It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme hosted by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.
Books I Finished This Week:
I have the immense pleasure of knowing Liza Weimer in person. She is a local author and is very supportive of all things YA literature. I don’t know why it took me so long to read her debut novel. It is a case of too many books, too little time for me. Hello? was a novel that I devoured. There are so many heavy hitting issues in this book, yet it manages to be a book that made me feel uplifted and hopeful. I was immediately drawn into Tricia’s struggle to keep her head above water as she grieved the loss of her grandma. I got goosebumps with the hints at the supernatural and a grand plan for life. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys YA literature. It would be a fabulous addition to a high school library.
I also finished Bunnicula. I hadn’t read that one since third grade. It is definitely a fun one to bring out next year in a book talk.
Books I am currently reading:
I am still listening to Winter by Marissa Meyer, but I should be finished this week. I also am reading a book about business practices and The Power of Habit. I started The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. I am sure I will love it as I love all her other books.
What’s Next?
I have been really going with the flow and choosing what feels right so far this summer. I think that will apply to my book choices too. I will probably not try to start anything really involved since I want to do more writing and am participating in Teachers Write.
What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Comics Squad: Recess is a fun little book that I know my students will love. It is a collection of short stories from a number of authors of graphic novels for kids. I will absolutely recommend this one to my students also.
Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson is a companion to his book The Element. I enjoyed reading the book and there were some good exercises throughout. I did not find the book to be immensely helpful to me, but I realized at the beginning of reading that I really didn’t need to do the exercises because I am already in my element daily. This could be a good book for people who really have no clue what they would like to be doing or for people who are unhappy in their current job and want to find something else that will help them be happier daily.
I received a copy of And I Darken by Kiersten White from NetGalley. This book, which comes out later this month, is a sweeping novel with political intrigue, a love story, and a tough (brutal) female character. It took me a little while to get into this book, mostly because I have a hard time as a reader when I don’t like the characters. However, once I was hooked, this book was one I didn’t want to put down. I can’t wait to see how the saga continues. I recommend this one for grades 8 and up.
InGenius: A Crash Course in Creativity by Tina Seelig was a quick read. There are some good ideas about how to encourage creativity and she introduces a tool called the innovation engine that helps one to think about the conditions that are necessary for creativity to thrive. Overall, I enjoyed reading the anecdotes and learning about people who are creative and the environments that foster that creativity, but I was not completely blown away by this book.
The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner will be coming out in September 2016. I was lucky enough to get a copy on NetGalley. This book is amazing. For those of us who are old enough that we remember clearly and exactly what we were doing on the morning of 9/11, it is a chilling reminder of the sentiments during those times. For young people who did not experience it first hand, this book does a great job of giving them the vicarious experience so that they might understand it better. The writing in the book is amazing. I love the decision that the author made to have alternating viewpoints and to have one of those narrators be narrating her story in verse. I will write a more in-depth review closer to release, but this is definitely a must-read for this fall.
I am a big fan of murder mysteries. In The Woods by Tana French was intriguing and kept me guessing about what was happening. The solution to the mystery was a little bit predictable I think, but I am interested in looking for the other books about the Dublin Murder Squad. I would recommend this one for adults.
Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library is a cute book that I got from NetGalley. It is one I will definitely look for when it comes out in August. I love how the author really highlights all the great things you can do in a public library.
The Night Children by Sarah Tsiang is a beautifully illustrated book. I felt that the premise of the book was kind of creepy and I think some kids might be scared to think that when they are asleep there are some other creatures going about doing things, but maybe I am just super sensitive.
You know how sometimes the right book seems to fall in your lap? I have had this book for a long time, but something compelled me to find it on my Kindle and read it this week. The Wahls Protocol: How I Beat MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine by Dr. Terry Wahls outlines a diet and lifestyle plan that supports cellular health. This is one of those books that I picked up to peruse and ended up unable to put it down. The nutritional steps that she suggests taking are really aligned with what I have begun to understand to be very healthy goals. This is one of those times in which everything that I am learning seems to be converging into one set of things that I need to do to be healthier.
