The Ancient Oak (

This is a great story! We listened to it/read it on Tumblebooks. Great illustrations. The story kept my class enthralled.

Goodreads summary:

A princess struggles to save her kingdom from an ever-lasting winter. Will a stranger save the Kingdom - or destroy it? 'The Ancient Oak' is an all-ages fable that teaches the importance of doing the right thing.

Earl the Squirrel (Don Freeman)

You know you have a good one where there are lots of gasps and moments to laugh out loud. This is a simple story, but my students loved it!

I grabbed it when I saw it at the library because the author also wrote Cordoroy, a story that they read and love in grade 2 in our school. This one is equally loved. They loved that the squirrel has a friend (and her name is Jill!). They liked the mom's grumpiness. They LOVED The bull named Conrad. They totally predicted that the bull would get upset about the red scarf too.

I thought the names were great too....Earl the Squirrel and Conrad. So plain that they seemed funny!

Goodreads summary:

Earl the Squirrel doesn’t think of himself as spoiled, but his mother does. She decides it’s high time Earl learns to find acorns for himself. There’s only one problem—he doesn’t know where to look. Earl’s friend Jill offers to help, but that’s not what Earl’s mother had in mind. So, wearing his bright red scarf, Earl sets off on his own for an action-packed acornfinding mission.

Striking black-and-white scratchboard art is accented by Earl’s crimson scarf. The effect is classic, clean, and thoroughly recognizable as Don Freeman’s signature style. 

Punished! (David Lubar)

This book took me about 25 minutes to read. It would be a great book for middle elementary kids who aren't super strong readers yet. The puns are entertaining. It teaches some great parts of language that would make for a great classroom discussion. It would be fun to build a wall full of puns,  oxymorons, anagrams and palindromes. We have talked about using this book for our Battle of the Books. Perhaps there could be an additional contest where teams could earn points by taking on the challenge that Logan finds himself absorbed in. I think this would also make a great read aloud. 

October 2021: Read aloud to my class. Sometimes it was hard for them to get the puns and plays on language because they couldn't see the words. Would be good as a novel study with everyone having a book. We enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Goodreads summary: 

Logan and his friend Benedict run into the wrong guy at the library--literally. When Logan slams into the reference guy in the basement and gives him a little lip, Logan gets punished, really and truly punished. He has three days to complete three tasks before Professor Wordsworth will lift the magical punishment that keeps getting Logan in even more trouble.

Clark the Shark (Bruce Hale)

I love this story! It is a great example of how thinking about how someone else feels can make a big difference in relationships. It also could be a great discussion starter about using self-discipline at school.

There's a time and a place for everything is a great lesson to learn.

Goodreads summary:

Clark the Shark is a great read-aloud picture book, with fun rhythm and rhyme, from the ever-popular Bruce Hale and Guy Francis.

Clark is a shark with zing, bang, and BOOM. Clark zooms into school, crashes through the classroom, and is rowdy at recess. Clark loves life—but when his enthusiasm is too much for his friends, Clark's teacher, Mrs. Inkydink, helps him figure out a way to tone it down.

Clark the Shark celebrates boisterous enthusiasm—and knowing when it's time for indoor voices! 

The Story About Ping (Marjorie Flack)

The Children Who Loved Books (Peter Carnavas)

The children in my class very quickly caught on to the idea that we don't need things to make us happy and spending time with our family, even reading, can be wonderful.

We really loved the illustrations too! They kind of reminded me of a non-black and white possibly Quinten Blake style illustration. There were a number of pages that funny things got pointed out.

Everyone was very focused and into this story. Reads well.

Goodreads summary:

Angus and Lucy love books.They have hundreds of them.Then one day, all the books are taken away, and Angus and Lucy discover they need books more than they ever imagined. A warm and moving celebration of books and the way in which they bring us all together.

Lily and the Octopus (Steven Rowley)

Combining the emotional depth of The Art of Racing in the Rain with the magical spirit of The Life of Pi, Lily and the Octopus is an epic adventure of the heart. (source)

This is one of those books I would have never read if I wasn't in a book club. I've kept going to the book club at Indigo/Chapters I might have picked it up and started it since it has so many great reviews, but I doubt I would have kept going once I got into it. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it actually. It's not that bad, but then again, it's kind of 'meh'. Apparently, some were very impressed by the idea. I read that he was given an advance of almost a million dollars prior to it being published. Really?!

