During the Mock Newbery Book Club students read, discussed, blogged, debated, and Skyped with authors. One of the books on their 2nd list was The Real Boy.
The students loved discussing Anne's ideas for the wooden children, herbs, the plague, the Legend of Aletheia, and many other details. They also requested a sequel since they would love to learn what happens to Oscar now that he knows the truth. However, their favorite part of the visit was Anne's cats. She recently rescued them and hasn't decided on names for them yet. Gwin Oaks students eagerly suggested name choices including her naming them after herbs from The Real Boy or even Oscar and Callie. They were even more excited when Anne said once she decided on names she would post them on Twitter.
The suggestion of Oscar for one of the cat names was an obvious choice for the group since they were immediately drawn to him. It was only after the Skype session ended and I was talking to Anne that we discussed how her son was the inspiration for the character since she wanted to show children with special needs as heroes. Her portrayal of Oscar did just that for my students.
Anne's visit was the perfect ending for the Skype portion of the Mock Newbery Book Club. Thank you Anne for taking the time to share your book with my students.