It's Monday! What are you Reading?

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 or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

I am strapped for time so will let the stars speak for themselves today. 

1=did not like it, 2=eh, 3=liked it, 4=really liked it, 5=it was amazing

The Past Week:

Picture Book

Middle Grade

Young Adult

The Coming Week:

I was listening to Eli the Good on audio, but the 4th CD is messed up, so if I can find another copy, I will finish that. Then I started Anna and the French Kiss, but I have to say I am not loving it so I may not finish. I requested The Crown of Embers from the library and it is "in transit" so that is up next. Jack Gantos is coming on May 20th, so I am going to try to get my hands on Hole in My Life that I need to read for the Printz Challenge anyway. I will also need to pick something to read for my next Rich in Color review. What will you be reading? Have a great week!

Screen Free Week

I am typing this on Sunday as I plan for Screen Free Week. Matthew Cordell's book hello! hello! is the perfect way to kick off the week too. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you pick it up.

I will be laying low on the Internet and hopefully only using screens as necessary for my job. At home, I plan to be studying for my Hmong class, reading, enjoying music, walking my dog, spending time outside and hanging out with my family. I love my screens, but taking a break and disconnecting for awhile will be refreshing. Have a great week and I will see you here again next Monday for It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

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 or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

The Past Week:

Picture Books

I read quite a few picture books this week since I got to go to the CCBC book presentation and I got a new order in too. My favorite one this week was Please, Baby, Please. The illustrations are beautiful and the situations are completely hilarious from a parent perspective. I think children will love it too though. They also managed to put a little clock in each picture so it could be used to help when teaching time. Two others that really captured my attention were the ones about Tea Cakes. I am going to have to give at least one of the recipes a try soon. The best part about them was not the tea cake recipes, but the wonderful glimpse into the relationship with the grandmothers. Just wonderful family love.

Young Adult

These three are completely different books. Legend is a sci-fi adventure that has some intense action scenes and is focused on two very smart and strong characters. Eleanor and Park is a sweet romance set in the eighties. The characters have way less physical strength than those in Legend, but they have emotional strength that helps them through their difficulties. Jasper Jones is historical fiction/mystery and is set in Australia. This caused me some comprehension trouble as it features several cricket games. This is not a sport I can follow, but fortunately there is more to the story. I'm reading it for the Printz challenge. That is what I like about challenges. It pushes me into books I wouldn't normally pick up.

Middle Grade

The main character in this story was actually middle grade age, so it seemed odd to place it in the YA category. I understand why some people do though. The themes it deals with are tough. A family is still working through the death of one of the children at the hands of a terrorist. Sudden violent death is a tricky subject and the father's racism is also really in your face. I appreciated the voice of the younger brother who is trying to make sense of it all and live his life without the shadow of this sister he barely remembers. It provides the reader with a lot to think about.

Ash Mistry was a cool fantasy book and it was fun to see a bit into the world of the mythology of India. It seems the author was trying to do something like the Percy Jackson series with Indian gods and goddesses instead of the Greek and Roman ones. Fortunately, it worked. It's not a copy, but it does have a similar flavor of action, humor and seriously evil beings battling it out with the heroes. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.

The Coming Week:

I think I will finally be diving into The Summer Prince and then will get to more of the books that were in my stack last week. I am listening to Lucky Breaks on CD and I plan to get to Yaqui Delgado. With it being Screen Free Week, I will probably get to a few more too. What will you be reading this week?

Screen Free Week

I've been seeing a lot on Twitter about Screen Free Week.

All of those posts and the beautiful weather outside have about convinced me to take the pledge. I just have to figure out how to manage it. Clearly, I will have to still teach my lessons at school and some require screen use. Also, tomorrow I am scheduled to update a cart of iPads. Difficult to avoid those screens. I also think not answering email at school might get me into trouble. So, I will be limiting my screen time during my free time at home. No Goodreads, Twitter, blogging or Facebook. This will be difficult, but will give me a greater appreciation for them OR will show me that I don't need them. I don't watch TV already so that will be easy. I will try to get my blog posts done ahead of time and schedule them so it won't go completely dark. Will you be joining us for Screen Free (or partially free) Week?

