It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

For Pleasure:

Clockwork Scarab: a Stoker and Holmes Novel by Colleen Gleason I'm doing a reading challenge this year.  One of the challenges was to read a steampunk novel.  I had no idea what a steampunk novel was so like any good librarian I looked up the definition.  Steampunk is not a genre I normally read.  So I went to Facebook and asked for some recommendations.  Clockwork Scarab was one of the books suggested.  I'm about 1/2 way through this young adult novel and I'm really enjoying it so far.  Mina Holmes is Sherlock Holmes' niece and Evaline Stoker is a vampire hunter.  Together they make an awesome team... even if they don't like each other much.

For School:

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright.  I do my lesson plans about 6 weeks in advanced.  Normal reasoning would say that in February it's going to be cold.  This year... not so much.  Here in Texas it's been spring like.  Which defeated the my whole idea of reading a book about snowmen in the winter.  But that's ok!  I recovered from the shocked of a 70 to 80 degree week and had fun with it anyway.

When I introduced the book to PK-2nd I said something like "I want to read you a book about snowmen on this cold day."  PK did not get it.  Kinder paused a moment, thought about it, then would holler out "It's not cold!" 1st and 2nd immediately corrected me. Ha!  So we talked about the kind of weather we normally have in February verses the kind of weather we were actually having.  Then I read Sneezy the Snowman.  Sneezy is a snowman who is cold and wants to warm up but every time he warms up he melts.  The children came up with an idea to keep Sneezy just the right temperature.

The story rhymes and has repetitive language that the students picked up on quickly.  I would pause and let them fill in the repetitive phrases.  We all enjoyed reading this book!

My Junior Library Guild subscription came in this week.  I've been reading my way through the box. Reading through the box is one of my favorite things to do!

Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems, Nanette's mom sends him off in the streets of France to get a baguette.  The baguette is warm and smells wonderful and... he eats it.  He's most upset!  Mom's gonna be mad.

Xo, Ox A Love Story by Adam Rex, Ox sends love letters to Gazelle.  Gazelle does not love Ox back and sends him standardize letters back.  But Ox is insistent with his love letters.  Gazelle ends up so exasperated she writes a letter saying she will never write Ox back.  But never is a mighty long time.

The Princess and the Warrior by Duncan Tonatiuh is a legend about two volcanoes in Mexico.  The Sleeping Woman is named after the princess who was tricked into taking a potion that ended up killing her.  This volcano is silent or asleep.  The other volcano is named after the soldier who loved the princess, Smoky Mountain.  It erupts occasionally trying to wake the princess.

Is That WISE, Pig? by Jan Thomas is a silly book about making soup.  Cow and mouse add yummy vegetables to the soup but Pig wants to add umbrellas and galoshes.  But that doesn't seem wise!  In the end though the umbrellas and galoshes do come in handy.

 Mickey Mantle the Commerce Comet by Jonah Winter, My husband is a huge baseball fan.  I was a fan growing up but I kind of got out of following baseball once my daughter was born.  I said all that to say that I have a slightly more than basic knowledge of baseball but I still learned a lot about Mickey Mantle while reading this book.  The book mostly focuses on his boyhood and his start in baseball.  Though it does touch on the end of his career and life.

Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea! by Ben Clanton is a fun book full of punish jokes.  There are a lot of silly word plays.  Jelly and his friend Narwhal swim the sea together.  They create a pod that includes sharks and turtles.  Everyone has to wear a horn.  Jelly learns to use his imagination or... is he already using his imagination?

Bramble and Maggie Snow Day by Jessie Haas is a sweet easy reader chapter book.  A storm hits and brings lots of snow.  Bramble the horse loves the snow!  He stays warm and toasty with his fur. Maggie and her family get stuck in the house when the snow piles high in front of the door but Bramble helps dig them out as well as their friends in the neighborhood.

We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen Two turtles find a hat.  The hat looks good on both of them but there's only one hat.  As they drift off to sleep one turtle starts to sneak the hat but the other turtle tells him that he's dreaming that they both have hats that look good on each of them.  The sneaking turtle has to make a decision about the hat.

a greyhound A Groundhog by Emily Jenkins is a tongue twister!  I can't wait to read this one out loud to students and see how many times my tongue gets all twisted up.  The greyhound finds a round hole. In the round hole is a round groundhog.  The greyhound and the groundhog go round and round. My tongue's all twisted just thinking about it! Ha!

A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785 by Matthew Olshan, Dr. Jeffries, an Englishman, and his pilot Jean-Pierre Blanchard don't get along. About the only thing they agree on is they both want to be the first to fly to another country.  So they load up their dogs and some extra belongings and proceed to fly.  Only they start to sink so they have to throw everything, including their clothes, overboard to keep from sinking in the water.  All the lost weights helps them continue their flight and be the first people to fly to another country.