Summer Reading Sundays (2)

     Summer reading assignements always seem to be such a controversy among students when school is ending or starting up again. I'm not necessarily a fan of assigned summer reading, but then again I'm not against it either. I simply think the books leave something to be desired most of the time.

     I'd love to hear about any of your experiences with summer reading! You don't have to still be a student to tell me about something you were assigned to read. Maybe your boss decided you needed to read a particular book for the job. Or, better yet, talk about a book you assigned yourself! Did you love the book, hate it or have no opinion on it? Did you feel that the book was age appropriate?

7th Grade-- Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville

     I know it's horrible, but I was dreading having to read this book just because of the title. By this time I was past reading books with titles like this (about time, I would think). I thought it sounded much too childish to have to read for seventh grade (because obviously seventh grade is so superior, right?)! So I procrastinated and whined about having to read such a horrid book, and I never whine about having to read something unless it is that bad.

     When I finally sat down and started Aliens Ate My Homework I was pleased. It was not anywhere near as terrible as my imaginings had conjured it up to be! Yes, it was still a bit too childish for my taste, but it wasn't bad. It was even kind of funny and it had plenty of plot twists too.

     In the book, Rod Allbright gets in trouble for telling his teacher that aliens ate his math homework. The thing is, aliens really did eat his homework. They are also trying to get Rod to help them find an alien criminal. A criminal who Rod has been up-close and personal with many a time while he was being bullied by said alien criminal.

     Rod was a typical sixth grade kid, in my opinion. He had foregone believing in aliens by that time and was just trying to do his homework. The aliens were a welcome distraction none the less!
     My favorites of the aliens were Madame Pong and Tar Gibbons. They were the sweetest and the most helpful. Plus they had more personality than most of the others.
     Rating: 4 
     While this wasn't my cup of tea, I'm sure some people would like it, particularly younger kids between the ages of 8 and 10. Look for Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville just about anywhere including Amazon.
    

Summer Reading Sundays

     Sadly, the days of summer break are dwindling to an end for those of us still in school (noooo!). Now we have to think about reading our assigned books for school. The reading part isn't what irks me though. It is the books themselves.

     I understand that the books teachers assign us are usually ones that they believe will make us think or are somehow related to the material we will be studying later on. None the less, some of these books are boring! It'd be nice if we were able to choose our own, even if it were from a limited list.

     I was lucky in the fact that I never had summer reading assignments in elementary school, which left my entire summers to read whatever it was that I wanted to! Imagine my surprise in sixth grade when I was made to read a book over the summer... :)

     So, this and future Summer Reading Sundays are dedicated to discussing any books we've had to read over the summer. Please email or leave a comment about the worst, best or any book in between that you were assigned for summer reading!

     I'll start with my earliest experience: 6th grade--Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls.

     I had high hopes for the whole summer reading thing because of this book! I remember that I really loved this book when I first read it. When my brother got to 6th grade he had to read it too, and I couldn't contain myself. I was absolutely overjoyed that I would have someone to discuss the book in depth with.

     Summer of the Monkeys basically followed Jay Berry around the creek bottoms near his home as he searched for and tried to catch circus monkeys. The circus was giving out rewards for their monkeys to be brought back and Jay figured if he could catch all of them he might be able to make enough money to help his physically disabled sister, Daisy.

     I thought Jay was pretty funny, especially when he was getting frustrated with the monkeys for out-smarting him. Rawls did a great job with Jay I think. He seemed real to me, which was partly why I liked this book so much. Besides that, I liked the plot. While I could predict some things, there were still enough twists to keep me going.

     I liked Daisy too. I know she wasn't the most prominent character in the book (at least not at first) but she seemed so sweet. Jay was always getting annoyed by her, but isn't that just the brother-sister relationship? I know my brother is good at driving me crazy!

     The setting was quite amazing as well. I loved how well I could picture their home and the creek bottoms!

     I must also admit that I thought the movie did a pretty good job keeping with what happened. I liked who they picked to play both Daisy and Jay. They seemed to resemble the Daisy and Jay in my mind well. Obviously the book was better though.

     Rating: 7

     Get Summer of the Monkeys at Amazon or Books a Million.