Curse of the Phoenix by Aimée Carter
The creatures of legend are real—and it’s up to twins Zac and Lu to save them in this fun-filled middle grade adventure perfect for fans of Fablehaven and The Hotel Between.
Twins Zac and Lu grew up on their mother’s stories of the Wildewoods, an imaginary land where mythical beasts roam free. These creatures fill the pages of Zac’s sketchbooks and inspire Lu’s love of animals, and on most days, they’re the only thing the twins have in common.
When their mother dies, a heartbroken Lu and Zac are shipped off to England to spend the summer with relatives they’ve never met. But it doesn’t take the twins long to uncover the incredible secret tucked away in the forest behind their ancestral home: their mother’s wonderful tales about unicorns and dragons and centaurs weren’t make-believe after all. Their family serves as keepers of the Wildewoods, the last place on earth where these mythical creatures can live safe from human harm.
But there are also many dangers in these lands—as well as a terrible curse. When Zac and Lu fall victim to it, their only hope is finding the very last living phoenix left in the world. But will breaking the curse mean the end of the Wildewoods?
How These Live Book Clubs Work
Participation in the live book club includes access to a set of resources and activities as well as interactive components.
Participants receive
- A suggested reading schedule
- PDF reading guides with comprehension questions
- Vocabulary/reading activities
- Discussion board posts in our online classroom
- Writing/multimodal project prompts related to the reading
- An invitation to a live discussion
- A recording of the summary of the live discussion
- An optional feedback add-on for the final paper/project
- Rubrics for at-home feedback
Families are welcome to use as much or as little of the suggested resources and activities as they'd like to fit their interest and schedules.
Ages:
10 - 13
Dates:
January 1 - 31, 2025
Live Meeting:
There are two options for attending a live meeting for this club. An afternoon/evening option is offered to accommodate people with different schedules. Please only attend one of these meetings.
A video summary presentation will be made available for those unable to attend the live meeting. To protect participant privacy, recordings of the meetings will not be distributed to anyone who did not attend the meeting.
Note: meetings with fewer than 3 attendees may run a bit shorter depending on how participation goes.
Option 1:
January 30, 2025 (Thursday)
7:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Central / 5:00 PM Mountain / 4:00 PM Pacific Time
Option 2:
January 31, 2025 (Friday)
1:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM Mountain / 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Supplies:
A copy of the book (edition info here). Borrowed, used, and audio formats will work.
- Zoom account for live session
- Microphone and camera for live session (optional)
- PDF reader
- Access to printer if you want to print worksheets
Note: Double check the author to make sure you have the correct book, as there may be other books with a similar title.
Content Note:
This book is written at a general middle grade level of content and presentation and is generally appropriate for tween readers.
Content includes: representation of a young character with allergies and asthma, dangerous situations, fear, ominous/scary situations, worry about family members, disagreements and arguments.