It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Wow, it's Monday already!! The past week just FLEW by!!  I did some reading, but not as much as I would have liked.  I've slacked a bit in our Round 2 of the #summerthrowdown!  I have to step it up for the League of Librarians, maybe since I have my League of Librarians t-shirt, designed by Jarrett J. Krosoczka I might be motivated again!


I did read a few great book this week.  I got a chance to read an ARC of Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, thanks to @sylvie_shaffer.  I found this to be a very interesting story.  I love books where the author can still surprise me.  This one did many times.  My Twitter pals highly recommended another Rebecca Stead book, When You Reach Me.  So I've now added it to my ever growing to-read list!


I read four great picture books this week the first was Darth Vader and Son!  I love Star Wars a lot, so I knew this was quickly going to become a favorite of mine.  I have to get at least two copies of this for my library.  I think it will be a very popular book!  The second book was A Gold Star For Zog by Julia Donaldson.  This book is about a dragon named Zog who is in dragon school.  Each year he learns a new skills and practices with help from a little girl.  I'm a sucker for any books about school.  The illustrations by Axel Scheffler really made this great book even better!  The third book I read was Is Everyone Ready for Some Fun? by Jan Thomas.  I have been a fan of Jan Thomas since I read the book What Will Fat Cat Sit On? to my students.  Her books are so much fun.  I can see myself using this with my PreKindergarten students this year.  The last picture books was a nonfiction one called Animals...and Their Families by Barbara Nascimbeni.  This was a very simple nonfiction book, but provides a lot of information.  On the left page is a black picture of the animal with its name.  On the right page there are color pictures of the mommy, daddy, and baby animal with specific names if they have them.  For example, on the owl pages it has owlet written by the baby.  It also tells their sound, their home, and their meal.  I just loved this book and can't wait to get a copy for my library.


I also read one other chapter book that came highly recommended by one of my fifth grade students this past year.  It was The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas.  This book is about a thief who is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of a powerful wizard.  This book was a bit of a slow start for me, since I was coming off of reading a lot of grown up books.  I had to get into the "kid book" mode again.  Once I got into the book, I was captivated.  I picked up the second and third book for my library.  I have a student in mind who I think will really like this one.  It reminded me of The Land of Elyon series by Patrick Carman.


Up next for me is some more picture books that I picked up at the library on Saturday.  I also picked up the newest Lois Lowry, Gooney Bird on the Map.  I'm a big fan of Gooney Bird.  She is the type of person I always wish I could be!


Happy Reading!!


Stacey (@libraryjo92)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I was on vacation from July 2nd until July 17th.  My family and I went to New Hampshire first to visit good friends of ours.  We stayed with them for eight days and had a wonderful time!  We don't get to see each other very often and it is a whole lot of fun when we do!!  During this time I was reading more grown-up books because I downloaded them to my e-reader.  I don't like downloading kid books because many times, what I purchase becomes a part of my school library collection.  Some of the grown-up books I read were:  Red Velvet Revenge by Jenn McKinlay, Grace Among Thieves by Julie Hyzy, Afraid to Die by Lisa Jackson, The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder by Mary Jane Maffini, and Slightly Irregular by Rhonda Pollero.  (If you can't tell, I LOVE mysteries!!)  I highly recommend each and everyone of these books and the series that they belong to.


While I was on vacation Babymouse for President by Jennifer and Matt Holm was published, so I had to get my hands on it!  I was not disappointed at all by this book.  I loved it!  Can't wait to share it with my students next school year!  I also picked up One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.  I had been hearing all the chatter on Twitter about it, so I had to buy it too.  I was blown away how powerful and emotionally invested I became in this book!  I needed quite a few tissues during this book, especially at the end.  If you haven't read this book, run don't walk to the library and check it out!!


When I got back from vacation I had to reread Wonder by R.J. Palacio for the Twitter Book Club talk.  Once again this book brought me to tears.  But I just loved rereading it.  I also had gotten from Mr. Schu, a copy of Capture the Flag by Kate Messner.  I was only going to read a few chapters and then begin to unpack from my trip.  Well I couldn't put the book down until I was finished with it.  It was a mystery and I just love mysteries.  I've got quite a few kids in mind who will love this book!


Up next for me is to get back reading for my Goodreads Challenge and for Round 2 of the #Summerthrowdown.  I am just waiting for my wonderful League of Librarians t-shirt, designed by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  I think the next chapter book on my plate is Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.  Once again, I've heard great things about this book on Twitter.  I haven't been disappointed yet by the recommendations I've gotten from Twitter, so I have high hopes!


Happy Reading!!


