Robot Riot by Andy Griffiths

On pages 48 and 49 of Robot Riot Andy Griffiths has the top ten list of things you should never do to a book as written by Mr Shush the Teacher-Librarian at Northwest Southeast Central School. I first met the wonderful (highly stereotyped) Mr Shush in Pencil of Doom. Robot Riot is the fourth book in this funny Schooling around series.

My Favourites on the top ten list are :

Never lick the print off a book, no matter how good it tastes
Never put a book in a fish tank even if it is a book about fish
Never attach wheels to a book and use it as a skate board
And never attach two ropes to a book and attach one end of each rope to a horse and then move the horses away from each other until the rope tightens and the book is ripped apart!!

There is a new kid at school and our hero Henry McThrottle is immediately suspicious. She seems to be too good at everything including art and Henry's speciality - writing. Now all Henry has to do is convince his friends, especially Jenny Friendly, that Roberta is not to be trusted!

I did enjoy Pencil of Doom more than Robot Riot but there were some funny moments. I kept hoping Roberta really was ….. whoops I won’t give it all away. I do enjoy stories about Robots. Eager and Eager's Nephew by Helen Fox are two books on my top 50 all time favourites list and I really enjoy reading Parker Hamilton a short story by Robin Klein in her anthology Ratbags and Rascals.

I wonder if Northwest Southeast Central School will win the tidy school competition perhaps we will find out in the next exciting installment. If you want a quick, funny book with heaps of characters, kids and teachers, that you recognise from your school then pick up a copy of this book today.

Mike's Magic seeds by Alexander McCall Smith

"Red seeds,' it said. Plant these on a Wednesday. Blue seeds: plant these on Tuesdays or Thursdays. White seeds: never plant these on any day but a Friday.' And then, just under these instructions, a warning was printed in red:

DON'T TELL ANYBODY! KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!"

Mike’s Magic seeds is an absolutely perfect book for young readers. It has all the right elements of magic, friends, jealousy, betrayal and lollies! 

Mike is walking past the shops one day on the way to school and he sees a closing down sale on a little shop he has never seen before. Feeling curious and with a few coins in his pocket he goes inside. The shop keeper is a grumpy man who seems to trick Mike into buying, of all things, a pain paper packet of seeds. At home Mike reluctantly looks more closely at this packet and he discovers some very odd instructions about planting certain seeds on certain days. Since it is a Friday he plants, as instructed, the white seed. This is the first time Mike has ever done any gardening and he feels a little thrill of anticipation wondering what will grow. 

The actual plant is such a surprise for Mike and for the lucky reader. The sweets you see on the cover of this book are slightly foreign for our Aussie kids but I just tell my listeners to imagine their personal favourites. Actually when I read this book I hide the cover because it gives away the surprise of plants that grow sweets.

The sweets on the trees are mostly unknown here in Australia - marzipan, sugared almonds, chocolate flake (we all know this one) and fig rolls. The only fig rolls we could discover were actually biscuits. Some years ago my Grade 3 classes wrote to Alexander McCall Smith telling him how much we loved this book. We also asked about the fig rolls. Alexander wrote a very warm letter as a reply and he sent our school library a couple of free books which was very exciting but alas he did not solve the mystery of those fig rolls.

Image Source: Yippie Chef

The lessons along the way about patience and more importantly about true friendship make this book an important reading experience. Right from the start we know Mike should not trust Angela! Once again this lovely little book is sadly out of print but I would say if you come across a copy grab it with both hands and don’t let go. This little book is one of my favourites to read aloud. I read it every year to groups of children from 1988 until 2017. Yes this is the Alexander McCall Smith who has lots of famous adult fiction too.

One aspect of this book that I truly adore when you read it aloud is the way Alexander McCall Smith tells the reader there is more to come.

"That could be the end of the story of Mike and the magic seeds, but it wasn't"

"And that, again could have been the end of the story of Mike and the magic seeds. Once again, though, it wasn't."

I would follow this book or pair this book with The Lollipop Tree:

