Hello Everyone,

I hope you and your loved ones have been staying safe and healthy. It certainly has been a wild and unusual summer vacation so far and we still have a month to go.  I’ve run into quite a few of you while out and about and all I can say is I miss you all so much! So much, in fact, I’d like to do another book club as a way to spend some time with anyone who is feeling the same way. The One and Only Ivan has been made into a movie and will start streaming on Disney+ on Friday, August 14th. I’d like to repeat what we did for Artemis Fowl...I’ll read the book in installments on zoom. If you have a copy of the book (pretty cheap at Walmart, Target or on Amazon), you can read along, if you don’t, you can just listen in. Then, anyone with Disney+ can watch the movie and we’ll have a zoom meeting afterward to get together and talk about it.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is a beautiful story about friendship and loyalty. Ivan is a silverback gorilla who has lived at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall for 27 years. He is generally content with his situation, but when Ruby, a baby elephant, comes to live at the mall, Ivan wants to find a way to give her a better life. The book won the Newbery Medal for outstanding children’s literature in 2013. Many of my students know that Charlotte’s Web is my all-time favorite book, and Ivan reminds me of that book a lot. I’m so excited to share it.

 So here’s how we’ll proceed. I’ve made a google classroom for the book club. All grade levels are welcome. If you are interested in joining the club, send me an email at dabbott@westgenesee.org. I’ll send you the classroom and the code to join. You’ll be able to join the zoom from the classroom.  I’ll start reading on Monday, August 10th. When we have an idea of who is in the club, I’ll announce reading times. Sessions should be about 30 minutes on most days. I’m confident we can do the book in five sessions.  I’ll record the zoom every day and post it to the classroom. If you can’t make any session, you can watch it there. 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I hope to hear from you soon.

 READ4FUN!

Mrs. Abbott