It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week. For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.
Picture Books
Over the past two weeks, I've been reading Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly with upper elementary students to examine point-of-view. Then students created their own diaries based on an animal they voted on. We then turned their creations into e-books that we can share with the rest of the school and parents as well. You can read more about the publishing process in my post about Three E-Book Publishing Apps for Parents and Teachers.
While I've been working with upper elementary students on creating e-books about animals, I've been talking worms with the younger students followed by lots of wiggling and singing. This is a pretty cute non-fiction picture book that explains everything there is to know about earthworms. We read Garden Wigglers as a class using myON. It's a great companion book to Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm.
Middle Grade
Tonight is the monthly #virtualbookclub discussion on Twitter, and this month's book is Seven Stories Up by Laurel Snyder. But I couldn't possibly read and discuss Seven Stories Up without reading the companion novel, Bigger Than a Bread Box, right? So that's what I did last week. Now that I've finished the first book, I'm moving on to Seven Stories Up and hopefully will finish it in time for the chat!
For more information about #virtualbookclub, please visit Mission Read's website. Feel free to join us on Twitter tonight at 9 PM EST/8 PM CST. In the meantime, enjoy this really cool unofficial book trailer I found on YouTube for Bigger Than a Bread Box.
Advanced Reader Copies
Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Disney-Hyperion, April 2014
Disney-Hyperion, April 2014
Far From You happened to be my first experience with the GLBT genre but not because I've been avoiding this genre, mind you. I am, after all, an elementary librarian. Sharpe writes a very emotional tale of love, murder, false accusations, drug addiction, and struggling to accept oneself. It's eye-opening to see what goes on in the minds of GLBT teens who have to deal with the fear or being rejected or labeled an outcast on a daily basis.
If I were a young adult or high school librarian, I would definitely add Far From You to my collection.
Currently Reading
Seven Stories Up by Laurel Snyder
Random House Books for Young Readers, January 2014
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Quirk, 2011
I've had this book around the house for a while and finally I've started reading it. It reminds me a little of Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, with the island, love story, and fantasy. But don't be fooled by the similarities as both Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Midwinterblood have their own unique style and voice. I'm sure anyone who's read both books will agree.
I love the idea of using Doreen Cronin's books for a point of view lesson! I really enjoyed Bigger Than a Breadbox. I'm still waiting for my turn to check out Seven Stories Up from my public library. I was fasinated by Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I couldn't stop reading it.
ReplyDeleteBigger Than a Breadbox was really good, but it is hard to get students to read it! Miss Peregrine was a Battle of the Books book, and the students agree it's a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteThe Diary of ...books are interesting and fun. I like them as much as kids. I am zooming through Seven Stories Up. I wasn't able to get it until a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeleteI have an e-galley of Far From You too. I have been hearing good things about it! I haven't started it yet, but I am glad to hear you liked it. Have a great week! ~Megan
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I just finished reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - definitely a creepy read. I think I also have Markus Sedgwick's novel in my personal library but haven't gotten around to reading that one yet. My 12 year old daughter used to have this diary phase in her reading (Amelia's Notebook Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, etc) - she would have enjoyed the diary titles you shared here when she was younger.
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