Reading Olympics

My daughter is in sixth grade, and has joined the Reading Olympics team again this year.  There is a list of books published, and the goal is for the students to read as many books on the list as possible, and at the end of the year there is a competition where they answer questions about the books that they've read as a team.  She has been doing it for a couple of years now, and I've always felt a little lost at the competition having not read any of the books.  This year I thought I'd make an effort to read as many of the books that I could before the competition, and I've really enjoyed many of the books.  I thought I'd share some brief thoughts on the books that I've read.



Holes by Louis Sachar has been my favorite book that I've read from the list, at least so far.  The story tells about a young boy, Stanley Yelnats,  who is serving a sentence at Camp Green Lake for a crime he didn't commit.  His punishment has him digging holes in the hot sun.

An interesting cast of camp mates - Zero, Armpit, X-Ray, Magnet, and Caveman, along with an evil warden, a search for a treasure based on a local legend, and it makes for a fascinating book.

This was one of the books that I just couldn't put down, it was well written, filled with good characters, mystery, humor, and drama.  I would say that this was not only a great book for kids, but a great book for adults as well.  I was pleasantly surprised by this one, and I'd be surprised if any of the other books on the list will live up to Holes.

My rating: 5 stars




Hero by Mike Lupica was a fantasy novel about a young boy where special powers run in his family.  I wasn't too impressed with this book, but it was a decent story.  I could have lived without reading this one though.

My rating: 2 stars




Travel Team by Mike Lupica was the second book on the list by Lupica, and I read this and Hero back to back.  Out of two I enjoyed this one much better.  The basic premise is that seventh grader Danny Walker doesn't make the travel team because of his height, but puts together a Bad News Bears type team to compete with the travel team.  I'll admit that the book was predictable, but I did enjoy reading this one.

My rating: 3 stars




Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn was a mystery story, where two 13 year old friends set out to solve a mystery that took place in the home of one of the boys, Logan, before he moved in.  It was an enjoyable book, and tied things together nicely.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars



The Staircase by Ann Rinaldi - Lizzy Enders gets dropped off at a school run by nuns, despite not being Catholic.  Abandoned by her father right after he mother's death.  Honestly I almost put this book down after the first couple of chapters because I just couldn't get into it, but I decided to stick with it and was pleasantly surprised by the book in the end.  It turned out to be a nice story though, and I ended up enjoying it.

My rating: 3 stars



Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee - Stanford flunks sixth grade English class, and is forced to attend summer school, cancel his summer basketball camp, tutored by Millicent Man (the world's biggest nerd), and his spot on the 7th grade A team is in jeopardy.

This was a fun book to read, with humor, touching moments, and good characters.  It even featured Stanford's book report of Holes, which I thought was cool.

My rating: 4 stars

I've read several more of the Reading Olympic books, and still have several to go, but that was the first batch.  I'll try and post some more thoughts shortly on the other books that I've read.