It's Monday! What are you reading? 1/7/13

Books I Read This Week:

I absolutely LOVED Nancy Drew when I was younger so I was excited to see how the stories translated to graphic form.  As an adult, the mystery is not as intense as I remember them being when I was young and impressionable.  I will enjoy sharing this graphic novel with my students and will look for more to buy.  I am now curious about the Nancy Drew, Girl Detective series and will pick one up from my class library to read.

The Baby-Sitters Club was another favorite series from when I was younger.  I love the way Raina Telgemeier interpreted this story in graphic form.  You can tell that she also was a fan of the series because the things that I remember being important were highlighted.  Kristi's Great Idea was a great read and I loved being able to spend time with old friends again!  I especially love that I will be able to share this series with another generation of teens.  I highly recommend this graphic novel and can't wait to read the rest of them.

Resistance is the story of some resistance fighters in France during World War II.  I loved that this story was told in graphic novel format.  It would be a great book to pair with Maus in a study of the war.  I am excited to recommend this one to my students.

I was very excited to get my hands on this book.  I had read many lists that recommended the book as a read aloud for middle school and did not get a chance to read it yet.  I have to say that I really found the supernatural references in the book to be a bit unbelievable and I would think that my students might also.  The book does portray slavery in a realistic way and that is always an important lesson for students.  I will recommend it to students who enjoy historical fiction.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle is one of my all-time favorite books.  I have read it dozens of times and was so excited to see how this one was adapted to graphic novel form.  I have to say that I completely agree with what others have been saying about this one.  Hope Larson did a phenomenal job with this book and conveyed everything that I found to be important in the story.  I cannot wait to share this one with my students!

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver is an excellent book!  The only thing that I was sad about was the absence of a certain character that I was hoping would show up in this one.  I am really looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy.  I hope that things can work out for everyone involved.  I highly recommend this series to fans of dystopian fiction.

I flew through Rebel Heart by Moira Young in one sitting.  The world in this series is amazing and the characters are so complex.  The way that Saba and Lugh were having such a hard time communicating was infuriating as the way that Saba treated Emmi in Blood Red Road.  In this book there is a new regime taking over and people are losing their land.  Saba and her family end up mixed into the struggle and they go through a lot together.  I will absolutely recommend this series to my students and I am anxious to read the third book.

I read this one because one of my students RAVED over it after reading it and told me I HAD to read it.  I will definitely steer her toward more books by Lisa Yee.  I really liked this book also.  It really portrays that awkward time when girls and boys start to see each other differently and it is a little difficult for friends.  I have to say also that my student was absolutely ecstatic to get a message back from Lisa Yee on Goodreads after she sent a fan letter.  Yay for authors!

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading a netgalley of Bruised by Sarah Skilton and Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Books on the Horizon:

I don't really have a plan for what I will read next.  I will try to finish the books I have already started but then will probably be re-reading some other books for planning my next reading unit.

Have a great reading week!