It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - June 24

I attended the All Write conference in Warsaw, Indiana this past week, and left with two important things:

1. a rekindled passion to do all types of writing (including blogging more often and participating in #TeachersWrite), and
2. an ARC of Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner, due out September 10

That second part is what I want to talk about first.  OMG!!  I loved the mystery and adventure that Kate had put into her Capture the Flag series, but she took writing a page-turner to an entirely different level with Wake Up Missing.  Granted, the target audience might be a bit older (5th grade and up, probably), but the possibility of DNA engineering, chases through the Florida swamps, alligators lying in wait, made this a book I could not put down once I began.  I find it lovely when one author pays respect to another in a book.  In a very subtle way, Kate Messner gives a nod to Laurel Snyder and her book, Bigger Than a Breadbox -- it is mentioned several times as the book the narrator is reading, but it is cleverly done.  The book is never mentioned by name, but if you know the book, the descriptions of the plot line make it very clear (reminiscent of how A Wrinkle in Time is referenced many times without its title in When You Reach Me).  Put September 10 on your calendars right now or get this book pre-ordered, especially if you teach 5th grade or middle school.  Wake Up Missing is not to be missed!

The other book I finished this weekend is The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle.  Our heroes are in trouble again, especially Liam, and it takes the entire group and their combined strengths (though some of their "strengths" are hysterical!) to persevere.  A perfect follow-up to The Hero's Guide to Saving Our Kingdom.

I also had to read The Great Santini by Pat Conroy for one of my adult book clubs this week.  I normally love everything this man has ever written, but am having a very difficult time with this book.  I have to be very invested in the characters of the story, and there is one character in this book I just can't stand.  I have about 75 pages left to read before Wednesday, so I'm hoping something turns around in how I view this man.  But, I have to say, Pat Conroy can really develop a character and a setting, and that is equally true in The Great Santini.

Books that are up next for me (not counting my professional reading right now):

• finish The Real Boy by Anne Ursu this week
• reserve and read Spy School and Spy Camp, both highly recommended by Tony
• have 6 choices from the public library for my next adult read; not sure which one will be "the one"
• reread The Water Castle after hearing so many rave reviews from other people

 Please join Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, who are the cohosts of this wonderful Monday event!  I love finding out what others are reading, and start planning my next week's reading using some of the participants ideas.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - Sept. 24

I love my classes this year, but another part of me is really missing those lazy days of summer when I read at will, whenever and wherever.  But as I've spent so much time learning about my students through beginning of year assessments, reading has taken a little bit of a backseat. 

But in the last three to four weeks, I have managed to get a few things read:

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker - My blog partner, Bill, had read this and recommended it. I loved it! The author is Sara Pennypacker, of Clementine fame. I really enjoyed this read, and since I sometimes judge a book's success by how many tissues I use while crying at happy or sad parts (even when they're predictable), I can tell you this book had a 5-tissue ending. :) (middle grade)

Small Medium at Large by Joanne Levy - I actually read this a few weeks ago, and forgot to record it on GoodReads. This will be a book I recommend time and time again to students, especially girls. I love the unusual element of the main character, Lilah, being able to hear ghosts. She then spends time trying to help them help the loved ones they left behind. Delightful. (middle grade)

The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford - I can't wait to get this book into the hands of many of my students, especially girls this year.  The concepts of how friendships can change and morph as middle school approaches, the idea that everyone wants somewhere to belong, and the concept that communities look out for one another.   This book has all that and a little voodoo and revenge wrapped up into a delightful bundle.   (middle grade)

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness - A really good ending to The Chaos Walking trilogy. Down to the wire, but the ending left me with hope. This one was probably the hardest for me to comprehend because of a group of characters; I had to really wrap my head around their being and their language. (YA)

 The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani - This was my adult book club read for tonight's meeting. I'm so happy we read this for several reasons. First, if you've never read anything by Adriana Trigiani, you're missing something special. She is closely tied to family and her Italian heritage, and that comes out in much of what she writes. In addition, the last book our club read was Elizabeth Street, which also dealt with Italian immigrants and heritage. What a great comparison we can make between the two books! Finally, our hostess for the evening has strong Italian heritage herself, and she found a cookbook Adriana Trigiani wrote with her sister of Italian recipes, and Chris will be preparing some of those foods for us to sample at book club - yum!!  (adult)

Please join Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, who are the cohosts of this wonderful Monday event!  I love finding out what others are reading, and start planning my next week's reading using some of the participants ideas. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - Aug. 27

I'm so pleased I was able to find time to read this week, even though I had teacher workdays four of the days, because I managed to read several things I really enjoyed.

Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness -- How am I just getting around to reading this series now?!!  The first one was The Knife of Never Letting Go.  I don't normally read science fiction, but I couldn't put this one down. And for those of you who know this book, I found myself very upset with the ending. I absolutely needed to read the next book asap because I was dying to know what happened next. Wonderful, suspenseful book.  And then, I did read the next book, The Ask and The Answer.  It was just as riveting as the first book. What I can't believe is I have to wait until next weekend to finish this trilogy -- with students coming tomorrow for the first day, I won't have time to read something as big as Monsters of Men (the last book) until then.

Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom by Rachel Vail -- My blog partner, Bill, said he thought this Justin Case book was better than the first and I have to agree with him. While Justin is still frightened of many things, it's nice to see him getting a little stronger as well. I'm glad Rachel Vail is letting his character grow and develop. Matthew Cordell's illustrations are perfect.

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman -- Love the simple, but important, message in this book about how we need to take care of one another.  This might be one of the books I read aloud for our first day.

May B.  by Caroline Starr Rose -- May B is such a great female character. I'm always looking for wonderful novels in verse to add to our classroom library and this one fits the bill. Due to hard times, May B is sent to live with a family 15 miles away to help out the wife who is suffering from depression and can't seem to do anything around the house. When the wife runs away and the husband follows her, May B is left alone in the middle of nowhere to fend for herself. Powerful reading!

Oh, and just for fun, I read a Sandra Brown novel, Lethal. :)

Please join Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, who are the cohosts of this wonderful Monday event!  I love finding out what others are reading, and start planning my next week's reading using some of the participants ideas.  

It's Monday, What Are You Reading - July 16

 I had a very fun, busy week so I didn't read as much as last time, but what I did read, I really liked.

After the #titletalk in April or May, where the conversation focused on graphic novels, that has been a real goal for me.  I read 4 books in this genre, and all of them will be perfect additions to our classroom library.

• The Flying Beaver Brothers -- I read both The Evil Penguin Plan and The Fishy Business.  So fun! This book and the second in the series, The Fishy Business, just make me chuckle. A great addition to the graphic novel section of our library. 

• Babymouse for President -- How is this book not perfect for an election year?!! Babymouse is back with all her silliness; such fun!!  Every time I read a Babymouse book, it cracks me up when she thinks/dreams in pink.  

• Wild Pitch - I have heard many great things about this graphic novel series from Sports Illustrated Kids. Cannot wait to add more of these to my collection! Will want to talk to students about how to read it though, because important information starts on the inside cover and continues all the way to the back cover. Sports fans will be sure to enjoy these series!

I also found two wonderful books that are poetry, word fun, and sometimes both:

• Wumbers - -  Kids will have a great time with this book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The entire book is just word fun galore, with Rosenthal spelling words that have numbers in the place of certain syllables (It's words cre8ed with numbers!). I think it would be a great way to stretch vocabulary and play with words for students. 

• Edgar Allan Poe's Pie -- I found this book recently at our local bookstore, and had to have it. I am a huge fan of the prolific J. Patrick Lewis. This book of poetry is unique for 2 reasons: 1) each poem is inspired by an already existing poem written by some great poets (not sure kids will get all the references, but I had a great time connecting the originals I knew with what J. Patrick Lewis wrote), and 2) each poem is a math riddle. I plan on buying a second copy of this book to give to my teaching partner as a back to school gift.  It would be great fun to use these poems in some way during her math times with our students. 

And I finished one YA novel, Crossed, by Allie Condie.  I like Matched (the first in the trilogy) better because in Crossed there was one character who made a brief appearance and then is only referred to after that -- I feel like he is a major player and we needed more of him (plus I really like his character). I will definitely be reading the 3rd in this trilogy to see how Condie wraps up things.

Please join Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, who are the cohosts of this wonderful Monday event!  I love finding out what others are reading, and start planning my next week's reading using some of the participants ideas.  

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 23

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a regular basis.   I love the idea of being an active contributing member of this reading community. Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your reading lives with me.

