It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 02/11/13



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Reading? Meme

 

 

I find that I'm not exactly reading what I plan to.  At first, my weekly goals were a bit lofty.  Now I just find that I get sidetracked by library books or e-books or tasks at work that require me to read different professional books.  But, even though I'm not always reading the books I had planned, I do think I'm more productive in my reading so making a plan is working out. 

 

The first book I finished this week was one of the books I had planned to finish last week.  Honestly, if I hadn't put in writing that I was going to read this, I probably would have quit early on.  It's not that I thought the book was bad, it just wasn't immediately captivating.  I'm glad I pushed through though.  The bullying story-line played out pretty well, there was humor, I liked the vocabulary with sketches in the margins, and the dog didn't die.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinder was not on my list for this week, but it was at the library and the ARC of Scarlett stares at me every day, so I had to go off-plan.  I'll tell you, I was not happy in the first page and a half.  (I'm a bit harsh at the beginning of books.)  I knew it was going to be one of those weird robot-cyborg, mechanical, technical sci-fi stories; not at all what I wanted.  And then the prince walked into Cinder's shop and I was in.  In one paragraph I reverted to a sixteen-year-old girl, and I stayed there throughout the story.  I really enjoyed this futuristic version of Cinderella and look forward to diving into Scarlet.

 

 

I am reading a picture book every day (which is why I visit the library even though I have a million YA books here to read), so as usual, I'll just highlight one.  I really appreciate all of the recommendations on the other IMWAYR blogs as that is how I am able to choose my picture books each week.    I liked Giant Steps to Change the World even before the first page.  The inside cover has inspirational quotes such as "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new" from Albert Einstein.  I also love the artwork.  Each page describes a way to change the world with a specific example.  The examples describe famous people and the artwork also hints at who each person is, but the people are not specifically named.  I think it does a nice job of showing the potential of an individual.  My only criticism would be that I wish there was sort of a cheat sheet or answer key in the back to identify each person.  I think it would benefit kids to know that real people did the things suggested in the book.

 

 

Finally, I finished one of the professional books I've mentioned in the last few weeks.  What I love about Energize Research Reading and Writing is that it really highlights individual strategies for carrying out research so that research does not always have to be a long, drawn-out unit of study.  There are specific examples and ways to differentiate each strategy.  The title indicates the book is appropriate for teachers of grades 4-8, but I think this is certainly good for high school teachers as well. 

 

 

 

 

So what's for this week?  Well, I suppose I should try to get last week's books done.  And maybe Scarlet. 

 

         

 

 

Thanks for reading my blog!  Please let me know what you're reading or leave me your website address so that I can read your blog.