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.
Last Week's Adventures
One of the great things about libraries is that they allow me to read a book before deciding on purchasing them. Here are some books that I got from the library but decided they were must-haves.
Another must-have book for me was this week's nonfiction selection, The Secret Subway. Here are some mentor text suggestions.
I celebrated Liesl Shurtliff's newest book, Red, and her author visit at my school.
Be sure to check out this FANTASTIC book, I Hear a Pickle. Mentor text ideas here.
I was the guest blogger on Scholastic's Reader Leader blog this week, talking about including nonfiction choices in your independent reading time! Check it out!
Picture Books
Let's Play by Herve Tullet
4/5 stars
I was so excited to get this book! Press Here and Mix It Up have been 2 favorite books to check out among my students - and that's students ranging from Kg-4th graders! There is something magical knowing something is going to happen with each page turn. Watch out for a separate post on interactive books that will be coming soon!
The Opposite Zoo by Il Sung Na
4/5 stars
Great concept book for opposites. This book will be perfect to use in a preschool/kindergarten setting.
A monkey goes exploring in the zoo at night and finds things that are the opposite. Good visual representation and I like how the monkey appears in each layout - feeding the giraffe is my favorite.
Zoo books are tricky because I have very conflicted feelings about them. But concentrating on the conceptual pattern of this book and the beautiful and vivid colors used in the illustrations makes me more comfortable.
Hannah and Sugar by Kate Berube
4/5 stars
Use this book to talk to students about conquering their fear.
A lot of young readers have a fear of animals, particularly dogs. This will be a great book to use and talk about with young readers.
Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs by Linda Sue Park
4/5 stars
This book that is full of word pairs, does more than just say the pairs, we see them illustrated which gives readers a visual clue and there is also a small definition on each page in case someone doesn't pick up the clues in the illustrations. In the back matter there is a brief explanation of homographs and then a table that has the words, the origin of the animal's name and where the action got its meaning from.
Hoot and Peep by Lita Judge
3/5 stars
Sweet book, good to use with growth mindset.
Follow the Moon Home by Philippe Cousteau and Deborah Hopkinson
5/5 stars
This book will have its own post on a Spotlight Friday next month.
Loved this book about how a young student activists worked together to help the local sea turtle population!
publishes April 5th.
This is Not a Picture Book! by Sergio Ruzzier
5/5 stars
Ruzzier perfectly captures what books do for readers and the power of imagination.
Another book that will be feature in an upcoming Spotlight Friday post!
publishes May 3rd.
Transitional Chapter Book
Bea Garcia: My Life in Pictures by Deborah Zemke
3/5 stars
This is going to be a fun, new transitional chapter book series! Diverse character, a little bit of Spanish added. Part doodles, part story. I think young readers will like this series!
Middle Grade
Summerlost by Ally Condie
5/5 stars
I loved this one because my heart just broke, then was stitched up, then broke again.
The multiple story strands - the heartbreak after death, falling into a new and special friendship, ghost stories - were woven together expertly and kept me turning the pages.
Great for 5th and up.
Young Adult
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
5/5 stars
Loved it. Loved the different angle on the end of the world that leads to a forced new society - where you never know who is the bad guy.
On Deck
I'm hoping to get to this week:
Weekends With Max and his Dad by Linda Urban
Once Was a Time by Leila Sales
What have you been reading?
Thanks, Michelle! I added a lot of titles to my "To Read" list on Goodreads!
ReplyDeleteWow, lots of great titles here! I've saved your post so I can return when I'm ordering books. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAll of these are such great books. I especially loved Follow the Moon Home. Have a great reading week.
ReplyDeleteSo many wonderful books and authors featured, Michele. I love hearing about Hoot and Peep! Thanks, and will also look for Summerlost.
ReplyDeleteNice looking assortment of books. I don't use the library much at all because I have enough (and more than enough) to read with review books. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteI am very intrigued by This is Not a Picture Book. I will definitely have to request that at my library.
ReplyDeleteFollow the Moon Home looks gorgeous! So many books here I'm adding to my list. I also have to thank you for helping me spend my portion of my department's library budget last week. I had less than 24 hours to come up with a list of books to spend $400, and I swear, my mind went totally blank. I really wanted to highlight nonfiction and diverse authors. I just scrolled through your blog for the last few months and had the list I needed! So thank you for all your reading and writing work here. So helpful!
ReplyDeleteMichele, I LOVED your guest post for Scholastic. Really wonderful. I am going to look for Follow the Moon Home. Have the feeling I will love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michele - We can't wait to read Follow the Moon Home and This is Not a Picture Book. We are looking forward to reading your post on Friday
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michele! I always appreciate your recommendations. I will add Follow The Moon Home and This Is Not a Picture Book to by TBR list!
ReplyDeleteThe Hannah and Sugar book looks like a helpful one to have.
ReplyDeleteI so love the variety of books you have here from picturebooks to YA novels. Follow the Moon Home caught my eye - I really should find that one from our library soonest.
ReplyDeleteSo many new to me books Michelle. I don't know where to start. I'm really looking forward to Follow the Moon Home and Summerlost.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for the library, I'd be just about broke if I had to buy every book I read! :)
ReplyDeleteJealous that Shurtliff visited! I love Rump though I need to read Red and Jack.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading this week :)