A Wild and Woolie Reading Week. It's Monday, What Are You Reading, August 4, 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

This is a two week catch up post. I went on two wild and woolie road trips. The first with a couple of carloads of librarian friends to Houston to attend the Scholastic Reading Conference which was wonderful, fun, and delicious. The second was a birthday trip for my mom and that we called the Momma Jan Road Trip 2014 to Salado, Texas to visit my sister.

 
My mom is a devotee of the reality show Junk Gypsy so we took a side trip to Round Top, Texas where she met a couple of the Junk Gypsy ladies. My mom is so awesome.





Last week I read one YA Fic book-Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau finishing off The Testing trilogy. I really enjoyed the series and loved how Charbonneau ended the story in such a meaningful way. 












This week, I was cataloging a lot of new books to prep for the new school year so I took some time to read as many as I could.  Have you read any of these?

 My library hold for The Fault in Our Stars finally came available. I received the E book version which is very hard on my poor old weak eyes but I read until it felt like my eyes were bleeding. That is the sign of a great book. In fact, I looked away from my Ipad for a minute and could only see see black lines across the wall for a long time. Excellent storyline.

I also read 123 versus ABC that I received from author/illustrator Mike Bolt. Even the package it came in was  illustrated as well as the end papers. 

Now my grand-kids think all our books should have these cute little drawings.

I am currently reading Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith which I got for a bargain at Half-Price books- $4.98 with a coupon and teacher discount. Wow, I have been blushing a lot reading it but it really captures the teenage boy mentality well. I can so visualize this as it becomes a movie in the next year or so.







It's been a wonderful week for reading. Now I wonder what I will read next. Offer me some suggestions and thanks for stopping by, it's been fun.

Will You Survive the Testing? No, not that testing #IMWAYR March 31, 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

For some time now, I have been so incredibly busy that any time I tried to sit down to read, I would fall asleep due to sheer exhaustion. This week, I have  been cataloging and processing new library books like a maniac. I have readied over a hundred and fifty new books for my students and several books on my TBR pile. Below are some titles I enjoyed this week and then there were two I really found read worthy.

Let me start with the most exciting book I have read this year. The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. I rate this book highly because it does what I like goods novel to do. They unnerve me and possess me. In the midst of a pleasant dinner, snippets of dialog echo in my mind pulling me away from friends and family dinner chatter. My dreams are invaded with desperate scenarios where I am a participant in the testing. While I work in the garden or clean my house, I stop mid task and run grab my book just for a few minutes to fall back into the story. My family is wise to me and I hear them laughing about it. 

I also finished The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, a book that intrigued and disturbed me with its violence. I liked Tana, a strong female character that when faced with the massacre of many of her friends by vampires, chooses to rescue not only her bitten and infected ex-boyfriend but also a ruby red eye vampire in chains. She drives them both to Coldtown fearing that she too may be infected due to a fang scratch on her leg. In this story, vampires are rockstars that draw young people to coldtowns hoping to be "turned". This novel is not for those who are afraid of the dark.  

These books were a bit milder and fun to read. 

 

I read 2 more Texas Bluebonnet titles this week. Pickle (still reading) and Lester's Dreadful Sweaters.

Sparky was pretty darn cute and my grandson loved the idea of a pet sloth. My mom would have let me have a sloth for a pet too. I have raised cats, turtles, fish, frogs, a rat, dogs, ducks, bunnies, and a billy goat named Blanco Diablo who lived up to his name. I was also the custodian of two rescue animals a badger and a javelina, both who eventually were released back into the wild.

Don't you just love the sea turtle painting my sister Jypsy made for my birthday. Our school mascot is the sea turtle so I have long wanted a painting for my library. 

Mr. Bones approved of the books I chose for Spring lessons. We both love bears and Kevin Henkes and Karma Wilson have created some wonderful bear books. 

I am so excited because in just a few days it will be time to depart for the Texas Library Association conference. It is considered the ultimate of state library conferences. I will be traveling up with some librarian buddies and have made plans to meet up with some of my Twitter PLN. If you are headed to TLA, please let me know. I would love to met you in person. 

Have a lovely reading week.