Wow, it's been just a week of US, Reading, and you guys are reading off the charts!!!
It looks like lately the 6th graders have been edging out the 7th graders...stay tuned for the next team standings update on Thursday!
Don't forget, select the grade you are *GOING INTO* in the fall, not the one you've completed. 8th graders, where are you?!?! I know you're reading this summer too!!!
Check out this week's challenge (it changes every week!):
Read a book that takes place (or is about) where you're vacationing this summer. Should make for some interesting reads!Summer is a good time to catch up on to-read lists and re-read old favorites, but also a time when lots of great new books come out! Here are some of my most-anticipated books this summer (all descriptions come from the publisher- with commentary from me!)
Flying by Carrie Jones (July 2016)
"People have always treated seventeen-year-old Mana as someone in need of protection. She's used to being coddled, being an only child, but it's hard to imagine anything could ever happen in her small-town, normal life. As her mother's babying gets more stifling than ever, she's looking forward to cheering at the big game and getting out of the house for a while. But that night, Mana's life goes haywire. It turns out, Mana's frumpy, timid mom is actually an alien hunter, and now she's missing. Now, on her own for the first time, Mana will have to find a way to save her mother--and maybe the world--and hope she's up to the challenge."
Cheerleaders vs. aliens? Count me in!!!
Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes (July 2016)"When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?"
I loved Ninth Ward by Jewel Parker Rhodes, and I can't wait to read this one! She writes so well about tragedy and family.
Dara Palmer's Major Drama by Emma Shevah (July 2016)"Dara is a born actress, or so she thinks - but when she doesn't get any part in the school play, she begins to think it's because she doesn't look like the other girls in her class. She was adopted as a baby from Cambodia. So irrepressible Dara comes up with a plan, and is determined to change not just the school, but the whole world too."
Realistic fiction is one of my favorite genres- this sounds like it will have an interesting and original plot, and I can't wait to see what happens in the end!
Not as We Know It by Tom Avery (August 2016)"Twins Jamie and Ned do everything together, from watching their favorite show, "Star Trek," to riding their bikes, to beachcombing after a storm. But Ned is sick with cystic fibrosis, and he may someday leave Jamie behind. One day the boys find a strange animal on the beach: smooth flesh on one end, scales at the other, and short arms and legs with long webbed fingers and toes. Could it be a merman, like in the old stories Granddad tells?"
This book sounds very sad and very creepy...two excellent qualities in a summer read!
Full of Beans by Jennifer Holm (August 2016)"Ten-year-old Beans Curry, a member of the Keepsies, the best marble playing gang in Depression-era Key West, Florida, engages in various schemes to earn money while "New Dealers" from Washington, D.C., arrive to turn run down Key West into a tourist resort."
Jennifer Holms is super-author of graphic novels such as the Babymouse series and Sunny Side Up, plus current MCBA nominee The Fourteenth Goldfish, and many many more!!!
Ghost by Jason Reynolds (August 2016)"Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves."
Sports stories are usually fast-paced and action packed, and Jason Reynolds is a fantastic author! This will be a win all around.What books are you looking forward to reading when they come out?-Clara
O'Neill Branch
"People have always treated seventeen-year-old Mana as someone in need of protection. She's used to being coddled, being an only child, but it's hard to imagine anything could ever happen in her small-town, normal life. As her mother's babying gets more stifling than ever, she's looking forward to cheering at the big game and getting out of the house for a while. But that night, Mana's life goes haywire. It turns out, Mana's frumpy, timid mom is actually an alien hunter, and now she's missing. Now, on her own for the first time, Mana will have to find a way to save her mother--and maybe the world--and hope she's up to the challenge."
Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes (July 2016)
Dara Palmer's Major Drama by Emma Shevah (July 2016)
Not as We Know It by Tom Avery (August 2016)
Full of Beans by Jennifer Holm (August 2016)
Ghost by Jason Reynolds (August 2016)
-Lydia, 7th grade, Vassal Lane
I think this book is great.But also at the same time when the talk science it confuses me because I feel like the chapters are not in order.Well some of them are at least.The rest I feel like it's good.Another suggestion is that don't skip years and then go back and talk about those years you missed.But even though I want to read the second book if the author makes one.
One thing I have to tell the author is that I like how the book is like one chapter August is speaking then other people are speaking in different chapters.Also, I noticed that was giving flashbacks for the readers so the readers can understand what happened in the past for the characters like if they were scared of something then they tell the story.Another thing is there are the good details the readers want to know and there are just the fluffy parts (The parts we don't need).
