It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 5.02.16

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

Are you ready for May book releases?  Here's a list of them!

I celebrated a successful surgery for my daughter here.

I love using interactive books to reel readers in!  I have used these books to get kids to open books and wanting to read more!

What an amazing woman Adelaide Herrmann was.  Haven't heard of her?  Check out this book and find teaching ideas here.

My reading really slowed down this week, but with good reason.  I have relocated to South Florida with my family while my daughter recovers and rehabs from her 3rd lengthening surgery.  The surgery was successful and now she enters the rehab phase.  I have lots of middle grade and YA books to read.  I'm looking forward to finding our local library and resuming some more picture book reading.  In the meantime, I'll cover the ones I preordered!  I have lots of reading time ahead!

Picture Books


Explorers of the Wild by Cale Atkinson
4/5 stars
I love anything Cale Atkinson does.  I've been anxiously awaiting this book because I loved his To the Sea so much.  
This book is beautiful and is going to be a great book to use, especially for the beginning of the school year.  The colors are vibrant and eye catching.  They are perfect for the story line, which is about two explorers who are enjoying the wild - the things they find, learn and discover.  But they are doing it separately, until they find each other.  And while scared and nervous at first, meeting someone with appeared differences - they quickly learn that there is more under the surface to both of them.  And there is so much more they can do together!
I think this book would be perfect to use at the beginning of the year.  Talk about how we can learn from each other.  How meeting new people can lead to new experiences.  How there is joy in learning and exploring and discovering.
I hope everyone finds their way to this picture book!

Middle Grade


All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
4/5 stars
This is a book I've been wanting to read for a long time.  My daughter loved it, my fellow reader friends loved it, students I know loved it.  Now I love Gladys and the way she follows her passion.  This story about friendship, about believing in yourself, about following what you love is one that will sound familiar to many kids.  There might be a few risks that Gladys took that are daring and crazy, and that's exactly what will draw kids to this book!  I have book 2 waiting for me and book 3 is preordered!


Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu
3/5 stars
I enjoyed this novel in verse.  I think it was a good story to write in that writing style.  I liked the characters, especially the main character, Ema.  The intergenerational conflicts rang true.  
I bought this book because it sounded like it was going to be about a conflict for Ema living in between two worlds - Japan and New York during the time of 9.11.  It's one chapter of the book, since the book is really a year in the life of this character.  I was confused as to where Ema had been living before moving in with her grandparents, it sounded as if it had been another part of Japan.  I should have gone back and checked, but just never did.
As I said, I liked this book, but I'm not sure how middle grade readers will feel about it.  I can see some sticking with it, but others abandoning it.

Currently Reading


The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead
I like it so far!

Have to settle in to our new place still, but hoping to find some good pockets of time to read!