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

 

 

Camp Rex by Molly Idle

 

2014-book, friendship, humor, inference, mock-newbery-2015, picture   Another entertaining story with T. Rex by Caldecott Honor winner Molly Idle. Kids will love the discrepancies between the text and illustrations. Great for inferring! This story reminds me of some of my camping experiences.;-)     Hooray for Hat! by Brian Won   2014-book, animals, circular-structure, empathy, friendship, kindness, mock-caldecott-2015, picture-book, predicting, sequence       So cute! Don't underestimate the power of friendship, kindness, happiness...and a fun hat! I've heard some Geisel buzz over this one.       Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts   creativity, curiosity, gifted-girls, imagination, perseverance-grit, picture-book, poetry, rhyme, science, women     I love the message that a mistake or failure is not something to view as tragic, but one step closer to success.     My Teacher is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown   2014-book, character-development, humor, mock-newbery-2015, picture-book   Hahaha! I love it! This would be a great picture book to share on the first day of school.:-)   How To Cheer Up Dad by Fred Koehler   2014-book, family, humor, picture-book   This is the perfect book for parents of young children! It's an endearing story of an exasperating but adorable young elephant who thinks his father needs cheering up (his father is cranky because of all the trouble Little Jumbo is creating!).   MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT     Hope is a Ferris Wheel by Robin Herrera     2014-book, allusion, character-traits, character-who-reads, character-who-writes, divorce-or-separation, family, gifted-girls, home, intermediate-kids-book, metaphor, mock-newbery-2015, poetry, poverty, read, sisters, strong-girl-character, vocabulary, weneeddiversebooks, young-adult-book       This is a great example of look at #weneeddiversebooks in an expansive way - not just as multicultural or in terms of sexuality, but in socioeconomic situations. Barbara O'Connor referred to a Kirby Larson quote about this in a blog post: http://greetings-from-nowhere.blogspo.... Hope Is a Ferris Wheel speaks to this kind of diversity and the sometimes pain that is associated with it. It also addresses teenage pregnancy, and while that doesn't seem like intermediate grade material, and I agree t...more This is a great example of look at #weneeddiversebooks in an expansive way - not just as multicultural or in terms of sexuality, but in socioeconomic situations. Barbara O'Connor referred to a Kirby Larson quote about this in this blog post.  Hope Is a Ferris Wheel speaks to this kind of diversity and the sometimes pain that is associated with it. It also addresses teenage pregnancy, and while that doesn't seem like intermediate grade material, and I agree this book is probably better suited to 6th grade and up, we cannot ignore that some students may have a family member in this predicament, and even more relevant, if they are a little older, could even be in that situation themselves. I think it is a beautiful story about an endearing fifth grader who lives up to her name, Star. She  IS a star and certainly gives me hope that kids can dream big, no matter what their circumstances.  I love the poetry club and references to Emily Dickinson.     All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill   audio-book, character-motivation, dystopian-novel, romance, science-fiction, survival, time-travel, young-adult-book     I loved listening to this science fiction story involving time travel and power. It was so well crafted and brought up many questions about human nature (can some things completely change your character, like power, greed, or control), and the past, present, and future. Like the Time Traveler's Wife, adult characters meet up with their younger selves. That intrigues me! What would that be like?! What would you say to your younger self? What advice would you give? Would you like what you saw in y...morI loved listening to this science fiction story involving time travel and power. It was so well crafted and brought up many questions about human nature (can some things completely change your character, like power, greed, or control), and the past, present, and future. Like the Time Traveler's Wife, adult characters meet up with their younger selves. That intrigues me! What would that be like?! What would you say to your younger self? What advice would you give? Would you like what you saw in your older self? Fascinating. Great twists and turns in this story. I was riveted.  Now I have to wait for book two - aargh!   ADULT     Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah   adult-fiction, friendship, romance   I ended up reading this book because Katie, my 18-yr-old, read it over spring break and loved it. I can see why now! It's an epic story spanning decades, following the friendship between Tully and Kate, two VERY different girls from VERY different backgrounds. I loved the time period because the characters grew up in the same decades as I did, so I connected to the 70s and 80s references. This made a terrific summer read, and I think anyone with a long-lasting friendship and an affinity for a gr...more I ended up reading this book because Katie, my 18-yr-old, read it over spring break and loved it. I can see why now! It's an epic story spanning decades, following the friendship between Tully and Kate, two VERY different girls from VERY different backgrounds. I loved the time period because the characters grew up in the same decades as I did, so I connected to the 70s and 80s references. This made a terrific summer read, and I think anyone with a long-lasting friendship and an affinity for a great yarn would love it. There were a few things that preventing me from giving it a 5, like some over-the-top and sappy moments (similar to Steel Magnolias), but who doesn't love a good cry once in a while? The romance is a good one, too.     Come back Wednesday when I review the children's nonfiction books I read this week:        CURRENTLY READING       CURRENTLY LISTENING TO     My family loves to read, too!   Katie (18)   Libby (21)   My mom:   My dad:   What are YOU reading this week?