Skip to main content

Third Grade Angels


Third Grade Angels
by Jerry Spinelli
Scholastic, 2013.  134 pgs.  Fiction

      The rhyme goes:  "First grade babies!  Second grade cats!  Third grade angels! Fourth grade rats!"
Spinelli has already written about Suds Morton's adventures in "Fourth Grade Rats," and here we find out what Suds was like in Third Grade.  He likes his teacher.  She gives out  halos to her third grade angels, one at a time,  after the first month of school, depending on their behavior. Suds wants to be first at everything, including the first to get a halo, so he is on his better-than-best behavior even when bad-kid Joey bothers him from the seat behind him, and when the other kids get bored with angel-like behavior and kind of slope out of the competition.  Suds even behaves at home, because he thinks Mrs. Simms has spies there.  No more calling his little sister Zippernose, or not eating his peas. Suds figures he's got it in the bag when he saves a dog from being run over in the street.  But something totally unexpected happens on First Halo of the Year Day which turns Suds' notions upside down and teaches him something very important about what makes a person a winner.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Painting for Peace in Ferguson

Painting for Peace in Ferguson By Carol Swartout Klein Treehouse Publishing Group, 2015. Nonfiction. When the city of Ferguson was overrun with so much hate and despair that homes and businesses had to be boarded up to protect property, citizens of the community decided to bring a message of hope by painting the boarded windows. Klein’s rhyming text supports the photographs of the hundreds of artists and volunteers and their artwork as they bring the messages of peace, hope, love, and that by being united they can make a difference. A great book to show children how a community rallied to make a positive change and that even a small gesture can make a huge difference. A great discussion opener on how we should treat each other.

Dragon Run

Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...

Review: We're All Gonna Die-Nosaur!

We’re All Gonna Die-nosaur! By Kon Tan  New York: Disney Hyperion, 2025. Intermediate. 157 pages.  Pterry (the “p” is silent) pterodactyl is a worry wart. Pterry is worried about flying (he doesn’t how to fly yet), dinosaurs going extinct (he had a scary dream), and how to protect his family (he has a little brother who hasn’t fully hatched from an egg yet). Even though there is a lot of feels for Pterry, this is actually quite a funny book. Pterry tries to learn how to fly with kites as his “training wheels” and his brother who is inside an egg is quite the adventurer.  This is a funny, heart-felt comic-like intermediate fiction book that will be great for many readers. If kids love dinosaurs, this book is for them. If kids like funny graphic novels, this book is for them. If kids want to read something about facing fears and doing things even though they don’t always want to, this book is for them. Plus, even though Pterry does a lot of things on his own, he still has s...