Month: April 2014

This is the 9th book in the Pretty Little Liars series.  A quick and fun read.  It is now getting quite interesting to see how the author will twist the story to extend it.  Most of the twists and turns are quite unbelievable, but it is fun to read nonetheless.

Since I am already a big fan of murder mysteries, this book appealed to me.  The book alternates viewpoints between the daughter of the man accused of murder and the boyfriend of the murder victim.  Emily, the daughter, knows in her heart that her father did not kill the girl, but her father was in the midst of a flashback, a symptom of PTSD. The mystery of what happened is further twisted by the fact that the boyfriend does not remember what happened that night.  He has told police a lie and his memories might just be the key to the mystery.  This was a very intriguing mystery and well-written.  I absolutely would recommend it to grades 8 and up.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey was described in a blurb as a cross between Mary Shelley and Stephen King.  I definitely agree with that.  I really liked the fact that the writing style was similar to Frankenstein.  The story is told in journal entries by the assistant to a doctor of monstrumology as he works to rid the town of the latest infestation of monsters.  There were some quite gruesome scenes in this story and I would not recommend it for anyone who has a hard time with gore.  I will definitely read the next book in this series soon because I am now curious about what other types of monsters might arise in the world of these books.  I would recommend this one to high school students and adults.  As I said, there is some gruesome material, and I think the writing style is best appreciated by someone who has been exposed to classics.

A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park is based on a true story of a “lost boy” of Sudan.  It tells the story of Salva, a young boy who walks long distances to avoid a war in his home country.  It also tells the story of a young girl from modern times who still has to walk all day to get enough water for her family each day.  The story is woven together at the end and would be an excellent read aloud to spur students to global action.  There is information at the end of the book about the organization that Salva started to help villages to drill wells and get clean drinking water.  I highly recommend this book.

This is the last book in the Ruby Red trilogy.  It is a highly entertaining series.  I very much enjoyed the audiobooks of the second and third books.  The humor in the book was brought out by the narrator.  I found myself laughing out loud to the book while listening (which was slightly awkward at the gym).  I also found excuses to listen to the book while at home.  This is a good sign that I am really enjoying a book.  The best part about it is that I usually would avoid a time travel book, it is not my cup of tea.  However, this is a witty and fun science fiction that made me long for more.  The taste of romance and bungled, confused conversations made it that much more interesting.  I highly recommend this whole trilogy to middle school and older readers.

It took me longer to get into this book than when I read Grave Mercy, but once I was hooked, I could not put this one down.  It has all the great elements of the first book and a really intriguing story.  I will definitely be looking forward to the third book in this trilogy.  I recommend this one to grade 8 and up.

Books I am Currently Reading:

What’s Next?

I mostly listened to Where Things Come Back, but it was the first book I had the Kindle and the Audible book for.  It was really cool how the two versions synced.  At the end of the book, I switched to the Kindle edition, because I wanted to read the rest at a time that wouldn’t have been a good time for listening.  I highly recommend this book to teens and adults. There are some deep themes in this one.  I like the way the author used humor to lighten up what could have been a very dark and depressing story.  

I highly recommend I Am The Messenger by Marcus Zusak as well.  It was a little slow going for me at the beginning, but then it picked up and I was intrigued by the mystery of what had to be done and who was behind everything.  There is a good message about the life we choose to lead and complacency.  

My sister gave me a copy of The Freedom Writers Diary for Christmas.  I have owned a copy of this book before and been meaning to get to it, so when my sister gave it to me again, I figured it was now the time to read it.  I enjoyed reading the book and thinking about what this teacher did for these students.  I found myself being a little cynical once I realized that the teacher only worked in the classroom for these four years.  I think this group of kids have done amazing things and the teacher has made a lot of difference by putting together workshops and teaching education classes at universities.  However, the work that she did and the sacrifices she made in order to reach those kids obviously were not sustainable or she would have continued her work at the high school.  I love reading about these kinds of things, but I realize that this level of success is hard to get without that level of sacrifice.  There are a lot of teachers out there that do similar things for students on a smaller scale every day.  I would recommend this book to teachers as inspiration to think about tolerance education.  I definitely am going to look for some of the resources that Erin Grunwell used.  

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey is quite interesting so far.  I am also listening to Emerald Green.

I am on Spring Break (FINALLY) and will find ample time for reading this week.  I am not sure what I will choose to pull from the shelf, but I am sure I will enjoy reading.  

What are you reading this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!  Have a great reading week!

This week was a good reading week!  I read a lot of quick and easy books and feel so accomplished after this weekend of reading.  

I enjoyed reading this book from NetGalley.  I will probably write a review of this one closer to its release date.  It was fun to read this fast-paced mystery.  

Since I enjoyed The Body in the Woods, I decided to pull Girl, Stolen by April Henry off the shelf.  I enjoyed this quick read about a blind girl who is accidentally kidnapped while a man is trying to steal the car she is in.  I know that my 8th grade students will really like this story.  

Defy by Sara Larson is a fantasy adventure story.  I was swept up in the story from the very beginning.  The protagonist is a strong female who works to change things in her kingdom.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy.  

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff is a fun story about finding family and finding your talent.  I read this one in one sitting.  I definitely recommend this one.  

I decided to pick up the next book in the Pretty Little Liars series to read quickly over the weekend.  I enjoy these books in a kind of guilty pleasure way.  They are certainly not great literature, but it is fun to read about the twists and turns that this mystery takes.  

I am listening to Where Things Come Back.  I also started reading I Am The Messenger by Marcus Zuzak.  So far, I am enjoying both of these books.  

I will be picking up the next Pretty Little Liars book this week.  I also will read The Monstrumologist.

What did you read this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!