Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.
You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads.com or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.
The Past Week
Newbery Challenge
Slave Dancer is a work of historical fiction (like MANY Newbery books) about the slave trade. It is raw and filled with horrifying atrocities. If it sounds like slavery that hasn't been sugarcoated much, then I have explained it appropriately. This is definitely a challenging read. I would think it may be a struggle for elementary students just with the vocabulary, but also, it is one heavy book. Reading it is like when you are witnessing something and you want to look away because it is so horrifying. I appreciated it, but it is hard to read without having your emotions pretty much thrashed.
Favorite Thanksgiving Books
The biggest reason I like Thanksgiving at Our House is because it is simply about how one family celebrates. It doesn't even go into the whole "First Thanksgiving" myth. The Ugly Pumpkin is just a hilarious story that is kind of incidentally a Thanksgiving story. It looks like it might be about Halloween, but it only briefly mentions that holiday. I can't say much more or it will give things away. Both made me smile. This was good as I waded through quite a few Thanksgiving books that were less than pleasing first. See this post about National Native American Heritage Month for more about those.
Favorite Picture Book
Boot and Shoe is absolutely adorable. I love this tale of friendship. It made me smile.
I read more books that you may check out through Goodreads including some icky Thanksgiving books and some good novels in verse, but in an effort to meet my NaNoWriMo goal for this weekend, this is where I need to stop.
For next week:
I will do some professional reading, I will begin M.C. Higgins the Great for the Newbery Challenge, and will continue reading novels in verse as mentortexts for my own writing. I am in the middle of a re-read of Helen Frost's Keesha's House right now. I will also be reading several books I got from Oyate with my second grade classes to support their unit about communities and neighborhoods. Have a great week!
I know what you mean about Thanksgiving books. Some tell half-truths while others paints a lovely little scene. Thanks for highlighting a few worthwhile reads. Last year I fell in LOVE with Balloons over Broadway, which tells the background of the man who developed the giant balloon puppets for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's my 'new' favorite Thanksgiving Read. I will have to check for Thanksgiving at Our House. :)
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Balloons Over Broadway. The illustrations are fantastic and the story is really well told. I just got a shipment with a book in it called Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. I am looking forward to reading that one soon.
ReplyDeleteThe cover of The Ugly Pumpkin made me laugh out loud. Poor guy! Also, this is the second time I've seen Boot and Shoe today. I need to add that one to my list :)
ReplyDeleteMaria @novalibrarymom.com