Monster High 5.23.2011 - Finished it.

WOW! This book will knock your socks off or put your tighty whities into a knot because it is hillarious and paints a painfully true picture of life in middle/high school and the world in general.



Monster High is going to be a series of books (book 2nd one The Ghoul Next Door is out now) about two groups of kids that all go to the same school Munster High, in Salem, Oregon. Some of the kids are "normies" (regular kids like you) and some are actual descendents of Monsters (like wolves, vampires, the Black Loogon Monster, Frankenstein's Granddaughter, and Grandson of Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde. It is a fabulous book for 3 reasons: 1. Lisi Harrison, the author, uses a lot of figurative language that really turns up the voltage in the book to really make you laugh or cry with the characters. She also makes reference to old and new styles and songs. 2. She references some really cool original "monsters". 3. She totally "gets" what middle/school and high school life is like. She could help you through yours now or make you laugh at how silly yours was.

This was the class read for our "Chick Lit" class and I know we really enjoyed it. It was so much fun to read and discuss as a class. I can't wait to share it with Kayla and Marie. This is more of a girls book (sorry boys), and even if you don't understand or know the characters you will have a great time connecting with the characters. I started having fun watching for the figurative language - I know geeky. Below are two links that might be fun to check out. You can also youTube the episodes.

Happy Reading,

Ms. Lord Anderson (look below)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGawAhRjtoA This link is the video to the Fright Song. There was a cartoon series - not sure if it is still on or not.

http://www.monsterhigh.com/books This link has book info as well as fun games and videos.

Week 3 4.18-4.22.11

Be sure to include quote and page number!!)

You must use at LEAST 2 quotes from the book.

Understanding your character is a good way for you to really get into your book and see from another person's perspective. In your response this week, describe your character. Think about and discuss:

-1. your main character's personality

- 2. how they act/behave

- 3. what they look like

- 4. how old they are

- 5 what sort of education do you think that they have

- 6 who their friends and family are

- 7 what their financial (money) situation is

- 8 and what their job is (if they have one).


I am still reading My Rotten Life by David Lubar. My main character is really a dramatic dork. He sits at the “Second Besters Table”, he is a lier who tries to impress other kids, and is a video idiot or “vidiot loser” as another student on page 26 calls him. Nathan acts like a nervous boy when he lies to impress his classmates. In Art class the teacher had to leave and all the students pulled out hand held games, except Nathan and Abigail (a girl in the class). Nathan wants to play another student’s, Caleb’s, game and lies and says he knows how. But he doesn’t – he loses his first man in 3 seconds and his second man 4 seconds after that. Caleb says, “Nathan’s setting a record…for fastest looser” (pg 26). When all the kids crowd him he says, in his mind, he felt closed in like he couldn’t breathe.

On page 14, my character is described as, “The second skinnest kid.” He has asthma very bad, especially when he runs or works out. I think that he is a very pale looking boy because he doesn’t sound like the type of boy to play outside. Nathan says in the book that after school him and his BF, Mookie, hang out at Mookie’s to play video games. Nathan is a bad runner and poor athlete, because of his asthma, but he is good at chin ups.

Nathan goes to Belgosi Upper Elementary in East Carven, NJ. He is a 5th grade student who is probably 10 or 11 years old (all 5th graders I know are 10 or 11). I have no idea what his financial situation is because we haven’t met his mom and dad. He just says that, “my mom thought video games are violent and my dad thinks they are a bad investment”, pg 27.

Week 2 4.7.11

Review the book description found on the back cover of your book. Using the information, and this information alone, construct two alternate titles for the book that appeal to you.Pick one of the two titles and create a catch phrase and movie poster. Describe (using language that will explain what you are talking about so that we can "see" it) the movie poster to sell the new titled novel.

I am still enjoying Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie book 1: My Rotten Life by David Lubar. Wow, create two alternative titles? Better than the original? Hmm... okay:
Alternative 1. My Life as a Zombie?! What... Life? The Doom of Nathan Abercrombie Book 1

Alternative 2. You know being a Zombie ain't so bad : Nathan Abercrombie book 1

For a catch phrase for the movie poster I would use : Wouldn't you want to stay up late, rock at video games, be infamous, and get the girl?

