday they created as a result. Here is a quote from fifth book in the series called,__ __By the Shores of Silver Lake. Chapter 19 "Christmas Eve"-__

__ "It had snowed all day and soft, large flakes were still falling. The winds were quiet so that snow lay deep on the ground, and Pa took the shovel with him when he went do the evening chores. __ __ "Well, it's a white Christmas," he said __ __ "Yes, and we're all here and all well, so it's a merry one," said Ma __ __ The surveyors' house was full of secret. Mary had knitted new, warm socks for Pa's Christmas present. Laura had made him a necktie from a piece of silk that she found in Ma's scrap bag. Together in the attic, she and Carrie had made an apron for Ma from on of the calico curtains that had hung in the shanty. In the scrap bag they found a piece of fine, white muslin; Laura had cut a small square from it, and secretly Mary had hemmed the square with her fine stitches and made a handkerchief for Ma. They put it in the apron pocket. Then they wrapped the apron in tissue paper and hidden it under the quilt blocks in Mary's box." __

__Descriptions like these really help me imagine what it would have been like to make gifts like Laura and her sisters did. Life was very different then. ***But when you read the descriptions of the family making and eating their meals and celebrating, it makes you as teh reader feel like maybe life isn't that different after all.** __

__**When I want to read these books, I usually pull out my little paperback set of all the books that I bought in book order when I was a student teacher. I was recently excited to discover**__ A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories __was published. This is one book that contains all of the holiday stories from the author's different books. Perfect!__

__**I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family.**__

__**Your friend,**__ __**Mrs. P**__


 * October 16, 2015**
 * Hi Mrs. P,**


 * After reading the book Athlete vs. Mathlete __I realized that I am not just an athlete and I'm not just a mathlete, but I'm a blend of both. I like how Russel, the mathlete, gets so happy when he does really well in basketball tryouts. Sadly Russel's brother, Owen, gets jealous because Russel almost did better than Owen in tryouts. Owen is mad because__** HE **is supposed to be the athlete and Russel is supposed to be the mathlete not both.**


 * I made a text-to-text between Athlete vs. Mathlete __and__ Silverwing__. In both of these stories, the author gives out clues about what is going to happen later in the book. In__ Silverwing__, the author keeps saying that Shade will not get lost and then he does. In__ Athlete vs. Mathlete__, the author keeps saying that Russel will not make the basketball team many times and then Russel ends up making the basketball team. At the moment I am enjoying__ Hiding Out and the Pancake Palace__. I will write back to you soon once I get a little farther into this book.__**


 * October 5, 2015**
 * Hi Nick,**


 * Thanks so much for writing me back.**


 * I'm so glad that you are recognizing the clues that Kenneth Oppel is giving us in Silverwing__. I think it's fun as a reader if you can decipher the messages the author is giving you. Do you think that Shade will eventually realize what Marina has picked up on, that Goth and Throbb are not to be trusted?__**


 * I am trying to get back to reading Elvis and the Underdogs__. I had started it this summer and kind of abandoned it. I hate to abandon books and I always try to go back and finish reading them. Sometimes when I do that, the second time I read it and I read it a little more I get really into it! Has this ever happened to you? The main character Benji is small and sickly,__** *this reminds me of Shade. Benji's mother is also very overprotective of him and smothers him like Ariel does to Shade. I wonder if when I start reading again if Benji will kind of break away from his mother like Shade did?

I'm so impressed with all that you've filled in on your book log so far. You seem to be a pretty diverse reader, but I would love to see if we could find you some more Challenging books. I put a few suggestions on your log and would be happy to talk to you more about them in person or in a future letter.

Hope you had a wonderful trip to Aruba!

Your friend, Mrs. P


 * September 30, 2015**
 * Dear Mrs. Palmieri,**
 * If I were Shade I would stay with Marina because she could help him and he can help her. I think so because Shade and his colony can help Marina get back with his colony. I made the prediction that Cassiel would still be alive and my prediction was correct. I have noticed that the author keeps giving out clues about what is going to happen later in the book. An example of this is when Ariel said Shade wasn't going to get lost, but still told him the echo map with the directions to get to the place they were going. Then, Shade got blown of course and got lost.**

Sincerely, Nick Mazz :P

September 10, 2015 Dear Nick,

I am so excited to be sharing Silverwing __with you this year as a read aloud. This is definitely one of my all time favorite books, which is probably why I can’t imagine starting a school year without sharing it with my class. *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. What do you think of__ Silverwing__ so far?

Your friend in reading,

Mrs. Palmieri J