It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!
It was a real honor to receive a Facebook message from Mrs Baskin asking me if I would like an ARC of her upcoming book. Of course I said yes—and a few days later it arrived. Wow.
Honestly, I expected this book to be more about 9/11… even though I was told that it wouldn’t be.
Instead, this was a four-person POV tale told about the days leading up to 9/11. At first that threw me for a loop. But the characters and their unique situations were fascinating—so diverse and compelling. Then what became interesting was figuring out how each character—Sergio, Will, Nadira, Amy—was going to be affected by the events that were around the corner.
Two planes going head-on into the World Trade Center in NYC.
One plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon in DC.
One more plane forced down by the passengers in Shanksville, PA.
This was the time before ultra-security in the airports. This was the time before we knew that our planes could be used as weapons against us.This was the time when September 10, 2001 was just another beautiful but insignificant day—instead of The Day Before.
Their lives will never be the same.
Our lives will never be the same.
Ask anyone: September 11, 2001, was serene and lovely, a perfect day—until a plane struck the World Trade Center.
But right now it is a few days earlier, and four kids in different parts of the country are going about their lives. Sergio, who lives in Brooklyn, is struggling to come to terms with the absentee father he hates and the grandmother he loves. Will’s father is gone, too, killed in a car accident that has left the family reeling. Nadira has never before felt uncomfortable about being Muslim, but at her new school she’s getting funny looks because of the head scarf she wears. Amy is starting a new school in a new city and missing her mom, who has to fly to New York on business.
These four don’t know one another, but their lives are about to intersect in ways they never could have imagined. Award-winning author Nora Raleigh Baskin weaves together their stories into an unforgettable novel about that seemingly perfect September day—the day our world changed forever.
About the Book
From Newbery Medal–winning author Linda Sue Park comes a captivating fantasy-adventure about a boy, a bat, and an amazing transformation.
Raffa Santana has always loved the mysterious Forest of Wonders. For a gifted young apothecary like him, every leaf could unleash a kind of magic. When an injured bat crashes into his life, Raffa invents a cure from a rare crimson vine that he finds deep in the Forest. His remedy saves the animal but also transforms it into something much more than an ordinary bat, with far-reaching consequences. Raffa’s experiments lead him away from home to the forbidding city of Gilden, where troubling discoveries make him question whether exciting botanical inventions—including his own—might actually threaten the very creatures of the Forest he wants to protect.
The first book in an enchanting trilogy, Forest of Wonders richly explores the links between magic and botany, family and duty, environment and home.
•
This was amazing. TBWCH is one of three or four WWII books that I’ve read recently. Each one has left me in awe. What a time in history. The people who stood up to the evil of Hitler deserve our admiration. Would I have done it? Good question.
This question meshes perfectly with the reading we’ve done recently about China and Tiananmen square.
THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER: KNUD PEDERSEN AND THE CHURCHILL CLUB
By Phillip Hoose
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Awards & Accolades
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor
The Boston Globe-Horn Book NonFiction Honor Winner
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews 10 Teen Books You Can’t Miss This Summer 2015
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and Best Teen Book of the Year
Booklist Editor’s Choice
New York Public Library Notable Book
New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Washington Post Best Children’s Books of 2015
YALSA 2016 Nonfiction Award Nominations
Scholastic TAB Top 5 Buzz-worthy
About the Book
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation’s leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys’ exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, here is Phillip Hoose’s inspiring story of these young war heroes.
Period 1&2 read 12 books this past week.
Period 5&6 read 10 books this past week.
Tap here to see their BOOKselfies!
For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…
Did anyone comment on last Monday’s blog post?
Certainly a fast-paced, adult, action book. Whew!
{Eat the Book} 
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