1.30.17 It’s Monday! What are you Reading? Jacob K. & #MichaelVey

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!

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Today, Jacob K. shares about the Michael Vey series:

Michael Vey is a fun, action packed series.  The series starts back in the first book when failed technology kills all but 20ish kids born in 11 days. It turns out the kids that stayed alive are special. As you can probably tell from the book covers, Michael has the power to absorb and generate electricity, but the other kids have different powers. The series go off the tracks when Dr. Hatch kidnaps Taylor (one of the other electric kids and Michael’s friend). Read now to find out more.

Mr. E: Nice job, Jacob. I’m including the official book blurb from Barnes and Noble below. I’ll plan on showing the book trailers on Friday for {BOOKflix Friday}.

The Prisoner of Cell 25 (Michael Vey Series #1)

My name is Michael Vey, and the story I’m about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It’s my story.

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers.

Michael thinks he’s unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he’s to survive.

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Make sure to tap the Parent Comment link below: We had some parents share their writing last week 🙂

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For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…

Let’s take a look to see if any parents commented on last week’s IM! WAYR? post…

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Did you catch my

MrEtkinSHMS Instagram posts

this past week?

 How many books did students in each class read?

PERIOD 2&3 READ ?? BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

 Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

PERIOD 8&9 READ ?? BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

  Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

AUDIO BOOK

 

1.27.17 {BOOKflix Friday} #OutOfMyMind #IamNumberFour

Today is BOOKflix Friday!

Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.

Get the popcorn ready.

Lights…Camera…Action!

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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Spring 2010 Kids’ Next List

“This is the touching story of a gifted child,trapped in a barely working body. Melody, age 11, struggles to communicate with a world of children and adults most of whom can’t see beyond her physical limitations. A provocative change of pace for Sharon Draper.”

— Peter Moore, The Blue Marble, Fort Thomas, KY

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Description

“If there is one book teens and parents (and everyone else) should read this year, Out of My Mind should be it” (Denver Post).

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow. In this breakthrough story—reminiscent of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—from multiple Coretta Scott King Award-winner Sharon Draper, readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability.

•••

And now for something completely different.

The movie trailer:

1.23.17 It’s Monday! What are you Reading??? #PenniesForHitler

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!

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My last audiobook was

From Harper Collins Publishers:

A companion piece to the best-selling HITLER’S DAUGHTER, this is a story of war-torn Europe during WWII, as seen through the eyes of a young German boy Georg, who loses his family and must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. Ages: 10+ It’s 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils’ heads to see which of them have the most ‘Aryan’- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. Hatred is contagious, but Georg finds that kindness can be, too. the companion piece to HItLER’S DAUGHtER, PENNIES FOR HItLER examines the life of a child during World War 2, from a different perspective.

This was a new twist on WWII for me. I’ve done plenty of reading, watching, and listening about WWII from the POV of Americans and those involved on both sides of the fighting. Do you remember the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? That takes place in England during the German Blitzkrieg. So much bombing. So scary.

I HIGHLY recommend the Ruta Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea if you want a truly original take on the WWII experience from the POV of Lithuanians on the run from BOTH the Russian army and the Germans.

Pennies for Hitler takes me to a brand new place: Australia. I didn’t realize the Aussies were so involved in the war. Watching George—AKA Georg—fit in with a new family while missing his was fascinating. All the while he is making a life for himself there, he is missing his mom, wondering about his dad, and keeping his true identity a secret. What would his new Aussie friends and family do if they found out he had enemy blood?

If this time period in history is something you like to read about, pick up Pennies for Hitler.

On the audio book, the narrator did a great job with all the voices and accents. I’m so impressed.

•  •  •

Did you catch my

MrEtkinSHMS Instagram posts

this past week?

 How many books did students in each class read?

PERIOD 2&3 READ 14 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

 Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

PERIOD 8&9 READ 21 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

  Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…

Let’s take a look to see if any parents commented on last week’s IM! WAYR? post…

 I’m about 2/3 of the way through. Yowzers!

AUDIO BOOK

 

1.20.17 {BOOKflix Friday} #HowTheyCroaked #AmeliaLost

Today is BOOKflix Friday!

Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.

Get the popcorn ready.

Lights…Camera…Action!

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Description

Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess-especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost. For example:

It is believed that Henry VIII’s remains exploded within his coffin while lying in state.
Doctors “treated” George Washington by draining almost 80 ounces of blood before he finally kicked the bucket.
Right before Beethoven wrote his last notes, doctors drilled a hole in his stomach without any pain medication.
Readers will be interested well past the final curtain, and feel lucky to live in a world with painkillers, X-rays, soap, and 911.

