Shelf Challenge Days Four Through Eight

It has been a busy few days, so I haven't had time to blog, but I've still been reading my "A" books!

I've found a few cute ones, that I'm going to have to share with students and staff.  The first two are Yours Truly, Goldilocks and With Love, Little Red Hen by Alma Flor Ada.  Click here for a summary for Goldilocks from Goodreads and click here for a summary for Little Red Hen.  These are book two and three in the series Dear Peter Rabbit.  I don't have the first one and will have to get it.  I loved that these books were all written in letter form!  I think in our high tech world, the simple art of letter writing has been pushed aside.  I remember growing up and writing letters to my grandparents for anything and everything.  I just loved the anticipation of getting a letter or a card in return.  I felt so grown up when I had a piece of mail addressed to me and only me.  After my Grandmother had passed away we found boxes under her bed of cards and letters that we had sent her over the years.  I'm sad that I don't have the opportunity to write to her or any of my other grandparents any more.  It just makes me want to keep sending cards and letters to my relatives who are still with me!

I didn't realized this challenge was going to really hit very close to home.  I read Singing with Momma Lou by Linda Jacobs Altman.  Click here for a summary from Goodreads. This book is all about a little girl named Tamika who doesn't like when she has to go to the nursing home to visit her grandmother who has Alzheimer's.  It is very hard for Tamika to relate to her grandmother, until she starts bringing pictures and newspaper clippings to jog Momma Lou's memory.  I can totally relate to this story because my Grandmother, who I mentioned earlier, was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's when she was in the nursing home.  This book brought me to tears as the memories of everything I did to get Grandmother remember.  In the fall I will once again participate in the Alzheimer's Walk. Besides my grandmother, my great-grandmother and a cousin have been affected Alzheimer's.


Another great one that I found was Waiting for Benjamin: A Story About Autism by Alexandra Jessup Altman.  Click here for a summary from Goodreads.  This one is a great one to explain Autism to younger students and even to older ones.  I was glad I had this one for a classroom teacher, when she had a student with autism join her class.  This helped the class a lot to understand.

As I was reading I came across some old favorites, Miss Nelson is Missing, Miss Nelson is Back, and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day by Harry Allard.  I loved these when I was in elementary school!  What I found was, my copies need to be replaced.  They are very well loved.  I've added them to my to buy list for next year.

I thought this would be a short post, but it turned out longer.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)