Last week I visited Mrs. Cook’s fabulous fourth-grade class at Farmington’s Cascade Brook School for our annual Galley Review Project. You can see the kids coming up to sample the wares, below. After my book talk and their galley grab, I interviewed them to learn a bit more about what they are reading and why. Note how many kids like nonfiction titles or books with an historical element.
– Kenny Brechner
Kenny: What book have you liked the most this year and why?
Emma: My Sister the Vampire. It’s a great series where the mom is a vampire and the dad isn’t and one of the sisters is a vampire and the other isn’t and you won’t know right away.
Sam: The 7th Harry Potter book. I loved it because I loved the whole series.
Reese: Dungeons and Dragons books. I play Dungeons and Dragons a lot and the books really help me play better. I like that.
Brian: Dangerous Waters. Naturally, because it’s a mystery; plus it has history.
Breanna: Finally! It’s about a girl who has to wait really long to have her wishes for when she is finally going to be 12 and do all kinds of stuff she has always wanted to do.
Evan: The Minecraft Essental Handbook. It’s awesome.
Many voices: Yeah!
Anna: I Survived the Nazi Invasion.
John: I Survived the Shark Attacks.
Thomas: The Percy Jackson series all the way up to House of Hades. I like mythical fantasies.
Emily: The Nancy Drew books. I just read one where a statue that looked like Nancy went missing and then she was challenged to find it. That was great.
Kenny: What books are you looking forward to coming out?
Thomas: Blood of Olympus!
Kenny: Aha.
Thomas: Definitely.
Emma: My Sister Is the Darkness. It just sounded so great.
Kenny: How did you find out about it?
Emma: I was looking for more about the My Sister Is a Vampire and found it when I was typing.
John: Can I pick a book from the ones you just brought in?
Kenny: Sure.
John: Poop Fountain!
Unidentified source: No. I want that one.
Donovan: I want Undead Pets!
Kenny: Great! What book have you read that disappointed you?
Emily: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew/Slumber Party. It was way too easy. I figured out the mystery too soon.
Emma: Bone – the last one in the series. I just didn’t like it.
Kenny: What book has a friend recommended to you that you liked?
Anna: Raymond and Graham Rule the School. I enjoyed that one.
Caleb: The Hardy Boys. My grandmother gave me two of them. I own them myself. They’re mine.
Kenny: That’s awesome. When I was a kid I read The Secret of the Old Mill when I had a 105-degree fever. It was totally intense! I was terrified reading it.
Reese: I liked Survivor. It was about people on an island and it was really exciting!
Sam: I liked Middleworld, the first Jaguar Stones book.
Kenny: That is a good series. The Mayan Death Gods are more fun to read about than to meet.
Sam: Yeah.
Emily: My friend gave me Zombie Dogs and that was fun.
Mason: I really liked I Survived the Nazi Invasion.
Kenny: So that I Survived is a good series?
Whole class: Yeah, definitely!
Kenny: Thanks, everyone.
John: Do we get to read the books you showed us?
Kenny: Absolutely!
Kenny Brechner is a reviewer of books who owns and manages Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers on Broadway in Farmington, Maine.
Thank you to all! Reading is an amazing tool and source of information and pleasure!