The first week of school is in the books and the pace of the things has increased! I missed posting last week but this week I will be able to link up with the great book bloggers that frequent unleashingreaders.com (thanks to Kellee and Ricki for hosting) as well as teachmentortexts.com (thanks to Jen for hosting). These are great ways for teachers like me to find more books to book talk to students to grow their TBR lists that we will be starting this week. Also, since I have more of an intermediate and middle school teaching background, it is great for me to see what picture books are being read as nearly half my time is spent as the K-7 librarian. Here is what I read since my last post. This would have been a slow week in the summer, but in September it is two weeks worth!
Books I Finished
I read this book last week and really enjoyed it. I wanted to post about it but ran out of time.
This is an important story that provides a mirror into the world of a girl with mental health issues. There were many times where I literally did not understand the character’s thinking. I would have done things so differently. That is the very point of reading such a book for me. I had to keep reading to gain some understanding of what it was like to be Elise.
Even though I wanted to yell at her sometimes, there were also times that I felt like I could relate to her. We all go through periods of time when the things that we say end up having negative consequences in front of our friends and people whose opinions matter to us. This seems to be more catastrophic in early high school for many of us and while the impact is often significant, for Elise it meant a decision to prevent further awkward moments by not speaking. At all.
This proves to be just part of the story and what I really enjoyed was the mystery. The part of Elise’s life that she has to discover in the last half of the story. How does a fractured family begin to heal and try to be a new whole unit? That story is told with slowly revealed connections and events that will have readers needing one more chapter every few minutes.
This is my first Brandon Mull book. That is a little surprising in that I have read quite a bit of MG Fantasy. 13 year old Jason enters another world through a random, unlikely portal and is thrust into an adventure with a fellow “Beyonder” from earth. The two become the best hope to overthrow a wizard who rules their new world. This felt a little like The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen but with the portal as a sort of a twist. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as that series but there were lots of parts where the Jason, and Rachel use their brains to be successful and that was enjoyable.
Cute rhymes in this plot about a princess who never gives up in a race against nearly every other fairy tale character. It moves along fairly quickly and the art by Dan Santat is awesome as usual.
The next chapter of the Amulet series is as advertised, really great. It has more of a science fiction element to it than some of the earlier books which seemed more fantasy. Fans of this series are going to love this one. It is out on September 25th and leads us to the ninth and final book in the series. My students have been clamouring for this one for a while and are going to love the mountain bike scene.
Full disclosure. I love the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and the world that he created to set it in. This book is fully set in the near future of that world. There are references to some of the characters but some great new characters including twin sisters Frey and Rafia, one of whom is part of the family of elites ruling Shreve and the other is an impostor, sent out to public appearances in which things could be more dangerous. Just as in the Uglies series, there is unrest between different governments as well as rebels who are not aligned with any who are in power. This book had some twists and turns that have me eager to see more of the four new books that are planned.
Currently Reading
I am working on my Must Read in 2018 list having finished an update on that last week that was just okay. I am reading the book my eight year old chose for me, David Walliams’ World’s Worst Children, which is silly funny in the tradition of Roald Dahl. My family is reading E. Aster Bunnymund by William Joyce, the second in the Guardians series which has an old time fable feel to it and very brilliant sketches. I am re-reading Rhyme Schemer with my grade six classes, in part because we have author K.A. Holt visiting us in two weeks.
On deck
Hopefully, I will have a more prolific week of reading than the last two. I also have an ARC of It Wasn’t Me by Dana Alison Levy that I want to read and then one more from my 2018 list (those updates are motivators- thanks Carrie Gelson).
Looking forward to reading other people’s updates once I post this. Happy reading everyone!
Wriggling Bookworms 
Ooohlala – a new Amulet graphic novel! Awesome!
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I love what you said about After Zero: “I would have done things so differently. That is the very point of reading such a book for me.” YES! Sometimes If I hear people talk about how annoying a character (with a mental illness) is, this is precisely what I think. It’s so important for our students (and US) to work on our empathy skills. Also, I’ve been wanting to dive into some Brandon Mull, too. Just not sure where to start. Thanks for the shares, Aaron!
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