Monday, April 16, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


Newbery Challenge: This week I finished Dobry. It was a folksy family story about a young peasant boy in Bulgaria who is being raised to be a farmer though he is a talented artist. It was interesting to find that this was based on an actual artist's story.  I had to search pretty hard to find this article about the origins of the book. 
Caldecott Challenge: I didn't read a single one this week. How did that happen?

2011 Nerdy Nominees: I also got to read Bookspeak! Poems About Books. I thought the art was fun and many of the poems were really fantastic. I can't wait to share some of them with my students.

Non-fiction: Come and Eat by George Ancona is a great look at the variety of ways that people around the world eat.  Project Puffin: How We Brought the Puffins Back to Egg Rock came with the adoption of our Puffin. Walden Pond Press adopted it in the name of our library in honor of the Neversink book release. I learned all kinds of puffin facts. I am just tickled to know that the babies are called pufflings. It just makes me smile.  Just Like Me: Stories and Self-Portraits of 14 Artists was excellent. It is a great volume because it highlights a wonderful mix of artists.

Picture Books: I loved the beautiful pictures in And Then It's Spring. Bee & Bird was a neat look at perspective in a wordless book.

Chapter Books: The Legend of Diamond Lil was another fun part of the J.J. Tully Series by Doreen Cronin. The Whole Story of Half a Girl was a great middle grade book about feeling different. This book is from the perspective of a girl who is half Jewish and half Indian. Glory Be is historical fiction during the civil rights movement and was quite engaging.

Graphic Novel: The Unsinkable Walker Bean was certainly full of action and adventure. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I know quite a few students at my school that would LOVE it.

Young Adult: Vintage Veronica is by Erica Perl. I love her younger books so grabbed it up when I saw her name. It really kept me on my toes since I could never predict what would happen next. 

For next week: I really, really, really need to finish writing my research paper, so I am going to try to limit my recreational reading or I will be in trouble. Ack. I will maybe read a few Caldecotts to make up for last week and just finish reading Caddie Woodlawn unless I finish my paper early. I wonder if I can actually hold myself to that?


9 comments:

  1. I'm so glad BookSpeak won a Nerdy! I love that book. Books about books are great. You have lots of others I don't even recognize! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I am amazed that you get around to so many blogs! Thanks for visiting!

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  2. I really enjoyed Bookspeak! Poems About Books. I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with books! I also enjoyed the Legend of Diamond Lil. I found this was a nice easy chapter book for those students who are not quite ready for bigger chapter books. Because of my Book Fair, I read Glory Be. I thought it was a good introduction to all the racial issues that were happening during that time, without being too in depth.

    Good luck on your reserch paper.

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    1. I am excited to share the J.J. Tully series with my early readers. I am always looking for some that they can enjoy without too much frustration. That is exactly what I thought about Glory Be. It was perfect for young readers as an introduction to the racial issues of that time period without being overwhelming. Thanks!

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  3. I read Diamond Lil and The Trouble with Chickens this week too. Very cute reads, perfect for struggling readers or even the very fluent first graders, I thought. I admire you (and others) for doing the Newbery Challenge. I admit, I struggle to read books that just don't appeal to me. Hope you find some great reads from the Newbery folks!

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    1. I am excited to finally be getting through all of the Newberys. It is tough to endure some of them, but I have always wanted to do this. It is a whole lot easier since there are others struggling through at the same time. I am hoping to find some gems along the way.

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  4. I'll have to come back to your article on Dobry when I finally get there. I can't wait to re-read Caddie Woodlawn . . . the author spent many years in my hometown in Idaho, and I spent many hours in Carol Ryrie Brink reading room at my library. I'm a huge fan of the Erica Perl books I've read so far and I look forward to Vintage Veronia, too.

    -Lorna (@notforlunch)

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    1. Caddie is one that I remember from years ago when I was plowing through Little House books too. Good memories!

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  5. Dobry looks interesting! Have a great week!

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