Summer Reading for Teachers
Several of our teachers selected Top Tiger Book Award Nominee titles to read and blog about over the summer! You can read their reviews under the comments link.
Summer Reading for Teachers
Several of our teachers selected Top Tiger Book Award Nominee titles to read and blog about over the summer! You can read their reviews under the comments link.
I have started reading "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It's one of those books that I wish everyone would go to bed early so I can read some more! I'll keep you posted as I read more.
ReplyDeleteI am taking "Found" with me everywhere I go. I was even reading this morning while I waited to get my coffee at Dunkin Donuts!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the connection between Chip and Jonah? Who was the "janitor" that gave Jonah the Mountain Dew? The mystery gets thicker and deeper with each page that I read...
I posted my comments for the 2 books I have read so far under their titles, but Taken and Schooled are both excellent reads. They have totally opposite story lines, one being a little dramatic, the other a sort of comedy. I was pleasantly surprised by both. They held my attention and made me want to read more about the main characters, Charity (Taken), and Capricorn Anderson (Schooled).
ReplyDeleteOk. I've been bad. I haven't completed my summer reading yet - well, not the remaining title on the Top Tiger list I was saving for summer. I seriously could not force myself to read past the first 3 pages of Gift of the Unmage so I decided to switch it out for Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
ReplyDelete...and saving it for my beach trip next week. I have, however, taken a break from YA lit and read books for grown-ups! Three books I have read and really enjoyed are Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression. This book reminded me of the Little House on the Prarie Books - Very quaint, and a reminder of how easy we have it today. Though the book is a reminder of what real hardships are it also illustrates how much we have lost in our modern society - specifically, time spent with extended families, traditions, time spent enjoying the simple things, and living lives that may be difficult at times - but often much less hectic and complicated
I also read Unfinished Business: What the Dead Can Teach Us About Life. This book is remarkable and really will make you think about any unresolved conflicts or any resentment you may carry that remains unresolved and why you must release this and make peace within yourself while you are still able to do so. Amazing stories! I'm not one to re-read many books, but I already want to read this again.
The last nonfiction title I really enjoyed is American Eve: Evelyn Nesbitt, Stanford White: The Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century.
I also read Tori Spelling and Candy Spelling's biographies. Eekkkk...Can't say I recommend either - particularly Candy Spelling's.
I promise I will be posting soon about Hunger Games!
I haven't posted anything in over a month - I've been too busy reading! I have read many non YA books with the favorite being, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I didn't pick up another book to read for several days because I was still processing all the events that took place in that book.
ReplyDeleteI finished Toby Wheeler (is that the right name) and Schooled. The first one reminded me of some of the students I have taught and worked with through my years as a middle school teacher/counselor. The characters in Schooled kept me laughing the entire time I was reading. I recommend both of these books.
I finished Found way back in June and I must say that I was a bit surprised as the events unfolded and the mystery became less of a mystery. I am looking forward to the next book in the series so that I can find out what happens to these young people who are so adventurous.
This summer, I read "Happy Kid" by Gail Gauthier. It was a very entertaining and funny book. The main character, Kyle, is not looking forward to being a seventh grader. His sixth grade year was a disaster because of a misunderstanding involving a "weapon," and now everyone considers him a troublemaker. To make him feel more confident about school and life in general, Kyle's mom buys him a self-help book titled "Happy Kid." She has to bribe him with money to read it. At first he thinks it's a waste of time, but as more chapters open up for him (the book literally opens up to certain chapters) he beings applying the advice to his own life.
ReplyDeleteI recommend this book to anyone, not just seventh graders. It has lots of funny situations, but what Kyle learns in the book really helps him to have a more positive outlook on life. I think we can all learn something from the advice that "Happy Kid" gives.
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Incredible!
ReplyDeleteSuzanne Collins has done it again! Just like the Underworld Chronicles, she has written a riveting new series that YA and adult readers will find irresistible.
Katniss is the spunky, admirable main character in this futuristic novel. The story takes place in Panem. The capitol of Panem with its 12 outlying districts "celebrate" a gruesome annual event that's viewed by everyone - the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games seem like a virtual reality video game - except the horrors are experienced in real life by the children who live in Panem.
Each year two children's names are drawn from each district to participate in the Hunger Games. The group must compete and fight in order to determine the winner. The only way to win this game is to stay alive - and to destroy all others before they destroy you. When Katniss's little sister's name is drawn from this year's participants, she quickly volunteers to take her place. Katniss knows she is poorer and weaker than the other participants, but she has skills they lack: determination, survival instincts, superior hunting skills, and a fierce need to save her family from their current plight of starvation and misery.
Though the odds are against her, Katniss emerges as a strong competitor - and a crowd favorite. The greatest threat to survival is not the life-threatening starvation and dehydration she faces, nor the blood-thirsty, cruel children from other districts. Katniss must contend with her feelings for another competitor, Peeta. Peeta seems to care for her and protect her, but isn't it all an act? Will he betray her in the end? How can she destroy the only love she has ever known?
There will only be one winner, but this victory will come at a great cost.
Amazing story, readers will be hooked
I have to admit that I only completed three of the six books that I checked out. I have returned all of them so they are ready for other people to check out and enjoy!
ReplyDeleteReading is a great escape for me. If you aren't hooked on reading yet, try some of the books that we've read this summer. You will find something that you like!
Reviews by Mrs. Grubbs:
ReplyDeleteOver the summer I read four books from the Junior Book Award list: Found by Margaret Haddix, Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper, Football Genius by Tim Green, and Deep, Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn. All four books were great!
Found grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning. As the story opens, a mysterious airplane appears out of nowhere. The two flight attendants who greet the passengers are shocked to find that the plane is full of babies—no adults. After the babies are taken off the plane, the plane mysteriously disappears, and the two women who saw the plane are sworn to secrecy by the government to never speak of this event. As the story continues, the reader learns who these babies are, where they came from , and what their purpose is. HINT: Science fiction and travelling back and forward in time!
Fire From the Rock is set in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. It is a fictional account of a girl named Sylvia who has an opportunity to make a difference in the world. How? She has been invited to be one of fifteen students who will attempt to integrate Little Rock High School. Sylvia has grown up with racism in the segregated South of the pre-Civil Rights period. Schools for blacks and whites were very different. The black schools received “discarded” educational materials from the white schools, and their buildings were run down. Sylvia knows that she could receive a better education at the “white” school, but how will she be treated there? The book reveals how this opportunity affects Sylvia’s life and the lives of her friends(girl friends and her new boyfriend), her family, and the entire community.
Football Genius, by Tim Green, tells the story of Troy White, a “fatherless” boy who has a special gift for football. Troy has the ability to “read” the offense of any opposing team thus allowing him to tell the defense whom to block. The only problem is Troy is twelve years old, so no one believes in his ability. That is, until he is befriended by Seth Holloway, a defensive lineman for the Atlanta Falcons.
This book is not just for guys though. It also appeals to girls because Seth Holloway also befriends Troy’s single-parent mom and a rocky romance begins!
Tim Green, the author, makes the story seem even more realistic by making references to real NFLO players he knew, met, or worked along side when he himself played professional football with the Atlanta Falcons.