Monday, January 6, 2014

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:




My favorite picture books were Little You, a beautiful board book, Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue, another gorgeous book, and surprisingly enough Dot. There have been other books about keeping a healthy balance around technology use, but I thought Dot. is done very well. The Black Rabbit was very cute and I liked What Does the Fox Say? way more than I wanted to. It's like one of those things that I don't want to admit that I enjoy. The illustrations were really cool.

Trail and America the Beautiful are both fabulous pop-up books that were donated to our library. Trail is actually a poem that is displayed in circles that the reader turns on each page. America the Beautiful showcases many landmarks from across our country. I know that the students will be excited to see these new additions to our collection. My students love to sit and read books from our "special collection" on days when they aren't checking out books. I keep books with movable parts on a shelf near our couch and chairs and they don't leave the library, but are available to read in the LMC.

I read several books of fables since our second grade has been studying fables and I just bought new books for the unit. The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World was hilarious. Mulla Nasruddin is a delightful character with wonderful tricks up his sleeve.

Africa is My Home was a fascinating read. I didn't know this bit of history and liked seeing it from a child's perspective. It would be nice paired with Never Forgotten.

I talked about Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia here, though I might still do a more detailed review sometime. I really enjoyed it. Golden Boy was also fantastic. The story was so compelling. 

Overall it was a good week of reading.

The Coming Week: 
Currently Reading
I am listening to The 5th Wave on CD and just switched to the second point of view. My daughter overheard part of it and said, "Is this a zombie book? It sounds like a zombie book." It really does seem like one though it is a spaceship and alien kind of book. I am reading Tender at the Bone because I really love books about food and this one was given to me. I am loving Inheritance. My next book is very likely More Than This. I just picked it up from the library on Saturday and can't wait to start. It's on my Must Read shelf. I had 110 books on that shelf at the beginning of the year and now the number is sitting at 103. We'll see what kind of dent I can make in it this week. :)

11 comments:

  1. I too enjoyed Africa is My Home and thought it was a great way to convey that experience to young readers. I've been hearing/reading lots of chatter about Seraphina's Promise. Did you enjoy it?

    Lorna

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    1. I liked it. I felt like it didn't need to be in verse format. I loved the character though and her determination.

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  3. Wow! Great reading week! I am rereading The Lost Boy for Cybils. I'd love to get to 5th Wave at some point. I hear great things about it.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! So cool that you are reading for Cybils. :)

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  4. I enjoyed The 5th Wave because it had a slightly different premise than the usual survival/dystopian book. I heard another is coming soon, Crystal! I enjoyed seeing your ideas about the picture books you shared, will look for Seraphina's Promise-sounds nice. Thanks for all!

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    1. 5th Wave keeps taking twists and turns. It keeps me on my toes. ;)

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  5. I really want to read Golden Boy. I see you just started More than This. This is on my shelf - hoping I can get to it before I need to return it to the library! So pleased to see Little You on your list I love this board book. Just gorgeous.

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    1. Yes! I know I will be buying copies of that for new parents.

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  6. Hello there Crystal, did you know that there's a picture book version of Maya Angelou's Amazing Peace? I read the picture book version aloud to my book club of young readers a few years back. Powerful illustrations. I agree that you did have a great reading week, so many book covers here! I can't wait to find Serafina's Promise as well. Have a great reading week.

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    1. I did not know about that picture book. Thanks! I will look for it.

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