Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Quarter Two: Blog 2
This week, I began Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Eliza Naumann is a fifth grader in the "not gifted" class at her elementary school. She envies the beautiful and popular kids in the TAG program at school, Talented and Gifted students. She tells about how in second grade, her teacher had the honor of choosing which of her students would be put on the accelerated course and which ones would not. Eliza was not one of the ones her teacher chose. Since then, mediocrity has been expected of Eliza by her teachers, nothing more. So when she wins her first ever class spelling bee and then goes on to win the school spelling bee, everyone, including Eliza is surprised and she is so proud of herself for proving wrong everyone that thought she wasn't smart.
I found it odd that the book was in first person- from a fifth graders point of view on life. Every once and a while, the narrator will step in and give some background on a character or event, but for the most part, Eliza is the speaker. More interesting than the point of view is the vocabulary. Even when Eliza is speaking, the author uses words that even I had to look up, like unvariegated (which means not diversified or unvaried (Webster)). The book just doesn't sound like it was written by an elementary school student.
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2 comments:
I think this book sounds very interesting. I was never in the gifted group either because I refused to be in Nelson Math since I didn't like it. I think that since Eliza is so good at spelling and with words that maybe she does use those words in her everyday vocab. This book sounds quite facsinating.
I agree with Aimee. This reminds me of going to Nelson math and reading in elementary school. It's sad that Eliza feels poorly about herself because she wasn't chosen for the gifted classes, but she proved them wrong by winning the spelling bee! I too have been disappointed when I don't get chosen for a certain group so I relate to Eliza.
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