Take one French student who likes to read, show him a variety of books of different reading levels, have him pick one and then review it for you. Our student chose "Trouble Next Door" as his first book to read.
This the fourth book in the Carver Chronicles Series by Karen English. It is illustrated by Laura Freeman.
Book Synopsis:
In the fourth book in the Carver Chronicles series, third grader Calvin is dealing with his next door neighbors moving away-and the school bully moving in. Meanwhile, competition at the school science fair is heating up, and Calvin must decide what to do when his data doesn't prove his theory.
My 16 year old French Students review:
"I started out liking this book, and then it got boring for a while. All the boy was doing was hiding, hiding, hiding. Then the story started to get interesting again and I thought, oh good, it is not going to end the way I think. The book ended with everyone so happy with each other. For me, this book, it helped me learn new words so that was good, but I don't like the happy ending. Not everything is so happy."
My Thoughts:
First off you need to know that I didn't read the whole book through, I skimmed it.
I liked the illustrations by Laura Freedman, they helped to tell the story.
This was a great beginner book to give my student confidence in reading regular stories in English, not too hard, and not too easy. He was able to understand most of the book and what he could not was great vocabulary for him.
As I read the book I noticed that Calvin learned some important lessons about himself, about others, about what to do when an hypothesis doesn't turn out as expected and about competition. I am planning on giving this book to my son to read, I suspect he would like it, since there is science, friendship and an interesting story about Harper and his mother.
Book Synopsis:
In the fourth book in the Carver Chronicles series, third grader Calvin is dealing with his next door neighbors moving away-and the school bully moving in. Meanwhile, competition at the school science fair is heating up, and Calvin must decide what to do when his data doesn't prove his theory.
My 16 year old French Students review:
"I started out liking this book, and then it got boring for a while. All the boy was doing was hiding, hiding, hiding. Then the story started to get interesting again and I thought, oh good, it is not going to end the way I think. The book ended with everyone so happy with each other. For me, this book, it helped me learn new words so that was good, but I don't like the happy ending. Not everything is so happy."
My Thoughts:
First off you need to know that I didn't read the whole book through, I skimmed it.
I liked the illustrations by Laura Freedman, they helped to tell the story.
This was a great beginner book to give my student confidence in reading regular stories in English, not too hard, and not too easy. He was able to understand most of the book and what he could not was great vocabulary for him.
As I read the book I noticed that Calvin learned some important lessons about himself, about others, about what to do when an hypothesis doesn't turn out as expected and about competition. I am planning on giving this book to my son to read, I suspect he would like it, since there is science, friendship and an interesting story about Harper and his mother.
 | Trouble Next Door Series: Carver Chronicles Author: Karen English Illustrator: Laura Freeman Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 5.5 x 8.25 · 144 pages Ages 6-9 years Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. |  |
RSS Feed
