I have read some fantastic books this week and some bummers too.
Newbery Challenge: The Cat Who Went to Heaven wasn't too bad, but Waterless Mountain was not one I will ever read again or recommend. It was a story of the Navajo people through the eyes of a white woman. Review here. Most people were more generous than I, but I just didn't like it.
Caldecott Challenge: Abraham Lincoln was not one of my favorites either. It was too much of a tall tale type of book. Alphabet City was a fun way to see the alphabet - found city objects. I loved re-reading Snowflake Bentley. Finally, Peppe the Lamplighter was a nice immigrant story though the dad was hard to accept for awhile.
Books for Adults: I was happy to get Readicide through Inter-library loan, but I also ordered it for my professional collection. and it just arrived. It is a fantastic look at how we kill the love of reading and how we can avoid doing that. I also read the adult novel After You'd Gone which was coincidentally somewhat similar to the Young Adult books that I read.
Middle Grade: Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner was exciting and fun.
Picture Books: Apple Pie ABC was cute. The Cazuela the Farm Maiden Stirred is a bright and engaging cumulative tale with a recipe that I am dying to try. And Waiting for the Biblioburro was precious.
Young Adult: If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman were both amazing. Where She Went was part of the Nerdy Awards nomination list so I started with that, but soon realized it was a sequel so I had to read the first one too. I read both of them in less than 24 hours. They were that compelling. Having a free afternoon helped too though. :)
For next week, I am working on re-reading Kashmira Sheth's books Boys Without Names and Blue Jasmine. I will also work on Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze and some Caldecotts. I am also hoping to get to Why We Broke Up.
Great reading week! I really enjoyed The Cat Who Went to Heaven- I thought it was a sweet book and actually a Newbery I can sell to kids.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you got to Eye of the Storm and If I Stay/Where She Went- they are all really wonderful books.
Happy reading this week.
I really enjoyed Readicide! It's amazing how apparent things are when we stop and really think about what we are doing and saying to students about reading. Crazy and scary sometimes...but I'm glad there are books like Readicide to help people open their eyes.
ReplyDeleteI loved If I Stay and Where She Went! Both were soooo good. I'm not sure which I liked more. I listened to both on audio and thought they were great.
I do have to say I saw that you were going to read Why We Broke Up and I thought maybe it was a third Gayle Forman book that I didn't know about and I was freaking out that Adam and Mia break up!!!! I gasped and quickly went to look it up on GoodReads. That was not a funny trick. I think my heart rate has returned to normal now.
Sorry about the Why We Broke Up near heart attack. That would be a horrible title to have in the If I Stay series. Ugh. Glad GoodReads solved the information crisis. I love it.
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