9.16 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #SeeingRed

A new week, a new batch of books—both finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!

{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

I received this ARC from NetGalley. It comes out on September 24th. Keep your eyes open for a review and a visit from Ms Erskine herself:

• • •

Some picture books as well…

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

This past week, my A Class has read:

16 books

My B Class has read:

11 books

My C Class has read:

15 books

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin

9.9 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #TheGreatTrouble #UnicornThinksHe’sPrettyGreat

A new week, a new batch of books—both  finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!

{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

This book was provided by Random House Children’s Books. I was fortunate to receive an ARC and was also asked to participate in the Great Trouble blog tour. The Dates are as follows:

September 10 – Sharp Read

September 11 – Librarian in Cute Shoes

September 12 – Random Acts of Reading

September 13 – Styling Librarian

September 14 – Kidlit Frenzy

September 15 – Busy Librarian

September 16 – {Eat the Book}

September 17 – Nerdy Book Club

I have become a real fan of historical fiction. I’m always impressed with how authors are able to form an engrossing story around real events and times. As with much historical fiction, the history surrounding The Great Trouble is fascinating.

In 1854 London, a cholera outbreak has hit Broad Street. There is where we meet thirteen-year-old Eel, a “Mudlark” who is scrounging alone to make a living. It’s a scene right out of Oliver Twist. When the sickness starts affecting those closest to him, Eel is determined to do something to help. He swallows his nervousness and asks his part-time employer, Dr. Snow, to help. Dr. Snow, after talking with Eel, realizes the potential the street urchin possesses and employs him to help prove once and for all that cholera is not transmitted by bad air, but by tainted water.

This would, of course, be easier if Eel wasn’t being hunted by the mysterious (to the reader) Fisheye Bill Taylor; and if he wasn’t trying to keep a secret—a secret that required all his earnings each week.

Hopkinson does a splendid job of bring us to the dirty streets of London to live the life of a down-and-out boy with no one to turn to. Many of the characters—such as Dr. Snow and Rev. Whitehead—are real, as is the situation with the Broad Street pump. The fact that this “really” happened is fascinating. Hopkinson also adds realistic tension and mystery to this historical tale with the addition of Eel’s secrets and pursuers.

If Victorian England and Dickens-era stories interest you; if you are intrigued by real life science and the thought process behind scientific study of diseases, this book is for you. You may also like Hopkinson’s picture book biography on Charles Dickens,

• • •

These are the summer books that decorate my door:

 Picture books:

…and many more.

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

This past week, my A Class has read:

7 books

My B Class has read:

2 books

My C Class has read:

12 books

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

 

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin

7.15 It’s a SUMMER Monday! What are you reading? #MoreThanThis #MilkOfBirds

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?—Summer Version

 

{I just made this little graphic.Feel free to borrow.}

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Description from IndieBound

From two-time Carnegie Medal winner Patrick Ness comes an enthralling and provocative new novel chronicling the life — or perhaps afterlife — of a teen trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world.

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this.

{I don’t know how to talk about More Than This without giving too much away. I’m involved in an on-line discussion about this book because clearly I’m not the only one pondering and questioning and wondering about its meaning. I DO know that Ness is a fantastic author. His topics are thought-provoking and inspiring. There is a lot to still discuss and discover.

PS—This is not a book I would recommend to my sixth-grade readers due to the complexity and some mature content.}

Description from IndieBound

This timely, heartrending novel tells the moving story of a friendship between two girls: one an American teen, one a victim of the crisis in Darfur.

Know that there are many words behind the few on this paper…

Fifteen-year-old Nawra lives in Darfur, Sudan, in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. Nawra cannot read or write, but when a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs her with an American donor, Nawra dictates her thank-you letters. Putting her experiences into words begins to free her from her devastating past—and to brighten the path to her future.

K. C. is an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, who hates reading and writing—or anything that smacks of school. But as Nawra pours grief and joy into her letters, she inspires K. C. to see beyond her own struggles. And as K. C. opens her heart in her responses to Nawra, she becomes both a dedicated friend and a passionate activist for Darfur.

In this poetic tale of unlikely sisterhood, debut author Sylvia Whitman captures the friendship between two girls who teach each other compassion and share a remarkable bond that bridges two continents.

{This was a very moving book. I was originally interested in it because of how it ties in with A Long Walk To Water, which I read aloud this past year and which the whole sixth grade is talking about reading aloud next year.

This book is geared to slightly older readers, for sure. If you can imagine some of the atrocities that a young woman might deal with in Southern Sudan during a civil war, you can guess why this is a more mature read. (See the link below from the Teen Reads site for more info.)