I was holding the book when I was at the cash register today to buy the next book club book and the cashier said, "Oh I love that book. Doesn't it just make you cry and cry?" I guess I'm hard-hearted. I didn't cry - although I did think the section where he chronologued taking the dog to be put down was really well written. The part where he is on a ship and fighting the octopus - well, that was just weird. Not sure what role that really played.

p. 219 (speaking to Lily): "Dogs are always good and full of selfless love. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them. Especially you. Since the day I met you, you have done nothing but make my life better in every possible way. Do you understand?"

I'm not quite sure if the main character in this book was crazy, high or maybe he had a brain tumor himself?? I kept thinking there must be some kind of symbolism or higher meaning in the story. I couldn't find it. Then again, I can't often find those things. No one else in the book club could come up with any kind of deeper meaning either.

I liked the relationship focus and it does make me look at my dog with a little more respect and wonder - but that's about it. Sometimes though, I felt like the main character didn't resolve things in his real life because he put so much focus on his relationship with his dog. It was a kind of escapism.

The back cover says: Remember the last book you told someone they had to read? Lily and the Octopus is the next one.

I'm not so sure.

I did think his analogy of a tumor being like an octopus was pretty well thought out and fit well for a tumor - or even cancer. The author nailed that.

I chose an octopus because they are smart, wily, and slimy. They can learn, adapt, and even (according to numerous scientists) play. I needed a foe that would needle Ted, toy with him, study his weaknesses, and adjust, just as cancer mutates in the body. It helped the story that they are in many ways the physical opposite of dogs, especially dachshunds. A hairless invertebrate that lives in the sea is nothing like a furry dog that is all spine and lives on the land. I did an incredible amount of research on octopuses, and gave each of the book’s eight sections an octopus theme. There are so many fascinating facts about them it’s hard to pick a favorite; in writing the book it was hard to shake their having three hearts. Once I learned that piece of trivia, I knew the entire book would be driving toward that end.

While the octopus as villain fit the needs of this story, I want to be clear that they are magnificent creatures and are in no way inherently evil. I am quite in awe of them, really!  

Although, I have to say, when he got an octopus tattoo, again, I was grasping for something deeper and more meaningful. It didn't come.

p. 195 I rolled up the sleeve to slowly reveal my tattoo. Eight octopus arms hang from my bicep, and I can feel the octopus's eyes grow bigger. I pull up my shirt even farther, revealing Kal's work from the bottom up in dramatic fashion. Finally, my shirt sleeve is up near my shoulder and my entire tattoo is revealed: a dachshund standing triumphantly on the head of an octopus.

Goodreads summary:

This is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can’t live without.

For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion Lily, who happens to be a dog.

Favorite quotes:
P. 81 The ceremony is perfect for my sister and her new husband - all business, no flourish. Nothing about the bride as property. 
(I hadn't thought about all the nuances in a wedding that insinuate that the bride is property)


In the story, his sister gets married - elopes. Only she invites him and his boyfriend and the groom's parents. I wondered why her parents weren't invited. There's something about their relationships with their mother especially that isn't really fleshed out in the story
p. 82 My mother is on the phone last. She's on the verge of tears, I can hear it in her voice. She would have liked to have been here. I think she's especially hurt that Franklin's parents were in attendance. She doesn't see my having been the ambassador for our family as adequate balance. And she's right. There is no one equal to a mother.

There's some interesting symbolism:
p. 82 After the calls I snap a few more pictures of the newlyweds in front of their enormous window. The top floor has a stunning vista of the city and the bay, and I frame them with Alcatraz far in the distance, just over my sister's shoulder. This is my silent statement about marriage.

Some words of wisdom on relationships:
p. 85 "Lily will be fine. It's you I'm worried about." Meredith puts a hand on my shoulder, but I don't say anything in response. "Don't use Lily as an excuse to ignore your own happiness."...."You have to communicate your needs to get them met. That's all I'm saying."

Funny:
p. 90 Her floppy ears bound upward with each gallop, sometimes floating there in the window as if someone has put them on pause. When she comes back to me I know they will be flipped backward, pinned to her head and the back of her neck. I spend half my life restoring that dog's ears to their factory setting.

More words of wisdom on attachments to animals being legit:
p. 122 "But most of all, I'm thankful for Lily, who, since she entered my life, has taught me everything I know about patience and kindness and meeting adversity with quiet dignity and grace. No one makes me laugh harder, or want to hug them tighter. You have truly lived up to the promise of man's best friend."