This entire week, I read hardly anything, and then the weekend came, and I managed to get several books read, and really enjoyed all of them.

First off, I read Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine.  I chuckled my way through the entire book and all the poems.  It was fun connecting poems with their original literary context, and it was also quite amusing that Levine played with the sequencing of the book as well.  As I read, it seemed to me that she must have had a blast writing these poems.  While I'm sure they were all hard work to get just the way she wanted them, Levine infused each poem with great humor.

Next came The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart.  I have enjoyed the Mysterious Benedict Society series, and this book was a prequel to that.  In it, the reader gets a behind the scenes look at the events that shaped Nicholas Benedict's life.  They are really quite telling of things to come.  I wrote in my GoodReads account that I originally picked this book up to have something that wouldn't take all my time and attention; I figured because of its length, it would take me awhile to finish.  Stewart does such a great job with the pacing of the story and the multiple plot lines, that I just couldn't put it down.

I've had the 2nd book in the Mal and Chad graphic novel series, Food Fight!, for a few weeks, but finally made time to read it.  It is very similar to the first book, and I know my students will love it.  On a personal note, I really wish the other kids in the book wouldn't be so unkind to Mal.  I noticed that it really bothered me this time.

My final book has a back story I'm embarrassed to admit: up until this weekend, I hadn't read any of the Swindle series by Gordon Korman.  My blog partner here, Bill, has read/reviewed each one of them, and for some reason, I was just not motivated to do so as well.  But I read Showoff (the 4th book in the series), and I enjoyed it immensely.  I am predicting that my students will get excited as I highlight these books now.  I am planning on rereading the three books that came before so I can get an understanding for the evolution of each character.  I enjoyed them all so much in this book.



I currently have no specific plans for reading this week, except I may be rereading Divergent to prepare for Insurgent's release next week on May 1.  Hope everyone has a great week of reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 16

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a pretty regular basis. But like most things I undertake, I do so incrementally.  Last week, I got a post up and linked.  This week, I plan on not only posting, but spending time reading other linked posts, seeing what friends are reading, and leaving comments for people.  I love the idea of being an active contributing member of this reading community.


I did not read a great quantity of books this week, but the quality was amazing!!  Recently, my adult book club read South of Broad by Pat Conroy.  I really enjoyed it, and a friend recommended one of Conroy's books I hadn't read: The Lords of Discipline.  All week long, I have managed to read little pieces of Lords of Discipline at a time on my Kindle Fire, but on Saturday evening, I got to a part that I just couldn't stop reading.  I had to know how the story was going to end.   So I read until 2:30 in the morning.  I was exhausted all day Sunday, but it was so worth it. Lords of Discipline was a great inside look at what it is like to attend a military academy as a male, and the different meanings the word "honor" has to the graduates of the academy.  I found myself both fascinated and repulsed by the unique initiation rituals performed at the military academy in this book.  The academy in this book is based on the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina (the setting in the book as well).  This is a piece of fiction, but I'm betting many of the events run very true to actual events.

The other book I read Sunday is more of a middle school / high school read.  The title is If Only, and it centers around a 13 year old girl who is trying to work her way through the grieving process.  Her mom died very quickly and unexpectedly of cancer one summer.  One of my closest friends lost her battle with breast cancer, and she left behind two daughters very similar in age to the girl in the book, so this book felt very personal for me.  The question "if only..." is one the main character asks time and time again as she tries to deal with her mother's death.

What I'm looking forward to reading in the near future:

• The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard
• the 2nd in the graphic novel series of Mal and Chad -- Food Fight by Stephen McCranie
• Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine
• The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill (a 2011 book I never got around to reading)

That's it for me.  Hope your reading is wonderful this week!!!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 9

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a pretty regular basis.  I know that as I've dropped in and read some of the blogs others have written about what they're reading, I get some great ideas for where I can go next with my own reading.  And this weekend was full of great reading, so here we go!!

I started the long weekend (we weren't in school Friday) by finishing an ARC of Remarkable.  What a delightful book that was.  I loved the concept of a young girl who was surrounded by gifted parents, siblings, acquaintances, and townsfolk.  The big message of this book was that we all have gifts to offer to the world, regardless of how inconsequential -- important message for our students to hear.

