Search results matching tags 'fiction' and 'Andrew Clements'

How Long Could YOU Keep From Talking?

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:12:00 GMT

Dave was normally a pretty noisy 5th-grader. In fact, maybe he was a loudmouth. But after reading about Gandhi, and how for many years he spent one day a week not talking at all, Dave thought it was worth finding out what it would be like to keep silent. After about a half day of trying silence on his own, he and Lynsey took up a dare to make silence a contest between the 5th grade boys and the 5th grade girls. They set the time limit of 2 entire days. Exceptions were only that they were allowed to respond to a teacher with a 3-word answer. Any more words counted as points for the other side.

What happened to the teachers when the lunch room was entirely silent? How did they manage in their classes?
Who won? And how DID it feel to keep mostly silent for all that time?

Andrew Clements has come up with another unique situation for his characters in No Talking.

Do you think you could keep silent for even one entire day?

Lost and Found

mrsweasley@evpl — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:54:00 GMT

Andrew Clements has another winner in his signature series of school stories with Lost and Found.

Jay Grayson had only average expectations for his new school when he arrived on the first day. But when Jay's name-and only Jay's name-was called during roll call, he conveniently forgot that he had a note for the office explaining his identical twin brother's absence. The groundwork was set for a grand experiment. What would it be like to be one person, instead of half a set?

As the mother of twins, I watched my boys (who are not identical) struggle with building their individuality during adolescence. Questions of identity and uniqueness will resonate with preteens even if they are not twins.

Buy it from Amazon here to benefit the Public Library Friends.

Andrew Clements makes me laugh

kiya@evpl — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:41:00 GMT

Andrew Clements makes me laugh. Even when his books are a little bit sad, they still have funny spots. Clements writes books for all ages of children - there are picture books, easy chapter books, harder chapter books, and books for teenagers.

One of his most recent books is called No Talking - it's about a school where the fifth grade boys and the fifth grade girls compete to see who can do better at not talking for almost two days, and without explaining it to their teachers or parents!

Clements has a series of picture books about a dog named Slippers, but my favorite is Circus Family Dog. In that book, a dog named Grumps learns that his circus family loves him, even if he can't do all the tricks that another dog can do.

Clements taught school for many years - fourth grade, eighth grade, and high school. Most of his chapter books are set in and around schools. His first published book was about a boy who makes up a new word, and tries to get everyone to use it. That book is called Frindle. It has been published in many countries and languages. I think of it as special, because it was the first book by Andrew Clements I ever read.

Do yourself a favor, and read a book by Andrew Clements!

Links:

Andrew Clements' website

The official Frindle website

Books at EVPL by Andrew Clements (below are a few of Clements' books)