Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh: 4.5/10 I thought that this book was very kiddish and leaned towards kids. The book is basically about talking animals trying to save Mrs. Frisby and her family from the farmer's plan for spring plowing. I totally zoned out during the reading of that book, and I was utterly bored of it. Correct me if I'm I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure that no one in the class enjoyed this book.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 8/10 I thought that this book was very entertaining and engaging. I am not a fan of the Harry Potter series, (not even the movies.) but I thought that this book was interesting; being the first Harry Potter book I've ever read. The reason I gave it an 8/10 is because the concept is always the same from what I hear. Voldemort or some other villain wants to get revenge on Harry, the witches and wizards use magic to defeat the villain, then there are 7 other books that have the exact same idea.
The Hobbit: 10/10 The Hobbit is one of the best books I have ever read. Then again, I am a huge fan of The Lord Of The Rings series.... It had a mix of action and adventure. The book describes the characters very well, so when you see the movie, you already almost know what the characters are going to look like. They also added a bit of humor which was one of the best qualities of the book.
The Sea Of Monsters: 9.5/10 This book is awesome! At the end of almost every chapter and the end of the book there are cliffhangers to make you wonder what will happen next. I deducted .5 because some chapters I didn't find interesting and I thought those boring chapters were too long and boring. Overall, it is a very great book and has humor and action, which every great book needs.
I think you should use The Hobbit and Sea Of Monsters next year. You shouldn't use Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and The Prisoner of Azkaban next year. The Hobbit part two will be coming out on December 13, 2013, so by the time you finish the book next year, you can see the second one in theaters. The Sea of Monsters is coming out on August 7, 2013, so then some people might watch the movie and read the novel in the next couple of months. Mrs. Frisby is a very kiddish book, so the future Grade 7's will be surprised when they read a Grade 3 level book. The Prisoner of Azkaban is a good book, but with all of the new movies being made out of all of the books, it's going to be "out."
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Annabeth
6/10/2013 01:10:51 pm
I think all of the books are good books for novel studies. But I thought about it and this is how I would rate it:
I definitely think you should do The Sea of Monsters if you want to concentrate on making predictions, because it's hard to predict what will happen next. Also because it is an overall good series, it can be serious and funny when needed. You can also relate to some of the characters and situations in the books. I can think of several projects you could do with the book. You could even combine Social Studies with it for a project if you do it while learning about ancient Greece.
Next I would say is The Prisoner of Azkaban, I sort of agree with Sherlock about how it can be a bit predictable, as Sherlock said: "Voldemort or some other villain wants to get revenge on Harry, the witches and wizards use magic to defeat the villain, then there are 7 other books that have the exact same idea." . At the same time I disagree, there are other things in the books too and it can be a bit unpredictable at times. I also like the idea of witches and wizards, and I'm sure other people do too, so that is another reason.
The Hobbit was an ok book, it seemed really interesting. It's just that some books just don't work for me and if it doesn't work for me, it takes FOREVER for me to read it. I don't know why The Hobbit was like this for me, it seemed interesting enough, but it just didn't work. This book would be good to study though. You could use it if you want to focus on predictions, or maybe do what we did this year and make summaries of each chapter and then make a dodecahedron from the summaries. As Sherlock pointed out, the next class could see the second part of the movie too.
Finally, there is Mrs.Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. I think this book was ok, but I think it is too childish for students our age. I read a book about a smart hamster when I was in Gr. 1, and this isn't really that far off from that. The movie was even more childish than the book, mainly because of the whole magic necklace thing. You could probably work out a project or two out of the book though.
If I had to choose, I would pick The Sea of Monsters for you to use next year. THAT WAS THE BEST NOVEL STUDY EVER! Sorry, just had to say/write that.
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Talena
6/15/2013 06:21:07 am
Nimh, I thought that Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh was an o.k novel to study this. It was not my favorite book and it also was not a book that I hated.
Azkaban, I really liked studying Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I am a really big Harry Potter fan, so it was cool that I got to read a book that I enjoyed.
Hobbit, like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I also enjoyed studying the Hobbit because I am a big Lord of the Rings fan. I also liked how we got to watch the movie in the theater.
Percy Jackson, I did not really enjoy studying Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. I did not find the whole Percy Jackson series interesting as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
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Poseidon
6/15/2013 12:32:13 pm
I rate them on a scale from 1 to 5
Nimh: 5 out of 5 because there was alot of worries in the book and cliffhanging like what's going to happen to Ms.Frisby's house.
Azkanan: 5 out of 5 because I really enjoy the fantasy and the magic .
Hobbit: 3 out of 5 because I didn't really like it because I'm not really an adventuroues person.
Percy jackson: 5 out of 5 because I enjoyed learning about greek mythology and monsters.
For next year you should use the novels that I rated 5 out of 5 because I enjoy the books I've read and maybe your class will to. Just not the hobbit because we barely did it because we had reading groups and all.
