It's Monday What are You Reading?

Note: Thanks for  Jen and Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts for inspiring many of us to share what we have been reading.  I will try to join the fun as regularly as possible.

 

This past week was a busy week of diving into picture books for me and my class.  In the previous post I shared our little project about predicting the Caldecott Winners.  So I read a bunch of new picture books for me to plan for last weeks Caldecott shares.  I also read two novels, one for myself and one to model my goal of reading more mysteries.

The Game of Their Lives was a fabulous book in my opinion.  Keep in mind though the story of a 1950s soccer match between the USA and England that focuses on the game and the lives of a few of the members of the USA team is definitely my kind of reading.  If you are not really into soccer or adult narrative nonfiction then I would stay away from this book.  I thought the author did a great job of building tension in the game sequences even though the reader already knows what the final outcome is.

A few weeks ago, my class wrote reading goals for the winter and one of mine was to read more mysteries.  I love mysteries, but when I was modeling how to write a few reading goals I noticed a glaring absence of mysteries from the last year or so of my reading life.  Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer helped to fulfill one of my goals and my son recommended it to me.  So I did feel a little pressured to want to enjoy it.  Thankfully I did.  I am not the biggest John Grisham fan, but I did really like the escapades of Theo in this opening book of what I imagine will be a rather big series.  I felt the writing would appeal to most kids and the mystery is edgy enough for middle readers to think it is bigger than "who stole my lunchbox", but it was also not too intense or graphic for ten year-olds.  Theo gets accidentally involved in a murder trial that has rocked his small town.  And he helps to make sure that all the evidence needed to keep the trial legitimate gets to the judge.  About the only thing I didn't like about this story is the case/trial is still lingering at the end.

The picture books shown above were are solid in my opinion.  My favorite was Perfect Square.  I loved it the most because it reminded me of the Eric Carle books my own children devoured when they were younger.  I thought the illustrations were amazing and the simplesness of the story was very endearing.  If you are a primary teacher or have young kids at home, you should definitely check it out.

To be honest, I am not 100% sure of what I will be reading in the next 7 days.  I have a few books at home in my TBR stack.  Though I know I won't get to them all.  And due to the long weekend we are having, I haven't gone into our school library yet to browse for any new picture books.  My "big books" in my stack include:

 I am currently reading the second Theodore Boone book.  The Charlestown Connection was a cheap download to my kindle and it sounds like fun to me.  The Whisper is a current ARC that I have which is a follow up to The Roar.  I really enjoyed reading The Roar, so I hope The Whisper does not disappoint.  Hopefully my son, finishes it soon because when he saw it, he begged to read it before me.  

Happy Reading this week.

Later,

Tony

Comments

[Mentortexts]

I really liked All the Way to America and Grandpa Green to talk about our past and where we come from. I love listening to my mom tell stories about when she was growing up so those have special places in my heart. :)

I've only read the first Theodore Boone...I'll have to put the other on my TBR. I thought the first was good.

[Thebrainlair]

I used to be a John Grisham fan back in the days of The Firm. I've been meaning to read those Theodore Boone books but hadn't heard much about them. I will put them on my summer reading list! Well, at least the first one.

[LInda Baie]

Thanks for the heads up about the Grisham books. I'm glad to know they're good mysteries for the young adult crowd. And I'll try to get the first one from our library. I liked all your picture books especially Heart and Soul and All The Way To America. I don't recognize Square or the The Roar series. So many post apocalyptic books coming out-interesting! Thanks for sharing all.

[Kelleemoye]

I was interested in the Theodore Boone books, so it is good to hear that they are good :)

Happy reading!

[Kathy]

I love reading all the book reviews you write. I use the information to help choose novels for my class. I nominated you for the Liebster Award so I really enjoy your blog.

[Kathryn Trask]

Tony
I don't think I have visited your blog before, but it seems you are a reader to follow. I haven't read any of the books you mention, but that's not surprising, as I haven't the depth of experience reading mg and ya books. I am slowly remedying that.
Kathryn