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: Counting By 7s
Author: Holly Goldberg Sloan
Review: This is a must read of 2013! Willow Chance has always thought in a way unique to those around her. When she is unsure of herself, in a social situation, she will count by 7s to ease her stress. Her adoptive parents have been a supportive foundation, to her, from the beginning. However, her entire life changes when her parents are killed in a tragic car accident. Instantly, a group of unsuspecting people come together to help Willow find a sense of belonging within her own world again. Despite the hardships that are faced, Willow also helps everyone around her find themselves during this process. For me, this book ranks up there with The Real Boy, Paperboy, Eleanor and Park and Beholding Bee as a 2013 favorite!
Title: Skin
Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Review: I was able to read this book before it's release date of August 6th, thanks to an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley. Sixteen year old Sep wakes up one morning to find her lips are completely white. She quickly discovers she has a skin disease called Vitiligo (same one Michael Jackson had), which makes her skin lose pigmentation in random spots and turn completely white. This is another character that made me furious (I'm noticing a trend with fictional, female teenagers) because of her reaction to many of her friends. However, I am more understanding of the way Sep treated those around her because of the final outcome of the story. This would be a great young adult book to recommend to students, in terms of dealing with beauty only being skin deep.
Title: 999 Frogs Wake Up
Author: Ken Kimura
Illustrator: Yasunari Murakami
Review: It's springtime and time for all the animals to wake up. The baby frog decide to help wake up all the hibernating animals around them, so that they don't miss spring. Unfortunately, they wake up the wrong animal! This would be a great springtime read aloud, especially when studying hibernation or the life cycle.
Title: Penguin on Vacation
Author: Salina Yoon
Review: I loved Penguin and Pinecone, so when I saw this on the library shelf I knew I had to check it out! The life-long, friendships penguin creates with those that are so different from him are such a refreshing read.
Title: Ball
Author/Illustrator: Mary Sullivan
Review: In the words of my two year old, "Doggy book! I love that book!" Ball is the only word in this entire book. However, that is the only thing on the mind of this loveable doggy. The persistence of this dog made me laugh, because he/she reminded me of my mom's Maltese Xena. If you are a dog lover, I highly suggest you check out this book!
Title: When You Reach Me
Author: Rebecca Stead
Review: My husband and boys were having a Back to the Future marathon this weekend, so I decided I needed to find a good book to avoid watching the movies that I have already watched over 50 times. Knowing nothing about this book, aside from everyone telling me how great of a book it is, I picked it up to read during the movie marathon. If you've read this book, you will find the irony in my book selection. If you haven't read this book, go get it! I loved the friendships, family and mystery within this book.
Title: Don't Look Behind You
Author: Lois Duncan
Review: April's family must be relocated by the Witness Protection Program because of her father's testimony in a high profile drug case. I was excited to read this because I am intrigued by anything Witness Protection Program related. However, April made me mad throughout the entire story because of her selfish decisions. There were times I put the book down because I wanted to scream at this girl! All in all, I did end up enjoying the story and the underlying theme of the importance of family.
Reading Plans for this Week:
Title: Twerp
Author: Mark Goldblatt
Title: Turtle in Paradise
Author: Jennifer L. Holm
Title: Rogue
Author: Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Title: Mustache!
Author: Mac Barnett and Kevin Cornell
Title: Henry's Map
Author: David Elliot
Title: Bully
Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Title: I'm Not Reading!
Author: Jonathan Allen
Title: Pancakes, Pancakes!
Author: Eric Carle
I just re-read When You Reach Me this spring. It's an interesting reread because you see so many clues! I had a couple girls read Turtle at the end of the year and they loved it. Hope you do too!
ReplyDeleteI adored Ball! And I think you'll really like Turtle in Paradise. Almost all of the other books you've shared are new to me. Thanks for the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteCatherine
Love the look of your books for the week. I think Twerp is a great read. It isn't action packed but full of reflection and honesty. I read Turtle in Paradise to my Grade 2/3 class this spring and we loved it. Lots of laughs and adventure! I have only read Napoli's younger novels. The Prince of the Pond is one of my absolute favourite younger read aloud novels. Kids beg to hear it! I put this title - Skin on my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteSkin looks very good. I am betting it will be very popular with my students. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a diverse set of books you have here - so many great ones too. Love your picture book picks. Thanks for reminding me of Back to the Future! My 11 year old daughter and I are currently in a Dr. Who Marathon and I thought that it would be good for her to be familiarized with Back to the Future. :) Thanks for sharing all these lovelies.
ReplyDelete