Fiction Fridays Week 3 & Thursday's Book Talk

        It's that time again.  Time to talk about books!  I love talking about books and Andrea and Amanda have provided us an excellent venue to chat up our favorite books.  This week I chose two more of the SSYRA books.

        The first book I read was The Five Lives of our cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin.  As we all know the saying is that cats have nine lives.  This is what ten-year-old Oona tells her five-year-old brother Fred when their cat Zook gets sick.  Throughout the rest of the story we hear more about Oona and her family.  One thing that we learn is that Oona is a great story (or whopper) teller and that she learned this amazing skill from her father before he passed away just two years either.  We also learn that Oona doesn't just see the black and white of truth and lies but that each of her whoppers are color coded based on how they make the listener feel.  As the family deals with Zook's illness Oona tells the stories of Zook's previous lives all the time reassuring her brother and maybe even herself that Zook will get better so that he can live out his four remaining lives.
        Let me just tell you this book has parts that will make you laugh and maybe even make you cry.  (I did.)  Oona and her family are easy to relate to and quite lovable as they endure their hectic lives and their sick cat.  I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to others!

 

        The second book I read this week was Melonhead by Katy Kelly.  This book is about a boy named Adam Melon A.K.A. Melonhead and the crazy adventures and predicaments that he gets into because he is a boy.  Melonhead's teacher announces that his school will be participating in Challenge America! which challenges the students to reinvent something that will make life easier, better, etc...  This is the perfect project for Melonhead and his best friend Sam because they are always inventing things.  All throughout the book we see Melonhead getting into troubling situations and keep our fingers crossed as the boys struggle to create the award winning reinvention.
         This book was silly and may give some not-so good ideas to impressionable young minds but well worth the read.  What I really liked about this book was that Melonhead and one of his other best friends, Lucy Rose, each have several other books.  This could be a series that I could read or at least my students might enjoy.

         I can't wait to link up with Andrea and Amanda and see what other great books might be added to my summer "must read" list!