Since this whole class is optional, you can choose to participate (or not) whenever you wish.
However, if you choose to participate, we want to make clear our expectations for that participation.
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Realize that you should have the book read before you read through the comments. Spoilers will likely appear in the conversations, so please do not be surprised or angry if this happens.
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Bring reader questions and observations about the text. We will throw our own questions and observations out for you to consider, but your questions and observations are as important and necessary in this as ours.
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Please abide by the Thumper Rule when interacting with others:
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Back up what you’re asking or saying with quotes and page numbers so that we can all follow along.
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Think about and share possible thematic text connections (classics, YA lit, picture books, poetry, non fiction texts, news stories, movies, YouTube videos). This will be especially helpful information for the teachers among us, but it’s good thinking for all of us.
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yalit101.wordpress.com 
I am a bit behind on reading and just started this one, but let me say I’m very interested in this one already. After readings the first few chapters, I already had alien invasion nightmares last night!
I need to get to the bookstore and just go ahead and get this. The wait list at the library is way too long. But if you’re having nightmares, I probably need to read it soon…school starts for everyone here on the 26th!
This is *wildly* popular in my town! There are twelve copies in the entire library district and ten of them are out; I can’t even download the e-book! I hope to get my hands on it soon, but I’ll be late in posting…
I could not put it down. I see that the author is already collaborating with Hollywood to turn it into the next ‘Hunger Games’. I will say that it pushes the envelope a bit for a tween sensation. There is the creepy nightmare image of being invaded by aliens while you sleep and then as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th wave rolled out there are pretty serious issues dealing with survival, not to mention the image of the Ebola virus wiping out millions of people . Then there is the final 5th wave which is turning kids into killing machines by playing mind games with them. I even hesitate a bit to put the book on my DEAR shelf, as I teach sixth grade and they seem a bit young to have to really digest all of that, however, I loved the story. It would be a great activity to have students compare and contrast Katniss to Cassie. I think Cassie is hilarious and more pragmatic than Katniss and is a great female protagonist. I believe I have talked myself into putting the book on my shelf.
I had the opposite response to most people after reading this book; I enjoyed it but didn’t love it, as so many readers have. Perhaps, all the hype made me overexcited. I did, however, recommend this book to my freshmen this week and there’s already a waiting list for my copy. I’m interested to hear their responses.
Here are some of my thoughts: I assumed that the entire story was going to be from the point of view of the main heroine, Cassie. The book trailers were all in one female voice and the summary portrayed the novel as her story. Instead, the story is told from multiple perspectives, and it wasn’t immediately apparent whose perspective you were getting. Normally I am a HUGE fan of multiple narrators (i.e. Legend); I love to see different sides of the same event. For some reason, in this book, I hated it. I did a lot of thinking afterwards about why something I usually covet in a book bothered me so much. I came to the conclusion that I wanted more of Cassie’s story. I guess I felt disjointed with the multiple narrators. With so many different stories – Cassie’s, Evan’s, Ben’s, Sammy’s – I never really wholly connected to any of them.
I will say, I loved the concept of the book. I would never categorize myself as a fan of alien fiction, but Rick Yancey really made a believer out of me with his concept. He made an alien attack almost too realistic, and he did it in a way that made fun of our usual stereotypes. There were no big-headed aliens walking around, no ufos circling the White House – there was only a psychological attack on humanity (the scariest kind of attack possible). I liked his use of the waves and how each one, although devastating, still provided the survivors with hope. If they weren’t dead already, maybe the aliens could be defeated? The story was essentially a survivor story – what would it take for humanity to survive in the face of all out defeat? As a reader, you don’t get a better real-life question than that to ponder throughout a fictional tale.
If you liked The 5th Wave, I highly recommend Icons by Margaret Stohl; I actually liked that one better (eeek…sorry 5th Wave fanatics).