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Tweey Bird
6/16/2013 09:32:31 am
Percy Jackson- 10/10 This is because first off i loved the book. I also think it's great for next year beccause you can focus on many things, for example characters, predictions and settings. I also think other kids will enjoy it because the reading level is not to hard.
Defenitly use it next year.
Azkaban- 8.5/10- In my opinion i enjoyed the book. Like Percy Jackson you can focus on predictions, characters and settings. I also think the chapter sheets were a great idea. definetly use it next year.
Hobbit- 7/10- this is because the book was ok. I really enjoyed the idea of the pentagons(my favorite) but i thought the book was a little hard to follow along with.(the vocabualary and the plot)
This novel is okay to use next year
Nimh- 5/10- I found it a little boring. I also thought it was a little to fictional and was a little more in the grade 5 zone. But i do think the map adn quizzes were a good idea. But i don't think you should use it again for next year.
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Cynthia
6/17/2013 08:29:19 am
1-10
Nimh - 5 -don't use
Hobbit - 6 -maybe use
Azkaban -8 -definitely use
Pery Jackson- 9 -definitely use
I liked Harry Potter and Percy Jackson the best because they were easier to read and not boring. They were easier to relate to because they had characters our age. Nimh was a little boring and The Hobbit had tricky language. Harry Potter was full of action and spells. Percy Jackson goes on a lot of adventures and has a really good ending that was a huge surprise.
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Molly
6/17/2013 01:03:36 pm
Out of the 4 novels, these are the books that should be used again for next year:
Nimh: I would rate this book as a 3/10, because it didn't have much adventure and unexpected moments.
Percy Jackson: I would rate this book as a 10/10, because these books have many actions, unexpected plotlines, lots of adventure, humor, and a great novel for learning the Ancient Greek.
The Hobbit: I would rate this book as a 10/10, because this book as many, cool ryhmes, humor, adventure, some fighting to interest boys and girls.
Azkaban: I would rate this book as a 8/10, because this book was very magical, some humor, great for any age, have some fighting, lots of adventure.
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Lars
6/17/2013 01:15:44 pm
Scale from 1-10
Nimh=5 (it was not the worst the but it was not also the greatest. I don't recommend this book because after reading the other books i find nimh to be a childish book. Its was interesting but very low leveled. Well it being our first novel read made it interesting.)
Hobbit= 8 ( I definetly enjoyed this book. This book was very fun for most of guy guys due to the actions and adventure that were added to the book. Not so sure about the girls.. I also loved that we could go see the movie and i greatly recommend this book next year. Plus you guys should see the next year movie.)
Azkaban=8,5 i loved this book with all the action, magic, character change, unexpected predictions etc. One of the main reasons i loved this book was because the class read it together and we were all engaged in the book. I personally enjoy reading as a group than on my own.
Percy=8.5 this book was truly amazing. From all the percy jackson series i think this one is one of my favorite. Although i wasn't able to finish the book i still found it interesting. I do recommend this book.
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Gandalf
6/18/2013 09:53:37 am
Do- Harry Potter
Why- the book has great detail and if u have watched 1 2 the. It wont be a hard thing to learn about. In 1 and 2 it has Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, etc. in the movies. U will know all the characters, and setting and ur set for that book.
Do-Percy Jackson 2
Why- it has a some good detail, great character and even a movie coming out soon. Overall this book is really good.
Do- Hobbit
Why- best book i have ever read litterally. You just have too the character the detail the setting is crazy awesome
Absolutely Not- Nihm
Why- i might just say this due to my 3 week absence and having to read like half the book in 2 days but........ It was very boring
No offence.
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Jayfeather
6/25/2013 02:47:04 am
Just to say, the negative reaction people are giving to NIMH is totally biased. Is it because it's farm animals? I've read animal books that aren't childish (Silverwing, Wings of Fire, Warriors, etc,) In fact these books are properly darker and probably more difficult to read to younger children. In fact they're more detailed. Wings of Fire is rated for the wrong age group. (They're judging by the happy looking cover of a dragon in a brightly colored background.) The book is much more graphic then any of the "mature" books you know of like The Hunger Games and the writing style probably be difficult to understand for many students in the class. The Rats of NIMH was a clever combination of the usage of rats in science, and how it affects nature. Plus several people in this class were probably at this reading level. I'd say do it at the beginning of the year, as people of the generation don't read much. I'd say 8/10 as it caters to the less experienced readers.
The Hobbit wasn't really that difficult. I could do the pentagons easily but the dodecdherssdjdsdifzi I was unable to do since I lost all my glue, by the time we got to it. We should of focused on it solely for the time, as the class seems to be very slow at reading.
9/10.
As much as I dislike Harry Potter thanks to my obsessive brother, the way this was pulled off was great. The final project was a good way to finish it. 9/10.
The Sea of Monsters was very well done, with those do it yourself sheets. Plus I already read the book! The do it yourself sheets should be only done at the end of the year though.
10/10.
The sole reason why I haven't been posting on the blog is that my computer broke in April and my mom is not getting it fixed. >:C