It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from picture 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.
Last Week's Posts
- #diversekidlit: Favorites. Join us for the one-year anniversary of the Diverse Children's Book linkup!
Exciting news! One participant in next week's #diversekidlit Twitter chat will win these four (amazing) diverse books! Click here for more chat details - including the questions.
Middle Grade
A Night Divided (2015) by Jennifer Nielsen. This past week, A Night Divided was declared the winner in the Middle Grade Bracket of March Book Madness. It was a bit of a stunner to my seventh graders, as none of us had read it, and we had strong supporters of many, many other books in the bracket. I had requested it from the library and was only 60 pages in by Wednesday's big announcement. But it was already that good.
A Night Divided kicks off with the overnight building of the Berlin Wall, which separates that main character from her father and one brother who were expected back from their brief visit to West Berlin. The story is stark, gripping, and forces the reader to think what decisions they might make in a similar situation. (My biggest criticism of the recently-published Cloud and Wallfish, also set in East Berlin, is how almost comical it make the secret police and state-sponsored spying. A Night Divided does not pull its punches.) A fascinating read, and one where I'd love to hear more about the research and real-life stories that inspired it.
Happy Reading!
I haven't read A Night Divider nor any of Nielsen's books. I know at some point I have to fix that.
ReplyDeleteHow do you do March Madness? As a school?
Happy reading this week :)
We participated in the online version (link is in the article) just as a class. Students picked their own winners, and we voted each week. Last year my students loved it so much that we set up our own in-class poetry bracket with weekly voting.
DeleteLoved, loved, loved - A Night Divided!!! What a powerful piece of historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteI loved A Night Divided. One of my students read it and can't stop talking about it!
ReplyDeleteI wish I would have gotten it into my students' hands before the voting finished up.
DeleteI've had trouble moving Berlin Wall books, but I have a teacher who really likes this one. Thanks for reminding me to put it on the order sheet for next year. I was not a fan of Cloud and Wallfish.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only un-fan of Cloud and Wallfish. (I actually never posted my review on my blog, because it bothered me so much.)
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