What Are You Reading?

It's 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 below.

This last week I read the 1999 Newbery award winning book, Holes by Louis Sachar.  I know most if not all of you will have read this book, however for me it was the first time.  It was to me a book that could be described as a tall tale, a legend, a mystery and an adventure.  The stories of differing generations were skilfully interwoven.  It showed how the choices of one generation impacted on another.  I b felt sorry for those boys who were sent to dig holes and at the same time admired there tenacity and perseverance.  I had a number of favourite characters, Stanley and Zero and also Sam the onion grower.  There were a lot of coincidences but then it was a tall tale. Tall tale my opinion only!)  I highly recommend this book if by some chance you haven't read it.

I also finished listening to Insurgent, the second in Virginia Roth's Divergent trilogy.  I again liked this as much as the first one. There were surprises, and upsets along the way, not saying more because I know everyone won't have read this yet.  Also I need to confess I am going to need to listen to this again, I am planning to listen to both Divergent and Insurgent before the last book comes out next year, so that my brain is totally sharp on all characters and turns of events.

The narrator (Emma Galvin) who reads this book captures it really well for me, her voice is the voice of Tris as far as I am concerned.  I 'read' Divergent ever before I read the Hunger Games trilogy, I then felt if I could cope with Divergent I could cope with The Hunger Games.  It's not a natural genre for me to go to, however both trilogies have been well worth the read.  It has been a good experience to read outside my comfort zone.

For the coming week I am keeping it simple, I am going to read my first Lunch Lady book and I am also going to read Guts, by Gary Paulsen - the True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian books.

Meme What are you Reading?

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 below.

This last week I read The Red Pyramid, the first of the Kane Chronicles.  It was good and I enjoyed the humour.  This book had a lot of action and adventure as well as Egyptian mythology.  It is not my favourite genre, however I enjoyed it enough to read on into the series.  So sometime this year I will read the next one.

I also have been listening to Insurgent - and am about half way through. This book too is full of action!  What did I just say about lots of action, can't be listening to myself.  I am really enjoying this audio version.

For the coming week I plan to finish listening to Insurgent and then reading Holes by Louis Sachar.  It is one I have been planning to read for ages, also being the 1999 Newbery medal winner, it means I cross

 another medal book off my list as read.

I am also reading all over the web as I gather information on digital storytelling and the making of videos aspect of that.  This morning I was just reading Matthew Needleman say that media literacy is important, and by making a movie it helps us to analyse and think critically about visual media. So I still have a lot of reading to do just on his blog!

A Born Again Reader.

I have always been a reader, but not of children's literature.  Since exiting childhood I left that genre of books behind.  In fact as a child I was often mystified by my best friend's mother enjoying reading children's books. I have of course over the years of teaching read aloud many books to my class and have been touched by most of them.  There is nothing better than to share a book with a class where everyone is totally engaged.

Last year I was introduced to The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller through twitter.  It was then than I decided I could read at least one children's book a week, and set out to do so.   I am pleased to say since about September last year I have honoured that commitment to myself.  I began to read some of the books my students were reading, and I was able to share some suggestions of ones I had read as well.  A whole new world began to open up for me and I became 'converted'.

During our summer break I have begun to follow the #nerdybookclub on twitter, and that has introduced me to wonderful possibilities in the world of book reading.  These people are really dedicated readers and have a wealth of knowledge between them, I sit as a novice at their feet and soak in as much as I can.  I have chosen to take part in the Newbery Challenge - see the link on the side bar.  I am going to take it slowly, and I have decided that rather than begin with the first book, I will begin with the later books and work backwards.  Not in order though, as I await books from the library I will take whatever comes first.

So each week I hope to take part in the What are You Reading Monday over at the blog Mentor Texts.

Last week I  read Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher.  This is about a class of students and how they act and interact when their substitute teacher does not show up for the day.  They decide to run the class themselves and do so rather ably until there is a crisis.  As it turns out they handle this well, and change happens.

I think readers in my class will enjoy this one.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt was definitely my favourite of the week.  I read this as an e-book on my Kobo ereader, borrowed from our town library. That was a first for me too, as it is only very recently that our library has had this facility available.

This is the story of a middle grade boy who belongs to a poor family and has moved to a new area and school.  Doug Swieter will remain with me as a favourite character of all time.  I loved him and the book so much I have purchased it and intend it to be my first read aloud of the year to the class when we go back in two weeks. One small detail that entertained me was that the class at one time are set a project to do on New Zealand!

I loved this video which I watched after reading the book of Gary Schmidt talking about this book. He explains it far better than I could.

A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole.  This is the story of a mouse and her search for a home and her friendships and challenges along the way. I had borrowed it from our local library via my Smartcard, again a new experience for me.  Some of our local libraries have teamed up and books can be reserved and send to the library of your choice for no cost.

Needless to say I have since bought the book.  There are students in my class who will love this book.  Again here follows a short video that will show you some of the art work in this wonderful book.

The last book that I read this week was a first as well.  My first graphic novel. Sure I have read plenty of comics in my time but no comic novel.  Although that reminds me I have a Diana Gabaldon graphic novel sitting on my shelf that I must read.  The book I did read was Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol.

Anya is a Russian American and struggles with who she is and how she is perceived.  Falling down a hole she meets up with a ghost from over ninety years back who also fell down the hole.

They escape the hole and over time form a bond, until things turn somewhat black and dark.  Finding her way through this darkness Anna also finds herself.

The art work is wonderful and the whole novel is well done.  I am not sure if I should release it into my classroom, I think perhaps Year 8 girls would benefit from it with discussion.  I have decided to ask our local town children's librarian to read it and give me her opinion.  She knows my class well as we visit there once a fortnight.

So that was my reading last week.  This week I have books on order for the Newbery challenge, but my experience is now that they take about a week to arrive.  In the meantime I will read Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan.  The boys in my class have been fans of these books and I have heard them discussing them often.  I have read the first two in the second series but now feel compelled to go back and explore the first series.  

Newbery Award Challenge.

I have decided to take part in the following challenge being run by some teacher/librarians in the USA.  One of my goals is to read more children's literature so this is just one of the ways that I can work towards that.  The challenge is to read all the Newbery winners over the years.

The challenge can take a year or a decade, so that suits me as I don't want to limit myself to just these books. You can read about the challenge over on the blog MrSchu reads.