Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli
Summary:
Jake and Lily are twins and have always felt the same–like two halves of one person–but the year they turn eleven and Jake begins hanging out with Bump Stubbins, everything changes.
Reviews
I think this book is amazing! It is about twins that are a bit different than regular twins. Their names are Jake and Lily and the different thing about them is that they have this special thing that they called “Goombla.” It is very enjoyable and funny to read. When I started reading I couldn’t put the book down! I think people should read this funny and fun book.
-Elena
This book is excellent. It’s just what I’ve come to expect from such a great author as Jerry Spinelli. The book heavily rests upon the two main characters for the story’s whole, and with that in mind, the characters (that is, the important ones) were developed almost to the point of overdoing the task.
The main characters are a set of twins, a boy and a girl. Their senses and emotions are mysteriously linked by a force they call “goombla,” an empathy link of sorts. This causes them both to sleepwalk to the train station where they were born every year on their birthday. But this link changes over time. The year before their 11th birthday, their parents decide it’s time for separate rooms. Jake and Lily s l o w l y d r i f t a p a r t, their goombla becoming weaker with every passing day. Jake starts to associate with the wrong kinds of kids, and Lily loses face altogether without Jake. Will their dilemma resolve? Read the book to find out!
The setting in this book isn’t too important, and our author makes that perfectly apparent by saying almost nothing about their residence. However, there are several important mini-areas in the story, and these were expressed in the best possible way.
Overall, this book is a masterpiece. The perfect amount of fun, malice, and sadness blended together by an author that has claimed his place in the literary world time and time again. A realistic journey through childhood phases and the trials of twin-hood, this book gets a 10 out of 10 in my mind. Oh, and also…pickles!
-Lucas
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Summary:
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Reviews:
He walks alone, but not alone. He has braved things so horrifying that all we can do is say “wow.” He doesn’t have many friends. His face is deformed. His name is August…and he is a wonder.
I just described August Pullman as best as I could without giving too much away. He is a remarkable character and puts a unique spin on the book. Wonder is about August entering a school for the first time in his life. He is different, but determined to show the students he is like them.
I think Wonder is a very good book. The fact that the chapters are two pages long makes it special, in a one-of-a-kind way. The characters are so believable, I almost know them! It has all of the elements of an OPLbery winner, and I’m inclined to think that no matter what other OPLbery books I read, none will quite top this. I’m voting for this ‘til the end. I hope you read the for-sure OPLbery winner!
-Maggie
I think that this book is great! It definitely deserves the OPLbery award. It is about a boy who looks different from other 10 year old boys. His parents have been home schooling him for his whole life. Then he starts 5th grade and he goes to an actual school. While going there he learns about the pros and cons of having his face and going to school.
For me this book is a 10 out of 10. It explains a lot about how people like this feel and it makes you feel bad for them. If other people read this, I bet they will feel how I felt while reading this book. Thumbs up!
-Elena
This book is about a deformed boy who is entering school for the first time in his life. He is a fifth grader, and he worries that no one will talk to him because of his face. I thought that this book is okay, and doesn’t deserve to be eliminated immediately. However, I don’t think that it is good enough to win.
-Skyler
A New Start
Today was the first meeting of the 2012-2013 OPLbery Club. It was very exciting to begin our THIRD year! We had ten members attend the meeting, including four new members.
We discussed the club rules and the OPLbery criteria, and everyone got to choose a book to take home to read. We’ll start posting book reviews just as soon as we receive them.
Happy reading!
A New Year for the OPLbery
The OPLbery Club is about to begin its 3rd annual year! Our first meeting this year takes place on Wednesday, March 14, at 4:15 pm, in the Children’s Program Room. If you are interested and haven’t signed up, please call or come by the Children’s Room and talk to us.