That being said, the relationship between Sudanese Nawra and her American counterpart K.C. is very touching. It starts off cold, mostly due to the academically challenged K.C.’s hesitation to write. But things heat up quickly, and their long-distance friendship and care for one another is touching. I was totally wrapped up in both their letters and the narration of what was happening in their day-to-day lives outside the letter-writing. To hear what Nawra had to deal with in her life makes my problems seem inconsequential—what my wife now calls “first-world problems”. Witnessing the previously distant K.C. moved to action by Nawra’s plight—while also learning about herself as a learner and thinker—was very cool.

I’m hoping we can find some students with that energy in the coming year.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is how Nawra writes the wise sayings of her culture in her letters—and how K.C. internalizes them and reuses these saying in her letters back.}

“You should not carry eggs and iron in the same basket.”

“A sandalwood tree perfumes the ax.”

Here is a more complete review of the book from the Teen Reads site.

The author also has a site: http://www.sylviawhitmanbooks.com/#!the-milk-of-birds

•     •     •

6.11 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #TheMilkOfBirds #AndTheMountainsEchoed #Fallout

A new week, a new batch of books–both books finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

{Sharing what books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

• • •

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

Since last Monday, my A Class has read:

25 books

My B Class has read:

24 books

My C Class has read:

18 books

ARC from NetGalley

Publication Date: September 10, 2013

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I’m LISTENING to:

Description

An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.

Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

{I need a longer drive to work to listen to this whole thing. On second thought, I’d rather not. I hope I can renew it!}

BIG NEWS!

SYNC audio books is offering two free audio downloads a week over the summer. Actually, the free downloads have already begun. Try downloading this week’s The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, read by Katherine Kellgren (HarperAudio)

Some other highlights:

June 13 – June 19, 2013
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton (Scholastic Audiobooks)

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June 20 – June 26, 2013
Once by Morris Gleitzman, read by Morris Gleitzman (Bolinda Audio)
Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., read by Dion Graham (christianaudio)

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July 11 – July 17, 2013

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann, read by Peter Altschuler (HarperAudio)

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July 18 – July 24, 2013
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, read by Erin Moon

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July 25 – July 31, 2013

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, read by Charlie McWade

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Aug 15 – Aug 21, 2013
Sold by Patricia McCormick, read by Justine Eyre (Tantor Audio) {I listened to this one earlier this year and it was astounding. Tough content, for sure—more suitable for slightly older listeners. But amazing and lyrical.}

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Click the image below to go to the site and see the full line-up. You can also sign up for weekly email alerts.

• • •

{A new book has leaped to the top of the TBR pile—a possible companion to A Long Walk to Water. See the description below.}

Description from IndieBound

This timely, heartrending novel tells the moving story of a friendship between two girls: one an American teen, one a victim of the crisis in Darfur.

Know that there are many words behind the few on this paper…

Fifteen-year-old Nawra lives in Darfur, Sudan, in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. Nawra cannot read or write, but when a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs her with an American donor, Nawra dictates her thank-you letters. Putting her experiences into words begins to free her from her devastating past—and to brighten the path to her future.

K. C. is an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, who hates reading and writing—or anything that smacks of school. But as Nawra pours grief and joy into her letters, she inspires K. C. to see beyond her own struggles. And as K. C. opens her heart in her responses to Nawra, she becomes both a dedicated friend and a passionate activist for Darfur.

In this poetic tale of unlikely sisterhood, debut author Sylvia Whitman captures the friendship between two girls who teach each other compassion and share a remarkable bond that bridges two continents.

Cool links here, here, and a look inside.

• • •

More Great ARCs…

{Thank you, Ms Kittscher, for sending this to me. Man—I love getting book packages in the mail. I’m looking forward this read.}

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin

5.28 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #Bang #Curveball #AndTheMountainsEchoed #Fallout

A new week, a new batch of books–both books finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

{Sharing what books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

COMING OCTOBER 8, 2013

{This is book 2 in the VISIONS  series, and the sequel to Crash…

… which I read earlier this year. I got the digital ARC from Edelweiss. The premise is the same as before, and still just as crazy. How will the characters figure out where this supernatural vision of the school shooting is taking place? And can they do it in time? Hang on, because it’s quite a ride.

Again, not a 6th grade book. Sorry.}

•  •  •

Description

Sometimes, the greatest comebacks take place far away from the ball field.

Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman. Talented photographer. Former baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his pitching career, Peter has some major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why has his grandfather suddenly given him thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment? And is it his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the girls’ swim team flirting with him, right in front of the amazing new girl in his photography class? In his new novel, teen author Jordan Sonnenblick performs his usual miraculous feat: exploring deep themes of friendship, romance, family, and tragedy, while still managing to be hilariously funny.