35 Kilos of Hope by Anna Gavalda

I always recommend 35 kilos of Hope by Anna Gavalda to boys in senior grades who are reluctant readers. Not because it is a book of slap stick humour that will give them heaps of laughs but because it is a truly sensitive story that might get them thinking and it is presented in a very easy to read format. The print size in this book is perfect for boys and there is heaps of white space so as you read the pages just fly by plus there are only 110 pages so this should be a quick read. With all this in mind I recently gave this special little book to a Year 5 boy. He returned about 2 weeks later and told me this story was so powerful. It really affected him emotionally! This might even be the first complete book this boy has read!! Yippee! In 35 kilos of Hope (named 95 Pounds of Hope in US!!) we meet our hero Gregory just as he is about to begin school. He attends for the first morning, comes home for lunch and then it is time to go back. “No. I’m not going … Because I’ve already been. I’ve seen what it’s like, and it’s not interesting.” Unfortunately, as we know, Gregory will have to attend school, at least until he is fifteen. School is torture for our narrator. He finds the work impossible, his days leave his stomach in knots and PE is terrifying. Gregory does have abilities – special abilities with his hands but these are rarely used or recognized at school and so inevitably he is expelled. He has three years of school still to endure. The only place open to him seems to be boarding school so Gregory writes a letter. Dear Sir, I would like to go to your college but I know that it is impossible because my school record is too bad. In your brochure, I noticed that you have workshops for mechanics and carpentry. You also have computer labs and greenhouses etc. Personally, I think that good marks are not all there is to life. Motivation is just as important. I would like to go to Granfield because I’m sure I would be happy there. At least I think so. I am not very big : I weigh about 35 kilos of hope. Goodbye Gregory Murray. PS This is the first time I have ever begged someone to let me go to school. I think I must be ill. PPS I am sending you the plans of a banana peeler that I built when I was seven. The one place where Gregory feels happy is with his Grandad Leo working in his shed. Grandad knows all the special qualities and abilities of Gregory but will this be enough to save him? Soon I will be talking to some important people about books in translation that have influenced me. I have a big dilemma – 35 Kilos of Hope was originally written in French, Momo was written in German and my other choice Rose Blanche is an Italian book. Which will I choose? Make sure you take a look at the back cover of 35 Kilos of Hope it is fabulous!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

There are times when reading feels like an addiction and a book like Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a great way to feed that addiction. I seemed to have missed the movie but I was sure we had this book in our school library so when it was returned last week I quickly grabbed it ready to read.

I sat down thinking, you’ve heard me say this before, I would just read a few pages or perhaps the first chapter to see what this book was like. I didn’t lift my head for 72 pages! In fact I had to speak sternly and order myself to turn off the light – after all it was a school night.

Now for the addiction part - it has been a rather busy week and I just didn’t have a few continuous hours to sit and read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief so I had to snatch time when ever I could. This included reading chapters over breakfast and wishing I could just stay home for the day and keep reading.

Finally last night I finished Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and I am now desperate for the sequels. Percy, or Perseus, is a half-blood but not like the ones in Harry Potter, these half bloods are the offspring of the Gods. Gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Ares, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Hades.

Percy doesn’t know he is a half-blood but the signs are obvious to those who can recognize them.

As Annabeth explains : “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t one of us … I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them…. Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD… that’s because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD – you’re impulsive, can’t sit still in the classroom. That’s your battlefield reflexes.”

Someone has stolen a lightning bolt from Zeus and the gods are preparing for War. On earth this will be World War III. Percy our hero is really Perseus, the son of Poseidon and he must go on a quest to find the lightning bolt. Zeus blames Poseidon for the theft but others think it is the work of Hades who wants to increase his power. Before embarking on the quest Percy has an audience with the Oracle… you will go West, and face the god who has turned, you shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned, you shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end. This is all very heavy stuff.

Percy, Annabeth and Grover (a Satyr and Percy’s best friend) do indeed need to travel to the West. I almost reached for an atlas to plot their journey across American from New York to Los Angeles and back again.

Very early in the story Percy fights a Minotaur and later he meets the Furies, Medusa, and three women cutting threads – the Fates.

I first fell in love with these figures of mythology after reading The god Beneath the Sea by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen.

Reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief will give readers a terrific introduction to all these wonderful, horrifying, magical and powerful figures. If you have finished with Beast Quest and are ready to try a much longer novel (374 pages) get your hands on Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief I highly recommend it.

Check out the web site for the series it is amazing. You can even listen to parts of the books. The author also has a great site. For teachers here are some discussion questions - you could build a whole term of work around this novel by making an in depth study of Greek mythology. The Scholastic edition, Puffin edition and the one on the author web site all have such different covers - ours is in this blog.

Our Crazy Class Election by Timothy Roland

Our Crazy class Election is a tiny book that packs a powerful punch in three different ways. Firstly it is an ideal quick read for junior students, second it is funny and thirdly it has terrific little comic strips as illustrations. (Sorry my picture is so fuzzy, it was the best I could find. Scholastic the publisher have no front cover on their web site!) Did I mention this is a funny book!

A boy in my school recently alerted me to this Comic Guy series by Timothy Roland. He asked for Book 2 – we don’t have this but I thought if he enjoyed Book 1, I better get reading a find out why.

A check on the internet shows me there are now three titles in this series so we will need to add these to our order list. In Our Crazy Class election we meet Guy – he is the Comic Guy, Tank – the class bully, Ollie the science room pet monkey and Clint the new kid in class who has real talents. It is election time and Tank wants to win at all costs. Guy and the rest of the class know they can’t let this happen but who will stand against him?

