It's Monday! What are you reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by the lovely ladies at Teach Mentor Texts.  Head over there for more great ideas of kid literature and young adult books to add to your TBR.

This was a slow reading week for me.  I was focusing on school towards the beginning of the week and then I got an awful stomach virus and was unable to do much reading.  I also tackled a big book so there are less books but maybe a similar amount of pages.

Books I Finished this week:

I have had this book since the cover caught my eye at a library sale a few months ago.  Then, while on Twitter, I realized from what someone said that it is a novel in verse.  I knew I could get through the book quickly and wanted to read more novels in verse so I picked it up.  All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg is a beautiful novel.  It tells the story of a young boy who was airlifted out of Vietnam and now has an adoptive family in the USA.  It is so haunting to think of all the people that were psychologically damaged by that war and the author treats this subject in such a beautiful way.  I love that with a little bit of background knowledge young people will learn about this really important part of history.  I highly recommend this one.

What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a fun thriller.  I got this one on netgalley and will be seeking it out to purchase for my class library.  The main character in the book has XP, a rare disorder in which she is allergic to sunlight.  She and her friends go out after dark because that is when they can be outside.  The three of them start to do Parkour for fun and enjoy their stunts until one night they see something they shouldn't have seen.  This book has twists and turns and keeps you on the edge of your seat.  It also is the start of a series and now I am chomping at the bit for the next one!

I enjoyed reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I loved reading about the Southern town and their particular ways of thinking.  I also loved the fantasy element and the mystery involved in the story.  In a lot of ways this book reminded me of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan.  I will definitely recommend this one to fans of Twilight and others who just want a good mystery/fantasy to read.


Books I am currently reading:

I am still reading Energize: Research Reading and Writing by Chris Lehman.  There are so many great ideas in this book.  I needed to slow down and take some notes with this one.  I am also still reading Adventures in Graphica by Terry Thompson.  There are a lot of good points in this one about how graphic novels are a great medium to help teach comprehension.  I also just started the book Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson.  It is also a netgalley book which has a publishing date of March 12, 2013.  So far, I am really liking this retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale.

On the Horizon:
I am not sure what I will choose to read this week.  I was just approved for a netgalley of The Runaway King so I will most likely read that but otherwise I will see what I feel like reading.