{The 6th grade ELA teachers are reading this to prepare for a book club together. I thought this was a fabulous book, and the characters were real and believable. It was interesting to see Peter struggle with very real tragedies and family situations. How will he deal with his  baseball injury that may end his young baseball career? Is the cute girl in the photography class really flirting with him? Is his grampa okay? Both humorous and deep, Curveball was a very interesting read that I’m looking forward to discussing further. And yes—my book is filed with Post-it notes, so I’m ready to go.}

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

Since last Monday, my A Class has read:

 books

My B Class has read:

 books

My C Class has read:

 books

ARC from NetGalley

Publication Date: September 10, 2013

Categories: Social Issues – Violence, Historical – United States – 20th Century, Historical – Military & Wars

Description

What if the bomb had actually been dropped? What if your family was the only one with a shelter?

In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott’s dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott’s dad can shut the door. With not enough room, not enough food, and not enough air, life inside the shelter is filthy, physically draining, and emotionally fraught. But even worse is the question of what will — and won’t — remain when the door is opened again. Internationally best-selling author Todd Strasser has written his most impressive and personal novel to date, ruthlessly yet sensitively exploring the terrifying what-ifs of one of the most explosive moments in human history.

---

I’m LISTENING to:

Description

An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.

Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

{I was a big fan of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. When I heard that Hosseini had a new book coming, I reserved it from the library ASAP. I didn’t realize that I had reserved an audio book. Fine with me—It makes for a nice ride to work and back home. I have to be honest, it’s been difficult to get out of the car when I reach my destination. The book is written in third person POV (mostly—though my current section is a first person letter), but the character in focus keeps changing.}

More Great ARCs…

{Thank you, Ms Kittscher, for sending this to me. Man—I love getting book packages in the mail. I’m looking forward this read.}

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin

5.28 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #Paradox #Bang #Curveball

A new week, a new batch of books–both books finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

{Sharing what books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

.

Ms Paquette was kind enough to send me an ARC. The book is coming on June 25th.

From Amazon:

 Fans of James Dashner’s Maze Runner series will love this postapocalyptic adventure about a girl who must survive an alien planet in order to save the Earth.Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?Meeting up with three other teens–one boy seems strangely familiar–Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They’re working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana’s mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can’t remember anything?

{I wanted to like this book more. I had a difficult time becoming interested in the main character, Ana, and what she was trying to accomplish. Since her memory was wiped, there was very little backstory to  learn from. I stuck with it and the second half of the book improved greatly. I’m very interested to hear what others think.}

——————§—–§—–§——————

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

Since last Monday, my A Class has read:

19 books

My B Class has read:

23 books

My C Class has read:

23 books

{This is book 2 in the VISIONS  series, and the sequel to Crash…

… which I read earlier this year. I got the digital ARC from Edelweiss and am devouring it. The premise is the same as before, and still just as crazy. Again, not a 6th grade book. Sorry.}

{The 6th grade ELA teachers are reading this to prepare for a book club together.}

More Great ARCs…

{Thank you, Ms Kittscher, for sending this to me. Man—I love getting book packages in the mail. I’m looking forward this read.}

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

 

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin

5.20 It’s Monday! What are you reading? #Paradox #ChaosShorts

A new week, a new batch of books–both books finished and being read. Today is…

Ring-the-Bell Monday & It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

{Sharing what books we’ve read in the past week & the titles we are currently reading.}

{YESSS!!! I finished. It was all I thought about for the last 100ish pages. I was even reading in the hall between classes. QUITE intriguing. People told me they didn’t like the end, but I found it captivating. Rumor is: a sequel is in the works.}

•     §     •

One of my favorite ever trilogies is Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking Trilogy.

The books were re-released in the UK with new covers…

AND a new short story in each one.

NOW INCLUDES –>

NOW INCLUDES–>

NOW INCLUDES–>

Fortunately you don’t need to buy the new books to read the shorts.

Interested? Of COURSE you are. You can get the links for these short stories HERE. I did. I read them and Mr. Peterson and I messaged about them over the weekend. Too cool.

——————§—–§—–§——————

[Check back throughout the day for updates of my students’ reading.]

Since last Monday, my A Class has read:

26 books

My B Class has read:

29 books

My C Class has read:

7 books

.

Ms Paquette was kind enough to send me an ARC. The book is coming on June 25th.

From Amazon:

 Fans of James Dashner’s Maze Runner series will love this postapocalyptic adventure about a girl who must survive an alien planet in order to save the Earth.Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?Meeting up with three other teens–one boy seems strangely familiar–Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They’re working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana’s mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can’t remember anything?

More Great ARCs…

Before you see what the students are reading… what are you reading? Please leave a comment and let us know—and show the students that reading isn’t just a “school” thing.

(For every parent who leaves a comment with what you’re reading, I’ll give your child a BUSTED ticket…)

[Check back at the end of the day to see the cool spinning pictures of what my students are reading.]

Click the picture below for A Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for B Class SpinCam

Click the picture below for C Class SpinCam

[If anyone else is using SpinCam to show what your students are reading, I’d love to know about it and link to my Friday post. Thanks.]

Thanks,

David Etkin