Monday, June 22, 2015

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!


11 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a very full week--full of lots of good words and good learning. I can't wait to get Choldenko's newest book when it comes out. I loved the Al Capone books, and this one sounds even better.

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  2. So sorry I missed meeting you at All Write. We need Ruth to lead a session for bloggers. Love that you brought home a bag of books from your own library!

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  3. I just found out about NetGalley and I'm so glad I did! Great resource!! I know you will enjoy Ruth's book. Glad you made it home safely from all of your travels!

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  4. I need to look into Netgalley.Another Kind of Hurricane sounds intriguing, and I think it might work for 8th. graders who enjoyed Zane and the Hurricane years before. So glad that summer has arrived and that I can read!

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  5. I've requested Hurricane from NetGalley, but haven't gotten that one yet. The Choldenko book I have from there - I was really interested in getting this one bc it told a part of history that I really don't have a lot of info about. Glad it was good!
    I'm glad we got to spend some time chatting last week too! It's so nice to finally meet people face to face!

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  6. I am catching up on some Netgalley and Edelweiss ARCs this summer as well. I tend to get behind on them during the school year (which I know goes against the whole "read and get the buzz out on time!"). The books I can accidentally knock over get read first. Ebooks can be removed from the carousel too easily when I'm feeling overwhelmed. #oops

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  7. Chasing Secrets sounds absolutely fascinating! My students love Roald Dahl and Boy, so I may have to check out that biography too. Happy reading!

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  8. I've come to love netgalley - although sometimes I get over excited about too many new books - just like in the rest of my life actually. Chasing Secrets looks like a great read. I like Choldenko's other work.

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  9. Another Kind of Hurricane looks like a good book. The summary really intrigues me. Thank you for sharing about this one! I hope you have a great reading week!

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  10. I just finished Al Capone Does My Shirts last week. Her other San Francisco book looks interesting. I was planning on reading Into the Firestorm which takes place in SF also but during 1909 so maybe I can read the city from the 1900's time period.

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  11. We did a Roald Dahl reading theme several years back - this would have been a lovely addition to our featured Dahl books. I am amazed with your schedule and the fact that you still got so much reading and writing done! Huzzah!

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