It’s Monday, October 1st What are you Reading?

I am hoping to link up my post with those of other kidlit book bloggers at unleashingreaders.com and teachmentortexts.com. Thanks to those great people for hosting this weekly barrage of books to my buying lists.

Books finished this week:

I enjoyed the art and the story in this book that is full of the experiences and dreams of a young girl attending a powwow told in English and Ojibwe. I saw this book on Michelle Knott’s blog and knew that I had to purchase it for the school since the powwow is a really big part of the lives of many young people in the area in which I teach. I think my students will enjoy seeing some of the similarities and noting some of the differences too between their traditions and those in this book.

A boy who seems ordinary really does have some special abilities that allow him to defeat evil from another world. A fairly familiar plot, but one I often enjoy. But, it really took a while for me to warm up to this book. I found it slow in the early going, but I thought that eventually it would get going and there was a lot of action in the last third. When I think of readers for this one, I think of readers of Percy Jackson, and maybe that is not a fair comparison for many books. However, as a reader I knew there would be battles with monsters and other worlds involved here and it just took a long time to get to where I knew we were headed. I could see a second book being even better than this first one, but I am not sure I would go there with so many other options in my library right now.

I waited a really long time for this book. I was pre-ordering another book and made the error of placing this one in the same order. I ordered it in June and got it this week. This is a really humorous book to start a school year with and I kind of missed out on that part of it with my students. Penelope Rex really wants to make friends but its hard when her instincts tell her that her classmates are just really yummy. It was hard to read a Ryan Higgins book at first and be secretly hoping for another Bruce book (Yeah! We get Santa Bruce soon) but this one was funny too.

Currently Reading:

I am currently reading Call of the Wraith, the fourth of Kevin Sands Blackthorn Key Adventures. This one picks up just a few weeks after the third book and an unresolved conflict from the last book appears to be part finds our main character, Christopher Rowe in a particular bad situation as far as health goes, and he also has his nemesis from the last book possibly coming after him. I am really enjoying this book and will likely finish it tomorrow. My family is reading the second in William Joyce’s Guardian novels. This particular Guardian has not been as prominent or likable as expected but the last third of the novel seems to be picking up.

I was lucky to have Kevin Sands as a guest at our school this time last year, and it is a great memory to have as I read his newest. Last week, we welcomed K.A. Holt and it was a great week for our district. We have a lot of kids wanting to write different types of poetry, requesting books, and feeling inspired. These are two writers that will certainly have a long lasting impact on my students.

On deck reads:

I have a few picture books I intended to read in the library last week and I never seemed to get enough time there after school (except to shelve books). This week I intend to read several picture books, and then I have a few ARCs I will choose from. Finally, I am starting Global Read Aloud this week with my class. We will be reading Amal Unbound, which I read this summer and am looking forward to sharing with my students.

Thanks for stopping in, I hope you have a great reading week!