Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes... a lot of cats!

Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes

7/10

     This is a great quick read.  It is a girl or pet lover book.  One of the writer's craft elements that I truly enjoyed was the text feature that showed Gaby's profiles on each of the animals at the shelter, they were sprinkled throughout the story and related directly to her emotions and events in the portion of the book that they were featured in.  The thing that bothered me the most in these features is that she wrote them as she thought a high level sixth grader writer would write. (See my alliteration?  haha!)  "Gaby" wrote them in 1st person, but had a lot of "I's" in her writing.  Anyone who writes with me knows I can't stand "I, I, I, I ..."  Vary your sentences structure.  My 5th graders leave knowing this rule!  I think that Ms. Cervantes underestimates great middle school writers!

It is kind of a bummer ending, but, I won't spoil it for you.  :-( 

On to Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt...

PERSONIFICATION:  "The comment stung."

METAPHOR: "I'm an energetic four-month-old ball of tan-and-white fluff that needs exercise every day."

     "Bones are treasures that must be buried for safety." (and alliteration)

SIMILE: " My idea of heaven is to be carried like a fluffy cloud around your neck or to curl up on your lap while you read the newspaper."

ONOMATOPOEIA: "Shush! Don't tell anyone."

Jinx by Sage Blackwood---a lot of curses?

Sage Blackwood's Site 
7.5/10

Mrs. Zuber is currently reading Jinx

Definitely a fantasy!  Elves, trolls, wizards, witches, magic...  I am enjoying this book, but for some reason it is a slower read for me.  Could be all the traveling I am doing right now.  This book has been in Illinois and Iowa...hotels, soccer fields, and several restaurants! 

Written in third person, the fun thing about fantasy is that sometimes the personification is literal. When the trees talk to Jinx, they are talking to Jinx.  I don't think that is personification in the figurative language sense, but an example of fantasy.  So finding personification in fantasy is a little trickier, but not much.  You just have to have an awareness to whether the object is a character or a detail in the story.

I like that the author weaved fairytales into this story, without telling their stories.  You just knew because of the clues.

ALLITERATION and PERSONIFICATION: "This was the sort of situation that made people in the clearing cast a calculating eye upon their surplus children." (eye doing math?..Mrs. Hummel definitely has calculating eyes!  LOL)

"...gave him a little shove to the left or the right around a great glowering tree..." (at this point in the book, I did not know the trees were characters so it was personification.)

"...under Urwald's menacing shadows."


METAPHOR and SIMILES: '"Ah! Well, don't jus sit there like a lump on the ground--lead on, boy!"'
"Rounding a great gnarled knot of a tree trunk, Jinx ran smack into a creature and yelped." (also alliteration this is a good example of alliteration is not the letter, but the sound... 'gnarled knot')
"But magic poured off the man, ripples of magic as strong as the pulses of life that seeped from the trees all around them."
"...and the wizard's nose twitched at the bad smell of a lie." (metaphor and personification)

By the way, these were all found within the first chapter of the book!!

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstien. (cool name) a lot of books or games??? :-)

10/10!

Chris Grabenstien Website

Mrs. Zuber's favorite so far!!! is currently reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library 

So far she is enjoying the games!

Okay, incredible on so many levels!!!  This is an author that I may have to investigate further!!!  This has puzzles for reader and characters, PUNS galore, which you know I love, mystery, humor, adventure, competition, and technology!!  The characters are incredible, the plot is original...I could go on and on and on!!  Author names are dropped like powdered sugar on donuts.  So many literary references, and so many reasons to read!

If the students out there read this one, at this point, it is my pick to take the trophy!

The ending completely tied back to the beginning... Kyle wrote an essay about balloons at the grand opening of the library and the last line of the book is..."There might be balloons."  The balloons popped up several times throughout the story.

I also liked how the author gave a run down of all the books he used in the story and why he used them...they were mostly award winners.  :-)  He gave an interview in the back and a lot of other "bonus info."

PUNS: "Well, great Gilly Hopkins," said the Limoncello gummy, "here you go!" (notice some dialogue rules for punctuation and capitalization here?)

      "Keep working the puzzle but try to avoid Mrs. sail E. Frankweiler's files.  They're all mixed up."

ALLITERATION: "We want to win this game," said Kyle.

     "We were supposed to write why we're excited about the grand opening and, well, balloons are always my favorite part."  (also this is the beginning I talked about going back to the ending...)

METAPHORS: Well the whole book is a metaphor for "Life is a game."  

     "We have books, which are windows into worlds we never even dreamed possible."

     "An open mind is an open book."  (also an idiom ;-) )

   

SIMILE: "The smarmy guy was oilier than a soggy sack of fries."

     "My hands feel flatter than a pancake," she moaned.

Rump by Liesl Shurtliff a lot of gold!!

Liesl Shurtliff's Website

RUMP--Mrs. Zuber is in progress reading this.  

8/10

A very different take on the old fairy tale from Rumps point of view!!!

Lead---My mother named me after a cow's rear end. (Now if that doesn't make you want to read more, I don't know what else will...)

It started out slow, but I really liked the idea behind this story…Rumplestiltskin’s story.It is actually a better story than the original.  That is probably because I am an optimist.  It struck a cord to that names have meaning and destiny.  I will let you in on a little secret…There are certain names teachers will not name their own kids.  Think about it!  There are also certain names that teachers “find” to name their kids.  All three of my children have very special reasons and meanings to their names.

Liesl talks at the end of the book about her reasons for writing this book and her thoughts behind it.  I love that authors do this now.  

She had a lot of rhymes in her book.  There was even a mono rhyme poem.  Look it up on http://www.shadowpoetry.com 

Figurative Language: 

Onomatopoeia and Simile:

‘“Buzzards!” I screamed, but they shrieked ad converged on me like a flying army.’

“Before long, I heard muffled voices in the distance.”

Alliteration:

“It’s also home to the Witch of The Woods,…”

Idiom:

“I thought of all the things Opal could foolishly promised me.  Her right eye.  An arm and a leg.”