It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 9.01.14

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

Happy September!  Oh, I felt my reading get interrupted this week!  This was our first full week of school and my reading was really interrupted.  I quick read 4 books on release days this week, but the rest of my reading happened over the long weekend.  I crammed it in!

Picture Books


Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
3/5 stars
My initial reaction is where was the story?  I felt like the entire story was a buildup to the main story.  The main story just never happened.  But if you go back to the tagline of the book "a story about believing", then you think a little bit more and realize that's what it's about.  Believing.  There is no other story needed.  The standout of this book for me was the illustrations.  Very reminiscent of the artwork of Mary Blair (Disney's it's a small world).  Stunning.


Little Elliot, Big City by Mike Curato
5/5 stars
I'm in love with Elliot.  Beautiful story about friendship, helping each other, and how sometimes you can feel really small.  Loved it.


Fly Guy's Amazing Tricks by Ted Arnold
4/5 stars
Fly Guy is such a great hit for younger readers.  And this one includes the word Booger in it, you know kids will love it!


Zero by Kathryn Otoshi
4/5 stars
I actually thought this would be a great picture book to use in an older classroom.  I think the concept of self-worth could be explored with an older group of students.

Wordless Picture Books


Quest by Aaron Becker
5/5 stars
Yeah, he really is that good.
Love this book for questioning, figuring out what the whole story is about (don't let kids get wrapped up on each page, they miss the whole picture!).

Informational Texts


A Baby Elephant in the Wild by Caitlin O'Connell
5/5 stars
I wish there were more and more informational texts like this one.  Written by the Elephant Scientist author, this book zeroes in on a baby elephant and gives important information about her life and how she survives but is written on a level for primary students.  I love the "Scientists in the Field" series and wish there were more like this book for the younger students.  Authors like Jenkins and Bishop have written books for younger grades and we need more like them to make science come alive for young readers.

Middle Grade


The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner
5/5 stars
What a great read to finish on Labor Day weekend, the close out weekend of summer!  I loved the story of Frankie and Frankie.  The book explored such tough topics - the feelings of failure and of hope.  Not knowing the future, not knowing what isn't being said.  This is a book my middle grade/teenage self would have loved reading.  This is a book that is full of soul and hope.

Currently Reading


A Million Ways Home by Dianna Winget
I'm more than halfway done with this book and love it.  I think middle graders will really enjoy Poppy's story!


The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little
It's a mystery and a ghost story.  Kids are going to love it!


Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
This book is beautiful.  Absolutely savoring it.  I'm reading it just pages each day because I don't want it to end.  It's not full of action and adventure, it's not plot driven.  It's driven by the soulful and beautiful verse.  Love it.


The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, grades 3-6 by Jennifer Seravallo
After reading Seravallo's Small Groups in Reading book, I thought this would be a natural progression.  I think having a strong repertoire of assessments that can be used to drive small group instruction is important.  I am excited about reading this because I am reading this version and my reading counterpart is reading the K-2 version and we're comparing notes via google docs.  Here's to more learning!