It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6/22

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 so full of great learning and end of the school year work! I started the week with a two-day conference in Milwaukee. Then, I went back to my classroom on Wednesday morning to finish packing and cleaning for the summer. I left Milwaukee midday to drive down to Indiana for All Write. I spent a full and amazing two days attending great sessions and then drove back to Milwaukee on Friday afternoon. My reading time was obviously taken up with amazing learning time, but I did manage to get some reading in this week.

Books I Finished This Week:

Another Kind of Hurricane by Tamara Ellis Smith will be released in July. I got this copy from NetGalley. The book tells the story of two boys who are both reeling from personal tragedies. Zavion and his father lose everything in Hurricane Katrina. Henry has just lost his best friend Wayne in a terrible accident. The story weaves back and forth until their paths cross and amazing things happen. I highly recommend this book. It pulls on the heartstrings in a big way and highlights how devastating natural disasters can be for the people affected. I would recommend the book for grades 4 and up. There are some pretty heavy issues and some scary situations so it is one to read before giving it to students.

Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko will be coming out in the beginning of August. I got this title from NetGalley. This is another stunning historical fiction novel from the author of Al Capone Does My Shirts. The author does an amazing job of portraying the sentiments of the people living in San Francisco in the early 1900s. The book tells the story of an outbreak of the plague that happened in those years and a quarantine of Chinatown. The authorities at the time did not want to believe that there was actually an outbreak of the plague, so they worked to cover up the deaths. This is a fascinating part of history and Gennifer Choldenko does a great job of telling the story with witty and fun characters. I also really loved the fact that the protagonist in this book is a strong female character with her own ideas about the world. This one would be a great read aloud that would lead to many discussions about racism and equal rights for women as well as discussions about what people will do when they are afraid. I would recommend it for grades 4 and up.

Who Was Roald Dahl was very interesting to read. I did not know a lot of biographical information about this author. I can understand why this series is so interesting for so many students. I will be reading through all of the titles in my collection this summer. I am looking forward to learning more about these important people and places.

What I am Currently Reading:

I am listening to The Ring and The Crown by Melissa De La Cruz. I am so glad for the Sync audiobook free titles each summer! I am thoroughly enjoying this book. It was a great companion for my road trip. I am also reading In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume and I have started diving into a few professional texts as well.

What's Next?

There is an entire bag full of books that came home with me from my class library. I will be selecting from those books for my book-a-day challenge. I will continue to read the professional books I purchased this week, including Celebrating Writers by Ruth Ayres, among other great titles. I have two more NetGalley titles that I would like to get to soon as well.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!