Kicking off our year with the BFG

Have you heard the BIG news?

It’s a brand new year of BookBirds and we’re kicking things off with a GIANT of a book!

Grab a copy of Roald Dahl’s classic, The BFG, and join us on Wednesday, October 26th from 7-8pm for some TREMENDOUS fun!

While you’re at it, visit the official Roald Dahl webpage. (http://www.roalddahl.com/) It’s loads of fun!

Superheroes Wanted

Calling All Superheroes! BookBirds needs your help!

On May 12th we will meet for our final BookBird event of the 2010-2011 school year to discuss Dean Pitchford’s Captain Nobody. In this story, an ordinary boy finds the courage to be extraordinary to his friends and his community. You are all capable of some pretty amazing things and we’d love to know more about that!

Share something out-of-the-ordinary you’ve done to help out a friend, your family, or your community. (click on “Comment” below to add your story).

ALSO, Come to BookBirds dressed as a superhero and you may win our door prize!

See you at our next BookBirds!

BookBirds Goes Graphic!

BookBirds is branching out and going graphic… novel, that is!

Our next BookBirds gathering will be unlike anything we’ve done before. That’s because we’re going to read and discuss a graphic novel, and a great one at that! We’re also going to meet over lunch, because there’s nothing more appetizing than an awesome space adventure involving a heroic mouse, a mind-controlling device, and the fate of the free world as we know it!

This also means that this BookBirds will be students-only (though parents and kids should still read and enjoy the story together!).

I hope lots and lots of you will join this exciting opportunity to branch out our reading and take an adventure together!

- Mr. Winner

BookBirds Turns 3!

With our final BookBirds gathering of the 2009-2010 school year close at hand, I thought I’d take this chance to celebrate.

I started BookBirds during my first year at Longfellow ES. As we near the end of my third year, we’re also wrapping up a third year with BookBirds. A select few of you have attended BookBirds since it’s inception, reading books that challenge our perceptions (like Rules by Cynthia Lord), books that are considered classics (like Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson), books that have kicked off huge series (like Maze of Bones, book one in The 39 Clues series), and books that have gone on to win awards (like No Talking by Andrew Clements and Swindle by Gordon Korman, which both won our state book award). And let’s not forget reading Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me a month before it won the Newbery Award.

Thank you for supporting and, hopefully, enjoying this book club. It’s been a labor of love for me and would be nothing without the very special people reading with us and showing up to our events.

You rock!

-Mr. Winner

Our Next Two Books!

Such eager readers!

Lots and lots of BookBirds were excited to find out what’s next on our list. I’m excited to share, so let’s not waste any time! Without further delay (or demand), here our our next two reads for BookBirds:

March 2nd, 2010: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

May 18th, 2010: Neil Armstrong is My Uncle & Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino

If you missed on brain-busting discussion of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, make sure you don’t miss out on what’s coming up.

The Witches

Witches are real… really! Join us as we read Roald Dahl’s classic story, The Witches and find out what we mean!

Join us on Tuesday, Nov. 10th and learn the tips to recognizing witches and how to avoid them. Oh, and we’ll also have a whole lot of great games and fun to accompany our night.

See you there!

-Mr. W

It’s a classic, and you’ll LOVE it!

We’ve selected out final book for this year’s BookBird Literary Society. Many of you may have seen the movie, but you’ll love the book even more.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in reading Katherine Paterson’s Newbery winning book, Bridge to Terabithia.

ATTENTION: All Cahill Family Members

For Your Eyes Only:

The hunt is on and most of your friends have already uncovered several very good clue leads. So whose team are you siding with?

The artsy members of Janus? Or perhaps your power comes from your Lucian lineage? Brilliant thinkers find great company in Ekaterina, do you? Or maybe you’re a forward-thinking member of Tomas?

Discover your heritage at the39clues.com

What do YOU think about BookBirds?

What do Longfellow students have to say about the BookBird Literary Society?

Click on the link above to listen to an audio file of several very enthusiastic BookBirds sharing their thoughts on our great book club!

Post a comment below and let us know what you think about BookBirds!

The Thing About Me…

I need you to do me a favor. Yes, you! You’d better do it, too!

You see, the thing about you is that you’re special for a lot of different reasons. So why not tell others about it? Post a comment completing the sentence below.

And you’d better do it, too! Because really, why not tell others about the thing that makes you, well, YOU!

“The thing about me is __________________________.”