Fiction Friday: Chapter 10

Well book lovers, it is time for our final summer installment of Fiction Friday.

I have to say, I have really enjoyed hosting this linky all summer. I hope it was as helpful to my readers as it was to me.  A huge thank you to everyone who has linked up in past weeks. 

I started the summer reading two books each week, but as we got closer and closer to school I couldn't keep up. I was only able to read one book this week. The good news is that the one I read was WONDERFUL!

I read......wait for it...

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright

Set back in London in the mid 1800s and the days of Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria, Skilley is a most unusual cat.  He comes to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a popular inn, under the pretense of capturing mice. However, he is really there for their famous cheshire cheese. Skilley quickly befriends Pip, a mouse of the inn, and they become fast friends.  As they fool the innkeeper into believing Skilley is "keeping the mice away" another cat arrives who does not share Skilley's love of cheese or mice.  Suddenly, mayhem breaks out at the inn.  Can Skilley protect his new friends from this devilish new cat?  Plus, what about their secret.  Who will protect Maldwyn? How will they restore Maldwyn to his rightful place before war breaks out between England and France? And, what does Charles Dickens have to do with all?

Now, I'll be honest.  When I first flipped through the book and read the first page, I thought, "Good grief! Really?" I mean... it starts with, "It was best of Toms.  It was the worst of Toms."  Um...corny! And, honestly, what elementary school child is going to get that reference?  Well...let me tell you.  It all makes sense in the end.  

I also thought, "These vocabulary words are outrageous!" There is a glossary to define words like: abulation, apoplexy, caterwaul, erstwhile, penury, prodigious, recalcitrant, turgid, and wraithlike.  The glossary goes on for 4 pages. I just choose a select few.  Um...who here off the top of their head can define all these words?  I can only think of one person in my life that could.  My oldest friend in the world, Rebecca, and she is working on her PhD in medieval literature at UNC!

Luckily, within context...not so bad.  You could easily take a page from this book and work on inferring with context clues.  I learned some new words.  

So, if you loved Tale of Despereaux you will love this story.  It's a classic tale of friendship and love and just like Despereaux there are characters that make profound observations about life, friendship, and truth.  It would be a wonderful read aloud 2nd through 5th.  Skilley and Pip are two of the finest heroes I've seen.

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On a totally NOT children's literature note.  I'm also reading  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  Have you heard of it?  The sequel is currently #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  Oh... it's GOOD.  Every time I have a moment to read, I want to read this.  It is like a combination of The Historian and Twilight.  There's a little bit of history, a little bit of vampire, a little bit of magic and whole lot of "scandalous" love. I can't wait to start Shadow of Night.

So, hurry now and don't delay.  Link up for the final summer Fiction Friday: A Celebration of Children's Literature.  Let's make it the best one yet!  (Oh, I hope I don't eat my words and get 1-2 link ups.) C'mon people! It's easy, just tell us about your favorite books...new or old.  Give a quick summary, a lesson idea or two, and an age range for the book.  You can link up anytime during August!

My Amazon wishlist is always on standby.

Please remember to grab my button and link back to this post, so others can navigate through all the links.

As always, happy reading!!