It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It is Monday and again I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.

Hop on over and join in over at the Mentor Text Blog. Just click on the picture 
                                               
This last week I've been reading...

First in a series by Morris Gleitzman about Felix and Zelda two children caught up in World War 11 in Poland.  They are on the run from the Nazis.  Each chapter begins with Once....

An amazing book, while it is a horrendous read in one way it is a heart warming one as well, and I love how Gleitzman adds humour to it.

Then....

I had a plan for me and Zelda
Pretend to be someone else
Find new parents
Be safe forever

Then the Nazis came

Another amazing book in this series, it takes up immediately from Once, so I was very pleased I didn't have to wait and could start it straight away.  However didn't like the ending!  So sad, so shocking.

This coming week I would like to plan to read Now the third in the series by Morris Gleitzman. However it is out at the library so I will need to wait.  In the meantime I will read   The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver.

Once

Once there was a beautiful fine autumn day and I decided to take a chair and read outside in the sunshine at morning break time and read the book Once by Morris Gleitzman.

I was interrupted a few times, I did up a five year old girl's shoes, she asked about my book,  I sorted out some trouble on the playground (even though I wasn't the duty teacher - all from my chair of course) and answered the questions about what I was reading to our TA and encouraged her to read the book too.

Once by Morris Gleitzman is a fabulous book. It is set in 1942 in Poland when the Nazis were exterminating the Jews.  I've read The Diary of Anne Frank, I've read aloud to my class years ago I Am David, and I have The Book Thief sitting on my table at home for over a year waiting to be read - and because I think it is set at the same time as Once I have been avoiding it!

Inside the front cover it says:

Once I escaped from an orphanage

 to find Mum and Dad.

Once I saved a girl called Zelda

 from a burning house.

Once I made a Nazi with a toothache laugh.

My name is Felix.

This is my story.

Morris Gleitzman has written an amazing story.  Felix is an innocent child caught up in the evils of that time and deeply affected by them.  He is courageous, responsible, innocent, imaginative  an ever hopeful story teller.  Zelda is a sweetheart and I love her constant refrain; "Don't you know anything?" that she says often to Felix.  Their care for each other is heart warming. What a hero and heroine.

For a long time Felix doesn't realise what is actually happening until one telling sentence: "I'm glad the other kids are excited because they haven't seen what I can see now that I've wiped my glasses."

This story is a deeply heart wrenching story, yet there is humour in Gleitzman's writing as he tells the story.  I am close to finishing it, but not quite.  When I do finish it I will move on to the second in this series, Then.

Do read it.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It is Monday and again I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.

Hop on over and join in over at the Mentor Text Blog. Just click on the picture 
                                              
It took me a few weeks to finish this one below.  I didn't experience a reading slump, but I was reading a few other books and they took precedence!  Then I shook myself up and sat down and finished...

Title: Equinox
Author Lara Morgan.
2nd in The Rosie Black Chronicles Trilogy.

I enjoyed this very much again.  It's set in New Perth, Australia and the main character Rosie is still at war with Helios who are still full of evil intent.  We meet a new character Dalton who I liked very much, along still with Pip. So two male interests for Rosie! They all work together to outwit Helios, and this book is full of adventure and a little romance.   It is nicely set up for the third and final book.  Well done to this Australian author.

I was a little at a loss as to what to read next, as I am not going to read the third book in the trilogy for a few weeks.  I have decided to read Once by Morris Gleitzman which comes highly recommended by a once local librarian. So I seem to be reading Australian authors at the moment.  We have it in our school library so it was a quick decision, I snagged the second one Then as well, but that looks like all we have.  However I know our local library has the others.