I think this book is a good book for school and also for fun!This book is a history book.But some of the things in the book actual did not happen.For example, Nathan Hale getting crushed by a history book.I like this book because this book is not all about what happened to the Ironclad,well it is but it has a little more fun to it.
This book is about a girl who lived on a farm.There were a lot of sand storms and there were barely any sunny days.But things happen very quickly around there. Also not plenty of blesses happen over there but also some of the most important people in the whole world that she loves and cares about,are gone.I really liked how the author put paragraphs that are actual a poem format.So I really liked that and also the one other thing I like about this book is that the author leaves the reader hanging when one paragraph ends then the reader wants to find out more and what's going to happen next. 
Would you recommend this book? If so, who would you recommend it to, and why? If not, why not?I Reccomend this to all young adults. It has comedy, suspense, action, mystery, and a little bit of romance. This book is my favorite book. I think that people who are into mystery, and action would love this book. This book is about a kid named Thomas who wakes up in a maze with no memories. He finds himself in a place called the Glade thats surounded by walls. Outside the walls, the maze. There are more people at the Glade, they call themselves the Gladers. There are only boys at the glade. Theve been looking for an exit for 2 years. Will they get out?
If someone liked this book, what other books should they read?
David once knew that living with his grandma was the worst nightmare ever after his mom died.Now she was making him go to a stupid easter hunt all because she wanted him to have fun and not think of his mom all his life.All the sudden he saw a girl lying in the grass was she sleeping or was she dead even though he told someone he was the course about this girl.Did his grandma set this up so he can go out of the house and met a girl then be friends with her?
Leviathan is a fast paced page turner that I found impossible to put down for more than two hours, my teachers can confirm this. It is historical fiction (if you want to call it that) but mostly fiction, historical because it uses the countries that were involved in World War One, the time that Leviathan takes place. It is about a girl named Deryn Sharp and Prince Aleksandar,at the beginning of the story Deryn is trying out for the Royal Air Force, which instead of using planes tofly they use what they call " Darwinist creations" they are what many countries are using to wage the war against the " clankers" or the Germans, they are abominations that are made by weaving many different animals together for instance, the leviathan, which the book is named after, is basically a giant flying whale. However Deryn's problem is that to join the Air Force you must be a boy, so she must conceal her identity from her flying mates , which is obviously hard to do. However on the other side of the war Prince Aleksandar is fleeing the people who made him an orphan and started World War One, although you don't really find out who they are until a few chapters in ( no spoiler warning ;) ) . The prince is technically on Germany's side, the clankers so they use machines instead of abominations like the allies use. There is not much to say about this witjout spoiling anything, so I reccomend this book to anyone.
In this book, I would like to friends with Lonnie Collins Motion because he feels like a friend that be lovely to have and I would understand what he has been through and act like he is apart of my family.I would do this because in the real world people might bully him because he lost his parents and him and his little sister would not see each other anymore.
If I could ask the author/illustrator one question,I would ask them what happened to Charlie's dad after his mom and dad got divorced.and charlie and his sister move away to a scary and mysteries town.I would ask that question because the author never told us what happened to him or where he was living.He only told us why Charlie's parents got divorced.
If someone liked this book I would recommend the whole series.One of them were Among the free another one was Among the betrayed.I really liked that one and I would really recommend that book to.But another book I really liked was Hilo the first and the second book.I have some other great books like After dark but I will write about that book after this one.Also, I like the dark side of books that's why I read After dark.
This book is about a black girl named Emily Bird with parents who are important scientists who she barely sees. her parents thinks shes just like her Uncle Nicky, reckless and will end up a failure all birds life shes been trying to prove them wrong. One day bird goes to a part says something she shouldn't and drinks something she thought was safe and lands in the hospital. bird wakes up and is told that there has been a disease spread called the v-flu. and that her parents have something to do with it. Now bird is being harassed by the man shes sure put her in the hospital and is trying to get the cure to the whole world. and the only two people she trust is a drug dealer named coffee and her friend Mirella. 
In SAO (Sword Art Online) their is no smell/taste/feel/ect. becaise they are in a game, but then a plot twister happens SPOILER! SAO is being controlled by the owner, the owner made a virus so that you can not log out, and if your parents are trying to take it out of you, it will fry your brains, then you will die. But the way to beat the game is by winning the game, and that means beating floor 100, and by the way, they have not even finished floor 1! But the main character of this manga/anime, is a beta tester! (beta testers are people who play the game before it is out) and guess what level he is? SPOILER! He's level 74! And he wishes to beat the game. I would recommend this book to everybody who likes video games. Along the way, he meets new friends and they become strong together!
