It’s Monday! What are you Reading? 10/15

Every week I participate in this meme hosted by the lovely ladies over at Teach Mentor Texts.  Jen and Kellee had the brilliant idea to adapt this meme to talk about the great young adult and children’s literature that we are reading.  Head over to their blog for more great reads and a plethora of recommendations of great kidlit.

This week I had a better reading week.  I think I might be actually figuring out the balance to my reading and schoolwork.  Now, I just have to find writing time and time to workout!

Books I finished this week:

On a recent splurge at Barnes and Noble, I ended up with this gem.  I had heard a lot of good things about The False Prince by Jennifer A Nielson and I was not disappointed!  I love the way this book twists and turns.  Sage is an orphan who has just been purchased away from the orphanage.  He finds out that Connor, the man who has him, is planning a great deception and will be relying on one of the three orphan boys he has to pull it off.  It is an adventure story about survival and doing the right thing.  I will look forward to the other books in the trilogy.  I would recommend this book for middle grades and up.

On the same trip to Barnes and Noble, I purchased The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.  I was especially curious about this one, because The Scorpio Races turned out to be one of my favorite books ever.  I did not feel the same about the Shiver trilogy, and was curious to see how this series would be.  There has been quite a bit of good buzz about The Raven Boys and I have to say I agree that this is a great book.  The book was different from what I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed the characters and the interesting plot twists.  The existence of psychic energy is a fascinating subject, whether or not you believe it is real.  What I loved about the book was the depth of the characters, and the mystery that surrounds them.  What I hate about reading a first book in a series when it first comes out is that now I have to wait soooo long to find out what happens next!  I know that my 8th graders will love this book, and I can’t wait to share it with them.

I borrowed One for the Murphys from the public library and then proceeded to avoid it. I have this issue with reading stories that I think will be sad…but I had to see what all the buzz was about.  I did need quite a few tissues while reading this one, but it wasn’t exactly from sadness.  This book is so touching and so full of raw emotions.  Every person who works with children should read it to learn about what might be happening in the mind of a child when they test you.  I loved that the Murphys provided Carley with a safe place that gave her hope for the kind of place she would like to have in the future.  I need to go buy a copy of this book for my class library, because I think a lot of kids will really connect to Carley and that will help them learn empathy.  I can see why this book is ending up on many mock Newbery lists.  It is a beautiful book and everyone should read it.

I FINALLY finished this book.  The book is jam-packed with excellent ideas for helping writers to understand what makes good writing and to revise to accomplish their goals.  It took me a while to finish the book because it is so full of ideas I got a little overwhelmed.  I will have to go back to it often to find the ideas that work for the stage we are in with writer’s workshop.  I really want to find Jeff Anderson’s other books now because I know they will be full of excellent ideas of how to teach grammar in a writing class.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I moved The Perks of Being a Wallflower to the top of my pile because one of my students LOVES this book.  She is a voracious reader and has read this one 5 times.  I had to find out what was so wonderful about this book.  So far, I really enjoy the voice of the narrator.

I also started Under the Never Sky on my Kindle.  I love those daily deals (my wallet does not love them)!

I started listening to Wake by Lisa McMann, but I think I will stop and look for the book.  The person reading the book sounds really young to me and the voice is annoying.

Books on the Horizon:

I have Mal and Chad: Food Fight from the library.  I will also read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer in anticipation of a visit to a local library from Michelle Hodkin on Oct. 30th.  This week is parent conference week so that may be it for me, but if I do have time I will also read If I Stay by Gayle Forman or The Diviners by Libba Bray.

I borrowed the Blood Red Road audiobook from the library so I am excited to start listening to that during my workouts this week.  Maybe it will be the motivation I need to get the workouts in!