Monday, February 15, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey. The kid's version was started by Jen at Teach Mentor Text and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.

It has been another crazy week! And one that I thought would never end. I had quite a few meeting after school and I had to visit one of my mentees this week. Most nights I didn't get home until after 8:00pm. I was just so tired I didn't feel like reading! 

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This past weekend I did finish Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This was a great follow-up to the first book Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library. I loved all the references to many of my favorite books! The appearances of some fellow nerdy book club members were an added bonus! The Dewey references made a little test for me to see if I knew what subject was being referenced. But once again this book made me realize how bad I am at rebus questions. So I won't be answering any of those questions if I find myself competing in the Library Olympics!

Hope you had a better reading week than I did. I'm going to try to dive back into Bone Gap and see if I can get into it.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)

Monday, February 8, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey. The kid's version was started by Jen at Teach Mentor Text and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.

 I am SO happy with my reading this year so far. I didn't meet my goal, of 300 books on Goodreads last year. After this school year started I really went down hill with my reading. I was just so overwhelmed with new mentees, a new assistant, and about 200 new students. Due to a new elementary school being built my school was part of the redistricting that happened. So a lot of my energy went into learning about my new students. I really didn't have a lot of time or energy to devote to reading. Well, I wanted to change that going into 2016. And it has changed! Since I didn't meet the 300 book challenge last year, I lowered my goal to 200. But I do know that I can change the goal if I get close. So far this year I have read 40 new to me books this year!

23498139I've pick three of my recent favorites to write about today. The first I heard about while shoveling snow on Matthew Winner's Let's Get Busy podcast. The book is I Will Chomp You! by Jory John and illustrated by Bob Shea. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This is such a fun book to read myself and I know it will be even more fun to read aloud with the kids. The main character warns you that if you keep turning the pages you will be chomped. The kids will love how there is a separate page all to itself when he tries to chomp you. I won't give away the ending because it is so fun! I will say to make sure you check out the back flap of the book and see the illustrations that Bob Shea drew of himself and Jory John for the author and illustrator bios. They are one of my favorite parts of the book! 

27507417The second book is by Maryland author Timothy Young, Do Not Open The Box! Click here for a summary on Goodreads. It is so fun to finally have a copy of this book in my hands. Timothy Young had visited my school in April 2015. He does a great school visit. You can read all about his visit to my school here, on my school Media Center blog. During his visit, he gave us a sneak peek into his new book which is this one. I never grew up with siblings, but I've been told all about the different pranks that my friends played on theirs. This is a fun read for all. If you are not familiar with Timothy Young's books you need to check them out. My favorite is The Angry Little Puffin! I highly recommend this book to everyone!
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The third book is Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) by Julie Falatko and illustrated by Tim Miller. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. To say I liked this book would be an understatement. I loved this book from the moment I peeked under the book jacket until I finished the last page! Snappsy doesn't seem to like that the narrator makes his every ordinary day tasks seems extraordinary. You have to read this book to appreciate the humor and interplay between Snappsy and the narrator! I know that this one will become the favorite of many of my students. It has become one of mine!!

I'm in the process of reading Bone Gap by Laura Ruby and Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein. I know, two totally opposite books. I'm not sure what I think of Bone Gap yet. I don't think I have gotten far enough into it yet to give a honest opinion. And of course, I already love Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics!

What have you been reading?

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)

Monday, February 1, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey. The kid's version was started by Jen at Teach Mentor Text and Kellee at Unleashing Readers

I've been trying to blog about my snow day readings, but life has gotten in the way! January has been a crazy month. I can't believe it is already February! I'm really wondering where January went! I did get a lot of reading during my snow days before and after I spent the day shoveling out from the blizzard.

24819508I was able to read some really great picture books. The first was the newest Caldecott Award Winner, Finding Winnie written by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackwell. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I just loved this book, even though I'm not a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh. I'm really interested in my family history, so I loved the story is told by a relative of the man who started it all. The illustrations are magnificent! Sophie Blackwell's illustrations truly add to this story and I can see why the Caldecott committee awarded this book the highest honor! 

23167689The next book I read was also a new award winner. I read Trombone Shorty written by Troy Andrews and Bill Taylor and illustrated by Bryan Collier. This book won the Coretta Scott King Book Award for illustrations and was a Caldecott Honor Winner. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This was another great book. I learned all about Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and his life. I had never heard of this Grammy-nominated artist, but will be searching out some of his music. When in the right mood I really enjoy Jazz music. The illustrations for this book were ones that just added so much depth to this autobiography. I highly recommend this book if you have not already read it! 

24885906Another great book that I picked up before the snow was Alphabet School by Stephen T. Johnson. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I'm a huge fan of Alphabet City, so I got excited to read this one. I loved seeing all the places that the letters were found. I just love this type of illustrations/pictures. In fact I have letters found around my county spelling out some important words to me up on my walls. As much as I try, I can't ever find anything that resembles letters. That's why I'm happy I know of someone who does this for a hobby.

22749725The last book I'm going to write about today also was a new award winner. It was Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown. The book was a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor book. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. Wow, this was such a powerful book. I found myself getting emotional reading this book. I had to put it down for a bit, when the story overwhelmed me. Even though this is a graphic novel, it still is as powerful as any novel I've read about Hurricane Katrina. I really want all those teachers who still don't count graphic novels as "real reading and real books" to read this book!

I've still got more to post from my snow reading, hopefully life will slow down this week and I'll be able to post more.

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)