HAUPPAUGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
HAUPPAUGE HIGH SCHOOL
500 Lincoln Boulevard
P.O. Box 6006
Hauppauge, NY 11788
CHRISTOPHER J. MICHAEL, Ed.D
Director of English Language Arts K-12
BOOK CHAT #4
THURSDAY, April 21, 2016
March 2016
Dear Parents:
Our fourth and final book discussion of the year will be held on Thursday, April 21st at the library in the
Hauppauge Middle School from 5:45 until 7:00 pm. Students are invited to bring a snack for themselves to
create a cordial environment and prepare for the hour-long discussion.
The “Book Chat” can be attended by any student within our district and one relative who would like to share
this experience. While adult participation is an option, it is certainly not mandatory. Any student may select a
book and attend the discussion on his/her own since each chat will be a chaperoned event.
Teachers, administrators, and staff members will be volunteering to serve as facilitators of the discussions and
will create topics and questions to be addressed during the “Book Chat.” Additional comments and questions
are encouraged from participants to generate a dynamic conversation.
A review of each book can be found attached to this letter to help the students make their selections. All
participants will be responsible for obtaining their own text. If you have any further questions, please do not
hesitate to call me at 761-8323. I am certain that the conversations will prove to be a wonderful addition to this
learning community.
Respectfully,
Christopher J. Michael, Ed.D.
Christopher J. Michael, Ed.D.
Director of English Language Arts
Please complete the form attached to this letter and return it to your child’s English teacher by
Tuesday, April 19th.
______I am interested in joining my child for the “Book Chat” on April 21st.
______My child is interested in joining the “Book Chat” by him/herself.
Please check off your book selection:
Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles - ____ Belly Up - ____ Lincoln’s Grave Robbers - ____
Student’s Name_____________________
Parent’s Name____________________
English Teacher_____________________
Phone Contact____________________
Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious
past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her
life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at
the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty
and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to
protect her world's future.
Belly Up by: Stuart Gibbs
Twelve-year-old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has murder on his hands and
trouble on his tail. He believes that Henry, the hippopotamus at the brand-new
FunJungle, has been murdered. The zoo’s top brass claim the hippo went belly up the
natural way, but Teddy and his feisty friend Summer McCraken have other ideas.
Could the culprit be FunJungle’s animal-hating head of operations? Or is it
FunJungle’s owner—Summer’s dad—a man who is much more concerned about
money than animal welfare? The deeper Teddy and Summer dig, the more danger
they’re in—because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can’t be caged!
Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by:
The action begins in October of 1875, as Secret Service agents raid the Fulton,
Illinois, workshop of master counterfeiter Ben Boyd. Soon after Boyd is hauled off to
prison, members of his counterfeiting ring gather in the back room of a smoky
Chicago saloon to discuss how to spring their ringleader. Their plan: grab Lincoln's
body from its Springfield tomb, stash it in the sand dunes near Lake Michigan, and
demand, as a ransom, the release of Ben Boyd --and $200,000 in cash. From here, the
action alternates between the conspirators, the Secret Service agents on their trail, and
the undercover agent moving back and forth between the two groups. Along the way
readers get glimpses into the inner workings of counterfeiting, grave robbing,
detective work, and the early days of the Secret Service. The plot moves toward a
wild climax as robbers and lawmen converge at Lincoln's tomb on election night: November 7, 1876.