It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/16/12

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA! 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

After doing the meme for a couple of weeks, we realized this would be a fun meme to start up with a kidlit focus - anyone reading and reviewing books in children's literature - it can be picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, you name it in the world of kidlit and it's in! We have loved being a part of this meme and we hope you do too!  We encourage everyone participating to go and visit the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and to comment on as many posts as you can. We love talking books and believe in sharing and discussing what we're reading. We hope you join us!

Last Week's Book Adventures:

Jen Says: My biggest adventure in books from the last week was going to meet RJ Palacio with my student, Michelle. It was a great day. I got to eat lunch with Michelle, her mom, her sister, and her nurse, and my friend Katherine. Then we got to meet RJ Palacio who wrote Wonder. It was absolutely amazing. Please visit my post about this event and how you can sign a petition to support Michelle.

At the beginning of the week, I finished Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, both on audio. I have been listening to Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta and am almost done - it was 11 CDs long! I'm also reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore but it's taken me a long time because it was a stressful week and it's another long book.

I did get Boy + Bot by Amy Dyckman with illustrations by Dan Yaccarino from the library. I am a giant fan of Dan's illustrations and loved interviewing him here on TMT (back in the day). I also received an advanced copy of Robot Zombie Frankenstein by Annette Simon that I reread because I had read it first at NCTE last fall. Great book! Look for it when it's out on the 24th and my review.

Kellee Says: So I started focusing more on novels this week and I did a pretty good job getting some read.   First, after finishing Cleopatra's Moon, which took me a while, I need a mind break so I read Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks which was a wonderful surprise graphic novel with a great story and artwork.  I also read An Awesome Book! which @katsok talked about on her Monday post last week. The entire picture book can be read on his website, but after reading it, you'll see it is worth purchasing. I then read 4 novels:

• iBoy by Kevin Brooks, a really good sci-fi story that mixed comic books and realism (review to come in May). 
• Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez, another Alex Sanchez book that shows us how important tolerance and acceptance are.
• Then by Morris Gleitzman which may be one of the most devastating books I have ever read. 
• Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams, a tough book about a 14 year old girl who has been left alone to care for her mentally ill mother. 

I think that is a pretty good week! I am hoping to get a good chunk of another book read, if not finished, tonight as well. 

Reviewed Last Week:

Just click on any picture above to go read the review

Upcoming Book Adventures: 

Jen Says: I'll finish listening to Finnikin of the Rock and then I am going to listen to True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. I am rereading Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby and also continuing to reread Graceling. I also have a box of books that came from Booksource that are favorites that I am so excited to reread this week!

Kellee Says: I plan to get through some more great novels with week which will hopefully include Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds and Kenneth Oppel's This Dark Endeavor. I also have Blood Red Road, Liesl and Po, Kick, and The Girl of Fire and Thorns on deck. I also am excited because this week, after state testing, I will be doing The Lorax with my students, which is one of my favorite lessons ever. 

This Week's Reviews:

   

Check back throughout the week to hear about these books. 

Announcements:

We have two announcements for you! First of all, we are gearing up for our two-year blogiversary here at Teach Mentor Texts! As part of our celebration, we are making a video about what reading means to us. Anyone can participate! Send a video of how you finish the statement, “Reading is...” You can send your videos as an attachment to Jen at jen@teachmentortexts.com or to our Dropbox by clicking this link: http://db.tt/EgZ4NIfi  

You can be creative, but your video should be less than 15 seconds so we can include multiple videos. Try to keep your ending to the sentence between 1-10 words. Videos will be edited to ensure they will fit into our montage.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and videos with us!

 Also, we are happy to reveal the trailer for Taste by Kate Evangelista!

You can also click here to read an excerpt from Taste!





Song Credits: "Hunger" © Noelle Pico.Full Download available at http://sheisnoelle.bandcamp.com
About Taste:At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.
When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.
Check back later in the week for an excerpt from Taste by Kate Evangelista! 
Author Website: www.kateevangelista.comTwitter: @KateEvangelistaFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Evangelista/165693410143202Find Taste on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13484226-tasteCrescent Moon Press page for Taste: http://crescentmoonpress.com/books/Taste.html

So, what are you reading this week? 

Please link up below and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

Happy reading!!

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