Monday, March 24, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3.24.14

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.

It was kind of a slow reading week for me.  I read a bit each day, but not a whole lot was actually finished.  This week will be my reading week since I'm on Spring Break!  I have no real plans, other than to get through as many books as possible!
This week I was busy trying to put a unit on friendship together for our first grade team.  It's actually a unit we'll do early in the year next year, but we're going to try it out on our current first graders.  I had a few stand-by favorites that I knew I wanted to use, but drew a blank on old favorites.  I turned to some Nerdy friends and they came through within hours!  The friendship books I read are thanks to them!

Picture Books

The Invisible Boy
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
5/5 stars 
This book has been on my TBR list since early January.  I finally got around to it this past week.  Wow.  Just an amazing book.  Because it needs to be told.  We all have someone who feels like the Invisible Boy in our classes.  We've probably felt like the Invisible One before.  Empathy for each other really needs to be taught and emphasized in our schools.  I assume that it is taught, that the idea of inclusion, and community is expected at all schools.  But as I found out this year, it isn't.  We can't assume.  We need to teach.  Not only does this book have a beautiful message, the illustrations are equally touching.  The back of the book has wonderful questions for specific pages that children and classes can discuss.  If you haven't already, put this book on your must read list.

Other friendship theme books:

Oliver
Oliver by Birgitta Sif

Ten Things I Love About You
Ten Things I Love About You by Daniel Kirk

When Blue Met Egg
When Blue Met Egg by Lindsay Ward

Each Kindness
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Hello, My Name Is Ruby
Hello My Name is Ruby by Philip C. Stead

And Still Reading.....


Harriet the Spy (Harriet the Spy #1)
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
This is our Mother/Daughter book club selection.  We're getting ready for #SharpSchu book club this Tuesday!

Dangerous
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
I like it so far.  It's nice to read a YA book that has adventure in it, yet it's not a dystopian novel!


And Reading with our Ears
We're trying this out for the first time... I'm not one to listen to a book.  I love holding a book in my hands and I'm also a visual learner.  When we're in the car, my daughter loves to read.  I would get sick!  But she does the majority of her reading in the car.  But we're trying something new by listening to a book.  It's funny to look back at her.  She doesn't know what to do with her hands!  We'll see how it goes.  We're still in the beginning stages.

Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms, #1)
Five Kingdoms:  Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull

What are you reading?


6 comments:

  1. I just bought Five Kingdoms this past week after seeing the fantastic book trailer. I just had a gut feeling that it would be good. I am glad to hear someone else who has it.

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  2. I definitely added Invisible Boy and Oliver onto my TBR--both sound phenomenal. And I'm always looking for books to teach empathy, so I know Invisible Boy will be right up my alley. Isn't Each Kindness amazing?! It is one that I used last year.

    Happy reading this week :)

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  3. Invisible Boy is awesome, & I bought one for our library-too good to miss! I love your list, have written down the ones I don't know, Michele. Love Ruby & Each Kindness. What a great thing to do; first graders need some guidance in friendship making & keeping, don't they? Thanks Michele!

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  4. I love so many of the picture books you have shared here. The Invisible Boy is an amazing title! I was blown away by the quiet power of that book in my classroom. Oliver and Each Kindness are also favourite titles of mine. I love Shannon Hale so must read this new title of hers!

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  5. Hi there Michele. I loved The Invisible Boy too - I agree with you that it is indeed extremely powerful. I've used it as part of my text-set for my higher-degree class, plus the fact that it has a list of discussion questions found at the end of the book, very helpful for teachers. My 12 year old daughter loved Harriet the Spy. Each Kindness is also another beautiful book with such a thoughtful ending. :)

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  6. Hi Michele, thank you for sharing such a lovely selection of books. I haven't experienced The Invisible Boy, but have just requested it :)

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