•••

Remember this lady from Night at the Museum?

Say hello to Amelia Earhart.

Description

From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum—as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin’s Almanac—comes the thrilling story of America’s most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart.

In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia’s life (from childhood up until her last flight) and the exhaustive search for her and her missing plane. With incredible photos, maps, and handwritten notes from Amelia herself—plus informative sidebars tackling everything from the history of flight to what Amelia liked to eat while flying (tomato soup)—this unique nonfiction title is tailor-made for middle graders.

Amelia Lost received four starred reviews and Best Book of the Year accolades from School Library Journal,Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book Magazine, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

1.17.11. It’s Monday! What are you Reading? #Loot #Heartless #IMWAYR

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!

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A guest post today! First, Adam K. with Loot and Sting.

If you like mischief, mysteries, and most importantly loot, check out… Loot!

This book is mysterious and full of mischief and one important mission: steal the magic moonstones. When Alfie Mquinn “slips” off a roof, March is left alone until he finds Jules his twin sister. Will Jules and March ever trust each other or will the whole thing go wrong? Will they steal the moonstones or will the whole thing go wrong.I liked this book because there was a lot of mischief and mystery and it was a new genre and I wanted to read what it was like.

This thrilling sequel will make you jump.

This book was the most exciting sequel I’ve ever read. In this book Jules and March go to steal a set of diamonds except someone else got there first. They are lucky enough to escape with their lives and one stone. Except the stone they stole was the Morning Star—one of the most famous stones in a trio. Will March and Jules steal the other stones or will the Top Cats get them first?

 •••

From Barnes and Noble:

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I’m fascinated by backstories. The story before the story that we know. Why do certain characters act the way they do? What happened before?

When we watched Akeelah and the Bee, we wait most of the movie to find out Dr. Larabee’s backstory—what happened to his family? Why isn’t he teaching any more? We also learn about Akeelah’s backstory with her dad and even Dylan’s backstory.

In Heartless, Meyer shows us the backstory for the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Fascinating. Along the way she weaves in other fairy tales and fun terms. She also makes great use of Carrol’s famous poem:

JABBERWOCKY

Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

•••

 Remember Mrs. Crimmins shared Shooting Kabul with us last week?

 Guess who else saw her book review? That’s right—the AUTHOR. She sent this on Twitter:

•  •  •

Did you catch my

MrEtkinSHMS Instagram posts

this past week?

 How many books did students in each class read?

PERIOD 2&3 READ 14 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

 Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

PERIOD 8&9 READ 21 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

  Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…

Let’s take a look to see if any parents commented on last week’s IM! WAYR? post…

AUDIO BOOK

FINISHED!!!

 

1.13.16 {BOOKflix Friday} Temple Grandin, Frogs, and ASOUE theme song

Today is BOOKflix Friday!

Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.

Get the popcorn ready.

Lights…Camera…Action!

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ACTIVISTS

come in all types and for all reasons.

Here is a trailer for a movie about Temple Grandin. It gives you a pretty good idea of what the book is about. I’ve read this book. It’s fascinating

.

Description

When Temple Grandin was born, her parents knew that she was different. Years later she was diagnosed with autism.
While Temple’s doctor recommended a hospital, her mother believed in her. Temple went to school instead.
Today, Dr. Temple Grandin is a scientist and professor of animal science at Colorado State University. Her world-changing career revolutionized the livestock industry. As an advocate for autism, Temple uses her experience as an example of the unique contributions that autistic people can make.
This compelling biography complete with Temple’s personal photos takes us inside her extraordinary mind and opens the door to a broader understanding of autism.

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From Goodreads:

The critically acclaimed Scientist in the Field book about how one boy’s interest in backyard science inspired a career in scientific discovery.

When Tyrone Hayes was growing up in South Carolina, he didn’t worry about pesticides. He just liked to collect frogs. Tyrone’s interest in science led him to Harvard University, and though he struggled at first, he found his calling in the research lab of an amphibian scientist.

Meanwhile, scientists discovered that all around the globe, frogs were dying. The decline has many causes, including habitat loss and disease. Tyrone discovered that the most commonly used pesticide in the United States, atrazine, may also play a role. Tyrone tested atrazine on frogs in his lab at Berkeley. He found that the chemical caused some of the male frogs to develop into bizarre half-male, half-female frogs. What was going on? That’s what Tyrone wants to find out.

