Punished by David Lubar

Punished by David Lubar
Parent-Child Book Discussion
Grades 2-3
December 2008

snack: junk food (an oxymoron) bittersweet chocolate or sweet tarts, argentine tangerines, etc.

Welcome to book club tonight. Are you "Read"-y to discuss the book? We have a lot to "cover" tonight and I think you will enjoy your "shelf."

1. Thumbs up/down and general thoughts about the book.

2. Why does Logan get punished? What kinds of behavior are expected in public places: movie theatre, library, museum, restaurant, playground?

3. Do you have any friends that have trouble sitting still? What do you do when they act hyper?

4. Does anyone have any favorite Knock-Knock jokes they'd like to share? They often rely heavily on puns. Try Knock Knock (by various authors/illustrators including Sciezska). Funny Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road book, too.

5. After a long day at school, Logan returns to the library to find the man that punished him. What is his name? What is Logan's last name? Why are their names appropriate for this book? What sort of last name should Benedict have? (busibody, etc.)

6. Professor Wordsworth tells Logan he must find 7 oxymorons. What is an oxymoron? Do you remember some from the book? What are some other oxymorons you can think of? (help from this site:http://www.fun-with-words.com/oxym_example.html) type writer, climb down, dress shirt, plastic silverware, junk food, top floor, larger half, alone together, crash landing, great depression, ball point pen, inside-out, kickstand, baby grand piano, black light, softball, driveway.
Also consult the book Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? by Jon Agee.

7. What are the two ways you can spell 1, the three ways you can spell 2 and the 1 way you can spell 3?

8. Logan's next challenge is to find 7 anagrams. What is an anagram? What are some examples from the book? Try some of these from the World Almanac for Kids site:

--THEY SEE (the eyes)
--a room where you'd THICKEN the soup (kitchen)
--where you might find the LLAMA (a mall)
--why the SEAL only cost 50 cents (sale)
--fruit from this LUMP of a tree (plum)
--sits on the LOW branch (owl)
--where you would find the SCHOOL MASTER (the classroom)

9. Logan's class briefly talks about redundencies for a short while. Can you think of some? (8:00 a.m. in the morning, pre-recorded, free gift, unexpected surprise)

10. Logan's last challenge is to find some palindromes. What is a palindrome, and what were some of the palindromes from the book? What can you think of?
See if you can guess more: you browse with this (eye), a baby needs one (bib), deep sea sporting equipment (kayak), man's best friend (pup), lunchtime (noon), near train tracks (toot).

11. What do you think life would have been like for Logan if he hadn't broken the spell? What did Logan learn from his punishment? What do you think will happen to Benedict in the future?
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other resources:

http://www.sturgeon.k12.mo.us/elementary/numphrey/subjectpages/reading/punished!.html