It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 12.04.17

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

I celebrated what I found at the NCTE exhibit hall!  Make sure these books are on your radar:

nonfiction picture books

early readers/transitional chapter books

I will be sharing the middle grade novels I picked up as I read them.  Look for them in my Monday and Thursday posts!


Picture Books


Snow Scene
written by Richard Jackson
illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Guessing game that takes place in the wintry snow.


Waltz of the Snowflakes
by Elly Mackay
I love getting lost in Mackay's worlds!  This time a young girl and boy meet at a performance of The Nutcracker.  Sharing the performance makes them a bit nicer to each other.


Winter Dance
written by Marion Dane Bauer
illustrated by Richard Jones
Absolutely loved this book!  Beautiful story for young readers about what animals do in the winter.

Graphic Novels


Time Shifters
by Chris Grine
I have no doubt your readers who love Greg Grunberg's Dream Jumper series or Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl or Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Space series will enjoy this book.
I was a little confused by the ending because it seems like it was left open to be a series, but I'm not sure if it is.  This is one graphic novel you really have to pay attention to the characters because readers can easily get confused when the story jumps from the action between the good guys and bad guys.  I wish the transitions were just a bit smoother.

Poetry


I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups
written by Chris Harris
illustrated by Lane Smith
With a title like that, you know you're going to be laughing at the rest of the book.
The poems are a bit Shel Silverstein and will definitely make readers smile, chuckle and laugh.  Because of the short length of many of them, they will draw in some reluctant readers, and hopefully keep them because of the humor!

Middle Grade


Aru Shah and the End of Time
by Roshani Chokshi
I am so glad I picked this one up at NCTE.  Alerted of the title by Kellee Moye the morning of the signing, I made sure to get to it first thing that morning.  
We all know Rick Riordan and what he has done for introducing mythology to readers.  Riordan himself knows there are many more stories to be told from other cultures, however, he doesn't know enough about these stories to do them justice.  So, in conjunction with his publishing house, Disney-Hyperion, he is starting an imprint to do just that - tell mythology tales from other cultures by authors who know these stories best.  
The first series comes from India.  We meet Aru Shah, a Georgia middle schooler who tells lies in order to try and fit in.  But those lies catch up to her when she tries to impress some schoolmates, and she accidentally lets out The Sleeper, just this mythological demon who is going to wipe out the human race... It's up to Aru to brush up on Indian Culture and Arts 101 and combat this creature!
This book publishes March 27th.  I know there will be a long hold list for this one so make sure you preorder your copies!

Currently Reading


The Wish List: Keep Calm and Sparkle On!
by Sarah Aronson
Can't wait for more adventures with Isabelle, she is such a fun character!


Happy Reading!