It's Monday! What are you reading? 11/26

   Every week I participate in this meme hosted by the lovely ladies over at Teach Mentor Texts.  Jen and Kellee had the brilliant idea to adapt this meme to talk about the great young adult and children's literature that we are reading.  Head over to their blog for more great reads and a plethora of recommendations of great kidlit.

Books I Finished this Week:

I ordered a huge bunch of books from Scholastic a couple weeks ago and the huge box arrived last week.  One of the books I was most excited about was Capture the Flag by Kate Messner.  I enjoyed Teachers Write this summer so much and Kate is so amazing!  This was a fun adventure and mystery that I know my students will love reading.  I can't wait to read the other books in this series when they come out.

Another book I was excited to get in the Scholastic box was Turtle in Paradise by Jenni Holm.  In the last four years or so, I have gone to Key West with my mother for the Key West Literary Seminar every January.  I love being there and every time I'm there I imagine what it might be like to live there.  I love how this book really celebrates the place as well as telling a great story.  The fact that it is historical fiction and depicts the depression era well makes it a must-read book.  I really loved Turtle and commiserated with her plight.  I will definitely recommend this book to all my students.

I can see what all the people that tweet it are talking about.  THE ENDING!!!!  I hope Sarah Rees Brennan hurries up with the sequel to Unspoken because I have to know what happens next.  I really liked the premise of this book.  What would it be like to have another person's thoughts and feelings in your head?  I think the author did an excellent job of really making the reader consider how it would feel to have that happening and how intimate your relationship would feel.  The world in the book is a very interesting world and I am curious to see where the next book leads us.

I absolutely loved How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg.  This is an excellent example of how informational text does not have to be boring.  I learned so much from this book about some very famous people.  Each section is a mini-biography of a famous person mixed in with how they died.  The author does an excellent job of explaining the medical procedures in each era.  I will definitely recommend this one to all my students as well.

Having participated in drama productions throughout middle school and high school, I was very appreciative of the story line in Drama by Raina Telgemeier.  I love the graphic novel format and I think the story is a perfect fit for middle school students.  Putting on a play is a complicated process and Raina Telgemeier really captures that as well as the awkwardness of middle school relationships.

I had a student read this book and give it to me to read.  I am so glad that I read Skinny by Donna Cooner. It is an important book and it gives voice to an important subject.  I could relate to Ever throughout the book.  Although I have never been as obese as she is at the start of the novel, I have had weight struggles my whole life.  The existence of Skinny, the voice that talks to Ever in a negative way, really rings true.  We all have that awful voice inside of us that brings down our self-esteem and nags at us.  I love the way Ever evolved in this book and I think it is an important lesson that students could gain.

Books I am Currently Reading:

On the way to and from Madison, my husband and I listened to Infinity Ring by James Dashner.  I am about halfway through the audiobook and am enjoying the story.  It is definitely more of a middle grades story, but it is a fun book to listen to.



I don't know what I will read this week.  I have a few books from the library and a bunch of books from my Scholastic order.  I also have report cards due on Friday and the last week of NaNoWriMo looming over my head.  I guess I will play it by ear this week.