Does this interest you? You might want to listen to more.

A discussion with featured Frog Scientist, Tyrone Hayes:

[click to listen}

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Guess what comes out TODAY on Netflix?

For fun: The opening song.

Remember how the back of each book carries warnings to put the book down because it is unhappy and dangerous? Check this out.

1.9.16 It’s Monday! What are you Reading? #Smile #ShootingKabul

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!

---

Two guest posts today! First, Victoria with Smile.

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I’m so excited that Mr. Etkin has given me an opportunity to write a blog post for you all!  

I just finished an amazing book that ties so closely with all of the Malala Yousafzai and activism work we have been doing in ELA class.  I knew I had to find a way to share it with all of you!

From the publisher’s website:

Fadi never imagined he’d start middle school in Fremont, California, thousands of miles from home in Kabul—and half a world away from his missing six-year-old sister, Mariam.

Adjusting to life in the United States isn’t easy for Fadi’s family, and as the events of September 11 unfold, the prospects of locating Mariam in war-torn Afghanistan under Taliban control seem slim. When a photography competition with a grand prize of a trip to India is announced, Fadi sees his chance to return to Afghanistan and find his sister. But can one photo really bring Mariam home?

(Watch through 2:45)

This book is full of historical references, from the Taliban in Afghanistan/Pakistan to September 11, 2001. I don’t tend to read historical fiction. Fantasy is MY genre, which is such an opposite to historical fiction – from completely UNREAL with fae and magic to a story that is somewhat based on N.H. Senzai’s husband’s life.  However, Senzai made these historical events a backdrop to the main character, Fadi’s, own adventure and the author explores how history can change a family in powerful ways.  We have studied how oppressive the Taliban  in Pakistan was to women and it isn’t that much different for Fadi and his family.  

What I loved is how Senzai kept the reader in suspense about Mariam, Fadi’s younger sister, and how this one traumatic event can affect so many people.  Can you imagine letting go of your younger sister’s hand while you are trying to get on a bus to escape soldiers… never to see her again?  The guilt Fadi must feel!  Putting myself in Fadi’s shoes (or his mother’s or sister’s or father’s) was something I couldn’t help but do while reading.  By developing empathy for Fadi and his family, their struggles with losing Mariam, becoming acculturated to the USA, and the increase of bullying of people who practice Islam in a post-9/11 world, I couldn’t help but want to see a happy ending for all of them.  

Mr. Etkin has a few copies in his library – hopefully this review has inspired you to check one out.  

Until next time ~ Mrs. Crimmins

•  •  •

Did you catch my

MrEtkinSHMS Instagram posts

this past week?

 How many books did students in each class read?

PERIOD 2&3 READ ?? BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

 Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

PERIOD 8&9 READ ?? BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

  Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…

Let’s take a look to see if any parents commented on last week’s IM! WAYR? post…

Every story has a back story.

•

AUDIO BOOK

(Almost finished)

 

1.6.16 {BOOKflix Friday} Lunar Chronicles

Today is

Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can. Each Friday I will endeavor to bring a couple to you—some new or recent, some teasers of upcoming books, and a few “classics”. Get the popcorn ready.

Lights…Camera…Action!

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Since I’m reading Heartless, I’ve also been talking and thinking about the Lunar Chronicles. Man is it cool.

That makes today the perfect day to introduce you to the futuristic, sci-fi retellings of well known fairy tales…

As I was reading I made a connection. I sent a tweet out and the author, Marissa Meyer, responded. That never gets old:

Mal Reynolds From FIREFLY

 

Han Solo from STAR WARS    

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For those “Lunarheads” who can’t get enough, coming this month is the graphic novel Wires and Nerve which continues the adventures of Iko, our favorite female robot.

1.3.16 It’s Monday! What are you Reading? #IMWAYR #Heartless

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!

---

 Lots of news and blog posts and tweets and FB updates.

Check below for what I’m currently reading 🙂

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Who would like to post for next week’s IMWAYR?

•  •  •

Did you catch my

MrEtkinSHMS Instagram posts

this past week?

 How many books did students in each class read?

PERIOD 2&3 READ 23 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

 Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

PERIOD 8&9 READ 31 BOOKS THIS PAST WEEK.

  Take a look at their book selfies (due by Tuesday’s class).

•

For every parent who leaves a comment on TODAY’S POST with what YOU’RE reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…

Let’s take a look to see if any parents commented on last week’s IM! WAYR? post…

Every story has a back story.

•

I’ve also read some of

AUDIO BOOK

(Almost finished)