Punished! Punished!. David Lubar; Darby Creek Publishing, 2006 Grade Level: 3-5 ISBN 978-0-329-624873 & Cost: $9.96 |
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Blanket Permission to Reproduce Book Jackets:
Preferred wording: “Used by permission of the publisher.”
Synopsis: Caught running in the library Logan is now punished with solving word problems (puns, oxymorons, anagrams) on a time limit. His friends and family start to catch on to his need for solving problems quick and want to know what he is doing but he cannot tell anyone. Will he solve all word problems in time to be normal again?
General Review: What an engaging, fun, library-rich read! Once starting this book, I could not put it down. You, the reader, are right along with Logan on his quest to solve the word problems. This book gets the reader thinking about those play on words, hopefully enticing them to read more books to learn even more. This is a great read for third graders on up. I did not find any weaknesses or dislikes with the book.
Themes: Boys, Friendship, Word games, libraries
Author information: http://www.davidlubar.com/
Discussion Questions: (Standard 3; Benchmark 3)
- What character do you like most in this book? Why? How is this character like you or unlike you? In what ways are his experiences similar or different from yours?
- How do you feel about the ending of the book? Why? How might you change the ending if you were the author? Why would you change it this way? How might this change in the plot alter the author’s message?
- Why do you think the author wrote this book? What was his purpose? Did he succeed? How? What is the main theme or idea overall? Do you agree with this message? Why or why not?
Activities:
- Challenge students to locate 7 more puns, oxymorons and anagrams. If cameras are not available, have students draw out the pictures. Make a book of the student creations. (Standard 1; Benchmark 1)
- Visit www.funbrain.com to challenge students with the language arts games (Standard 11; Benchmark 3)
Similar Books for Further Reading Cleary, Brian or Clements, Andrew have similar “school stories”
