Found+discussion

Greetings! Just have been thinking about my reaction/feelings to Found and thought I would start sharing them here. Haddix is a very popular middle school author and this was the first book I have read by her. My reaction: "ah, it was fine." Am I clamoring to read the next installment? Nah- I liked the story and how it kept moving along quickly, but what I didn't like was that I never made a connection with any of the characters. (Do I sound like an idol judge?) I'll stop for now; just getting the party started, but I am very interested in hearing what the rest of the group is thinking!


 * Hi- Amy Here: Is this where I should be writing? I think it was interesting to read Found because many of the books we have read in the past are ones that we (adults) enjoy. Found has a great appeal to my fourth graders. Several say that it is their favorite book of all time! I really didn't enjoy the first few pages where they were immersed in middle school social discussion. I started to like it more as I read and the plot progressed. (I'm not saying I __loved__ it...) Jack mentioned to me that he liked the beginning a lot more than the end because, to him, it was more exciting and believable at the beginning.

Howdy--Anne here! I thought it was a 6 on a scale of 1-10. It was nice because it kept moving and there was some element of surprise when the time travel was revealed for me (I didn't read the teaser on the back of the book--I just jumped in cold). The character development was a little weak, so I agree with Amy. I showed it to Katie and she said, "whatever". But, that's just her typical response as of late!!

This is Sarah - I finished Found a few days ago. I thought it was pretty gripping to tell you the truth. . . for a ya book. It wasn't any Twilight. But I did like how it read fast. I was trying to read it through the eyes of a middle schooler. I really think Maura might get into it. I recommended it to the boys in my carpool. Two of them are in seventh and one is in fifth. I am looking forward to the next book. I will probably get it this week or next weekend. I think this pages thing is good. I just wish we could have different colors for our responses. Every time I tried to change the responses, the whole text changed.

Amy again: So, the question is...what makes some books so appealing to kids? (And others not so much?) In my class, the favorite books seem to be all the Lightening Thief books, Harry Potter series, Found (and other books by Haddix), __Zack's Lie__ and __Jack's Run__ by Roland Smith, Wimpy Kid books, Michigan Chillers...I have been trying like crazy to recommend books they haven't tried before. A few of them have really grabbed onto __Schooled__ by Gordon Korman.

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