Wigging Out to Keep the Castle #IMWAYR August 19, 2013

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme began by Sheila at Book Journeys as a way to share what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and what is in store for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading. I first learned about it at Teach Mentor Texts. 

Here is a good piece of advice for families:

We are all experiencing very busy days lately and reading has become quite tricky. I read in little spurts. In the check-out line, while I brush my teeth before work, and I do my best to read before bedtime but I am usually out like a light in five minutes these days. On Saturday, I found my house mostly sans family so I shut off the TV, hid my Ipad from myself, and turned my phone upside down so that I would not see the blue notify light alerting me to incoming messages. I was racing to read against time. I had a book due on the 19th that I had not even cracked open and someone had the nerve to put it on hold! Faced with not being able to recheck, I decided to marathon read.

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl was a book I had waited a long time to get my hands on and I wasn't about to left it go back without reading it. It was a fun read for a Saturday and though it was not very thought provoking, I still enjoyed it. It was sort of Pride and Prejudice and Emma rolled into one likable novel.

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

Seventeen-year-old Althea is the sole support of her entire family, and she must marry well. But there are few wealthy suitors--or suitors of any kind--in their small Yorkshire town of Lesser Hoo. Then, the young and attractive (and very rich) Lord Boring arrives, and Althea sets her plans in motion. There's only one problem; his friend and business manager Mr. Fredericks keeps getting in the way. And, as it turns out, Fredericks has his own set of plans. (description by Publisher: Penguin)


Here is how Patrice Kindl envisions her characters as flesh and blood characters.

Read an excerpt from Keeping the Castle

Here is a tastefully created book trailer by a Martin High School student (scroll down to find it) I was very glad to find this trailer since it was created by a student in its target audience. In fact, there are several well crafted trailers created by students here. Kudos to them all.

The Wig in the Window by Kristen Kittscher
MG mystery novel

Here is the autographed copies Kristen sent to me. One for my students and one to give as a prize in a drawing for our district librarians. The winner was Sandy Guzman, an excellent elementary librarian.
Kristen even sent me an awesome Wig pen that doubles as a flashlight.



The Wig in the Window Discussion Guide via Harper Collins Children's Books

#VirtualBookClub chat: The Wig in the Window by Kristen Kittscher
Monday, August 19th at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CST.

If you join the chat, try a easy service like Twubs for an easier chat flow.  I like to log into my Twitter account so I can see who is sending me messages during the chat and quickly reply. I keep a second tab on my browser open to Twubs for a chronological chat flow. This way I don't miss any tweets. (well, this is not true because a Twitter chat goes fast and I get lost quickly. You have to keep an eye on what the moderator of the chat is saying to stay on track).

If you are new to Twitter chats, remember you have to add the hashtag #virtualbookclub to all tweets you are sending out as part of the book conversation. (no spaces between words) or they will not show up in the stream of consolidated tweets. If you use Twubs, this is already done for you.

Pictured: Mr. Bones, the Library Watch Dog

@BonesBooks

Mr. Bones and I have been reading many picture books this week based on libraries and librarians but we are saving that for a special post coming soon. Trust me, we have been reading a lot this week.

Have a lovely day. I will be at a professional development today listening to "sales pitches".  I plan to work on lesson plans instead. As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that."