Taken from a painting of Kapiti Island at Sunset.
by Sonia Savage.
Showing posts with label It's Monday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label It's Monday. Show all posts

Monday, January 7, 2013

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 week I read The Recruit, by British writer Robert Muchamore,  the first in the Cherub series, which was first published in about 2005.  I read this because I noticed a few of my boys were into this series.  They have now left my class and I wondered was this a series to push for boy readers coming into my class this year?

Simple answer, yes. It has action, adventure and spy missions.  I would label it in the 'easy' reading sphere in terms of reading ability needed.  A little like the Anthony Horowitz series, which is similar 'easy' reading.  It will hook in boys. There are a lot more in the series, with a second related series.

I would love to know of any similar 'easy' reading that is totally engrossing for girls. Surprisingly enough, I have a few girls I really need to 'hook in' to reading.

These holidays I seem to be reading books recommended by my students.  Having read a few posts this week about putting on your door what you are reading, I am looking forward to putting up on my classroom door what I read in the holidays and who recommended me to read them.

So this week I will be reading Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry, a New Zealand born author. This book is recommended to me by Simone, who is a very wide ranging reader, who is total nerd when it comes to reading! And I might add a talented musician, artist and writer!

Monday, December 17, 2012

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's awhile since I took part in this, reading dwindled to a stop as the final term of the year encroached and writing reports and end of year functions took precedence.

This was my read aloud to the class book for this final term.  We had read Because of Mr Terupt in 2011 and were looking forward to this one.  I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment for me, it seemed to lack a main focus. However the students enjoyed it and I see one of them has given it four stars on Goodreads to my three stars.






Newbery winner for 2012 is where I became becalmed in my reading, so over the weekend I finished it.  As it is semi autobiographical, it read a little like a memoir. I enjoyed the humour and especially enjoyed the Grim Reaper visit to Mrs Dubicki's place. Also liked the relationship of Jack and  Miss Volker.  A possible read aloud for 2013. Will have to see what else I read over the summer holidays.






What to read next?  My bookworm students have some words of recommendation to me:
Monique says -

The most amazing book I’ve read is Gone. That’s the title by the way.  It took me awhile to read, as it is quite thick.  But it was DEFINITELY worth the time! The book is by Michael Grant, of whom I look up to greatly as an author. The book is the first of a series of five, these are the names of all the books, Gone, hunger, Lies, (I’m reading that one right now)  Plague and Fear.
I will not explain Gone, it’s too complex. Hence the reason for you to read it, otherwise you will never know.


Jordan says -
Another book I really enjoyed was one of my own books that I got given for my birthday. The second book in the cherub series, Class A.
This book is one of those ones when all you want to do is sit down and finish it off.  I would recommend finishing the first book in the series before you read this one.


Simone says -
Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry, a New Zealand author. She has a really unique and quirky way of writing that’s really interesting and I really enjoyed this book. Back in January this year I also read another book by her called Lots Of Love From Georgia. It is a really good book and I recommend you read some books by her. She wrote another book called Juicy Writing that you read out to the class last year for some writing study. There is some really good tips in there for writing and I really like all of the books by her that I’ve read, but Guitar Highway Rose was by far the best one yet :D

The Rosie Black Chronicles - Book one AND two. The first book, Genesis, was recommended to me by Carol, (librarian) and I really really enjoyed it, so much that I read the sequel, Equinox, which was equally as great. In November, the third book in the series came out, it’s called Dark Star, and I hope to get it for Christmas. But since it took ages to come out, I might need to reread the first two books so I get the hang of what’s happening because I forgot some stuff that may be required to be in your head for Dark Star. Other than that, a really great series :)


Teegan says -
My favourite books from this year were Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, The Scorpio Races by Jo Knowles, Divergent By Veronica Roth ( I didn’t like Insurgent that much) Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari and Eve by Anna Carey. All these books except for Little brother are dystopian so I have come to the conclusion that this is my favourite genre. 

Me:
I have been given these recommendations and I will certainly follow up with Little Brother and Eve as Teegan suggests at some stage. In fact hoping to read all the suggestions!

For this week I am going to read:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield, a favourite of Moniques.  She drew a calendar picture that is going to hang in the classroom for 2013, so I need to read the book so that I can interpret the picture!  She assures me it is good.






Monday, October 1, 2012

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 
                                                 
Since I joined in with the meme last I have read:

The sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This book was good but I wasn't as caught up in it as Roll of Thunder. I notice some of my students now reading Roll of Thunder, so maybe they will give this a go, possibly!









The Scorpio Races - I am sure lots of readers have loved this. The writing is very good and the story is as well. It just didn't appeal so much to me because of the violence.  However now having taken part in #titletalk chat just now, I think I will book talk it and see what happens in my class.  My class know I don't like gore in books - however they probably handle it better!









I am not sure what I am going to read in the coming week, I am hoping Rick Riordan's latest will be in our NZ shops tomorrow but not sure. If it is I will be reading The Mark of Athena. One of my students wants it after me - we are on spring break here, so I should have it read by time we go back to school.

Monday, September 17, 2012

It's Monday - What are You Reading?


t 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 
                                                 
I managed two novels this week - mainly because they were short ones and I liked them so I had a bit of oomph to read them. They were:
Newbery winner - Island of the Blue Dophins by Scott O'Dell.  I didn't really expect to 'like' this one but I did.  There is something about a book that explores resilience and making it against the odds in the natural environment.









Another Newbery winner - Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.  Well I didn't really expect o get wrapped up in this one either, but I did.  Again it explored resilience and making it in an environment with no other humans close. Both books had that feel of Hatchet by Gary Paulson.  I read this book in a day and I think sometime in the future I would like to read the follow up to this book.

While I am not the sort to want to face into the situations these two characters faced - believe me I wouldn't survive- however they both challenged me to be more resilient in the wild frontiers of my own life!



I also read Chapter 2 of 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know which was about using mentor texts.  This chapter gave me more insight into using mentor texts and the way the author shared how he - Jeff Anderson - uses them has made me realise I need to do more of this, it will be a goal for my new school  year in 2013.  I'm from New Zealand remember, our school year closes in December.

What might I read this coming week, well I'm waiting on books, so I think I will read what I have sitting here: Let The Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor, the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  The Scopio Races by Maggie Stievater has just arrived from Scholastic book club, so may also get into that.
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