It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 7/23/2018

Now that we have been back from vacation for a week, I was able to concentrate more on my TBR pile that seems to have overtaken our kitchen table and my bedside nightstand! I'm really enjoying my summer reading this year as I'm getting to select titles that friends have recommended be it in person or those I follow online.

Graphic novels are an area I've been trying to concentrate on this summer as my students love them and I want to be able to recommend more titles to them in this area. I was able to complete two graphic novels in the past week or so and I must say, I enjoyed them both!

Last Things by Marissa Moss was a beautiful graphic novel about family, love, loss and the ALS that took the life of the author/illustrator's husband Harvey. As a mom, I could relate to this story in so many ways. At the time this story takes place, Marissa's boys were about the same age as my boys are right now. I couldn't imagine going through what this family did! There were many tears shed in the reading of this book. I couldn't put it down!  It's such a great read!

Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke was a great adventure story! It's a take on the familiar tale of Jack and the Beanstalk but this story takes place in a garden with some very large and unusual plants. I will be recommending this one to those readers looking for a quick and easy read with a lot of adventure.

In addition to the graphic novels, I was able to read some picture books this week that I definitely plan to read with my elementary students once school starts in September.

As soon as I read All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, I sent an email to my elementary principal and asked if we could read this story together on the first day of school to our elementary student body! I love the message of this book that everyone is welcome at this school and that's a message we want to convey with our students. 

Ryan T. Higgins is one of my favorite author/illustrators.  His book Be Quiet! is one of my must-read books every school year. In this new book, We Don't Eat Our Classmates, we have a little dinosaur who must learn that with going to school, she cannot eat her classmates! It is a difficult to learn, but one that is necessary. :-)

Finally, I read Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat. In this book a young boy is dropped off at his grandfather's for the day and you can tell by the look on his face that this really isn't where he wants to be. Grandpa doesn't speak the boy's language and it's relatively difficult to communicate until art supplies are brought out and they both start drawing together. This is a great story of two worlds coming together through a shared activity!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6/18/2018

Throughout the school year, my TBR pile seems to grow by the week. I so look forward to summer vacation when the pace of life slows down and I have a chance to read many of those books that I've been saving. One of my goals this summer was to start writing more about the books I'm reading and that lead me to reviving this blog with my first #IMWAYR in quite a few years.

Have you ever found yourself so engrossed in a book that you're "stealing" time out of your day wherever you can to sneak in another chapter or just a few more pages? That's how I was with Amal Unbound by Aisha Saed. Amal is a Pakastani girl who loves school and learning and longs to be a teacher someday. When she has to stay home to care for her younger siblings instead of going to school, it is devastating for her. While on a trip to the market alone, she ends up confronting the son of her village's landlord and is eventually sent to be a servant in their home to pay off her family's debt. Amal holds fast to her dreams and persists through many hardships at the Khan residence including run-ins with other servants. I loved the message of this book and it's definitely going to be one that I'll be recommending to students in the fall. 

I was able to read a couple picture books this past week that I really enjoyed as well.  The first one was This House, Once by Deborah Freedman. This book made me think about all of the pieces of our house and what they once were. I think this book would lend itself well to a discussion with my elementary students about the different pieces of their houses and what they were...once. The illustrations in this book were beautiful!

What young child doesn't want a pet? In the book Charlotte and the Pet Rock by Stephen W. Martin, Charlotte is no different. When her parents give her a pet rock, it really isn't the pet she was dreaming about, but she makes the best of it and treats her rock just as she would any other pet. Charlotte and her rock do everything together and the plot twist at the end of the book made me smile. I can't wait to use this book in the fall with my students and pair it with a pet rock making activity!