Stacey (@libraryjo92)

Back From Vacation

I love going on vacation!  It is so relaxing and nice to not have the everyday worries and chores.  But now that I'm back I'm feeling a lot of pressure!  I'm trying very hard to get that relaxing feeling back.  So I'm making a list of five things that I want to get done today.  I might not get everything done, because an issue that I have to take care of, but I'm sure going to try.  I did a lot of reading while I was gone and I'll post about what I read soon.  


Happy Reading!!


Stacey (@libraryjo92)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey and the kids' version borrowed from the wonderful ladies at Teach Mentor Texts.

 

I took a break from kids lit for most of last week.  While I was taking my break, I read some wonderful grown-up books.  I wrote about them in my previous blog post.  It felt so good to take a break, I guess we all need a change of pace every few weeks. 

I did ease back into some kit lit this week with two books.  The first was Outside Your Window A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld.  Wow, all I can say is wow!! I loved this book!! The poems were fun and really brought the feeling of each season alive.  I think my favorite poem Acorn, which was found on page 68.  Mark Hearld's illustrations made a great poetry book even better.  I found myself eager to turn each page for the the next poem and illustration!  If you haven't seen a copy of this book, I highly suggest you go to your library and check it out!

The other book that I read was Titanic Sinks! by Barry Denenberg.  I enjoyed this book because I'm fasinated by anything dealing with the Titanic.  The book did keep me interested from cover to cover.  But the thing that I really was not sure about was it "unique presentation of fact and fiction".  As I was reading the book, I really couldn't tell what was the fiction part.  It was not until I was reading the authors note at the back where I found out what was the fiction part.  I think that it will be hard for any students to separate out what is fact and what is fiction.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)

A Break from Kid Lit

I really needed a break from kid lit.  I was not enjoying the books as much as I have in recent weeks.  I guess you could say I was in a reading rut.  To get out of it I pulled out some of my grown-up book authors and found some of their newest offerings.  About a two years ago I was really sick, it was right after I got my Kindle, and I was unable to go out to get anything new to read.  I came across Julie Hyzy's books.  She has got two different series out.  The first series that I stared reading is the White House Chef Mysteries.  In this series the main character is the White House Chef and allows seems to be in the center of the mystery.  This series is a just a fun read.  Her other series is Manor House Mysteries.  This time the main character is the new curator of Manor House and does some investigating on the side.


The other series that I came across, is surprise, another fun mystery series:  Cupcake Bakery Mystery by Jenn McKinlay.  The fourth book in the series, Red Velvet Revenge was published on July 3rd.  This series is also a very fun read, but since it has to do with baking I find myself craving some sweets as I'm reading.  This series led me to another fun "food" mystery series:  Donut Shop Mysteries by Jessica Beck.  My only hint about this book is, try not to read on an empty stomach because each chapter ends with a donut recipe!  I haven't made any of them yet, but they sound wonderful!!


It's been nice to take a break from kid lit, but I've found a few that I'm looking at to get me started again next week.


Happy Reading


Stacey (@libraryjo92)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey and the kids' version borrowed from the wonderful ladies at Teach Mentor Texts.

I just want to say thank you to all who visit this blog.  This was something that another Library Media Specialist and I started for a class in May 2010.  This has been one of the best Professional Development activities that I have done. So again thank you for visiting and commenting on my posts.  Now onto the books that I've been reading.

Like in previous posts I've been doing a lot of reading for #summerthowdown. To find out more about #Summerthrowdown go to Heise Reads & Recommends, a blog created by Mrs. Heise, for more information.

I posted last week about the Lucy Rose series by Katy Kelly.  Well, it finally dawned on me that the Melonhead series by Katy Kelly were related!  Katy Kelly took the character Melonhead and give him his own series.  I enjoyed these just as much as Lucy Rose.  Melonhead is such a unique character who is all boy.  There are three books in this series: Melonhead, Melonhead and the Big Stink, and Melonhead and the Undercover Operation.  I've read the first two and I'm trying to get a hold of the third.

I also read two really great picture books this week.  The first was Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld (who illustrated Duck! Rabbit!)  I just LOVED this book! It reminded me of The Little Engine That Could.  It's a story of a petite cloud who thinks that she is not big enough to help the earth as all the big clouds do.  She gets inspired by the all the big clouds accomplishments and wants to have a positive effect of the Earth. 

The other picture books was Hide and Sheep by Andrea Beaty.  This is a great counting backwards book.  The sheep escape from Farmer McFitt farm and travel around to different places.  This was just a fun book and it had great illustrations by Bill Mayer.

I'm going to take a short break from kids books for about the next week or so. I'm getting a little burned out, so I'm moving to grown-up books.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)