It's Monday! What are YOU reading?

I'm participating in the meme created by Book Journey and Teach Mentor Texts and will be reviewing both children's and adult books.

I've been MIA from the #IMWAYR scene for a couple of weeks, not because I haven't been reading, but because I've been BUSY!  We can all relate to that this time of year, right?  Here goes my attempt at catching up!

PICTURE BOOKS

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

A cute book about dealing with the fears of going to school. Natalie loves this book, but she can't understand why the owl teacher doesn't have another teacher with her. Ha!

Pumpkin Town by Katie McKy

This book is about pumpkin seeds that get scattered in a town and the boys that go save the town by chopping the pumpkins and vines. I think it could be developed a little more. It's choppy. On the upside, Natalie has fallen asleep the last two nights I've read this to her.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

What a fun book!  I bought this book at NCTE for my four-year-old daughter, Natalie.  Ssshhh…it's a Christmas gift!  I've read a lot about this book and only heard glowing remarks.  And now I see why!  Mr. Tiger is a wild man who only wants to act as a tiger would naturally act.  Once he finds his way to the wild, he realizes he misses his friends.  When he comes back home, he understands he has started a social revolution with the message of: be yourself!  A great book to teach theme and talk about the power of illustrations in a picture book.  Mr. Tiger is a keeper!

Check out Jen Vincent's Nerdy Book Club post about Mr. Tiger here.

Watch Peter Brown talk about Mr. Tiger!

INTERMEDIATE BOOKS:

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would! It's my pick for the Newbery! I absolutely love the story of Willow Chance and her struggle against the world after her parents are taken from her. She is taken in by a Vietnamese family while she awaits her fate in the foster home system. A truly gifted girl, Willow must learn to alter her world and do the best with the hand she's been dealt. Through it all, her favorite place remains the library because: "books=comfort. To me anyway." How could you not fall in love with a dynamic character that adores a library? Her uniqueness shines and she is absolutely amazing. Through it all she learns, "When you care about other people, it takes the spotlight off your own drama." A lesson from which we all could learn.

Some of my other favorite lines from the book are:
-- "It has been my experience that rewarding and heartbreaking often go hand in hand."
--"A second can feel like forever if what follows is heartbreak."
--"If there is anything I've figured out in the last months it's that you can find labels to organize living things, but you can't put people in any kind of group or order. It just doesn't work that way." HOW TRUE WILLOW!!

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Oh, this is angsty. I think I would have liked it even more if I had read it, rather than listened to it. That being said, it's still a great investigation about what life is like for boys struggling with their sexuality. A great text that could easily be used in high school.

There were several other books that I shared with my students that fit into the category of memoir (we're reading and writing memoirs right now in class), along with some Thanksgiving books.  However, I've read all of these before and reviewed some of them on this blog.  I also plan to incorporate those title into some other blog posts soon.  I want you to see the great work my kids are doing with memoir writing!

CURRENTLY READING:

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

What are YOU reading this week??