Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Sonnenblick, Jordan. THE SECRET SHERIFF OF SIXTH GRADE New York : Scholastic, 2017 IL 3-6, RL 5.8 ISBN : 978-0545863209 (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Maverick Falconer is small for his age, but he is big on justice. He’s determined to make a positive difference this year, at school and at home. Unfortunately, nothing seems to go as planned. He keeps ending up in the Assistant Principal’s office and his mom is spiraling out of control with bad boyfriends and drinking. This story teaches that heroes have faults and sometimes villains aren’t all that bad. Maverick’s understanding of heroism evolves as he tries his best and often falls short as a self-appointed secret sheriff. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019) Booktalk #2 As Maverick enters 6th grade, he undertakes a secret mission to to do nice things for people and make his life a better place. He wants to honor his father who had given him a plastic sheriff’s badge when he was little. The decision is a hero’s rally. Maverick is short and constantly picked on himself; he’s living with an alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend because his soldier father died in Afghanistan. The odds are stacked even more against him when he injures the victim he was trying to help and lands in the Vice Principal’s office. Maverick’s self-deprecating humor and upbeat attitude lift this book into a fun feel good journey of standing up for yourself. (Nancy Federiuk, Pacific Middle School https://evergreenbookaward.org/) Booktalk #3 Maverick Falconer doesn’t have any superpowers-unless you count being short. But he’s not even short enough for that to qualify as a superpower. What Maverick Falconer does have is a bunch of enemies that he brought with him from elementary school to his first day of middle school; and, he also has a knack, it seems, for landing himself in the assistant principal’s office, not once, but twice during the very first half day of school. Sixth grade was going to be a new start in a new school because he is tired of being bullied AND he’s tired of seeing people bullied. It’s hard to have a new start, though, when everything at home and school keeps going wrong. Can Maverick stick to his plan of standing up for those who can’t stand for themselves? How long can he pretend his aunt is his mother because he’s sure she’s too drunk to come to his rescue? How many more times can he end up in the assistant principal’s office? (Prepared by: Michelle King, Kennedy Middle School, mking@acpsd.net for South Carolina Book Award)
	SUBJECTS: Bullying -- Fiction. Dysfunctional families -- Fiction. Friendship -- Fiction. Middle schools -- Fiction. Mothers and sons -- Fiction.

Sonnenblick, Jordan.
THE SECRET SHERIFF OF SIXTH GRADE
New York : Scholastic, 2017
IL 3-6, RL 5.8
ISBN : 978-0545863209

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Maverick Falconer is small for his age, but he is big on justice. He’s determined to make a positive difference this year, at school and at home. Unfortunately, nothing seems to go as planned. He keeps ending up in the Assistant Principal’s office and his mom is spiraling out of control with bad boyfriends and drinking. This story teaches that heroes have faults and sometimes villains aren’t all that bad. Maverick’s understanding of heroism evolves as he tries his best and often falls short as a self-appointed secret sheriff. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019)

Booktalk #2

As Maverick enters 6th grade, he undertakes a secret mission to to do nice things for people and make his life a better place. He wants to honor his father who had given him a plastic sheriff’s badge when he was little. The decision is a hero’s rally. Maverick is short and constantly picked on himself; he’s living with an alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend because his soldier father died in Afghanistan. The odds are stacked even more against him when he injures the victim he was trying to help and lands in the Vice Principal’s office. Maverick’s self-deprecating humor and upbeat attitude lift this book into a fun feel good journey of standing up for yourself. (Nancy Federiuk, Pacific Middle School https://evergreenbookaward.org/)

Booktalk #3

Maverick Falconer doesn’t have any superpowers-unless you count being short. But he’s not even short enough for that to qualify as a superpower. What Maverick Falconer does have is a bunch of enemies that he brought with him from elementary school to his first day of middle school; and, he also has a knack, it seems, for landing himself in the assistant principal’s office, not once, but twice during the very first half day of school. Sixth grade was going to be a new start in a new school because he is tired of being bullied AND he’s tired of seeing people bullied. It’s hard to have a new start, though, when everything at home and school keeps going wrong. Can Maverick stick to his plan of standing up for those who can’t stand for themselves? How long can he pretend his aunt is his mother because he’s sure she’s too drunk to come to his rescue? How many more times can he end up in the assistant principal’s office? (Prepared by: Michelle King, Kennedy Middle School, mking@acpsd.net for South Carolina Book Award)

SUBJECTS:    Bullying -- Fiction.
                        Dysfunctional families -- Fiction.
                        Friendship -- Fiction.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Mothers and sons -- Fiction.