It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

These are memes started by Teach Mentor Texts and Book Journey, and I'm excited to participate, along with many other bloggers, in reviewing books I read the previous week. I'll be reviewing picture books through adult books.
 

 

 

 

PICTURE BOOKS

 

 

This Is the Rope: A Story From the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson (The video on her website is excellent - I would include it here, but I can't seem to get the embed code to work!)

 

	2013-book, african-american, civil-rights, connections, family, grandparents, great-migration, historical-fiction, journey, leaving-a-legacy, memoir, mock-caldecott-2014, picture-book, symbolism, writing-connections

I love the idea of an object running through a story, symbolizing connections to the past, present, and future. This is a great book to inspire writing ideas that include the concept of journeys, families, and symbolic objects. I see using it in a memoir unit - it would pair up nicely with Paul Fleischman's Matchbox Diary and/or Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.                        Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, illustrated by Melissa Sweet   2013-book, allusion, bebrave, fairy-tale, fractured-tale, humor, journey, mock-caldecott-2014, parts-of-speech, personification, picture-book, play-on-words, theme, writing-connections This book was published at a perfect time for my classroom! We are just about ready to write fractured tales of our own. It's also the perfect combination of the theme topics "Journey" and "Be Brave." Great picture book to introduce mechanics, parts of speech, and writing tips, too. Melissa Sweet's illustrations are so lively and detailed - lots of humor to pick out in them. Great addition to my classroom library!     Maude: The Not-So-Noticeable Shrimpton by Lauren Child, illustrated by Trisha Krauss   picture-book, theme, writing-connections       I liked this quirky story about a family who craves attention and one of its daughters, Maude, who seems to blend in and go unnoticed. The illustrations are really fun, and I see it as a good writing lesson that we don't have to have a story that's extraordinary for it to be worth telling. Sometimes you can write about a goldfish and not a tiger.                      Oliver and his Alligator by Paul Schmid   2013-book, bebrave, character-development, fears, humor, picture-book       This book made me laugh! Oliver is scared about his first day of school, so he brings along an alligator just in case things got rough. Well, things do get rough and the alligator takes care of it, but Oliver learns he needs to be brave and take risks to join in on the fun. Funny illustrations!   Once Upon a Northern Light by Jean E. Pendziwol, Isabelle Arsenault            2013-book, animals, figuative-language, mood-tone, nature, picture-book, seasons     Lyrical and magical. Reminds me of Owl Moon and Twilight Comes Twice in its description and tone. I read the summary and saw that it was described as a parent telling the story to a child, but I could also see it from the point of view of God, making it a spiritual story.     Henry's Map by David Elliot 2013-book, animals, home, picture-book, pigs, social-studies-connections   Awww, Henry is just cute. "A place for everything and everything in its place, indeed." Cute story about map-making and a sense of home.     What Floats in a Moat? by Lynne Berry, illustrated by Matthew Cordell   2013-book, animals, humor, picture-book, problem-solving, questioning, repetition, science   This is a silly, funny book about a goat who wants to cross the most to get to the castle, but he has to figure out how (never mind that there is a perfectly good drawbridge he could use). I always love Cordell's amusing illustrations, and there's a little physics lesson at the end!     Something Big by Sylvie Neeman, illustrated by Ingrid Gordon-Noy 2013-book, bebrave, emotions, family, kindness, mentor-mentee, nature, patience, picture-book,  theme   Sweet story about a father and son exploring what it means to "do something big." Interesting illustrations.     Ten Birds Meet a Monster by Cybele Young   alphabet-or-counting-book, birds, creativity, humor, inference, picture-book, play-on-words,  repetition, vocabulary   This humorous and imaginative counting book has fun with words and vocabulary. Ten birds try to create scare away a monster by inventing monsters of their own. I need to read the original Ten Birds!       Crankenstein by Samantha Berger, illustrated by Dan Santat 2013-book, emotions, humor, moods, picture-book   Young kids will enjoy this funny book about a cranky boy. He finally meets his match at the end. Good companion to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Jamie Lee Curtis's Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day.     Good Night, Sleep Tight by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jucy Horacek                                2013-book, bedtime-story, picture-book, repetition, rhyme   Cute bedtime story full of childhood rhymes. I could see little ones begging to hear it over and over.     Ol' Clip-Clop: A Ghost Story by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Erik Velasquez 2013-book, character-traits, fears, ghost-story, mood-tone, mystery,  setting   Oooh! Creepy! Great October read aloud. Evil John Leep rides out on his horse in the year 1741 on Friday the 13th in October to evict poor Widow Hayes. As he rides through the moonless night, he hears the clip-clopping of another set of hooves behind him. He continues and even though he constantly looks behind him, he never sees what might be following him. Extremely scary illustration at the end!! Good ladder for "The Telltale Heart," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and The Christmas Carol.   MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS     The Truth of Me by Patricia MacLachlan   2013-book, animals, character-development, dogs, grandparents, identity, intermediate-kids-book, kindness, mood-tone, music, nature       This quiet story about a young boy's discovery of his "truths" while staying with his grandmother says a lot in a small and simple package. I loved his dog, Ellie!   The Real Boy by Anne Ursu   book, bebrave, fears, identity, intermediate-kids-book, journey, mock-newbery-2014, reluctant-hero, theme "The only thing worse than being odd was trying desperately not to be." Oscar always felt like something was wrong with him. In the midst of magic and lost wizards, Oscar finds his way, even battling an earth monster that reminded me of the tree in the book A Monster Calls. There are also connections to make with Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin since Oscar is looking for his history and identity and magic is cautioned - "'There is danger in small enchantments, my boy. (Malcolm) Small enc...more "The only thing worse than being odd was trying desperately not to be." Oscar always felt like something was wrong with him. In the midst of magic and lost wizards, Oscar finds his way, even battling an earth monster that reminded me of the tree in the Patrick Ness book A Monster Calls. There are also connections to make with Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin since Oscar is looking for his history and identity, and magic is cautioned - "'There is danger in small enchantments, my boy. (Malcolm) Small enchantments make us dream of big ones.'" There are gems about truth and the beautiful mess life and people can be: "'I think if you'll look around, my boy,' he said (the baker) gently, 'you'll find that no one is quite right. But we all do the best we can.'" Callie says at one point, "'It happens,' (losing children or seeing them suffer)she said quietly, after a moment. 'That doesn't mean they shouldn't have existed in the first place.'" I can see my students making connections with Wonder there. Throughout the story, Oscar is trying to find his identity, and he's always thought there was safety in his small world and the certainty of tomorrow, but he learns what is real in the end. I loved Breadcrumbs, and this one was similar in its tone and depth. I can certainly see why this book has gotten a lot of Newbery buzz!   CURRENTLY READING:     CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:       ON DECK (my book club book this month):     I also include what my family is reading.   My mom:     My dad:     My 20-year-old daughter (she finished The Source - yay!):     My 17-year-old:     What are YOU reading this week?