Monday, August 25, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from pictures books through YA by Jen of Teacher Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers. You can visit either site for a round up of blogs sharing their weekly readings and thoughts or search Twitter for #IMWAYR.

Other Posts this Week


Just wanted to share a shout-out for Part 1 of my new series about classroom libraries: Building Your Classroom Library. Tips and advice for how to starting building your library, as well as an overview of the importance of having a classroom library. Alright, now onto this week's reads ...

Picture Books

I am still having SO much fun going through all the books and posts from this year's Picture Book 10 for 10! Tried to whittle it down to just sharing my new favorites, since I didn't want to overwhelm.


Little Red Writing by Joan Holub and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. There are so many great things going on in this book! First, of course, is the fact that Little Red (the pencil) is writing her own Red Riding Hood parody, but I also love the inclusion of individual parts of speech and the "story path" for how to create a fiction story. This could be a touchstone text for students when writing their own fiction stories, as well as helping them use different grammar and parts of speech to bolster their writing. Fun! (H/T Megan at Fourth Grade Literacy Lovers.)


Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park and illustrated by Ho Baek Lee. This wonderful romp about bee-bim bop made me immediately hungry! This fun picture book covers the whole process for making bee-bim bop told by our hungry and impatient narrator. A joyful read and a great celebration of a favorite Korean dish. (H/T Jodie of Growing Book by Book.)


Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. This fun look at punctuation presents us with the poor exclamation mark who is stick of always standing out from all the periods. Not until he is interrogated by a question mark, does he discover his true purpose. A fun book and great way to discuss or introduce punctuation to students in a humorous way. (Also, if you have the opportunity, Tom Lichtenheld is a wonderful speaker for an author visit. He came a few years ago and was such an inspiration to students!) (H/T Gigi at The Late Bloomer's Book Blog.)

Poetry


New book alert, What is Poetry? by Trudi Strain Trueit will be published on Sept. 1, 2014. This picture book sized introduction to poetry could be a great resource for early elementary school teachers. Click here to read my full review.

Middle Grade


The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy. I fell in love with the Fletchers nearly immediately. Four very unique boys with four different voices plus their two fathers, a crotchety neighbor, Zeus the cat, and Sir Puggleton (the pug, naturally) fill out this wonderfully enjoyable realistic fiction story, reminiscent of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I really appreciated that this was a story about a very diverse family that did not make their diversity the center of the story. Instead, it is a story about finding your place, about learning who you are, and about how to throw the best Halloween party the neighborhood has ever seen! This one is a must have for my classroom.


Dash by Kirby Larson, publication date: tomorrow! Another must have. This incredible historical fiction novel tells the story of Japanese Internment through the eyes of 11 year-old Mitsi. You can read my full review here.


Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Newbery Medal 1945). Another for my #nerdbery challenge (43/93). Cute, quick read about all of the small animals in the neighborhood and the big news that "new folks" are coming to live on the hill. Would recommend this one to students who enjoy 'talking animal' books.

Happy Reading! (And Happy Back to School! We start all-in on Thursday.)

14 comments:

  1. We've started, but the students arrive Wed.-can't wait! Have a great week starting! Love all your sharing-your picture of the library is awesome, Katie! Rabbit Hill is an old favorite-very sweet! I don't know the Linda Sue Park book so will look for it! Loved Exclamation Mark! such a fun look at an ordinary thing!

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    1. Thanks so much, Linda! We have new kids on Wed. morning and then everybody on Thurs. - definitely excited! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. I have totally stalled on the #nerdbery challenge. Committed to reading 12 books this year--and haven't read a single one so far! UGH. So I might be reading a lot of Newberys come December. Rabbit Hill is one I haven't read yet--your review makes it sound not too painful. (I find many of the earlier Newberys fairly painful reads--which is probably why I'm stalling on the challenge.) I'll probably be reading #pb10for10 titles for the next couple of months--I've got such a long list on my TBR! Really love that event.

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    1. Agreed that #pb10for10 will definitely keep anyone busy. Rabbit Hill wasn't bad at all - a quick, less detailed Watership Down, as it were (and far less dangerous). I have a few older Newberys lying around and can see how one might bog down. We'll see.

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  3. The Family Fletcher seemed a little young for middle school, but when I got a free copy, I put it in, and we'll see how it does. I remember reading Rabbit Hill in elementary school- the library was pretty poor, but it made me read a lot of those early Newbery books!

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    1. Is your MS 7-8 or 6-8? The oldest Fletcher brother is in 6th grade, and there is definitely an element of MS drama involved. Hope some enjoy it!

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  4. I just got 3 others in the Name That Text Type series, they are fantastic! I'm reviewing them in my Wed post.
    I really enjoyed Dash. I thought the idea of teaching middle grade kids about the Japanese internment was a great topic for historical fiction!

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! This was my first read of a Name that Text type book, so I will have to check out your posts for further recommendations. And I absolutely agreed that internment works really well as a topic here.

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  5. I love that you are finding lots of great books via the #pb10for10 event. There were many titles that caught my eye as well. Happy Back to School! Bee-Bim Bop looks like so much fun

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    1. Thanks so much, Carrie! Bee-Bim Bop is a blast for sure. Thanks also for the twitter shout out for my recent library post - Part 2 is up today!

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  6. Bee Bim Bop sounds beautiful! A Linda Sue Park picture book! Definitely a must-read, that one. Thanks for sharing all these great titles. I am a huge fan of Melissa Sweet's art as well, so will be on the lookout for Little Red Writing.

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    1. Thanks, Myra. My students read A Single Shard later in the year, so I may wait to share Bee-Bim Bop then. I first encountered Melissa Sweet's work in A River of Words, which I also love. Makes me want to scrapbook!

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  7. Bee Bim Bop sounds delicious! I will need to get this one :). I picked up The Third Gift by Linda Sue Park by chance last week when one book reservation wasn't ready. I enjoyed it very much, especially the surprise ending.

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    1. Thanks, Emily! It IS delicious (both the book and the food). :) My kids read A Single Shard every year, but I will have to check out The Third Gift for sure, thanks!

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