Tween Books

[Karin]

Use this discussion thread to talk about Tween books.

[Danis]

I just finished Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick and loved it. My 7th grade son liked it, too, but liked The Incredible Invention of Hugo Cabret a little bit better.

[Karin]

I loved WONDERSTRUCK too.

[Paula]

Wonderstruck was my first read for 2012. My son and his girlfriend gave it and Hugo to me for Christmas.

[Kristine]

Paula wrote: "Wonderstruck was my first read for 2012. My son and his girlfriend gave it and Hugo to me for Christmas."

I loved, loved, loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret - truly was my favorite book read in 2011. I think this is a children's, YA, adult, EVERYONE. I can't wait to read it to my grandkids. (well, I can wait because I don't want any of my kids to give me grandkids yet!) I am anxious to read Wonderstruck and see if I'm as impressed.

[Elsa]

I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret two years ago and I loved it. I felt like being in that train station in Paris. Last December, I saw the movie with my husband and two daughters. To them, the movie was great but a little slow. I enjoyed it more than they did because I had read the book.

When reading Wonderstruck, I was giving it 3-4 stars until I reached about page 500. When the two stories come together, I was impressed of Selznick's imagination. Then, the events started to make sense; I couldn't stop reading to find out how the story ended. I gave it 5 stars. The research that Brian Selznick did for Wonderstruck makes the book worth reading it.

I like how Selznick weaves real facts in his stories, like the character of Georges Melies in
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and other facts (museum, 1977 NY blackout, etc) in Wonderstruck.

[Kristine]

Ooh, now I'm really interested in reading Wonderstruck. I didn't realize it was connected to The Invention of Hugo Cabret at all. Thanks for the info!

[Danis]

I finally read The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is a great adventure/kind-of-mystery book for boys or girls. It kept me interested from the very beginning.

[Karin]

Kristine - The two books aren't connected. Elsa was just mentioning how Selznick used actual facts in both books.

Danis - I haven't read The Mysterious Benedict Society yet.

[Tawnya]

Danis wrote: "I finally read The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is a great adventure/kind-of-mystery book for boys or girls. It kept me interested from the very beginning."

I love this series!

[Shawna]

I read Wonderstruck a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it! The illustrations are so intricate and the two stories, seemingly unrelated, coming together so nicely in the end was great! Several years ago, when I was teaching 4th grade, I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret to my class. I just had one of my students from that year tell me that is one of her favorite books because we read it in class. She is in 8th grade now and couldn't wait to tell me how much she loved Wonderstruck! I'm reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio right now. Much different story that so far brings up a lot of different emotions. I'll let you know when I finish.

[Danis]

I checked out Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos a few days ago. Will start it soon.

[Shawna]

I'm reading Dead End in Norvelt right now and finding it very funny! It reminds me of the type of humor in the movie A Christmas Story.

[Danis]

Oh, good! That is my kind of humor. Looking forward to reading it.

[Karin]

I want to listen to it on audio. I love Jack's voice and I think he narrates it.

[Elsa]

I read the book When You Reach Me while vacationing in Cancun. I liked this book very much because this mystery story is a combination of realistic fiction with science fiction. I didn’t notice the bits of science fiction until the future events from the secret notes Miranda receives start really happening. At the beginning Miranda and Sal have only one friend: each other. This story would help children/teens realize that it is okay and it is even necessary to have different circles of friends. The book shows how friendships mature and go through cycles. Talking about different circles of relationships/friends, I found an interested blog http://www.girlfriendcircles.com/blog...

The author mingles the story with the real TV game show called The $20,000 Pyramid when it was conducted by Dick Clark. I don’t watch TV much and didn’t know about it. I’ve certainly heard of the famous Dick Clark who just passed away.

The intricacies of the events -that let her discover who wrote the secrets notes- kept me interested in reading and flipping the pages quickly.

[Elsa]

If you like historical fiction, check Sylvia & Aki.

This historical fiction story is an easy-read for elementary students. The reader can get a lot of historical facts from this 150pg book. I liked reading about a friendship that develops from the two girls: Aki who is force to abandon her house and farm to go with her family to live at the Japanese Interment after the Pearl Harbor attack, and Sylvia who comes to live to Aki’s house. Sylvia has to face the injustice of school segregation, while Aki endures the injustice of living in the sort-of-imprisonment and deplorable place of the Poston (AZ) camp. Sylvia’s dad started the case “Mendez vs. Westminster School District” which is considered one of the precursors to Brown vs. Board of Education.