This week's book will take student's a little longer to read, the book is Half Upon a Time by James Riley.   
 

 

In the village of Giant's Hand, Jack's grandfather has been pushing him to find a princess to rescue, so when a young lady falls out of the sky wearing a shirt that says "Punk Princess," and she tells Jack that her grandmother, who looks suspiciously like the long-missing Snow White, has been kidnapped, Jack decides to help her.


From the Publisher: Life's no fairy tale for Jack. After all, his father's been missing ever since that incident with the beanstalk and the giant, and his grandfather keeps pushing him to get out and find a princess to rescue. Who'd want to rescue a snobby, entitled princess anyway? Especially one that falls out of the sky wearing a shirt that says "Punk Princess," and still denies she's royalty. In fact, May doesn't even believe in magic. Yeah, what's that about? May does need help though--a huntsman is chasing her, her grandmother has been kidnapped, and Jack thinks it's all because of the Wicked Queen . . . mostly because May's grandmother might just be the long-lost Snow White. Jack and May's thrillingly hilarious adventure combines all the classic stories—fractured as a broken magic mirror—into one epic novel for the ages.

Study Guide:

http://quizlet.com/45752204/half-upon-a-time-flash-cards/

Discussion Questions:

1. Who is Jack’s father? His grandfather?
2. Who does Jack think May’s grandmother is? Why does he think that?
3. Jack, May, and Phillip are on a quest. What is their quest?
4. What happens the first time Jack and May fall asleep? How do they get away?
5. How do they meet Phillip? What is he doing? What fairy tale does he belong to?
6. What or who is the Eye? What does he give Jack?
7. Who do they meet in the Black Forest?
8. What happens when they find the mirror?
9. Who is Merriweather? How does she know May?
10. Who is Malevolent? How does she help the trio?
11. What happens at the Palace of the Snow Queen? What truth is revealed?
12. Jack and May are both strong characters. How are they alike? How are they different? How does Phillip fit into the story? What role does he play? How does he affect the relationship between Jack and May?
13. What do you predict will happen in the future? Which boy will betray May? Which will die?
14. What is the meaning of the title of the book?
15. What fairy tale characters are present in the book? Which fairy tales do they belong to?
16. Is May a character from a fairy tale? Who do you think she is?

Recommendations: 

A tale dark and grimm by Adam Gidwitz
A world without heroes by Brandon Mull
Emerald atlas by John Stephens
Tuesdays at the castle by Jessica Day George
Igraine the brave by Cornelia Funke
Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
The flint heart by John Paterson
Ivy and the meanstalk by Dawn Lairamore
Where the mountain meets the moon by Grace Lin
Tales From The Brothers Grimm And The Sisters Weird by Vivian Vande Velde
  

Variant

This week's book is Variant.  Additionally, this week we will be ordering T-shirts and pizza for the day of the battle.  Students are working hard, studying and quizzing each other.  Our team has been adopted by a local business who will be providing snacks for our meetings.


From the Publisher:
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.
He was wrong.
Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.
Where breaking the rules equals death.
But when Benson stumbles upon the school's real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.
                                                                                                                  - Titlewave

Booklist (October 15, 2011 (Vol. 108, No. 4))

Grades 8-11. Lots of YA novels begin with a character arriving at a new boarding school, but it is safe to say there has never been a boarding school like this. Perennial foster kid Benson arrives at Maxfield Academy armed with an unexpected scholarship and some cautious optimism, but within minutes of arriving he realizes something is terribly wrong. There are no adults. There are towering walls topped with barbed wire. Messages are sent by computer to instruct the teens in both academic pursuits and paintball war games. Most immediately worrisome is that the student body has split itself into three warring factions: the Society (tasked with keeping order), Havoc (food preparation as well as serious attitude), and the V’s (whose chief shared trait is a desire to escape). This is good old-fashioned paranoia taken to giddy extremes, especially when a totally implausible—but nonetheless enjoyably insane—twist upends the plot in the final act. Take Veronica Roth’s Divergent (2011), strip out the angst, add a Michael Grant–level storytelling pace, and you have this very satisfying series starter.

Study Guide:
http://quizlet.com/70522130/variant-flash-cards/

 

This week's book is I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson





From the Publisher: I, Emma Freke is a charming search-for-identity story about Emma--the only normal member of her quirky family. While Emma desperately tries to find her niche, she discovers that perhaps it's better to be her own freak than someone else's Freke.

Full-Text Review

Booklist (November 1, 2010 (Vol. 107, No. 5))

Grades 4-7. Out of place and invisible at school and, apparently, at home, where she is in charge of most chores and the family bead store, 12-year-old Emma rues her excessive height and skinniness, her red hair, and, most of all, her name. Never having known her father, she is surprised by an invitation to a family reunion in Wisconsin, where she discovers she shares these characteristics with members of a family she never knew she had. Over the weekend, she also learns that there can be too much order and supervision, that she can make friends, and that the independence her quirky, freewheeling mother allows is something to value. This rich story of self-acceptance offers readers much to think about: contrasting family patterns, appropriate schooling for very bright children, conformity, and respecting differences. The first-person narrative moves along briskly, with believable dialogue and plenty of humor. Gently poking fun at the Wisconsin Frekes, the author also shows why Emma appreciates them. Readers will certainly sympathize with and root for Emma and celebrate the story’s satisfying ending.

Author on the Internet:

 

http://www.elizabethatkinson.com/



Additional resources: 

http://www.teachingbooks.net/qlz224t

http://quizlet.com/_153h83