2012 OPLbery Medals Awarded!
Our OPLbery Medals (mock Newbery) have been awarded! After meeting monthly since March 2011, the members of the OPLbery Club (ages 9 – 13) met and voted yesterday. The Second Annual OPLbery Medal goes to … Floors, by Patrick Carman. OPLbery Honors were given to The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, by Meg Wolitzer, and Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer. The OPLbery members read and evaluated over 40 books before selecting these outstanding books. In March, we will begin the process all over again for the 2013 awards.
On January 23, the American Library Association will announce the 2012 Newbery medal winner. Check back for the announcement.
For more information about the OPLbery Club, click on the tabs above.
Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger
Summary:
Harvey, upset when his Darth Paper finger puppet brings humiliation, gets Dwight suspended, but Origami Yoda asks Tommy and Kellan, now in seventh grade, to make a new casefile to persuade the School Board to reinstate Dwight.
Reviews:
A pretty short time ago, in a middle school not far away … there was a sixth grader named Dwight. He’s sort of hard to explain. I mean, on the one hand, he digs holes for no apparent reason and sits in them. On the other hand, he makes a great origami Yoda that gives AMAZING advice. Everybody used to not like Dwight, but now that he’s made McQuarrie Middle School better with Yoda, they appreciate him. Then, Harvey makes Darth Paper and they bring doom to the peaceful galaxy of the school by getting Dwight (and Yoda) kicked out.
I thought this book was unique because it was set up as a case file with different stories. It was funny and had great, believable, heartwarming characters. I was sad when I finished it! Dwight was extra-special because of all his different traits and by the fact that he’s so different from Yoda. All these things made Darth Paper Strikes Back probably my second favorite book in 2011!-Maggie
OPLbery Club releases its mock Newbery short list
Yesterday the OPLbery Club narrowed down their list for the OPLbery Award winner to six remaining contenders:
Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger
The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer
Floors by Patrick Carman
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
War and Watermelon by Rich Wallace
Club members will announce their choice for the second OPLbery Award winner on January 11, 2012.
Pie by Sarah Weeks
Summary:
When Alice’s Aunt Polly passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily surly cat Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.
Suddenly Alice is thrust into the center of a piestorm, with everyone in town trying to be the next pie-contest winner … including Alice’s mother and some of Alice’s friends. The whole community is going pie-crazy . . . and it’s up to Alice to discover the ingredients that really matter. Like family. And friendship. And enjoying what you do.
Reviews:
I thought that this was an okay book. I liked how it had a recipe in each chapter. To tell the truth I hate pie. Not PIE the book I mean like the food pie. But this book actually made me love pie. This book really got to me and made me feel interested. I do not know how. From a scale of 1 to 10, I think this book should deserve an 8. This may be, but not likely, the OPLbery winner. – Florencia
The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner
Reviews:
The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner is the first book of The Code Busters Club series. The book is about an interesting club of four members who like mysteries. Their club names are Lock&Key, Em-me, Kuel-Dude and CodeRed. Their real names are Quinn Kee, Maria Elena, Luke LaVeau and Dakota Jones. I liked the book because the chapters’ titles are in sign language. On the last page the titles are written in manuscript. Also at the back of the book there are the solved codes. They formed a club to solve mysteries and to make codes which they solve until Quinn’s creepy neighbor’s house burns down. The man in the house is an old man who the busters call “skeleton man.” Skeleton man’s will says he will donate $100,000 to the SPCA when he dies. His cousins want the will for some odd reason and that is the mystery.-Elliot
I really liked this book. It teaches you a lot of things. I learned American sign language. I earned different codes too. It was a really interesting book. I really liked how Mr. Skelton spied on Quinn and Cody and knowing that his cousin is a good-for-nothing-loser. This book is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. If we take it off the list can I keep it? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.-Florencia
The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker
Summary: In Iowa circa 1929, spunky twelve-year-old Tugs vows to turn her family’s luck around, with the help of a Brownie camera and a small-town mystery that only she can solve.
Reviews:
This book was boring. The subject was not that interesting. I don’t think this an OPLbery winner.-Eric
