         |
| Search
suzyred.com |
|
Liar
& Spy When Georges's father loses his job, the other dominoes in Georges's life began to follow. The family has to move to an apartment house in Brooklyn, his mother begins working double shifts in the hospital's ICU unit, and Georges (silent S) is now in middle school where he immediately becomes the target of two 7th grade bullies and feels ostracized by clickish students. Georges mother helps him look at the big picture, just as the painter Georges Seurat (his namesake) did in the painting above his couch, the one made of tiny, shapeless unimportant blobs which, by themselves, are meaningless. As you step back, however, the dots blend together to make a beautiful picture. So, Georges practices ignoring the bullies's attacks and finding balance in the bigger picture. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) Georges makes friends with a boy named Safer and his eccentric family who live in his apartment house. Safer has begun recruiting members for his "Spy Club." As it turns out, Georges is his first and only member. The Spy Club's first job is to gather information on the mysterious Mr. X who lives on the fourth floor. The first mundane training tasks soon transition into more perilous ones. Georges becomes suspicious of Safer himself who begins to invade his own privacy and then starts to demand that Georges participate with him in possibly dangerous, and even illegal activities. How far will Georges go to please his only friend? Where will he draw the line? Who is the liar? Who is the spy? Told in Georges's first person voice in the present tense, Liar & Spy gets more and more exciting as the intrigue grows. Funny, often emotional subplots develop, which late in the novel, dare readers to reexamine their understanding of the whole story. Sixth and seventh graders will relate to the problems of middle school and the spy plot, and younger students will relate to Safer's bright younger sister, Candy, and her clever contributions. With an unchallenging vocabulary, often short sentences, and lots of feisty dialog, it's a story that can appeal to everyone as it stimulates problem solving and decision making. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Research
Links for Book
Trailer # 1 Rebecca Stead discusses her Newbery Winner, When You Reach Me Taste
Research: Sugar
Research: The
Kids Wings literature guide for Liar and Spy is now available!
The Kids Wings literature guide PLUS interactive Jeopardy-type game, perfect for lesson plans, handouts, or projection on your SmartBoard, is now available. This
Kids Wings Activity Guide Contains: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Liar & Spy is included in the Kids Wings Trials and Courage Collection of literature guides for award-winning novels and intermediate-level picture books all on one convenient CD. Included are 848 pages of activities in 22 titles PLUS 18 "Jeopardy-type" games! You can purchase a literature guide individually for around $12.95, but if you order Trials and Courage Collection, you can get 29 literature guides for only $25, or less than $1 each! This is probably the greatest bargain in the USA, as long as quantities last!
More
Award-Winning Books for 2014-2015
SMDisclaimer: Texas Bluebonnet AwardSM is a service mark of the Texas Library Association, which is in no way affiliated with Kids' Wings or Suzy Red. Use of the Texas Bluebonnet Award mark in these materials does not imply any endorsement of any kind on behalf of the Texas Library Association. The Texas Bluebonnet Book Master ListSM was selected by the Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee of the Texas Library Association.
© 2014, Suzy Red, Lockhart, Texas |
