Taken from a painting of Kapiti Island at Sunset.
by Sonia Savage.

Monday, April 16, 2012

It's Monday...

Monday has come around again and I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.
Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog. 

I fell off the wagon there for a couple of weeks towards the end of term and first week of the holidays.  I kept reading but just didn't find the energy to blog. Up and running again now!

During that time I finished the Hunger Games trilogy, I had to stand in line with some of the readers in my class who were also madly passing them from hand to hand. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them, even though the whole concept was so repugnant to me.

Another book that stands out to me in last few weeks is Smile by Rainer Telgemeier, a true story told in graphic form.  It so speaks to girls of that 
12 -13year age group and some of those in my class are reading and liking it.  I book talked it to those who had braces!  What I notice is when I have finished a book I drop it on the small table by my desk.  Before I pick it up to book talk it someone will approach me and ask to read it.  Seems they keep an eye on 'the 
spot'!




I am going to count Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt into this week as well.  I did read it over the NZ summer break, and have spent our 1st term reading it aloud to my students.  They all fell in love with it too! We finished on the final day of school, as I closed the book there was a spontaneous round of applause.  Now I know its not my reading, it was the book. I so love this book, I loved reading it again - the voice of Doug comes through so strongly. His intimate way of addressing the reader had some of my students spontaneously answering him as I read.  As we read along I placed a picture of the bird that the chapter referred to and I found that a tremendous help.  Fabulous read aloud book. My students are very keen to read more books by this author so I must check out The Wednesday Wars.

I have just finished this book Wonder and it was amazing. I know everyone that has read it will say that.  This is a book that I want to read aloud to my class.  I won't be there this term and I can't decide whether to drop it into the class library now, or hold it over to when I return in Term 3.  It can be bought in NZ book shops which is a plus.  

Reading this book was a spiritual experience, one that touches the human heart in a way that you know you can never be the same after reading it.  If you are looking for a book with a theme of kindness this is it.

This morning in my Google reader I noticed these two posts, I think you would enjoy finding more out about this book here in this post by Teach Mentor Texts
and this one on Read, Write, Reflect.

This coming week I am going to be reading Super Finn by Leonie Agnew, a book contender for the NZ Post Book awards.  

Maybe something else as well, I will see where the mood takes me.

12 comments:

  1. I loved Smile! I can't believe I missed it when it first came out. I'm glad I read it because Rainer Telgemeier is coming out with sequel. After I read it I understood why I have had so many holds on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A sequel? How fantastic, will be keeping an eye out for it.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for sharing my post about Wonder! I appreciate you spreading the word. It's such a great book! I'm glad you agree. I love it. I could just hug it all day. The characters really stick with you long after reading it.

    I feel the same way about Okay For Now. I love Doug. Have you read Wednesday Wars? I really like that book as well.

    Last week a student was telling me about how she is getting braces and I immediately thought of Smile. I'm going to bring it to her today.

    Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love Smile! Such a great book. It's one of my go-to gifts for kids I know. Loved hearing your story about reading aloud Okay for Now. You're so right, Doug has a great voice and seems so real. That was such a good idea to show the kids the paintings of the birds as you were reading those portions of the novel!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Smile is such a good book. It was my first graphic novel, now I am convinced how much fun they can be to read! I am reading Wonder now, and I am sure that I too will think its a wonderful book.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am almost finished with Okay for Now. Holy cow! Talk about a roller coaster. I am listening to it and the narrator is wonderful, but I think I need to pick up the book and see some of the illustrations.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Okay for Now and Wonder are two of my favorite reads for this school year...I'm saving Wonder for the last read aloud of the year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I think I will save Wonder for my next read aloud in Term 3!

      Delete
  7. I love WONDER. Moving SMILE towards the top of the stack. Thanks for sharing, Ruth

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looking forward to hearing what you think about Super Finn- it looks like a book that would be liked in my classroom.

    You listed a bunch of great books. Smile is one of those books that I've had to replaced because it was loved so much. And Okay for Now and Wonder are just brilliant books.

    Happy reading this week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Joining in with all those folks who enjoyed Wonder. I wish I was still teaching so that I could read it to my fifth graders. My 3yo just won't appreciate it the same way ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I keep seeing wonder pop up... I want to read that one!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...