Monday, November 3, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


For this post-Halloween edition of "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" I thought I would share my costume from our school's Halloween parade. (I was grateful that many students still read and appreciate Ms. Frizzle and her stories.)



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 Teach 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.

Picture Books


This week I continued my recent theme of trickster tales by exploring Trickster Tales from around the world retold Gerald McDermott. This excellent (and award-winning) collection features tricksters from four different continents and many different cultures. Kids will love these engaging and often humorous stories!


The Girl who Swam to Euskadi by Mark Kurlansky is a folktale about the Basque region of Spain (also known as Euskadi). We received this wonderful bilingual book as a gift from our partner school in Spain as part of the Global Read Aloud #GRAEdward. In the story, a young girl swims from Massachusetts to Euskadi but when she returns the scholars do not believe that the place exists. This book spurred a lot of great conversation among my students, and we are corresponding with our partners in Spain to get their questions answered.


Winter is Coming by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Jim LaMarche. This book is lovely, but I found it lacking. The illustrations are amazing and luminous, but I did not find much engaging in the text. I am not sure what would bring you back to this story again, other than to examine the art. (H/T Linda at Teacher Dance.)


Louise Loves Art by Kelly Light (2014). This lovely picture book celebrates the joy of art and the disappointment of dealing with siblings. There are some great, memorable moments in this book, but my favorite is probably "the Gallery du Fridge!" (H/T Mr. Schu at Watch. Connect. Read.)

Poetry


Halloween Two-Voice Poems What better way to enjoy Halloween then by sharing a favorite poem with a friend? I always hide this collection of two-voice poems until Halloween, and my students love the mix of scary (and really, not-so-scary) creatures that are featured.

Middle Grade


Assassin (The Grace Mysteries, Book 1) by Patricia Finney. This historical fiction story is told through the journal entries of Lady Grace Cavendish who lives as a Maid of Honor in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. I found the story a little slow and the surprises overly telegraphed. (The cover photo and blurb highlight the murder which doesn't happen until midway through.) Personally, if you are looking for diary-based or similar historical fiction stories, I recommend the Royal Diary series or the Girls of Many Lands series.


Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George. Managed to snag this one from the "new books" bin in our classroom library, after several students had recommended it. I loved the concept of the story (a castle that can change and grow of its own accord) and think this is a book many students would really enjoy.

Happy Reading!

8 comments:

  1. I love those you read to me, I'll read to you books. I've been meaning to get around to reading Tuesdays at the Castle because I really enjoyed George's Dragon Slippers, but I just can't seem to find the time, or when I might have time, it is checked out of the library!

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    1. You should definitely make time for Tuesdays at the Castle if you need a nice, upbeat reading break. :)

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  2. That Halloween read to me/I'll read to you looks nice, Katie. And also Tuesdays at the castle. Sorry you didn't care for Winter Is Coming. I did enjoy it, think it said much for younger children as they read the spare text, and added information from the illustrations.

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    1. I think you are right, Linda, that Winter is Coming would work so much better as a one-on-one book with a child.

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  3. I enjoyed Tuesdays at the Castle too and know I'll have students in Children's Lit who want to read the series. I love the cover of Winter Is Coming. Sometimes the books with spare text really work for me; other times, I'm left wanting more. I always find it interesting to read those books with young children--I often find the reading experience to be quite different for me when I'm sharing the book with others.

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    1. You make an excellent point, Elisabeth. I feel like you can have sparse text and still a sense of movement and purpose, but here I just didn't find it on the first read.

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  4. The book cover of Winter is Coming looks absolutely riveting. First I'm hearing of The Girl who Swam to Euskadi - will be on the lookout too for that one. Looking forward to meeting you at NAGC in Baltimore! :)

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    1. The artwork for Winter is Coming is absolutely fantastic. I might almost like it better as a wordless book!

      Really looking forward to meeting you next week too!

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