It’s Monday! What are you reading? 9/2

Jen and Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host this weekly meme focused on literature for young people.  It is a chance to talk about what we are reading each week.  Go over to their blog to find links to many other posts and get some great ideas of what to read.

I was able to get into my school building this week to set up my classroom and started inservice days on Wednesday.  My reading has drastically slowed down and will be that way for a while as I work to get the year off to a good start.  This week much of the reading I did was rereading parts of professional books that had ideas that I want to use this year.  I always start with some ideas from Nancy Atwell so spend some time rereading parts of In the Middle.  I also went back to The Cafe Book and So What do They Really Know? for ideas about assessment in reading.

Books I Finished:

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray–I loved this book and laughed out loud multiple times throughout the book.  I really appreciated the satire.  This would be a great book to use with teenagers to introduce them to that form.  I don’t think I will get a copy of this book for my class library because it would be better appreciated by older students.  I would highly recommend it for a high school classroom.

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzch–I got this book on Amazon as a Kindle daily deal.  I had heard of it before and then couldn’t resist the good deal.  I am so glad I did.  I really enjoyed this book.  It is historical fiction and is set in a small village in Germany.  The hangman at that time was the executioner but also the person who carried out torture to make people confess.  The book starts out with a mysterious death of a small boy who has a weird sign painted on his shoulder.  The whole town goes after the midwife, calling her a witch.  The hangman is an intelligent man and does not like the witch hunt.  He is convinced that this woman did not do anything and is in fact not a witch. What follows in the book is a murder mystery with a very interesting historical context.  I highly recommend this one for adults.

Books I am Currently Reading:

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone — I am slowly but surely making my way through this audiobook.  I like the story and enjoy the recording.
10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know by Jeff Anderson–This book is going to be so helpful this year with writing lessons and it takes me so long to read because I am so full of ideas while reading. 
Shadow by Jenny Moss– I just started this one and like it so far.  

Books to read this week:

I don’t imagine I will get through many books this week.  The first day for students is tomorrow and Open House is Thursday.  I have quite a lot of work to do to be ready for both.  I will continue to read Shadow and then probably Pretty Little Liars.

Author: Andrea

I am an instructional technology coach in a middle school in Milwaukee, WI. I have been teaching for over 20 years in many grade levels ranging from first through eighth grade. I am a lifelong book nerd.

3 thoughts on “It’s Monday! What are you reading? 9/2”

  1. I've forgotten about Beauty Queens & know it must be good, like all Bray's books. Thanks for telling about it once again. The Hangman's Daughter does sound good. Thanks for that too. We've been back a few weeks now & settling into the usual frenetic routines. Best wishes for a great start to your year.

  3. The first week with kids is always a tough reading week, so I hope it goes better than you predict.

    Wasn't Beauty Queens awesome??! It was a little over the top sometimes, but mostly it was just plain awesome.

    Happy reading this week! 🙂
    And have a good first week of school!

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