It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 7.22.19

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

Check out this nonfiction picture book that has connections to literature and science standards and makerspace ideas.  Bonus - teacher's guide included in the post!

Next Chapter Book Summer series post is a roundup of books featuring Mighty Girls and STEM!  Check it out here.

Picture Books


Moth: An Evolution Story
written by Isabel Thomas
illustrated by Daniel Egnéus
Here is a book I'm not sure how to classify.  The library has it in the fiction section.  But it really is full of information.  
The story is truly an evolution story - how the peppered moth has changed and adapted to its environment over the years in order to survive.  Definitely a book to have in your stacks if you do anything with adaptations in your science units!


Can Cat and Bird Be Friends? 
by Coll Muir
I think this book has some possibilities as a mentor text.  Would be interesting to use in opinion writing and perspective.  
A bird and a cat are having an argument about whether or not they can be friends, which leads to the question can you be friends if you don't have anything in common?


Truman
written by Jean Reidy
illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins
A sweet and quiet little story.  One about accomplishments and feeling extraordinary.
Truman the turtle is always with his owner, Lucy.  But one day Lucy packs her backpack and looks extra nice and gives Truman more snacks than usual and then enters the southbound bus and leaves without Truman.  Readers can deduce that Lucy has probably gone off to school for the first time and will return, but Truman does not know this.  He takes matters into his own little tortoise hands and starts on a journey to find her.  
Would be a good read aloud at any time of the year, but fun for the beginning too!


Unstoppable Me
written by Susan Verde
illustrated by Andrew Joyner
A book written to celebrate children who have boundless energy and view them with a positive perspective.  Don't miss the author's note at the end that tells a bit more.  Diverse number of kids in illustrations.


Ruby Finds a Worry
by Tom Percival
Bloomsbury has published the American version of this story - I read the UK version over a year ago.  Same wonderful story, just some Americanized words (movie theater vs cinema) and spellings (realize vs realise).  Great book for your SEL collection to show that it is ok to have worries and it's ok to talk about them!
Publishes Sept. 3rd.

Middle Grade


The Hero Next Door
edited by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
I've been waiting for this middle grade anthology for a long time.  Featuring some amazing authors, it is also collaborated with We Need Diverse Books.  Some of my favorite stories come from Ellen Oh, R.J. Palacio, Ronald Smith, Linda Sue Park and Anna Dobbin, and Hena Khan.  The stories give praise to the unsung heroes in our lives.  Sometimes it even reminds us that we can be a hero to someone else.

Currently Reading


Eventown
by Corey Ann Haydu
This has been in my pile for a really long time.  It's time to get to it!


It was a slow reading week for me.  They happen!  Will try to pick it up a bit this week!