It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 03/11/13



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Reading? Meme

Today is the 2 year anniversary of The Great East Japan Earthquake.   It seemed like a normal, beautiful Friday on March 11, 2011.  At 2:46 pm that all changed. It was an unbelievably tragic and devastating day for the people of Japan.  I hope you will take a moment to think of these wonderful people today - all they have lost, and all they continue to work to restore and rebuild. 




Well, I didn't blog last week and I don't have much for this week.  Here's what I finished:



I really enjoyed this one.  As usual, I wasn't totally excited about it because it's fantasy, but I had no trouble getting through it.  Most of it really seemed like historical fiction.  The fantasy was not too fantastical through most of the book.  The main character, a strong young female, is quite likeable and heroic.  She is forced to marry a Prince from another town, and although it is an arranged marriage, she still holds out hope for a storybook romance.  Once in her new home, she gets caught up in the politics of war and sets out to save lives.  There's a lot of action and a little romance, and I found myself wanting to finish in one sitting.  (Ok, I always want to finish books in one sitting, but I had the time and engagement to do so with this book.)







 
I recommend Notice & Note if you're working with your students on close reading (and who isn't?).  Beers and Probst present 7 "Signposts" for students to look for as they're reading.  This really takes the read aloud the extra step so that students can understand, not only what they might be thinking as they read one particular text, but what they could think about when they're reading any piece of literature.  As I was reading, I could imagine how these strategies might work well in elementary, middle or high school.  In fact, I starting using the strategies in the next book I picked up.






I have continued reading a picture book a day, and again this week, I read some I really loved.  I would say my favorites were The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, and These Hands.  In The Incredible Book Eating Boy, as the title suggests, Henry literally devours books.  But, as you might expect, eating books makes him sick.  Don't worry...there is a happy ending.  Henry learns to love reading the books.  (Should I have done a spoiler alert?)  Anyway, it's a cute story, but also I just really love the illustrations done on old book pages as the background.  I just like to revisit the beautiful artwork.    Since I don't have kids and have never taught elementary, I am grateful to all of the IMWAYR blogs that recommend these fantastic picture books each week.




  I almost forgot about this one, which would have been a shame because I laughed out loud through much of it, and we know how important laughter is to our health.  The narrator promises from the beginning that, although one of the main characters in the book does have cancer, this is not going to be one of those books that requires a box of tissue.  He keeps that promise.  Through the narrator, Greg, we learn not only about his life, but also that of his only friend Earl and his ex-girlfriend Rachel.  All three deal with serious problems, but Greg's narration of the events of his senior year in high school is hilarious.  





This week is off to a great start.   I almost decided not to blog another week so that I could finish this book instead.  I look forward to telling you about it next week. 

Thanks for reading!  Have a great week!

Lee