Monday, July 30, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. I heard about it from the Teach Mentor Texts blog, which puts a "Picture Books to YA" twist on it. I like to post my MG/YA, adult, and professional reads here!


Last Week I Dived Into...
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, a middle grade book about a young Chinese immigrant who joins his father in America. I appreciated the look into the life of the Chinese immigrants. The writing was unique and humorous.

I pretty much devoured Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan. Wow. It was simply breathtaking. I was surprised by this book in so many ways, though I had heard nothing but brilliant things about it. Ivan's voice came through loud and clear. It's impossible not to fall in love with him and the story.
On a much darker side, I am halfway through We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It starts out dark, gets darker, and, well, you can imagine. I'm halfway through, but this book is already haunting me. If you haven't heard of it, this book is told in letters from a wife to her husband, and it outlines the story of their life and raising their son, Kevin, who we know early on killed several classmates in a school shooting.



This Week I'm Diving Into...

Bounce by Natasha Friend. I'm trying to read every book on this year's Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (Illinois' Children's Choice Award 4-8).

A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2) by Beth Revis.


Professionally, reading Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principals as part of an RTI focus group in my building.








Happy Reading!

6 comments:

Maria said...

"Devoured" is a good word for Ivan. I only read this book about a month ago, even after seeing TONS of positive reviews. And then I couldn't figure out what took me so long.

I haven't read Dragonwings, but I enjoy Laurence Yep and his cultural insight.

Beth S. said...

Have you seen Mr. Schu's tweets and blog posts for his summer road trip that he got to meet the real Ivan and his caretaker? It was so moving to read his tweets about the experience. Brought tears to my eyes.

Kellee said...

Yay Ivan! I am so jealous about Mr. Schu meeting Ivan and now that you've read the book, you probably are too.

I've always wanted to read Kevin and something by Yep.

Happy reading this week! :)

storiestoldinstickfigures said...

Yes! That is exactly why I picked up this book this week. I had heard/read great things about it, but seeing the real pictures of Ivan and seeing how moved Mr. Schu was made me want it immediately! Unbelievably great read.

storiestoldinstickfigures said...

My feelings exactly! Why did I miss out on Ivan for so long??

storiestoldinstickfigures said...

If you feel like being creeped out, definitely pick up Kevin! ;)