Snow Days

Image from www.mycutiegraphics.com

Wow, my three day weekend has turned into a nine day weekend!  I know I'm going to be sad in late June when we are still in school, but I have enjoyed being home.  

I'm so excited to be able to post before Monday.  I seem to have just gotten in the habit lately of just posting on Monday.  I really want to post more, but many times unsure of what to post about.  I'll go for a stretch and post quite a bit.  Right now I think that I'm in a bit of a blogging slump. Any suggestions to get out would be helpful.

On Monday I posted about the great picture books that I read last week.  I also managed to read a few chapter books as well.  I had been waiting for quite a while to read Hold Fast by Blue Balliett.  Click here for a summary on Goodreads.  I loved all the literary references in this book, especially to Langston Hughes poems.  I am a huge fan! Balliett shows how awful homelessness is from a child's point of view.  The story did drag for me at some points. This isn't a book for every child, it is one that I will pick and choose who to recommend to read it.


One that I just happened to pick up off the library shelf was Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington.  Click here for a summary on Goodreads.  The title and cover illustration made me curious about this book.  I was not disappointed in this book.  Sarah Nelson is a 12-year old who has a lot on her plate.  She is a very quirky kid, with a plant for a best friend.  Sarah and her dad have moved around a lot during her short life.  It gets to be summer vacation and Sarah worries that she have a typical boring summer.  But it turns out to be anything but a typical boring summer.  I don't see this as being a book for elementary students, but definitely for middle school.


The last chapter book that I had a chance to read was Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo.  Click here for a summary on Goodreads.  I've owned this book for quite a while, but hadn't read it.  I'm not usually a big fan of chapter books with animals as main characters.  I really loved this book.  The characters were just quirky enough to captivate me, but not so quirky that I couldn't relate.  The vocabulary might trip up some readers.  I can't wait to get this book into my catalog so that I can start recommending it to my students.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)