This has been a pretty good long weekend, reading wise. With an extra day off, a trip to a city with a bookstore and a library budget for the first time in a while, I got to get into some books I have been waiting to read for a while. All the more reason to link up with the amazing reader/bloggers at unleashingreaders.com and teachmentortexts.com for this weekly reading review.
Finished Reading This Week:
Lots of shoe related puns in this humourous addition to the Elephant and Piggie Reads series. The class that I read this with were grateful that they made more than one appearance. There is also a surprise near the end that got the kids revved up.
An early chapter book in which Beatrice moves to a new grade but sadly finds that some of her eccentricities are not as welcome as they were last year. While I thought of this as something I had read many times before I enjoyed this book, especially the last third when I got to see how her friends and family would help her through this.
Fun facts about sharks sprinkled in with Ame Dyckman’s trademark humour. I have long been a fan of her picture books and this one did not disappoint. Scott Magoon’s colourful and detailed illustrations worked for me as well.
Fast paced adventure based on fairy tales from Haiti and Trinidad, mixed with original characters. Interesting connections to the environment and our footprint on the world. I will likely seek out a copy of the second book in the series.
Albie is the boy in the class that is always creating and inventing and sometimes this infringes on the others in the classroom. When he unintentionally messes things up for his classmates, only one other student is willing to support Albie and give him a second chance. A nice message to go along with the witty rhyming words of Josh Funk.
Silly super hero fun, full of chicken related puns in the city of Fowlidelphia. I was tempted to pick this up because a few of my students in grade 5 and in the library have enjoyed other series in this Branches imprint of Scholastic. I could see younger students getting into this series, so I will book talk it with a few classes in the next week or so.
This is the third installment of the Track series. I feel like this is the Track character that I knew the least about after reading Ghost, so I was happy to start reading about Sunny here. Jason Reynolds has said it is for the weirdos, and I guess we should all be grateful that he wrote a book about how we can be accepting of the inner weirdo in all of us. Like Albie Newton, and Beatrice Zinker, Sunny needs people to support him in order for him to be himself. I like how Sunny and the other characters in this series learn what it is like to be a part of a team.
Currently Reading:
My family continues to read Silverwing together. I am re-reading Ghost and House Arrest for our District Battle of the Books in early June. We have a school event at the end of May. I have some new picture books and early chapter titles as well. Hopefully, you have a happy reading week as well!
Wriggling Bookworms 
A few of my students have really enjoyed Kung Pow Chicken. Misunderstood Shark won’t stay on the shelf! I have to get around to reading The Jumbies. I’ve heard the author talk about it and it sounds interesting.
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Glad to hear that Kung Pow Chicken went over well with your students. Thanks for letting me know. I feel like that this is type of book I know the least as my teaching experience is with older kids and my first child skipped reading early chapters (except Magic Treehouse). I have been trying to build a better collection over the last year or so. I bought the first four of Kung Pow, and a few more that I will be reading this week and next.
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Can’t wait to read It’s Shoe Time. My family loves EVERYTHING Elephant & Piggie. It doesn’t matter your age, the humor mixed with a heart-warming lesson just works. I didn’t read Ghost until just a few months ago and I have Patina checked out from the library. But I have to say I’m already looking forward to Sunny! I’ve not read Oppel’s Silverwing series, so I’ll have to look into that! Thanks for the shares and reviews, Aaron. Hope you have a wonderful reading week!
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Our grade 1/2 class would try reading a dictionary if it was an Elephant and Piggie dictionary, literally anything. They have a lot of routines for them like looking for the pigeon. It is so much fun. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Track series, I have to re-read Ghost this week or next for an event I am running at school. It is going to fun to read it over having just read more about Sunny.
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I still need to read Patina. It was lost in the stacks around here but I just found it yesterday so hopefully can get to it soon. I am looking forward to Sunny–especially after reading your description here. I also felt like Beatrice Zinker was quite familiar but I liked the last half or so well enough to seek out book 2. Can’t wait to get Misunderstood Shark–I think I have loved everything that Ame Dyckman has done. Same for Scott Magoon. Thanks for sharing!
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That is how I felt about Beatrice as well. It didn’t really have me hooked for a bit, but I did like the end. I haven’t really been able to kid test it yet though. Some have sniffed around but haven’t dove in. I was curious if it was me having read similar books that felt that way about the beginning and maybe a less experienced reader might not feel that way? I have another month to find out, or my soon to be eight year old might read it when she finishes The Sister’s Eight series (currently quite obsessed).
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I saw Shoe Time at the library & now I wished I’d taken it. E & P sponsored books have filled the gap from new E & P books. I’ll look for The Jumbies and Sunny, both sound good. Thanks, Aaron!
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The Jumbies and Sunny are very fast reads that I think you will enjoy. Good books for all readers, but I am also thinking for some of my more reluctant readers there is white space, which I find helps. I am excited to share them this week in class.
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The Jumbies is fantastic! The second book is worth finding. I just weeded Silverwing– someone had lost the sequel, and it hadn’t checked out in a really long time. Sad, but if I kept all the books, my middle school library would explode!
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Of course. I have some major weeding to do in my K-7 and in my classroom library (even worse). I don’t find Silverwing to be very popular right now either. Slightly more for me as we are in Canada and I think he gets more exposure here. We were also very huge fans of The Nest and I read my class Airborn, which they loved. This was my wife’s choice, but I am also a big fan. There are so many great books out there that even really good stuff fades in popularity at times. I have been struggling with that cleaning the library up and seeing great books that have had little reading lately (and I have a small school which makes it worse).
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I’m so excited for all of these books. Can’t wait for school to be over so I can start summer reading!
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Love all of these books, Aaron! Beatrice Zinker and Misunderstood Shark are favorites! Looking forward to reading Sunny over summer break!
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Gosh, Jason Reynolds is so prolific. I haven’t even read Ghost yet, and it’s now a trilogy? I have to catch up on my reading of middle grade novels, clearly. 🙂 Thanks for sharing so many new-to-me titles.
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Yes, he is so prolific, and released the fourth cover yesterday. They are really short reads, and reading all four would be a little like four chapters in a fairly long novel. If you have waited this long, that might be the best way to do it.
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