This year's children's selections for Read the Same Book are:

• Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson, illustrated by Tara Calahan King (young readers)
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis (middle readers)
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm, by Nancy Farmer (young adult)

Keep reading for a description and discussion questions for each book.  Click here for information on related programs or for more about Read the Same Book.

Note:  This year, the Log Cabin Literary Center is presenting The Big Read, a new national initiative from the National Endowment of the Arts. The Log Cabin chose Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, for the month-long project. Like Read the Same Book, this program encourages literary reading by inviting communities to come together to read and discuss one book.  Kickoff is Mar. 23. 

2006 Young Reader Selection

Enemy Pie

By Derek Munson.  Illustrated by Tara Calahan King

A little boy is set to have the perfect summer,  until Jeremy Ross moves into his neighborhood.  Jeremy becomes the one and only person on the little boy’s enemy list.

The boy’s dad has a secret recipe for getting rid of enemies — Enemy Pie.  But there’s a catch — the boy must spend a day playing with Jeremy before giving him some pie to eat.  Even worse, he has to be nice to him!   

Children will enjoy the illustrations, as well as reading or hearing this story about getting rid of enemies by making friends.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is an enemy?
2. How does the secret recipe for Enemy Pie get rid of enemies? 
3. What are some other ways to turn enemies into friends?

2006 Middle Reader Selection

The Chronicles of Narnia—Book Two

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

By C.S. Lewis  

The Chronicles of Narnia capture the adventures of four British children who find a magical wardrobe in the old country house they’re visiting.  Through the back of the wardrobe, they enter the fantastical world of Narnia, full of witches, fauns and talking animals.   

Their exploits are chronicled in this series of seven books, written by C.S. Lewis between 1950 and 1956.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written first, although The Magician’s Nephew is the first of the books in terms of Narnian chronology. 

The tale begins during World War II, when London was considered unsafe for children.  The four children are sent to live with an old professor on a large estate.  The youngest child, Lucy, discovers the magical wardrobe and enters a snowy land enveloped in the White Witch’s curse — eternal winter. 

At first, no one believes Lucy’s story, but soon Peter, Susan and Edmund join her in visits to the secret world beyond the wardrobe.  They meet Aslan, the Great Lion, and eventually help him rid Narnia of the White Witch and her followers.   

Besides adventure and fantasy, readers will find themes of loyalty, courage, friendship and difficult lessons learned. 

The Chronicles of Narnia

• Book One:  The  Magician’s Nephew

• Book Two:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Book Three:  The Horse and His Boy
• Book Four:  Prince Caspian
• Book Five:  The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’
• Book Six:  The Silver Chair
• Book Seven:  The Last Battle 

Discussion Questions:

1. In Narnia the children aren't sure at first whom to trust. Why can this be difficult?

2. Why, when the children saw Aslan, did  they understand that something can be “good and terrible at the same time”?

3. How did Edmund change during the story? Why can't he get enough Turkish Delight?

4. Which character did you like the best? Why?

 2006 Young Adult Selection

The Ear, the Eye and the Arm

By Nancy Farmer  

The year is 2194.  Tendai Matsika is the 13-year-old son of a military general in Zimbabwe.  Bored with the sheltered, rigidly controlled life he leads,  he sneaks out of the compound with his younger brother and sister to do some exploring and work on a merit badge.   

The general’s enemies know an opportunity when they see one.  Captured by the tyrannical She-Elephant, the children are enslaved and forced to work in a toxic dump.  They finally escape, only to be captured again and imprisoned in a village that excludes all modern practices and technology.  They escape and are  recaptured again and again in a continuing series of dire circumstances.   

When their father’s power proves useless in finding the children, their mother calls the only detective agency in the phone book — a trio of mutants called the Ear, the Eye and the Arm.  Physically deformed since birth because of a nuclear accident, each of the three agents has a special power and a kind and empathetic nature.  The trio is always one bumbling step behind the  intrepid children.

Besides the series of perilous adventures, readers will enjoy the wonderful cast of comic characters, the rich background of African tradition and the futuristic high tech gadgets.  Themes include coming-of-age,  appearance versus value, heritage and family, and most of all, the depths of strength and ingenuity that people of all ages can discover in themselves when they need it.

• Newbery Honor Book

• ALA Notable Book

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Nancy Farmer has written three Newbery Honor Books: The Ear the Eye and the Arm; A Girl Named Disaster; and The House of the Scorpion, which, in 2002, also won the National Book Award.

Discussion Questions 

1. Why did the children’s mother think that  the Ear, the Eye and the Arm might  succeed in saving her children when everyone else had failed?
2. The She Elephant is frightening and powerful.  But, is she truly evil?  Why or why not?
3. In what ways  is the futuristic setting of the book similar to today?
4. If you had a choice, would you prefer living and growing up now, in the future or in the past?

Last Updated: 08/07/2006