It's Monday! What are you reading? 3/4

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.


I had a great reading week this week. It helped a lot that I had the day off on Monday for mid-winter break and then ended up with a snow day on Wednesday.  This reader was a happy camper this week!

Books I Finished This Week:

I absolutely LOVED Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.  I thought that the author did a fantastic job of blending mystery, fantasy, and adventure in this story.  The premise of the book is so creative and I found myself quickly swept up in the narrative and enchanted by the story.  I cannot wait for the second book in this series.

I finally finished listening to The Selection by Kiera Cass this week.  I really enjoyed this story and I like the narrator on the audiobook as well.  It was a great book to listen to.  I will be interested to see how this story plays out in the next books.  I am not a huge fan of the love triangle that seems to show up in many of these YA books, but I definitely am intrigued by this one.  It seems impossible for things to work out for everyone and that tension is what will keep me coming back for more.

The book Shooter by Walter Dean Myers is another great book by this outstanding author.  It is written as a series of transcripts from interviews after a school shooting has taken place.  Through the interviews, the reader meets the friends of the shooter and begins to put together what happened.  I was intrigued by the format of the book.  The case file tells the story and gives the reader a way to gain a little distance from the horror of the event, but also gives the reader a glimpse of many different points of view and reactions to the shooting.  Like his other books, this one is easy to read but compelling and will be of interest to my 8th grade readers.

I was thrilled when I got approved on NetGalley for Hide and Seek by Kate Messner.  I will be writing a more thorough review of this one closer to the release date.  This is a great mystery that will appeal to a lot of kids.  It was really fun reading about all the wildlife that the kids encountered in the rain forest and learning a little more about the Silver Jaguar Society.  I will be buying this for my classroom when it comes out for sure.

Invincible Microbe by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank is a fascinating read.  I did not know very much about Tuberculosis other than the fact that it used to be called consumption and it shows up quite often in 19th century novels.  I also knew that people who have TB usually end up coughing up blood.  I have to admit, I never exactly knew what Sanatoriums were.  I knew they were like clinics, but found out by reading this book that there was much more to it.  This book really grabbed my attention and kept me reading.  I would highly recommend this book to teens and adults.  It is an excellent example of compelling nonfiction and will definitely be an asset to my classroom library.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I started Prodigy this week and will be finished with it very soon because it is so compelling.  I also am in the middle of Finnikin of the Rock which I am enjoying very much.  I started listening to The Night Circus and am enjoying both the story and the incredible narrator on the audiobook.  I actually got this audiobook because I wanted to read this book and then read Jen Vincent's post about her favorite narrators.  She is so right about Jim Dale as a narrator.

Books I will read this week:

Aside from finishing the two books I have already started, I am not sure how much reading I will get done this week.  I have report cards due on Friday and mountains of papers to get through before then.  I also am participating in the Slice of Life blog challenge so some of my reading time will be dedicated to writing and reading other blog posts.  If I do have time, I would like to get to Sunrise Over Fallujah this week.  For nonfiction I will read The Great Fire this week.  I also think I would like to get to a Printz book or two to work on my nerdprintz challenge so I might pick up Hard Love or Airborn.