The chapter names in this zany little book will give you a flavour of the story – The beginning of the end, And the answer is …, I waited for this, We’re all behind you, Speechless no more, Let the explosion begin, Ready set Campaign, and The final pitch. The chapter where Guy tries to give his speech is so funny and a great example of co-operation between friends.

I would recommend this little chapter book to anyone who wants a quick read, a good laugh and an easy way to understand class elections and even democracy in action. The newspaper for Rockyville Elementary School is called The Barker you might even get some ideas to start a class newspaper of your own.

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements is one of my all time most favourite favourite favourite authors so when a new Andrew Clements book arrived in my school library this week I just had to clear the decks and read read read…

Extra Credit certainly did not disappoint me, is, quite simply, a terrific book. Once again Andrew Clements really gets inside the world of the senior primary student. Abby is a capable girl but she is just not interested in school tasks. “She was a decent reader, she was okay at math and she was plenty smart. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do the work. She just didn’t like doing it. And most of the time, she didn’t see the point.”

Extra Credit is one of those books where the voices and setting alternate, in this case between Abby in Illinois and Sadeed in a small village in Afghanistan. Abby has to do extra credit to prevent having to repeat Sixth Grade and this involves a project based around pen pal letters. She selects Afghanistan because there are mountains shown on the map and Abby is a climber. There are no mountains in her part of Illinois so she has taken up wall climbing in the gym at her school. She absolutely loves wall climbing.

Sadeed is selected to write back to Abby because he is the best English student in his school and he has neat handwriting but it is inappropriate for a boy to write to a girl so Sadeed has to involve his sister in the letter writing and it is Amira who signs the letters not knowing that Sadeed has added information, questions and comments of his own.

All of this comes to a head when Sadeed is coming home from school one day and he is grabbed by a dangerous man who recognizes the stamps on his letter from America. “he let go of Sadeed’s arm, quickly ripped the letter once, then twice again, and threw the pieces to the ground.” Sadeed does manage to piece the letter back together but now what will he do – letter writing has become dangerous, forbidden.

My advice is don’t leave Primary School without reading at least one book by Andrew Clements – you won’t be disappointed. My personal favourites are Frindle, The Laundry News, The Janitors Boy and The Last Holiday concert. These books will be loved equally by boys and girls. Take a few minutes to check out his web site it is great and there is a video of Andrew talking about his newest book. He looks like such a warm person wouldn't it be great to meet him.

I would also heartily recommend Andrew Clements to all teachers. You can easily tell Andrew Clements is or was a teacher - "After a day or two, even a really interesting bulletin board turns into wall paper, and almost nobody sees it anymore." This is so true.

Hatching Magic AND The Dragon of Never-was by Ann Downer

I actually read this series back to front. I picked up our school copy of The Dragon who never was because I simply can’t resist a good looking hard cover book. Book two, the one I was reading, begins with a prologue but like the one in Rangers Apprentice I was prepared to let the story take its course safe in the knowledge that Ann Downer would give me a context, for the mysterious events that befall Ellic Lailoken, later in the book. It was not until I was well into Chapter one that I realized The Dragon who never was must be a sequel, however, I was intrigued enough to keep reading.

The first book in this series is Hatching Magic. I think I enjoyed book two more than book one except for the idea that a baby Dragon or wyvern could become addicted to chocolate via his mother’s milk. While waiting for her egg to hatch in modern day Boston, Wycca the mother wyvern discovers a Confectionery company.

“The deafening clatter of the equipment frightened her, and she snapped her beak at a couple of dangling hoses, causing them to hiss and spit steam at her. Arching her back like a terrified cat, Wycca hissed back, then lunged and bit a fat bundle of multicolored cables in two. With flashing lights and a chorus of alarms, the state-of-the art robotized confectionery equipment which had been installed only the year before, ground to a halt. … a trap door opened … and all the chocolates exiting the molding room dropped into a temporary holding bin. Which was where Wycca happened to be … that was how the wyvern discovered that she adored – nay worshipped – the heavenly substance know to us as chocolate.”

Meanwhile in book two we discover more about the destiny of our heroine Theodora Oglethorpe (I love this name) and her special friends.

These books are would make terrific reading for dragon and wizard fans but be warned you will need to keep your wits about you as the action switches between characters and scenes within each chapter. While you wait for this book you can read the first chapter this might be a good way to see if it is a book you will enjoy!

You can read more about the second book here. If you are a Carole Wilkinson fan and enjoyed Dragonkeeper and the sequels you will certainly enjoy these books. When you finish these two you should look for a little book in our library called Falcon's egg by Luli Gray - Falcon is a girl not a bird in this special little book.

I was interested to see we have over 120 books on the topic of Dragons in our school library!