It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/7

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was a much better reading week.  I decided to spend a lot of my time on Saturday reading and relaxing so I was able to get through many more pages.

Books I Finished This Week:

I have been reading So Cold The River by Michael Kortya for a couple weeks.  It is a mystery book mixed with some magical realism.  I picked this one up because this author will be at the Key West Literary Seminar that I am going to in January.  I am really excited to find and read more by this author in the next few months.  The story was so fascinating and really kept me captivated.  

I was so excited to get my Scholastic box this week because this one was in there.  I have really enjoyed all of the Origami Yoda books and this one did not disappoint.  I love the message about testing that Tom Angleberger is including in The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Hut. This book made me want to have a Star Wars marathon so that I could remember who all these characters are.  

Tommysaurus Rex by Doug TenNapel was another book from my Scholastic box.  I love all of his graphic novels and enjoyed this one too.  I think many students will definitely identify with the protagonist in this book who loves his pets and finds a friend in them.  

I could not put this book down.  I know that my students will really enjoy it.  It is full of adventure and suspense which starts from the very first paragraph.  I was so interested in the details about the Hawaiian islands as well.  What would you do if you were the only survivor of a plane crash and stuck in the middle of the ocean with no provisions?  Would you be able to survive?  These are the kinds of questions that a reader will ask themselves while reading this book.  

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Endangered by Eliot Schrefer aloud to my class.  As I read, I am remembering how brilliant this book is.  I love the silence that descends in the classroom because the students are so hooked on the story.  You know you have a good read aloud when a different student asks each day if you are going to read.  

I also am listening to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.  It is slow going but I hope to get back to working out this week so I should catch up a little then.  I bought a device to be able to play my iPhone in the car, but it is spotty reception.  I will mess with it more this week to maybe be able to listen to my book on the way to and from work.  

I just started The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa because a colleague lent it to me so it went to the top of the pile.  

What's Next?

I am thinking that I would like to read Make Lemonade this week and then possibly The Song of the Quarkbeast or Out of My Mind.  There are so many books in my piles to-read that it is hard to make plans.  I also have The Common Core Companion by Jim Burke and What You Know by Heart by Katie Wood Ray for professional reading.  

What are you reading?  Do you have any recommendations for me?  I would love to hear from you in the comments.