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Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Franklin School Friends Series by Claudia Mills


by Claudia Mills                              
Pictures by Robb Shepperson       
Published 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)                    
128 Pages                         
Genre: Realistic Fiction                   
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary
Kelsey Kline is the best reader in the third grade--well, maybe tied for best with know-it-all Simon Ellis. When the principal Mr. Boone announces  a school-wide reading contest, complete with a pizza party for the winning class and a special certificate for the top readers in each grade, she knows she's just the person to lead Mrs. Molina's third graders to victory. But how can they win when her classmate Cody Harmon doesn't want to read anything, and even Kelsey's best friends Annika and Izzy don't live up to her expectations? And could Simon possibly be reading all of those books that he claims he is, or is he lying to steal Kelsey's rightful spot at the top? 

My Thoughts
I really like the three friends (Kelsey, Annika and Izzy). They each have their own strengths and talents and balance each other well. Kelsey is determined to win the individual reading contest and help her classroom win first place. Throughout the book she tries to get Cody to read in order to boost the classroom total. At first she is annoyed by his reluctance. Then as she gets to know him her feelings change. He begins to trust her and starts reading. To me, this is one of the most important parts of the book. It all ties up nicely at the end and there are some great life lessons emphasized. 

Annikka Riz, Math Whiz
by Claudia Mills
Pictures by Robb Shepperson
Published May 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) 
128 Pages                         
Genre: Realistic Fiction                   
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary
Annika Riz loves math more than anything. She's trying to teach her dog, Prime, to count. She's determined to beat fellow math whiz Simon Ellis in a Sudoku contest at the public library. She even sleeps under number-patterned sheets. But Annika's best friends Kelsey and Izzy think math is boring. All they care about is the upcoming school carnival: their principal is going to be dunked in a dunking tank and their class is going to have a booth selling home-baked cookies. But then disaster foils the friends' cookie-baking plans. Can math save the day?

My Thoughts
This most recent installment in the series features Annika in the forefront. I enjoyed seeing the increased interaction among the three friends. This book also contains many areas where math is used in "real world" situations. The baking mistakes are very entertaining as the girls learn first hand how important it can be to follow a recipe's measurements carefully. Since they have no cookies to donate to the school carnival, they decide to sell lemonade. Math comes into play again as the girls figure out how much they need to charge for the lemonade in order to make a profit. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next. 

I would recommend this series especially for grades 3-4 although some second graders will likely be able to enjoy it alone or as a read aloud. Although on the surface the books seem to be centered around a competition, they turn out to be about so much more as the stories develop. There are themes of teamwork, dedication, differences, learning from mistakes, jealousy, acceptance and, or course, friendship. 

Claudia Mills has provided a curriculum guide to use with this series on her website. It contains discussion questions and many other curriculum connections complete with CCSS alignment. 


The next book, Izzy Barr, Running Star is set to be released in April 2015. 

Visit her website to learn more about Claudia Mills' books. 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks so much for including me on your blog again. :) I'm just starting work on Simon's book (not yet titled), where he'll go head-to-head with Kelsey as rivals to win the third grade spelling bee. So your kind words are encouraging. :) - Claudia Mills

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