It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I'm joining Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers in sharing my reading this week.  Head on over to their blogs to see what others are reading and link up your own post!

Happy Monday!  It has been a wonderful first full week out of school!  Here's what my week of reading looked like...

I loved this new novel by Amber McRee Turner!  The premise is so different...Circa's mom is a photographer and her dad works to restore old photographs.  They have a family tradition called "Shopt" where they Photoshop old photos and add new details to them.  This was based on a fun activity from the author's own family.

  

I bought this book just because the author, Jess Keating is so personable and kind on Twitter.  I love supporting debut authors whenever I can and I am already looking forward to her next book!

I am not much of a graphic novel reader, but I like to keep up to date on them so I can share them with my class.  One of the grade-levels I will be working with in the fall is interested in doing a graphic novel unit, and I think Bird & Squirrel will be a great addition. I loved how opposite the two characters were and I loved the enthusiasm of Bird, though I am much more like Squirrel.

I loved the illustrations in this book.  It reminded me of my senior year of high school when I read The Little Prince in French.  I can't even imagine how I did that back then because I can't speak a word of it now.  It was interesting to see how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's life was reflected in his writing. 

I'm also nearly finished reading Spirit's Key by Edith Cohn, which comes out in September.  I am loving it so far...it's very different from any other book I've read!

Have you read any of these books?  I'd love to know what you think!

The Secret Hum of a Daisy

Grace is a girl without a place in the world.  She has spent her life moving throughout the state of California with her mother.  A new town every few months.  She is a professional "new girl" at school.  She finally thinks she and her mother have found their perfect spot, living with Mrs. Greene and Lacey, when the unthinkable happens.

                                                                 

Now Grace is living with a grandmother she has never met, in a town she never heard her mother speak of.  She begins to meet people who knew her mother and her father, and she learns more about her past in a few weeks than she had known in her entire life.

As Grace gets to know the town, she begins to find clues.  Clues that remind her of a game, a treasure hunt, her mother used to send her on when they moved to a new place.  As Grace tracks the clues, she begins to think that they were left by her mother and that they will tell her what to do.

Grace is one of those characters that I just want to pick up and take home with me.  She is creative and loving, but she is not going to give herself up too easily.  She feels lost and betrayed by some of those closest to her.  I also love her new friend Jo and her brother Max.  All of the secondary characters in this book are so perfectly written.

I feel like there have been a lot of books lately where the girl is dealing with the loss of her mother. Revolution and Sure Signs of Crazy are two I have read recently.  All three of these are totally different types of situations, but I feel like Grace, Sunny, and Sarah would be great friends.

Have you read The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer?  I'd love to hear what you think!

It's Monday!

I'm joining Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers in sharing my reading this week.  Head on over to their blogs to see what others are reading and link up your own post!

It's my first Monday of summer break!  I'm excited to get back into the blogging groove.  I started this blog last summer, but most of my school year posts came during breaks from school.  I've had a great start to my summer reading, I was in a bit of a slump at the end of the year, but that's pretty normal.  It's a busy time!  

Here's what I've read in the past week:

Picture Books

This was a cute book about opening your mind to new things and using your imagination.  Sometimes you need to meet someone who gives you an extra push.

I love a great dog character!  This would be a great book to use when talking about accepting yourself the way you are and growing into your own skin.

Middle Grade

All of these books were amazing!

If you loved Countdown, you've got to read this new one by Deborah Wiles.  I reviewed it here.

Grace is an awesome character.  I've been so impressed with all the main characters I've read recently.  I've got a review scheduled for tomorrow for this book.

Another awesome main character.  This would also pair well with Countdown by Deborah Wiles.  I think it is a tricky time in history for middle grade readers to understand, but Megan Frazer Blakemore does a good job making it accessible to kids and showing the fear that people were feeling in the early days of the Cold War with Russia.  Plus Hazel is hilarious.

Young Adult

This was the first Stephanie Perkins book I've read and I've already requested the other two books in this series at the library.  I love books set in Paris!

Have you read any of these books?  I'd love to hear what you think!

Revolution

My first #BookADay for Summer 2014 was Revolution by Deborah Wiles.  I read Countdown when it first came out in 2010 and I was excited that it was the first of three books in a 1960s trilogy.  If you've read either of these books, you will immediately know why there was so much time in between the two...the amount of research Deborah Wiles does for these book is on another level.  I think this is why these books are so appealing. Throughout the book, there are snippets of the world at that time.  Photographs.  Song lyrics.  Quotations.  Advertisements.  All of these additions really bring the book alive.

