It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday and I've actually been in a good reading groove this week. It also helps when you're reading some amazing books! Here are the books, I've been reading this past week! 

Picture Books

Until recently, I did not have any Jason Chin books in my library. Gasp! What? I know. He's so talented and I've admired his books for a while. So, when I saw Amazon list Gravity for $6.99. I knew I had to pick up Gravity and Grand Canyon. Both books have stellar pictures. I was hoping for a little more "story" or information in Gravity but I loved all the cool science facts about gravity at the end of the book. I know my fifth graders, who are currently studying space, will snatch this book up instantly tomorrow.

I was, however, absolutely blown away by Grand Canyon. I wasn't sure if a picture book could do the Grand Canyon justice and Jason Chin proved me wrong. The images are grand and breath-taking plus it is loaded, loaded, loaded with facts! I learned so much about fossils and rock formations thanks to Jason's handy illustrations and hidden cutaways. This book is worth every penny especially if you also teach Social Studies or regions of the country. I highly recommend Grand Canyon for upper elementary classroom libraries.

Middle Grade

I love Augusta Scattergood's historical fiction. Her books are so accessible to kids and are perfect for kids that may think they "don't like" historical fiction. Currently, many of my students are reading Making Friends with Billy Wong and Glory Be in our historical fiction book clubs. Because they've loved those stories so much, I picked up another novel by Augusta Scattergood. I recently finished the audiobook of The Way to Stay in Destiny and was once again impressed by Scattergood's talent at weaving in believable and interesting characters into historical time periods. From a local tomboy who rather play softball than dance to a young boy who sneaks down to play the piano, this book does a great job at showing students that there are no such things as boy or girl hobbies. Students do not need a lot of historical background before reading which is great for students that may want to do additional research on this time period. I'd recommend for grades 4 and up.

I'm now currently reading See You in the Cosmos as a potential #MockNewbery list. It has shown up here and there on Twitter and Travis Jonker featured it as a potential 2018 Newbery on 100 Scope Notes. With such endorsement, I bought a copy and I'm giving it a shot. I don't know much about science (history or science) and I'm hoping to learn a little more as I get to know Alex better through his transmissions. So far, I'm not sure I'm connecting with Alex. I'm hoping to connect on a deeper level more emotional level as he continues to read his transmissions on the golden iPod, much like Carl Sagan's golden record. This book has definitely forced me to do a little extra outside research on Carl Sagan as he's clearly a hero and idol of Alex, so much so he's named his dog Carl Sagan.

Young Adult

How could one not read, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas after all the buzz on Twitter and social media. I ordered a copy on Amazon and by page 27, I knew I couldn't put it down. It took me less than three days to finish from cover to cover. The writing is exceptional. Can we call the Printz award, now? It's going to win. It's that good. It's not a fluke that's the number one on the New York Times' Young Adult Hardcover list. It will leave you speechless and laughing out loud all within a few paragraphs. The emotion, honesty, and rawness of the book are powerful. Plus, the questions Star asks are ones that are relevant to our students today. Angie Thomas has perfectly captured the imperfectness of high school, relationships, and family. I highly recommend this book to all teachers & readers grades 9 and up.