Wild Wings

  If you found an endangered bird near your house, what would you do? In this page turning book, Callum befriends a girl named Iona, who everyone thinks of as a nutter, and they discover an osprey on his farm. The book takes twists and turns on the osprey (which they eventually name Iris) 's journey. Will they save the osprey and her family, or will they're fate end up at the market? This book went by real fast for me, I found myself reading 40-60 pages a day! I especially liked that this book took place in Scotland, one of my favorite countries. This book made me think about my mom and how glad I should be that she mostly works from home and I get to see her everyday, because in this book Iona never ever sees her mom, and then something terrible happens to Iona (read the book to find out!). My favorite part of the book was when Callum and his friends raised a bunch of money so Jeneba could get her legs fixed and be able to walk again. It was heart-melting. I think this book is for ages 10+, it's a little hard to understand. I would recommend this book to people who love kind-of sad books but turn out to be bittersweet (or just a happy ending). The lesson I learned from this book was, "When you have lost (something), why not gain from it?"
  Here are the questions we asked at book club (borrowed from the book Guide to Father Son Book Clubs:

1. Iona says, "People are like rivers. You've got to learn to look beneath the surface, to see what lies deeper in." How do you do that?

2. Callum's friends said unkind things about Iona. Why do you think he agreed with them? What do you think you would do?

3. At a certain point, Callum can't stand listening to Rob talk badly about Iona and punches him in the face. Why do you think he resorts to punching him instead of talking or yelling back?

4. What do you think of how Jeneba's village worked together to help find Iris? How did that inspire Callum and his town?

5.There are so many different relationships to think about in this book: friendship, parents, siblings, adult friends (like Hamish), and your town/village. What did you learn about relationships from this book?

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

The Miscalculations of...Lightning Girl!

 Miscalculations was a book about an extremely OCD math whiz named Lucy Callahan. When she was younger she was struck by lightning and because she was holding a metal fence she suffered brain damage. She got Acquired Savant Syndrome (which basically means she's a genius when it comes to math.)  Lucy is home-schooled until seventh grade while spending most of her time on a math website. Everything changes when Lucy's Nana announces that she wants her to go to middle school like everyone else even though she's much more academically advanced. Lucy protests, but it's no use. She finally gives up, but vows to never tell anyone that she's a math genius.