The Emperor's Code

I'm finally caught up (almost!) in the hunt for the 39 Clues!  The final book, Into the Gauntlet (#10) is due out this month, and I'm just now starting Storm Warning (#9) by Linda Sue Park. These last two books in the series are the only titles with female authors.  Will it make a difference? I'll find out soon.  In the meantime, here's the quick scoop on:

Korman, Gordon. 2010. The Emperor's Code. Read by David Pittu. Scholastic Audiobooks. (on Playaway)
(Book #8 in the 39 Clues series)

...in which
Dan and Amy travel to China, Tibet, and the summit of Mount Everest; suspicions about the au pair, Nellie, are reignited; the siblings become separated; and Jonah Wizard surfaces once again.

Although these are books for 9-12 year-olds, Gordon Korman throws in a few words worthy of PSAT prep - troglodyte, stymied, and more.

As with all of the audiobooks in the series, bonus material follows the story - this time, Cora Wizard's Nobel Prize acceptance speech - not too enlightening.

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The 39 Clues: One False Note

Korman, Gordon. 2008. One False Note. New York: Scholastic.

Book two in the 39 Clues series, continues Dan and Amy Cahill's quest to find the mysterious 39 clues left by generations of wealthy, influential, or ground-breaking Cahills of the past. Maze of Bones left Dan, Amy and their au pair, Nellie in Paris, following a trail of clues left by Benjamin Franklin. One False Note finds them hot on the hunt for clues left by another gifted Cahill, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Chased by the brutish Holts, the cunning Kabras, wily Uncle Alistair, ruthless Irina Spasky, and the famous Jonah Wizard, Dan and Amy and their au pair track the clues from Paris to Vienna to Venice and beyond. The hunt continues...

This second book in the series is written by Gordon Korman. Korman follows effortlessly in the pattern left for him by Rick Riordan, author of the first book. There seems to be little noticeable difference in the style of the two stories, except perhaps that Korman, a humorous author in his own right, seems to go for fewer punchlines than Riordan did in the first installment. One can only imagine that each succeeding author will find it increasingly difficult to knit the threads of story and character together in seamless fashion. However, so far, so good.

I am somewhat disappointed in the companion website. The site, while interesting and very interactive, stands completely independent of the published stories, and at times, does not even appear to be connected. In the book, Dan and Amy are following the clues of Mozart in Vienna. On the website, I am trolling the bottom of the Loch Ness for a clue lost in Grace Cahill's plane crash. Additionally, the website tale appears to be at a standstill. I have followed the clues to a dead end. My inbox is empty and I have no new leads to follow. Perhaps with the release of the third book, more clues will appear. BTW, I'm a Lucian.

I have not seen the hoped-for blockbuster interest in The 39 Clues series, but as word travels, interest may snowball. It's too early to tell. The books are perfect for kids who enjoy mysteries, series, history, or adventure.

Schooled by Gordon Korman

I've posted this Schooled booktalk before, but here it is in podcast form!I'm having great fun in my Tech Savvy Booktalker class and hopefully, the skills I'm learning will help me to reach out to more tech savvy kids! (The podcast is about 2 minutes in length. I hope someone enjoys it!)

Schooled

Korman, Gordon. 2007. Schooled. New York: Hyperion.

Gordon Korman was on many school summer reading lists. He's a great choice for reluctant readers and is popular with the boys. Here's a booktalk I created for Schooled.


Capricorn Anderson knows only one person – Rain, his grandmother; and together they are the last two residents of Garland Farm, an autonomous collective, a hippie commune founded in 1967. He has never handled money, gone to school, or witnessed violence. He makes his own clothes from hemp, his shoes from corn husks. He has never watched TV. But when Rain falls from a plum tree and needs hip surgery, Cap is thrust into a strange and turbulent new world – Claverage Middle School, better known to students as C Average Middle School.

As you might expect, the transition is anything but smooth. After a traumatic first week of school and life at the social worker, Mrs. Donnelly’s home, he ponders the complexities of his new world,

“Like what were those little white paper balls that I kept brushing out of my hair every night? Was there so much paper in a school that the molecules eventually clustered and fell like precipitation? And how did a pickled brain and all those other weird objects get into my locker? I thought the whole point of a lock was that no one could open it but me. I sure never put pink goo and a dead bird in there.”

When he is elected 8th grade class president, Mrs. Donnelly cannot understand it. That is, until her daughter Sophie explains,

“Duh – eighth grade president isn’t an honor, Mother. It’s like being elected village idiot. Every year they pick the biggest wing nut in the building. It must have seemed like the freakzoid dropped straight from heaven to fill the post.”

So how does clueless Capricorn Anderson become the most popular kid in the school, attend his own memorial service, make eleven hundred new friends, and still have time to pick up a supermodel? You’ll have to read Gordon Korman’s, book, Schooled to find out!
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Each chapter in Schooled is written in a different voice - Cap, the school bully, the school nerd, Mrs. Donnelly, the popular girls, Mr. Kasigi the principal, and more. A humorous and insightful look at values, Schooled is a fun read!

No More Dead Dogs

Korman, Gordon. 2000. No more dead dogs. New York: Hyperion.

(Booktalk)

Why does the dog always die in the end?

Wallace Wallace is tired of reading books that end with a dead dog. When his assignment is to write a positive review of Old Shep, My Pal, the honest Wallace Wallace just can't write it. So instead of working out with the football team, he finds himself assigned to after school detention in the gym with Mr. Fogelman, the drama club director, where the club is rehearsing for the new school play, "Old Shep, My Pal." Stubborn Wallace Wallace is determined to resist writing the review no matter how many detentions it takes. He stands his ground, but a change comes over him. Can he actually be starting to care about the drama club nerds and their stupid play?

There's nothing in the script to tell him what to do when the football team turns against him and the play is sabotaged. Drama Club president, Rachel Turner, is sure that Wallace is the saboteur. Will Wallace's famous honesty be his undoing? And what about Shep? Does the dog always die in the end?

Read No More Dead Dogs and find out! Your teacher didn't assign this book!

A perfect light book for summer reading. Enter Wallace Wallace -complete with a Cast of Characters, No More Dead Dog's chapters are written in the alternating voices of Wallace Wallace, Rachel Turner, Mr. Fogelman and other members of Wallace's school. Best for middle schoolers.