If I had to create a movie poster for Nathan Abercrombie: My Rotten Life by David Lubar, I would have to work hard to make it better than the cover of the actual book. The back cover talks about how Nathan's life sucks until this freak accident that turns him into a zombie, then talks about the positive side to being able to stay up late, get good at videos, and become popular. He questions whether he wants to remain a zombie or if he can even undo the experiment.

Therefore, on the peachy orange movie poster I would have a geeky but cute, blond, short boy bumping in to a mad scientist table (the tablewould look wobbly). Your eye would be drawn to a beaker of green smelly goo (vapor rising up) splattering onto the kid's hand and you would see his left, broken, green thumb falling. Faded in the background you would see the face of an insane scientist with blazing yellow hair standing straight up, wide eyes with huge "bug eye" glasses, and a wicked smile. In the forefront, would be Nathan. The boy's face would have a line down the middle. On the left side he would look shocked with a solid conversation bubble with the words : OMG, I'm a rotting zombie! done in shadowed italics. Like he was screaming! But the right side of his face would look sly and sneaky with a dotted (indicating he is thinking) conversation bubble by his mouth. In it would be the words from the catch phrase done in fluorescent green. The title would be done in dark orange with dripping green border.

I can't decide between my two choices though. Maybe the first title choice.?? What do YOU think? This was more fun than I thought it would be, to "create" the poster with words. Hard, but fun.

Book Trailer: My Rotten Life by David Lubar

March 18, 2011 Week 1

Give the title, author, publisher, copyright date, genre (how do you know the genre - from the back of the book, the title page, the text?), a description of the cover of the book, and the main character(s) you have met so far and on what page you first met them.

I am rereading Nathan Abercombie, Acciental Zombie Book 1 : My Rotten Life by David Lubar which was published in 2009 by A Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The genre of my book is a science fiction with a dash of teenage angst (anxiety). I used the back of the title to determine this, however I had to "piece" the clues together. The keywords on the back of the title page were : selfconfidence, popularity, schools, and zombies. Ms. Luthey helped me to put these clues together, she said that the first three clues equal "fiction about teenagers" and that zombies aren't real so that means it is science fiction. Thanks Ms. Luthey!

My daughter, Marie, first suggested this book to me and when she showed me the cover I was totally sold! As you can see above it is busy but eye catching. The title, in all caps, is at the top. The author's name, in all caps, is at the bottom. In between the words, is a huge cartoon picture of a young boy who is looking at his hand that is turning green with the thumb missing (this is what REALLY grabbed my attention). Along the sides are pictures of two other students, a crazy looking guy (must be a mad scientist) and scientific beakers. If you are predicting that the story is about an experiment that goes wrong and causes body parts to fall off - then you are so close!

I am reading this book to some students and so far we are on page 13 (chapter one starts on page 11). The story starts in the school cafeteria during the 5th grader's lunch hour. We have met the narrator, Nathan, on page 11; along with the popular snob Shawna, who also is the girl "he has had a crush on since 3rd grade" (pg. 13). On page 12 we meet the 5th graders who sit at the Second Bester's Table, which includes Nathan and his best friend Mookie. We also meet, on pages 12 & 13) some of the students who sit at the Table of the Doomed, including Snail Girl (who wears snail barettes and has a snail lunchbox) and Abigal, who according to pg. 13, "came here last year from outer space and still seems to live in deep space." Finally, we meet Shawna's pack of girlfriends on page 13: Cydnie, Tallisa, Bekka, and Lexi.

I really enjoyed this book the first time around because of all the figurative language used by the narrator/author and hillarious moments that the narrator talks about. I made many connections to my years in elementary and middle/high school as well as to The Wimpy Kid, Goonies, and Harry Potter. I can't wait to rediscover the fun!