On Friday afternoon, I visited my favorite children's bookstore, Cover to Cover.  While there I bought this wonderful stack of books:

books from Cover to Cover

Some of these books were "destination books" -- they were the reason I traveled to Cover to Cover.  Others, like Take Me With You and Kindred Souls, were purchased on the great advice of Beth, one of the incredibly knowledgeable women who work at Cover to Cover.

From Friday evening to Sunday evening, I was able to finish Fake Mustache, Humming Room, Take Me With You, and almost finish Kindred Souls.  What a great weekend of reading!


Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger was a hoot from start to finish.  While I have thoroughly enjoyed his Origami Yoda books, I enjoyed this one even more. 

Take Me With You is a story set in Italy and revolves around the two main characters just wanting to belong to their family or be adopted by a family who would want them.  The idea of belonging is a key component to this book. 

Kindred Souls is the latest book by Patricia MacLachlan.  I love how slowly she moves her plot and action so we can appreciate both the setting and the characters.  Another tear jerker for me.  But a great book because the language is accessible for many abilities. 

Humming Room by Ellen Potter was another great recommendation from a tweep.  I love Ellen Potter; I currently have many children reading SLOB.  The parallels between The Secret Garden and the Humming Room might be a great bridge to get students into a classic like that.


I'm so excited to be part of the Monday group!  See you all next week!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Even though I have a million other things I need to be doing (grading, parent-teacher conference forms, lesson plans), and a head cold to boot, I just had to jot down what I've been reading this past week.

The books I've finished in the past week are:

• Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Extra Credit (this was an ARC - thanks to the kind folks at the MacMillan booth at NCTE for sharing) - this book is not due out until August 7, but it is a great follow-up to Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading
• Kindle reading -- I'm a huge fan of spy and intrigue, so I finished Kill Shot by Vince Flynn.  Please don't judge me by the title :) , but I love the main character, Mitch Rapp.  This type of book and romance books are my once in a while guilty choices when it comes to reading.
• Max Quick: The Pocket and the Pendant - this is fantasy/mystery for children.  I really enjoyed it and hope there are more to come.  Thanks to Susan Dee for the recommendation!
• And as our committee had to make the final decision about which nonfiction picture book for this year's Cybil Award (to be announced Feb. 14!!), I reread the wonderful books in this stack.  Each book brings a different gift to nonfiction reading and writing, and are definitely books you should know!

So, that's my list for the past week and a half, but I am practically salivating over time to read next weekend.  After reading the first chapter of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I knew it demanded every ounce of my concentration, so I needed to wait for the perfect time.  Next weekend is that moment.  It's loaded on my Kindle and just calling my name. I can't wait!!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading??

I have been following the bloggers who post on Mondays about what they've been reading, and have loved seeing the variety of books and materials being read.  So, I've decided to join in the fun.  And yes, I do know that today is Tuesday, but my blog partner had such a great post on Monday about what he was doing with a NCFL grant he received, I didn't want to steal his thunder.

So, here are the books I was reading on Monday, or getting ready to read!!

First of all, this past Saturday, many of the Central Ohio bloggers met for breakfast and book browsing at our favorite independent children's bookstore, Cover to Cover.  You know what happens when a bunch of book-lovers are all in the same place?  Recommendations out the wazoo and my credit card getting a strenuous workout!!  But seriously, how fortunate I feel to live so close to such great people, great readers, and great minds!

Second, Bill and I wrapped up our Looking for Newbery series, and we both made the same commitment - we need to read more and track our reading throughout the year.  I have actually set a goal of reading 150 books this year (way up from last year's number), and GoodReads tells me I'm 5 books ahead of where I need to be.  Hope I can keep this up!!  This past week, books I read were:

• Scumble by Ingrid Law
• Neversink by Barry Wolverton
• Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner

In addition, I am one of second round judges for the Cybils nonfiction picture book category and our conversations are starting to intensify, so I finished reading all the finalists in my category as well.  Though, I can't talk about them in depth here, let me say that each book has some great entry points for students.  Here is a picture of those books:

Finally, I am eagerly looking forward to the stack of books I brought home from Cover to Cover last Saturday.  So many great choices, it's hard to know what to read next!  Next week, I'll have more information about what those choices are.

Hope everyone has a great reading week!  Head over to Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts to see what even more people are reading!