The summer of 1964 is a turning point of the Civil Rights Movement.  Freedom Summer.  For 12 year old Sunny, it is a summer of change and growing into her own skin and deciding what kind of person she is going to be.  

It starts with a chance encounter in the community pool in the middle of a summer night.  Then come the "Invaders".  Then her beloved pool is closed down.  There is picketing in the street.  There is a new girl from the North who reminds her of her mother.  And through it all, she encounters the boy from the pool over and over again.  Without even knowing him, she becomes more and more curious and confused about what is happening in her town.  

One thing I loved most about this book was Sunny's voice.  I loved everything about her.  She was slightly mischievous but her heart was in the right place.  She is haunted by the disappearance of her mother when she was a baby.  She is trying to figure out where she fits in with her new step-family.  She's trying to understand what has happened to her town.

This would be a perfect book for anyone who has enjoyed The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine or Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood.

I don't know what the topic of the third book in this trilogy will be, but I will certainly be ready to read it!  

Have you read Revolution?  I'd love to know what you think!

5th Grade Must Reads 2014

We've just finished another school year here in Ohio...and what better way to begin a summer than with a list of books that 5th graders say you "Must Read"!  I had my class make a bulletin board of books for two reasons:  to give classmates ideas on books to add to their summer to-read piles, and so that my incoming 5th graders next year have some great ideas to start the year with.

Here is what my class came up with...

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Star Wars Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
The Babysitter's Club Series by Ann M. Martin
Frozen:  The Junior Novelization Adapted by Sarah Nathan
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Turtle in Paradise by Jenni Holm
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
Bigger than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Spider Boy by Ralph Fletcher
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
Mallory on the Move by Laurie B. Friedman
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
The Power of Poppy Pendle by Natasha Lowe
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper
A Whole Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

That is quite a list!  Have you read any of these books?  I'd love to hear what you think!

And also...HANNAH...thanks for making the first comment from our class :)  I hope to hear more from you!

We Were Liars

Thoughts about We Were Liars by E. Lockhart have been floating around Twitter for a couple weeks now.  I was happy to receive an ARC through NetGalley so I could read it and join in the discussion!

I can't say too much about this book, otherwise I will have to lie.  It has all the makings of the perfect summer read:  island getaway, too rich kids with lots of time on their hands, a family so perfect it's hard to believe.

And then an accident.  A big secret.  What really happened?  Is anyone really sure?  Be careful who you believe...

I love it when a book skirts around the edge of something big.  I love it when I am never quite sure what's going on.  When it seems that something is missing and I just quite don't have all the information.  We Were Liars definitely fits the bill.  Or does it?  I might be lying...

Update: Must Read in 2014

It's been fun spending time with a "Must Read" list this year.  I put 15 books on my list - ranging from middle grade to YA to adult, fiction to nonfiction.  As of today, I have read 6 of my 15 books.  You can see my original list here.  Below are the books I have read and a few thoughts about each!

I LOVED this book...I have a review set to post in May when it comes out.  It's hard to talk about it without giving too much away.  A great summer read!

The final book in the series.  It is a definite must-read if you have read the first two books.

I was excited to have just finished reading this book when the Newbery announcements came out in January.  This was the first year that I had actually read all of the awarded books before they were announced!  I think the way this book was written makes it more accessible to upper middle grade readers, maybe 6th or 7th grades.  I haven't been able to get any of my 5th graders to read it yet.

FINALLY!  I have been wanting to read Cinder for quite some time, so I put it on my MUST list.  I loved that it was a totally different type of dystopian novel.  Cyborgs are actually pretty interesting to read about!

When I looked through my Goodreads list for books to add to this list, I was surprised that I still hadn't read this one.  What a powerful story.  I think it is a must-read for any teenager.  I read this one along with The Impossible Knife of Memory.  Another book to put on YOUR must-read list if you haven't read it yet!

I loved Endangered, so Threatened was a definite must read for me.  Threatened is a stand alone, not connected to Endangered in any way.  After reading both books, I was so amazed at the human characteristics that the bonobos and chimpanzees exhibit.  By the end of each book, you feel for them just as much as you feel for the humans.  Powerful stuff.  I will automatically read anything Eliot Schrefer writes in the future.

All told, I have read 43 books this year, including picture books to my 5th graders.  Here are a couple that I see as must-reads for everyone:

                                             

I reviewed this one here.                                       

I thought this was adorable:  Poppy hates magic and her parents (who are non-magic) are obsessed with it.

 
Natalie Lloyd was kind enough to send my class signed bookmarks!

 
I love anything Snow Queen.  I reviewed it here.

I can't wait to catch up with the other bloggers who are participating in this challenge!  I am sure I will add lots of new books to my to-read pile!