It's Monday! What Are You Reading? July 15, 2013

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

These memes were started by Teach Mentor Texts and Book Journeys, to inspire readers to share books they have read and will be reading. I have found many of my current reads by following bloggers participating in It’s Monday! What are you reading? Be sure to check out their sites for more information on what they are reading, and learn how to participate. 

                  



Last Week’s Favorites:

Title:  The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Author:  Christopher Healy
Illustrator:  Todd Harris
Review: HIlarious!  What really happened in all those fairy tales we read as children?  Christopher Healy tells the "real" story of each Prince Charming and how they came to save their kingdoms.  The humor within this story had me laughing out loud, in many parts.  If you're a fan of the humor, in the movie Airplane, then I promise you will love this story! 

 

Title:  Whoever You Are
Author:  Mem Fox
Illustrator:  Leslie Staub
Review: Wonderful book to share with children about how diverse, yet similar we all are.  We may all be different on the outside, but on the inside we all cry, love and laugh the same.

 


Title:  Skin Again
Author:  bell hooks
Illustrator:  Chris Raschka
Review: I'm going to use this as one of my first read alouds of the school year! This is definitely a small text with HUGE ideas.  Our skin is just a covering, but if we really want to get to know each other we must look inside and learn everyone's history and past.  The simple language encourages us to get to know those around us, even if they look different than us.  We never know someone, but just looking at them from the outside in.

 


Title:  We Share One World
Author:  Jane E. Hoffelt
Illustrator:  Marty Husted
Review: I love the global theme within this book.  We all share the same basic needs and experiences (water, sun, moon, music, etc), but each of us do it in different ways.  The illustrations describe how each of these experiences are lived, within different parts of the world.




Title:  All the Colors of the Earth
Author:  Sheila Hamanaka
Review: Another wonderful book to use with students when talking about diversity.  We all come from the colors of the earth, and each of our experiences defines who we are.  The illustration do a wonderful job showing how everyone comes from the colors of the Earth.




Title:  Same, Same but Different
Author:  Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Review:  Two boys write to each other about the world they live in, and compare the similarities and differences.  The illustrations beautifully describe the visual differences of each world, but the words describe the similarities of each world.  This would be the perfect book to read when starting a Sister Classroom!




Title:  The Real Boy
Author:  Anne Ursu
Review: I don't even know where to begin with this review, except for saying LOVE!  I loved everything about this story.  However, I loved Oscar, the main character, more than I have ever loved a character.  His honesty and learning the social thinking of everyone around him was pure and authentic.  Callie, his best friend, was the perfect friend.  She was patient, understanding and honest.  Anne Ursu does an indescribable job with using underlying themes and making real life become fantasy. This is definitely my favorite book of the year (Newbery 2014 anyone??). 



Title:  Nugget and Fang
Author:  Tammi Sauer
Illustrator:  Michael Black
Review:   A fun story about friendship!  Nugget and Fang are best friends, until Nugget goes to school and learns Fang is actually supposed to eat her.  She starts to avoid him, in fear becoming his next meal.  However, Fang is distraught and has no intentions of making Nugget his dinner.  He becomes depressed, until one day Nugget and her friends are in grave danger.  This was a fun story to my children, and to help teach them about true friends.

 

Title:  Wake Up Missing
Author:  Kate Messner
Review:  This book will be released on September 10, 2013, but I was lucky enough to receive of copy of this ARC from Kate Messner at All-Write.  This is, by far, my favorite book my Kate Messner.  She intricately weaves non-fiction into this story, in a way that doesn't make the story seem overwhelmed with non-fiction.  After suffering concussions, six teenagers have been sent to a clinic in the Everglades to receive treatment, to help cure them of their symptoms.  However, they soon find out the doctors in charge actually want to implant DNA for dead scientists into their brains.  This story is full of suspense and continuous action! If you are a science teacher, this would be the perfect read aloud for your classroom! 








Title:  Zebra Forest
Author:  Adina Rishe Gewirtz
Review:  Eleven year old Annie lives with her little brother, Rew, and her Gran.  She has grown up learning how to lie to her social worker and deal with Gran's incredible mood swings.  Annie's mother ran away, and her father was killed when she was just a toddler.  One day, an inmate escapes from the local prison and turns their life completely upside down.  I appreciated the focus on mental illness, within this story.  It has a strong influence on the way Annie and Rew live, but it is never officially named or diagnosed.  This would be a great read for anyone middle grade or above. 

Reading Plans for this Week: 




Title:  Every Day After
Author:  Laura Golden



Title:  The Sasquatch Escape
Author:  Suzanne Selfors
Illustrator:  Dan Santat



Title:  Star Wars:  Jedi Academy
Author:  Jeffrey Brown



Title:  The Hypnotists:  Book 1
Author:  Gordon Korman



Title:  Backstage Cat
Author:  Harriet Ziefert
Illustrator:  Jenni Desmond



Title:  Snippet:  The Early Riser
Author:  Bethanie Deeney Murguia



Title:  Sea Monster and the Bossy Fish
Author:  Kate Messner
Illustrator:  Andy Rash

 

Title:  Imagine
Author and Illustrator :  Bart Vivian