It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I am so loving summer reading time! I get to read so many books. 

Newbery Challenge: Summer is great for knocking out quite a few challenge books. Early in the week I hit Ginger Pye, a sweet story about a family and their dog. The next one was The Secret of the Andes. It was a bit of a slower read, but not bad. I found it somewhat interesting, but doubt many of my students would enjoy the lack of action. The next Newbery moved along much faster - and now...Miguel. I thought Miguel was quite an intriguing character. He is stuck in between childhood and adulthood. He wants so much to be old enough to do certain things. Any child can relate to that and there is quite a bit of action so it is still a book I may recommend to students. Finally, I read The Wheel on the School. This one was a re-read. I enjoyed it this time too. It is a very upbeat book and focuses on the power of wondering and community. It just brought a smile to my face.

 

Great Non-Fiction: My favorite non-fiction books this week were both picture books. Bird Talk has beautiful illustrations and great information about what birds are communicating through their songs and actions. Ocean Sunlight is another gorgeous book. Bang and Chisholm present a wealth of information about the ocean food chain in very easy to understand language. I am excited to have both for our library and can't wait to share them with students.

For Fun: I finally got to read Babymouse for President and Bad Kitty for President. I hadn't realized there would be so much instruction about the election process in the Bad Kitty book. It almost read like non-fiction at times, but the humor kept it from bogging down too much. I have to say, after the finally tally, I would have to vote for Babymouse though. Who wouldn't want a cupcake in every locker? It helps that there was so much Babymouse hype from nerdybookclub folks the past few weeks. I especially loved the blog posts from Mr. Schu and Mr. Sharp.

Loved: The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech. Creech is such a fabulous storyteller. She pulled me in and made me care about the characters. I will write a review later so won't say much now, but I would definitely recommend this middle grade novel when it comes out later this year.

Fantasy: I can't believe it took me so long to finally read Howl's Moving Castle. This was great fun and in some way reminded me of the Tiffany Aching stories though I can't exactly put my finger on why that is. I will have to try some more of Diana Wynne Jones' works now that I have tasted one. I saw the animated video (steampunk/anime style) too. I did prefer the book, but the movie was certainly a fun romp.

For the Coming Week: I am still waiting for Darth Vader and Son and will be starting Carry On Mr. Bowditch and Miracles on Maple Hill for the Newbery Challenge. I imagine it will be another great week of reading. Happy summer reading!