It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I've read a lot of picture books last week.  I got two orders from Junior Library Guild back to back (probably because of Spring Break).  I read my way through those boxes.

You Never Heard of Casey Stengel?! by Jonah Winter
I really enjoyed this book.  Jay is a huge baseball fan and I really like baseball too, so I enjoyed reading about this player turned coach.  It was interesting to see him go from bad to great.

Dylan the Villain by K.G. Campbell
This was a cute book about "normal" parents having a villainous son.  The illustrations were really detailed.

Ideas Are All Around by Philip C. Stead
Honestly, I didn't think I was going to like this book when I started it but it drew me in.  I liked how it started with writers block and ended up being a story in and of itself.

The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window by Jeff Gottesfeld
This book made me sad.  Really anything related to Anne Frank makes me sad.  The story was told from a trees point of view.  It was quiet interesting.

Wet Cement: A Mic of Concrete Poems by Bob Raczka
I cannot wait to read this one to my students.  The lines of the drawings are the words of the poem.  It is so creative!

Buddy and Earl Go Exploring by Maureen Fergus
This was a funny tale of a pet dog and guinea pig and the adventures they go on one night.

Get a Hit, Mo! by David A. Adler
This was a sweet story about a boy learning to play baseball.

The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart
This book started out as a wordless graphic novel but ended up with a few words by about the middle of the book.  It was not my favorite book.

Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! An Alphabet Caper by Mike Twohy
Each page is a letter from the alphabet with a picture and a word to go with that letter.  It's a very simple book.  It's great for those learning letters and beginning sounds.

The Quickest Kid in Clarksvill by Pat Zietlow Miller
The main character is a fast runner but her shoes have holes in them.  A new girl comes to town who has brand new shoes and challenge the girl to races.  Both girls race to see an Olympic running champion who comes to town.

These last couple of books I do not remember well enough to write a blurb about them... so that should tell you something.

The Truth About My Unbelieveable Summer... by Davide Cali

The Plan by Alison Paul

For my own reading pleasure:

I finished Vendetta by Fern Michaels.  I really like this series.  There's 20 something books in the series so I'm going to pace myself so I don't get sick of it.

I know the I Survived Series is junior lit and technically is work related BUT I read two of them for pleasure this weekend.  Each book took me about an hour to finish.  So they are super easy reads.  I haven't picked up any of these books before because none of the historical events interested me but when I saw The Attacks of September 11th, 2001 and The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 I knew I had to read both of them.  And after reading both I've decided I "need" to read the other books.  I think The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 or the Great Chicago Fire, 1871 will be next.  My students love these books and now I see why.  I've only had one student tell me she didn't like the series because it's too scary but she is a younger students who has a very high reading level.  I think her age has something to do with her thinking the books are too scary.