The Halfway Point for Must Read in 2014

Back in January I came across a tweet from Carrie Gelson at There's a Book for That.  A group of readers was making a list of books that must be read in 2014 - because they were not read in 2103.  My list of must read books can be found here.

Here it is July and I am at the halfway point of my Must Read in 2014 list.  During this second quarter of the year, I read 6 books bringing me up to 14 out of the 28 books on my list.  I guess you could say I am right on track!

It would be hard to pick a favorite out of these eight, but all of them are amazing choices for middle grade students.  In the captions, I have written why I enjoyed these books.

Loved this fantasy, which is a genre I typically
do not enjoy.

Loved this book for its appeal to boys.  

Loved this book because of the way
Valerie Hobbs "wrapped it all up" in the end.

This book reminds me Wonder and
Out of My Mind - how can I NOT like it!

Loved the tangle of story lines
and how Lisa Graff pulled everything together.
The cake recipes are a bonus!

Loved the format of writing the story through
journal entires and the relationship
between Ratchet and her dad.

Happy Reading!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  Be sure and stop by to participate or see what others are reading and recommending this week.

Rump by Liesl Shurtliff

I am probably one of the few who has not read Rump!  It was on my Must Read in 2014 List, and as of this week, I can now cross it off.  I am not much of a fantasy reader, because I don't enjoy keeping track of all the make-believe.  Rump was not one of those.  I loved reading about the Pixies, the Gnomes, and the Trolls and the true story of Rumpelstiltskin.  An important lesson from the book comes from this line:  "Simple needs make a simple life."

Wendell Minor - Artist and Author

Last week on Twitter I came across a tweet from Mr. Schu about the new book, Sequoia by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Wendell Minor.  The tweet led me to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and an interview with the artist, Wendell Minor.  If you have not read this interview, I encourage you to do so.  I will wait because then you will better understand why I read the next three books on this list.  After reading this post, I went to our library to find books with his beautiful paintings.  I am in awe of this man's talent.  

Wild Rescue Series by Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler

If you could imagine Jack and Annie from the Magic Treehouse, the Spy Kids and the Kratt Brothers all rolled into a book series - Wild Rescue would be it!

Ben and Zoe Woodward are twins who are operatives in WILD, a top-secret environmental organization.  Their missions take them to different places all over the world, but they have one goal - saving animals in danger and protecting the environment.  I have read four in this series and I think these are perfect for third and forth grade students who are reading chapter books but still need some pictures and a larger font. This is also perfect for those animal lovers!

 Happy Reading!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On! 5/24

Each Saturday  Ruth Ayres invites us to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week. Looking for celebrations has certainly improved my outlook on my week. For that, I am certainly grateful to Ruth and to all of you who choose to celebrate with me.

Let the summer begin!  What a great week this has been with so many fun activities, but I will celebrate just a few.

Celebration #1 - Our last day of school was yesterday, and as much as I will miss this class, I am so ready for a break.  It is a time for me to rejuvenate, review my year and think about changes for next year.  Reading of course, takes center stage along with pool time.  Last year I "unofficially" participated in #bookaday because I had just entered this blogging-tweeting-sharing world and was just getting my feet wet.  This summer, I am ready for #bookaday.  Click here to read a post about the #bookaday challenge by Donalyn Miller at The Nerdy Book Club.


Celebration #2 - This week I celebrated books with my students.  At the beginning of the year I challenged them to read 40 books as suggested in the Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.  I think my students were surprised and proud of the reading they accomplished this year.

Celebration #3 - I received two Barnes &Noble gift cards from my students, so I will be making a road trip very soon!  My TBR list is so long, and it seems like each day I add to it thanks to my blogging friends and Twitter!  Please feel free to share any reading recommendations with me in the comments!

Celebration #4 - Thursday we had first annual Franklin Fear Factor.  I will say this day ended up being much more fun that what we first anticipated.  The teachers were divided up into teams and we had challenges such as catching crickets and worms, holding a 6ft. snake, drinking pond water (ginger ale with cilantro and relish) and passing crawdads.  We even had three teachers catch a worm in their mouths for extra points.  Here is a picture of two of my teammates - and YES she caught it!  The kids loved it!

Celebration #5 - We had our first annual book swap.  Students could bring in books from home and swap for new-to-me books.  For our first ever swap, it was a huge success, and so many kids were able to take home books to read this summer.  This was an easy project and would highly recommend it to any school!

For those of you stilling waiting on summer - hang in there and remember to find time to celebrate this wonderful time of year!