It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 5.14.18

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

It was a pretty quiet week - I've got too many reading projects up in the air right now so not a whole lot of blogging happened.  But you don't want to miss this post about favorite NEW read alouds that should not be missed.
Stop by this Friday for favorite NEW read alouds post 2!


Picture Books


Ten Cents a Pound
written by Nhung N. Tran-Davies
illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
A story about a mother's love - wanting more and better for her child.  A mother always wishes more for her child and shares her dreams and desires for her daughter, even when the girl just wants to stay with her mom.  The mom get everything the young daughter needs to succeed by earning ten cents a pound from her work, and everything goes to her daughter.


A Most Unusual Day
written by Sydra Mallery
illustrated by E. B. Goodale
We can start collecting clues on the title page.  We know it is an unusual day and a young girl is outside and we see a random plane flying overheard.  Hmmmm.  As we read the story, poor Caroline is having an unusual day.  We gather that things are usually neat and orderly, but not today.  We get little clues about a new arrival coming and we can slowly figure out the arrival will be a baby.  Great story about adoption and being able to celebrate the new normal, the new usual.


The Little Red Fort
written by Brenda Maier
illustrated by Sonia Sánchez
I loved this take on The Little Red Hen more than I thought I would.  Young Ruby has an engineer's mind and even though her brothers are not willing to help, she's going to build that fort!  Loved the author's note at the end, too.

Informational Texts


Who Says Women Can't Be Computer Programmers
written by Tanya Lee Stone
illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

This may be my favorite biography about Ada Lovelace.  I learned more about her than I had known before - she was certain a multi-dimensional character!

Graphic Novels


All Summer Long
by Hope Larson
Fantastic middle school graphic novel.  Coming of age into the throes of actual teen years - when everything you know you questions.  I loved meeting Bina and seeing her find her passion even though she is shaky in other social departments.  I enjoyed reading it through the weekly structure of Bina's summer.  Middle school readers are going to love this graphic novel.  Perfect for readers who are ready to age up from some of Raina's books.

Middle Grade


Nate Expectations
by Tim Federle
The conclusion to the Nate series and it really was a perfect ending as we see the story come full circle.  I fell in love with Nate all over again and was happy to see his transition into high school.  Look for this book in September!
*e-copy obtained through Edelweiss

Young Adult


A Court of Frost and Starlight
by Sarah J. Maas
If you have not read this series you need to immediately go out and get it from the library or bookstore!  It is definitely one of my favorite series.  I have loved seeing the character development of the main and supporting characters and I was so glad to return to them, even if it was a much, much shorter novel!  This book (novella??) was intended to set up a future series where Feyre and Rhys are supporting/cameo characters.  While I'm not happy that they won't be the starring roles, I am interested in hearing about other stories from this world too.
Seriously.  Go read these books!

Currently Reading


Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
I'll be finishing this one today and I cannot say enough great things about it!  If you are a middle school teacher, be sure this one is in your libraries!

I have so many books to read before this month ends.  I may need to take a little blogging break so I can get books read!  That means lots of great titles to share soon!