The month of May brings the final meeting of the Ashburn Kids Book Club for this school year. Our book this month is "
Igraine the Brave" by
Cornelia Funke. It is one of the books nominated for this year's Virginia Readers Choice Award. We don't often get a fantasy selection on the nomination list for VRC so it's been a fun change to read this book. Cornelia Funke is a gifted writer (often compared to JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame) and this book is delightful! It tells the story of twelve-year-old Igraine, the daughter of two magicians, who wants to become a brave knight rather than enter the family's magic business. Igraine has an older brother, Arthur, who is mid-way through his magic studies and still struggles with certain spells, i.e. the only food he is able to conjur up are dry biscuits and blue eggs. When their castle is attacked by an scheming neighbor bent on stealing their magic books, Igraine and Arthur each demonstrate their bravery in their own ways, which is especially crucial since their parents have been accidentally turned into pigs by a miss-spoken spell and have lost all their magical abilities. This book has come-to-life gargoyles, three-headed dragons, a sorrowful knight, a talking cat, an enchanted moat, a creepy dungeon, and much more! It is just the right mix of suspense, humor, and triumph over evil without ever being too dark or frightening. I really enjoyed it and I'm usually not a fan of fantasy.
Primary: Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
Elementary: The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
Middle: Savvy by Ingrid Law
High: Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Our book selection for the month of April was "Lunch Money" by Andrew Clements. It's a very fun, fast-paced book about money! Well, more specifically about a twelve-year-old boy named Greg who has always been good at coming up with schemes and projects to make money. This time Greg thinks he can make money by designing, producing, and selling his own line of mini comic books at school. But it's an uphill battle. His plan brings disapproval from the principal and he soon has a rival comic artist in the form of his neighborhood nemesis and lifelong rival, Maura. In the end Greg and Maura make an unlike team to bring many changes to their school. Their mini-comic book business succeeds beyond anyone's expectations and they learn how to solve their differences in constructive ways. It's a good read and the book club kids seemed to really enjoy the book.