  | Octavia Boone's big questions about life, the universe, and everything Author: Rupp, Rebecca | |
| Price: $6.25 | ||
Summary:
Octavia puzzles over life's big questions when her mother seems to find answers in a conservative Christian church, while her father believes Henry David Thoreau held the key.
Audio Prevew:
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 6.10 Points: 5.0 Quiz: 140778 |
Common Core Standards
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Integration & Knowledge of Ideas
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Integration & Knowledge of Ideas
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 6 → Reading → CCR College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards fo
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Craft & Structure
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (08/15/10)
School Library Journal (08/01/10)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (10/10)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 08/01/2010 Gr 5–8—Seventh-grader Octavia Boone is having a tumultuous and life-changing year. Her mother, who has always been flighty and in search of fulfillment, becomes enamored with a fundamentalist religious group. She soon begins a radical transformation that ultimately results in her moving in with fellow Redeemers a few towns over. Octavia's problems are exacerbated by her father, who constantly quotes Henry David Thoreau. He is angry at his wife and rather selfish to begin with. While Octavia is respectful of religion, she does not like the Redeemers and questions why this is all happening. She decides that if she is able to use her science-fair project to prove that there is no god, her mother will come home and everything will go back to normal. Rupp does exhibit a bias against some aspects of this religious group and also shows that adults are not always right, do not always know what is best, and can be quite flawed. The sensory condition synesthesia is used as a device, but seems a bit unnecessary in a story that already has so many complicating elements. However, there are great lessons to be learned about judging others and being torn between opposing views, and the author does show how hard it can be to be a kid sometimes.—Kerry Roeder, The Brearley School, New York City - Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Bulletin for the Center... - 10/01/2010 As the title suggests, Octavia Boone has had her fair share of questions lately, but perhaps the biggest is the one she can’t quite bring herself to say out loud: what is going on with her mother? Up until the beginning of seventh grade, Octavia and her parents fit right in with the other liberal families in their small Vermont town (her father, known as Boone, is an aspiring painter with a penchant for Thoreau, while her mother, Ray, is an environmental lawyer constantly on the lookout for the latest in spiritual fulfillment). It is Ray’s drive for enlightenment that essentially sends Octavia’s world spinning off its axis; shortly after joining the Redeemers (or the Jesus freaks, as Octavia calls them), Ray leaves Boone, dragging a reluctant Octavia to live with the group despite the fact that the young girl adamantly refuses to see the light and in fact spends much of her time devising ways to disprove her mother’s new belief system. By no means a balanced look at religious views, this is instead one girl’s reaction to what is, at its core, a fairly selfish parental act. Octavia’s humorous and biting narration focuses primarily on her experiences as the daughter of two well-intentioned but ultimately neglectful parents and as an adolescent just beginning to consider the abstract dilemmas of the universe. Save for a single chapter that dips into didacticism, the story stays true to its main character with Octavia remaining solidly anti-Redeemer throughout-not necessarily anti-God, but more anti-the people that she believes took her mother from her. The big questions put forth by Octavia and her friends are sure to elicit discussion, as is the behavior of the adults, making this an excellent choice for book clubs. KQG - Copyright 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
