Sunday, November 2, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11.03.14

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.

Where does time go???  Another week went by and I crammed most of these books in today, Sunday.  One day I'll get more reading time!


Picture Books

The Cat, the Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf, and Grandma
The Cat, The Dog, Little Red, The Exploding Eggs, The Wolf, and Grandma by Diane and Christyan Fox
5/5 stars
This one made me laugh!  Grade companion to Interrupting Chicken
Could really use this for a mentor text for questioning, summarizing and predicting while reading.  The Dog does all of that over and over throughout the book.  
Cat tries to retell "Little Red Riding Hood" to Dog, but all Dog does is interrupt.  Dog does ask a very good question about LRRH at the end "It's not a very nice sort, is it? Are you absolutely sure this is a children's book?" HA, welcome to fairy tales, Dog (unless they are made by Disney....)
And I love how he questions why end pages are what is known as the beginning and end of books!

The Bear's Sea Escape
The Bear's Sea Escape by Benjamin Chaud
4/5 stars
I think I liked this follow-up even better than the original.  The colors are just beautiful and eye-catching!

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett
5/5 stars
I've written before that some picture books are meant for older kids to read them.  There seems to be a point in time where kids stop choosing picture books.  Teachers stop reading them.  But some, beg for an older audience.  I think this book is one of them.  Don't get me wrong, I think this book can be read to all audiences.  I just would love to hear kids of all ages come up with what really happened at the end.  Mostly because I need to talk to them so I can figure out what really happened at the end.
I read this book when it came out.  But I'm still trying to figure it out.  I needed a lot of time to think about this book and how smart it is.

Informational Texts

Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Ben Franklin by Gene Barretta
4/5 stars
I found this book through other bloggers.  It's such a neat book - each layout compares an invention we have now, and traces its roots back to Ben Franklin.  Great addition to many units - Founding Fathers, inventions.

Chapter Books for 2nd/3rd grade

The Haunted Library #1
The Haunted Library #1 by Dori Hillestad Butler
3/5 stars
This will be a good series - transitional chapter book - for 2nd-4th graders.  The story is about Kaz the ghost and his new friend, "solid" (what ghosts call humans) Claire.  The two join forces to solve the mystery of the ghost (another one!) at the library.  They are also on the case to find what happened to Kaz's family when they got separated by the wind.

Graphic Novels

El Deafo
El Deafo by Cece Bell
5/5 stars
This book was so amazing, especially since I have such a connection to it since my young niece is deaf.  Unlike Cece, my niece has not had hearing since she was an infant, so her story will be a little different.  But reading this memoir puts so much into perspective about young children and how they cope with a hearing loss.
I can't say anything new that hasn't been said already.  This book is amazing.  I am astounded by how talented Cece is - to be able to put your story into a graphic novel format and capture the feelings and thoughts from when you are younger and just hit the reader in the heart... Just amazing.

Currently Reading

I'm trying to finish up the Lunch Lady series.  I have all of them, just never finished reading them.  I have some students that are devouring #1-5 that I have at school, so I promised I would read the other ones and get them in!
This week I'm going to conquer Jodi Picoult's newest book, Leaving Time.  It's due back to the library on Saturday, so I need to get going on it :)
After that, I think I'm going to return to The Land of Stories series, book #3.

Can't wait to see what you're reading!

11 comments:

  1. Oooh! I really look forward to reading Sam and Dave Dig a Hole after reading your review. I am very impatiently waiting for it to arrive at my library.

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  2. El Deafo is on its way, & as I've said before, so good to see a book relating another experience with different abilities. A former neighbor who was deaf would have loved this book! I'll look for that red riding hood story-looks very fun. Thanks Michele! Have a great week.

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  3. I just finished (and posted about) El Deafo, too - a special book.

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  4. Also waiting on the library for Sam and Dave. And loved El Deafo - such a great book for so many kids.

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  5. Ok, I am requesting the Red Riding Hood spin off book right now!

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  6. Wow. You had a lot of positive reviews this week! Particularly, your review of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole inspired me. I've seen it posted in a lot of places, but you made me want to run out and find it!

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  7. I completely agree about Sam & Dave! Well put.
    Just ordered The Cat, The Dog, Little Red, The Exploding Eggs, The Wolf, and Grandma from the library--can't wait!

    Happy reading this week! :)

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  8. I too am still thinking about Sam and Dave. I have yet to read El Deafo, but will likely get to it soon. The Cat, the Dog... looks fun. I have many Interrupting Chicken fans that would really enjoy it too. Thanks!

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  9. I'm still thinking about Sam & Dave too--can't wait to share it with my college students next semester. It's going to blow their minds! I really want to read The Cat, the Dog, etc. now. Sounds like just my kind of book.

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  10. Great picture books! Really enjoyed all of your comments. I am also a big fan of El Deafo.

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  11. Loved Benjamin Chaud's first picturebook - absolutely gorgeous illustrations. Can't wait to read the next one. Haven't read El Deafo yet but really looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing so many good reads here.

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