It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

Picture Books

Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon was in our Book Fair and I am glad that I got to read it. I loved how Molly Lou's grandmother encourages her to use her imagination. It was also cool that her new best friend has crutches and it is not really even part of the story. Tiger in My Soup is a fun story. The young  boy has quite the adventure when a tiger looks back at him out of his soup bowl. Flabbersmashed About You is a story of friendship, but not just how we become friends, but how friendship sometimes changes.

Non-fiction

Image via Barnes and Noble

Biographies are fun and this one was especially wonderful since I enjoyed her most recent book, Niño Wrestles the World and Mr. Schu had posted a video of her reading within the past week. I could hear her voice as I read.

The videos below would be great to pair with her biography.

Middle Grade/YA

Cynthia Kadohata shares another great story of family with The Thing About Luck. I enjoy seeing other ways of being a family. In this children are traveling with their grandparents as they help harvest wheat.  Written in Stone is another book that highlights family interactions. I reviewed it on Saturday. Interworld was a bit of a challenge for me. I don't read a whole lot of science fiction to start with, but I also found myself disconnecting from the book every time I put it down so it took me several weeks to read, but finally this week, the action sucked me in and I zipped through the end. I am not sure if I will attempt the sequel, but was glad that it finally clicked with me.

The Coming Week:

I just started listening to Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Wow! What a twisty and unique story. I am definitely enjoying this one. I have a road trip later this week, so I will likely finish that. Monstrous Beauty is also next to my chair. Interesting so far. I have several books I need to review so that will probably determine what I read - The Twistrose Key and maybe From Norvelt to Nowhere. Have a great week of reading!

Review: Written in Stone

Title: Written in Stone
Author: Rosanne Parry
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 208
Genre: Historical Fiction
Review Copy: Netgalley ARC & Library Copy
Release Date: June 25, 2013

Summary: Pearl has always dreamed of hunting whales, just like her father. Of taking to the sea in their eight-man canoe, standing at the prow with a harpoon, and waiting for a whale to lift its barnacle-speckled head as it offers its life for the life of the tribe. But now that can never be. Pearl's father was lost on the last hunt, and the whales hide from the great steam-powered ships carrying harpoon cannons, which harvest not one but dozens of whales from the ocean. With the whales gone, Pearl's people, the Makah, struggle to survive as Pearl searches for ways to preserve their stories and skills.  -- cover image and summary via Goodreads

Review: A few years ago, I was lucky enough to travel to the Olympic Penninsula. I loved seeing it again through Written in Stone. Parry painted a picture of the landscape and I almost felt the fog roll in as I read. It is interesting to see the land, but also the time frame. There aren't that many middle grade books set in the 20s.

More than the setting though, the relationships in the story appealed to me. Pearl has lost both her parents and her sister, but she is surrounding by a caring extended family. Pearl's Aunt Susi works in town and lives on her own. She is a role model and a mentor who stands by Pearl, but also holds her accountable for her actions. Susi brings out the best in Pearl. More than anything else, this is a story of family and the strength that family can inspire.

Roseanne Parry taught on the Quinault Indian reservation. In this text, she has worked hard to respectfully portray the Quinault and Makah people and their history. She explained that she wanted to create a story that would let her students see characters like them. She shared some aspects of the culture, but was careful not to appropriate their stories. She alluded to several characters from stories, but did not explain out of respect. This was a difficult balancing act of utilizing the history to create something new without using the stories of the people because as she wrote in the author's note, "they are not mine to tell." I appreciated that she didn't just make up tales to go along with her narrative but let it stand on its own.

I would recommend Written in Stone. It provides a look into a time, place and culture that many children would not otherwise experience. For a little taste of the story, you may watch the trailer below.

Roseanne Parry's Pinterest Board related to the book

Teacher Resources