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 and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.

It was a busy week, so I didn't get a lot of reading done. But, hold on to your hats, I actually read two nonfiction books! I also finished up a chapter book that I've been reading since January 2nd.


The chapter book that I finished was Journey's End by Rachel Hawkins. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I enjoyed the journey of this book and I was left wanting more at the end. I found myself really caring about the characters in this story. This was Rachel Hawkins first middle grade book, which I think is a success. Nolie travels to Scotland to spend the summer with her father. While there she meets a local girl named Bel. She shows Nolie all around and tells her the story of the Boundary, the fog just off the coast of the town. The is a legend about how and why the fog came to be there. No one who goes into the fog comes out, until Nolie and Bel spot Al on the beach. Al went into the fog in 1918 and has not aged a bit in the hundred years he has been gone. There is just enough creepy in this book for those elementary students who want a creepy book!

The first nonfiction book I read was What's The Big Deal About First Ladies by Ruby Shamir and illustrated by Matt Faulkner. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This nonfiction picture book was great! I learned so much about the first ladies that I didn't know! It was fascinating to learn all these neat facts about a very incredible group of women. I never knew (or thought about) Florence Harding was the first first lady to have voted for her husband! My dad is a huge history buff, so it was fun to stump him with many of the interesting facts. I can't say enough about Matt Faulkner's illustrations, they are gorgeous!! Once I finished reading the text in the book, I had to go back I really look at the illustrations for all the details that Matt Faulkner included. This will be a great addition to my library! This book was sent to me from Penguin Young Readers.

The second nonfiction book I read was When The Sky Breaks by Simon Winchester. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I have a love/hate relationship with severe weather. I am fascinated by severe weather and whenever there is a big storm coming near where I live, I'm on top of all the updates. But I hate the damage and destruction it causes and the anxiety it causes in me. This book gave so much information about severe weather. Simon Winchester has been in many places for the severe storms and is able to give a personal experience about what it is like. There is so much information given in this book, it is not for just a casual reader. The photographs add so much to this book and really show the devastation that these storms can cause. There are a lot of great charts and little extras. It also has the NWS bulletin that Robert Ricks published right before Hurricane Katrina hit. As I read it, I remember reading this at the time and being scared, even though I was no where close to the path of this storm. This book was sent to me from Penguin Young Readers. It will be published on January 31st.

I've started reading the book You Can Fly by Carole Boston Weatherford. It is a poetry book about The Tuskegee Airmen. I've only recently just started, but is one that I'm thinking about when I'm not reading it. What is everyone else reading?

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)