The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni

Jaxon Aubrey is an orphan.  His cousin, Naomi, and her family have offered to take him in, but he has been sent to live with Riley Pendare, an eighteen year old who eats a lot, watches a lot of television, and forgets to pay bills.  

The day after his thirteenth birthday, Jax wakes up to find there is no electricity, the sky is a strange pink and purple, there are no cars on the streets and there are no people around.  Could this have been a result of the zombie apocalypse or an alien abduction?  

Jax wakes up the next day which proves to be a regular Thursday.  He goes to school, talks with his friends, and finds everything has gone back to normal.

Jax learns that he is a transitioner.  He, and others like him, have the ability to experience the eighth day, an extra 24 hour period between Wednesday and Thursday.  Others, the kin, only experience this extra day. Riley has been tasked with protecting Evangeline, the kin girl who lives next door.  Evangeline is the key to the spell that created the eighth day, and some transitioners and kin are after her so they can reverse the eighth day.    

This is an adventurous story with elements of science fiction and fantasy.  There are time warps, magic, fire, fights, kidnappings, bank robberies, a link to King Arthur, and the threat of human destruction.  

You'll have to read this story to experience all of it’s awesomeness for yourself.  Don’t wait until Grunsday to read it!

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

For Book Club this year, we read Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.  It’s the story of Kevin (Freak), a physically small incredibly smart and imaginative boy who befriends Max (the Mighty), a very tall and large slow learner.  It is a perfect middle school book because it appeals to all students regardless of gender or grade and it fits perfectly with our character education program.

I announced the club in January (and after a few snow days) the club was formed, students received their books at the beginning of February, (and after a few more snow days and testing), we met to discuss the book last week.    

Here are some of the questions the students were asked and a few of their responses.

Would you recommend the book to a friend?

definitely, absolutely, everyone should read this book

Describe the book in one word.

Twisty.  It kept me guessing.  Emotional.  Entertaining.  Sad.  Creative.  Unexpected.  Inspiring.  Hopeful.

Which core character trait do you think was most evident in the story?

Empathy.  Sometimes it takes a lot of empathy to accept someone for who they are, especially of other people don’t.

Courage.  Freak wasn't scared to be himself and Max wasn't scared to be friends with Freak.

Loyalty.  Freak stood by Max no matter what.

Would these characters fit in at our school?  

Yes, they would fit in because we have tall people and small people and smart people and not so smart people.  

Who was your favorite character?

Freak.  He’s smart and he has a big imagination.  I love his dictionary.

Max.  He’s inspirational.  Just because he is tall and muscular doesn't mean people should make fun of him.  He learned how to believe in himself.

Frax.  I can’t choose.  I like them both.

The students were able to make a lot of connections and had very thoughtful opinions about this book.  I was very impressed by our discussion.  As Freak would say, “that’s the truth, the whole truth, the unvanquished truth.”