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 - No progress. Ack!
Caldecott Challenge
Duffy and the Devil is a Rumplestiltskin story and it made me giggle. The pictures didn't wow me though. I thought they were unique, but not out of this world.
Picture Book
I finally got my hands on Laurel Snyder's Good night, laila tov. I had meant to read that awhile ago after we had a wonderful Skype visit with her in the spring, but my list of books just gets out of hand and I forget at least half of what I mean to read. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it for bedtime - or anytime really.
Non-Fiction
Just Being Audrey was wonderful. I have read a few adult biographies of Audrey Hepburn and so finding this book made me smile. Reading it made my smile grow even bigger. I love the illustrations! The text informed and shared her light, but my only complaint is that I wanted more information. That is the difficulty of picture biographies though.
Novel/ Printz Honor
For NaNoWriMo, I am writing a story with two narrators. One is telling her story in verse. So, I have a stack of books in my house that are of the Novel-in-Verse variety. Keesha's House was a re-read for me and I loved it again. Helen Frost does such a fabulous job of making poetry speak volumes. In few words, her characters manage to express so much. On top of it, she also uses a wide variety of poetry forms in her books. This one had sonnets and sestinas. She includes the rules for those forms at the end.
I didn't read any lengthy books this week, but otherwise, it was an excellent week of reading. Many books brought a smile to my face and several made me really think.
For the Coming Week: I am having a hard time getting many pages read while I am working on NaNoWriMo so novels-in-verse are just the thing. I will continue to read through Thanksgiving books critically each day and will try to start M.C. Higgins the Great for the Newbery Challenge. I am not sure that I will get to much else though I want to start Malcolm at Midnight soon. We will see what I can fit into my very busy life.
Good luck on NANOWRIMO! I'm so glad I did the Caldecott Challenge this year. Some books were truly works of art! Happy Reading Week!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, the Caldecotts have been fun. I have quite a few more to read though.
DeleteOoh! I think I will recommend some Helen Frost today!
ReplyDeleteI love Hidden and The Braid too. I know there are more, I am not thinking of, but I haven't found one that I didn't like.
DeleteWasn't Good Night, Laila Tov beautiful? I loved the family traditions shared in the book. I read a library copy, but is one book worth investing in for perfect family read alouds, isn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Good Night is definitely worth having for a family of readers. Beautiful.
Deletei am intrigued by Just Being Audrey Picture book biographies are wonderful for younger readers. My daughter would love this title I think!
ReplyDeleteGood Night, laila tov sounds wonderful, as do several others, like the Audrey Hepburn book. Congrats on doing nanowrimo-what a big challenge! I love the novels in verse, like those you mentioned, & have you read Girl Coming In For A Landing and Inside Out and Back Again? They are both good too. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI loved Inside Out, but haven't seen Girl Coming in for a Landing. I'll have to look for that one. Thanks!
DeleteHi there. I hear you loud and clear about the Newbery challenge. I'm just happy that Iphigene (one of the GatheringBooks ladies) has managed to read and review Missing May last week, but we're still lagging waaaay behind. If you're interested in novels-in-verse, we have used this as our bimonthly theme last year, and I did create a list from that theme which you may want to check out and which might help you in your Nanowrimo - here ya go. http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/list-of-novels-in-verse-and-poetry-books-for-children-and-round-up-for-january-2012/
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for 'two voices' - I thought that Nikki Grimes' Dark Sons was particularly powerful and compelling.
Thanks so much! I love novels-in-verse and I am always looking for more.
DeleteI adore Audrey Hepburn - I'll have to look for that one.
ReplyDeleteI am an Audrey Hepburn fan and loved it. The illustrations were fantastic. Hard to completely tell her story in 32 pages, but it's definitely a keeper.
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