Escaping The Giant Wave

Escaping The Giant Wave by Peg Kehret is the reading group selection all my fifth graders were begging to read. Unfortunately I only had so many copies thus only a lucky few received a coveted spot in that group. Truthfully, I thought the book was lame. Sure it has some exciting parts and even a little bit of character introspection, sibling rivalry, and interactions with a bully, but there is nothing spectacular about the language to make it worthy of guided reading time. Next year, I much prefer having all students read A Long Walk to Water, which stylistically and thematically offers much more for us to sink our teeth into!