Attention 4th and 5th grade parents and students! I wanted to make you
aware of an exciting, upcoming author event that will be taking place in our
district and also at the Stonebriar Barnes and Noble. Neal Shusterman, author
of many young adult books has a new book (reviewed for Grades 5-7) he will be
releasing at a launch party in Frisco on February 11, 2014. Mr. Shusterman’s
book (coauthored by Eric Elfman) is titled Tesla’s Attic and the review
for the book is below. Mr. Shusterman is scheduled to visit Frisco ISD middle
schools beginning the week of February 10th and will be autographing
books that are presold to our students. Attached to this e-mail you will find
an order form if you are interested in purchasing one of these books for your
child. All forms are due to the school librarian by January 31st.
Each Frisco ISD student that pre-orders a book will have their name placed in a
drawing for the chance to win a special ticket to attend the Launch Party in
Frisco on February 11th in the evening. Students that have their
name drawn will be invited to the Launch Party along with a parent/guardian.
This event will be an unforgettable evening with a chance to meet and hear Mr.
Shusterman and Mr. Elfman talk about their new book. There will also be a
limited number of special addition books available for purchase at the Launch
Party as well for those in attendance. Mr. Shusterman will make an appearance
at Barnes and Noble on the evening of February 13th at 7 p.m. We are
thrilled about having authors like Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman visit our
school district and look forward to our students getting excited about his new
book.
Review
for Tesla’s Attic by Neil Schusterman and Eric Elfman:
Booklist (January
1, 2014 (Vol. 110, No. 9))Grades 5-7. Everything changed after the toaster hit Nick
on the head. It fell from an attic full of junk in the ramshackle Victorian
house in Colorado Springs that 14-year-old Nick, his father, and younger
brother have moved into from Tampa. Nick disposes of most of the things in the
attic at a garage sale. What begins as a story about an adolescent boy coming
to terms with his mother’s death—and his guilt about the house fire that took
her—quickly takes a turn for the supernatural and sinister as Nick discovers
that the items he sold are the magical inventions of Nikola Tesla. And he must
recover them before they fall into the hands of a murderous secret society, the
Accelerati. The first entry in a planned trilogy, this collaboration between
Shusterman and Elfman tempers the scarier elements of Nick’s quest with deft,
humorous writing and plenty of the ordinary adventures of a new kid in school
finding his niche. Hand this one to fans of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles or
Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn (2004).
