Sunday, March 16, 2008

2008 Caudill Award Winner Announced


Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick was the 2008 Caudill Award winning book in the state of Illinois. At Highland, this book was the top vote getter as well.

There were 235 students from Highland who voted for the Caudill winner. Ten students read all twenty nominated books. Very impressive! Alas, I didn't make it to all twenty. Maybe next year... Speaking of next year, the list of 2009 Caudill nominees has just been released.

The last event related to the 2008 Caudill program is the Lake County Battle of the Books which will take place after school at the Warren Newport Public Library in Gurnee on Tuesday, March 18. Please let Ms. Wyatt know if you are interested in being part of Highland's team.

Image Citation
"Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie Book Cover." Online image. Jordan Sonnenblick. 16 March 2008 <http://www.jordansonnenblick.com/index.php?r=drums>.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

2001: A Space Odyssey


On Friday, the seventh grade Lunch Bunch Book Club met to discuss our latest book, Arthur Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I found it to be a really interesting discussion. We touched on how to write about the future in science fiction, the idea of "killing" HAL and if it is possible to kill an inorganic life, evolution, the ways in which 2001 was depicted, the idea of other life and the monoliths, and space travel - just to list some of the areas we talked about. Several members of the club continued on by reading other books in the series. We worked together to try to figure out the last few chapters of the book and what it meant for Bowman to become a Star Child.

My experience with 2001: A Space Odyssey illustrates one of the reasons I love book club. This was a book I would not have picked up on my own. I think I can say that for quite a few members of the book club. I found it was a pretty enjoyable read and gave me food for thought.

Image Citation
"2001: A Space Odyssey. Dust jacket from the first edition." Online image. 1968. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 1
Mar. 2008 .