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#middlegrade #readingwithgrandkids

I‘ve been reading this along with my 10 y.o. granddaughter, who has a school project about it. I love the way Spinelli uses language—perfect illustrations for the literary concepts she‘s learning like alliteration and metaphor. And the story‘s message is solid. It‘s an anti-bullying, animal protecting, be yourself kind of story. ⬇️

“He did not want to be a wringer.”

My grandkid picked this for a school project. I‘m her reading buddy for these. Truthfully, out of the four she could choose from, this was my last choice. The things we do for the kids we love ... #firstlinefridays

Recommend for the things it can make kids think about but TW for animal abuse andbsensitive tooics. For some kids it may be too much

2nd Spinelli 📖
12/20 #goodreadsreadingchallenge2020

That's a very good question, Palmer.

“Palmer thought about misery, and it seemed to him that a shotgun was not the only way to end it. When Palmer was miserable, for example, his mother or father would hold him close and wipe his tears. When Palmer's mother or father put him out of his misery, they did not shoot him, they offered him a cookie. Why then on Pigeon Day did the people bring guns instead of cookies?“

4/5⭐ I applaud the author's ability to weave a story around the moral points he wants to make. It really is done extremely well. Just know that it is ROUGH to read (CW for killing pigeons en masse, peer pressure, bullying, cultivating violence & hate in children). I can definitely see parallels in the town's celebration of butchery/hate in other societal issues. Again, very well done, but won't leave you feeling happy or even satisfied at the end.

Genre : Young Adult Fiction
Author : Jerry Spinelli
Date Started : October 1, 2019
Date Finished : October 10, 2019
Brief Summary of the Book :
Wringer is the story of Palmer LaRue, a boy living in a small town named Waymer, which hosts an annual Family Fest. The culmination of the event is a Pigeon Shoot, where five thousand pigeons are shot for fundraising efforts to maintain the city's park.

He did not want to be a wringer. This was one of the first things he had learned about himself.

When I was in fifth grade I wanted to read this book completely through so bad. I would start and stop so many times just because I couldn‘t get through it. Might try it again now and see if I can finish it haha

This book is not for the faint of heart. I would definitely warn students of some of the content. It‘s a good story but might be disturbing to some students, especially depending on their age.