It's Monday, What are You Reading? April 21, 2014

 

 

World Book Night takes place this week on April 23rd. A few fellow BN Givers will be joining forces to hand out books at the Hooks baseball game in Corpus Christi, Texas. Last year, I handed out books to university students who hardly ever have time to pleasure read any more. The books were gone in less than 30 minutes. I will be sharing Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

 

Books I have read this week:

 Monsieur Marceau  by Leda SchubertT

A biography on the life of world famous mime Marcel Marceau and includes source notes and an afterword by the author.

I grew up watching Marcel Marceau on television-he was quite famous in my time but I never knew his history.

Marcel grew up in France during World War II. Along with the entire population of Strasbourg, he evacuated to escape the Nazi army and later joined the French Underground. During this time, he led hundreds of Jewish children dressed as boy scouts safely across the alps into Switzerland. His father died in a concentration camp. After the war, he changed his Jewish name Mandel to Marceau and began to study the art of mime.

Happy Birthday, Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm

It's Babymouse's birthday and time to celebrate! Babymouse goes head to head with Felicia who is also preparing for her birthday party which will be ON THE SAME DAY AS BABYMOUSE's PARTY! Oh no! The invitations have been sent and Babymouse is ready to Par-tay but where are her friends? Apparently it's a good idea to send your invites out really far in advance to ensure maximum attendance. The party is a bust but Babymouse discovers she is one lucky girl to have some pretty great friends.   Love it!


When I went to pick up my World Book Night Giver box, I had to spend a few minutes perusing the children's section to pick up a few new books for my students.

What I am excited to start reading next weekend!  
The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern. I picked up this sweet looking book at TLA. Several of  my students were have been reading The Testing and are anxious for Joelle Charbonneau's Independent Study so I had to pick up a copy of it too. I am pretty anxious to read it myself. 

Have a great reading week!

Book Fair Fiesta and #IMWAYR Feb. 24, 2014

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 from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki of Unleashing Readers and have become a regular linked up blog. Thanks #PLN

Woo Hoo! It's time for Book Fair Fiesta! 

My book fair starts this Friday and I am almost ready.
I have shown my book fair  promo video and all flyers have been passed out.
I have my Teacher Sneak Peek and Daily drawings all planned out. I love to give away prizes to generate book fair excitement. 
The tables are set and decorated. All I need to do is unpack and set up. 
One of the most important things I have learned about book fairs is to place your first restock order before you even open your book fair. Only you know what will sell well in your school. I plan to order massive quantities of the new Minecraft handbook and posters, Leggo Movie items, and those wonderful UV Spy pens. I peeked into the cases but did not see anything that really caught my eye. I do have an extensive list of books I know I can sell if I can get my hands on them. 

We are a small school but I sell enough product that I can customize my fair and get some pretty good merchandise. I market heavily to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi teacher Ed students and to the homeschool community. The parking situation is terrible but the support of my community is great. 

Here are some of the books I read this week. These came from books ordered through the Scholastic Resource catalog. We take our book fair profits in Scholastic dollars which is the best option for our school. 


The Kitten Who Cried Dog by Charlotte Guillain

The Kitten Who Cried Dog is part of the Animal Fairy Tales series. The simple retelling of the Boy who cried wolf story is retold from the perspective of a naughty kitten who is easily bored and enjoys making the townfolk come running when the kitten alerts them to the danger of a dog nearby.
The best past of this series is the author's notes in the back of the book explaining the history of the fairy tale. I liked this part. 


Pandarella by Charlotte Guillain

This was my top pick of the Animal Fairy Tale series. I liked the illustrations and the "Furry godmother" in the story. 







The Poodle and the Pea by Charlotte Guillain

I don't get it. I ordered the series thinking I would be receiving a fractured fairytale but instead I discovered that basically the story was the same only with dog characters. I was hoping for something creative or imaginative. This being said, my younger readers will most likely enjoy the story and the illustrations. 

Little Red Riding Duck by Charlotte Guillain

Animal Fairy Tale series-A duck is little red riding hood in this simplified retelling of little red riding hood. Young readers will think it is humorous. I enjoyed the author note's detailing the origination of the fairy tale.




Goldiclucks and the Three Bears by Charlotte Guillain

I ordered the Animal Fairy tale set through the Scholastic Resource catalog but was disappointed in the purchase. I normally am very happy with all my purchases but these lacked personality and originality.

Tonight I will start reading insignia. My students are loving it.










Happy Reading!