Poem in Your Pocket Week

image from Goodreads.com

We stretched Poem in Your Pocket Day out over a week so more students could read with each other. Many of my classes have had the chance to share poetry with students around the country. We connected with schools in Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Maryland and Connecticut. We have read poems individually from our pockets, we've read together as a class and we have even read some poems back and forth with other classes. Joyful Noise was a great way for us to connect. Instead of two voices, we had about 40. Another great experience was when one class read the book Chicken Soup with Rice for us. Fun times. I love poetry month! Have you done anything fun for Poetry Month?

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

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 or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

The Past Week:

Young Adult

I read Huntress first and then Ash and it didn't seem that it makes a difference for the order (that is the opposite of the publication dates) since they are companion books. I enjoyed both. I loved the uniqueness of the plots and the fairytale flavor. I am a sucker for fairytale re-tellings. Especially in this case since Malinda Lo adds more texture to the surroundings and depth to the characters. I also enjoyed reading the second book of the Tankborn series. I reviewed Awakening over at the blog Rich in Color. It is part of a great sci-fi series.

Graphic Novels

Netgalley was definitely my friend this week. I was able to read several graphic novels that I wouldn't have had access to otherwise. A Match Made in Heaven was quite a fun diversion. I did laugh out loud several times and had a smile on my face throughout. 

Saints and Boxers on the other hand was much more serious. I know that I have read novels that take place during the boxer rebellion at least several books by Pearl S. Buck, but otherwise I didn't have a ton of background knowledge about the time period. Afterward, I checked out Gene Luen Yang's blog and found out more about this tumultuous time. I will write a review about them both either here or on Rich in Color closer to the release in September.

Middle Grade

A Tangle of Knots was a fun and entertaining mystery that happened to include recipes. See my post from yesterday for more on that. 

Non-fiction

So creepy and icky!! Loved it. The Book of Blood is exactly what non-fiction should be: informational AND absorbing. Who knew that cockroaches can live up to several weeks after having their head severed? Maybe you, but not me. I now know things about blood that I never learned in school. It was pretty fascinating.

For the Coming Week:

I am listening to Legend by Marie Lu and I am reading The Savage Fortress. I still have a ton of books sitting by the bookshelf and I have no idea which ones will grab my attention this week. Have a great week of reading.

Lime Pound Cake from A Tangle of Knots

image from IndieBound

This week I had the pleasure of reading the middle grade novel A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff. It is a book with many layers (didn't truly mean to drop in a cake pun). It is certainly about family and is a mystery, but has a thread of fantasy too. In addition, it has RECIPES! I love it when a book comes complete with a mini-cookbook. Another great excuse to bake. The first one that tempted me was the Miss Mallory's Peach Cake -- see video instructions below.

But then I saw the Lime Pound Cake and that was so different, that I would have to try it as soon as possible. The recipe is in the book, but is also here. I had everything but limes since it has a fairly short list of ingredients. So after I ran out to the store for those, I was in business.

To get ready, I set up the audio book I have been listening to and made a pot of tea. Then I gathered the seven ingredients.

What took the longest was the zest. I really need to get a little gizmo for doing that. I just have a grater, but it is a tricky and slightly messy process. You know what I love though, using my little juicer. The smell of the limes when they are juiced is fantastic.

And, I got to whisk. I love whisking. I feel all official when I get to use a whisk. 

Lotsa butter!

Ready for the oven. Smells yummy!

And finally, my afternoon snack.

This isn't the first time a book has led me to cooking or baking. We moved back to Ohio when I was 11 or 12. Since we finally had snow (after living in southern CA for years), I made the maple syrup candy that Laura told about in Little House in the Big Woods. Later when I taught third grade, we made homemade butter and bread after reading that book too. I have tried several recipes in The Little House cookbook. One I remember was truly wonderful, but oh, so bad. It recommended frying up your chicken in bacon fat. I made that for my husband years ago. Not on the healthy menu. I've also made strawberry jam and honey butter from Winnie-the-Pooh's Teatime Cookbook. Excellent with a nice cup of tea. I made a lemon chess pie when I read Sarah Weeks' book Pie last year too.

Do you have any favorite cooking/baking associated with a book or know of any other book related cookbooks that you would recommend?