Monkey Fun! It's Monday, What are You Reading? November 10, 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

Picture Book Month Day 10 theme:  Numbers                   View the calendar here  

Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November. Visit the Picture Book Month website    

Count the Monkeys is all sorts of fun and children and adults alike love the surprises on every page and most especially the ending. What a delightful book. Counting couldn't be more fun! 

Count the Monkeys on this page

Count the Monkey Ideas on Pinterest

These are a few of the books I have been working with students with this past week.

First a book with no pictures and then books with no words.

Writer B. J. Novak has created a book kids love to hear read aloud. Students from three years old to sixth grade students have begged for me to re-read this book again and again. I even enlisted the art teacher so they could hear another adult's reading performance. The book literally has no pictures but its filled with humorous text instructing the reader to read precisely what is written. Those are the rules, you must read the text exactly as it is written. 

We also explored several wordless picture books with students reading together in small groups and sharing their interpretations.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Simply beautifully illustrated.

Chicken and Cat Clean Up by Sara Varon

My students are big fans of Sara Varon's books. Bake Sale, Chicken and Cat, Rabbit and Robot, and  Odd Duck.

Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner 

One of my favorite books. It's so cool to try to figure out the alien language in this wonderful nearly wordless book. 

Unspoken by Henry Cole

This is a beautifully illustrated wordless picture book and the story is so clearly evident in every page. I find it incredibly rewarding to use this book with students because they really get into the story and their interpretation of the illustrations.

 YA Books I am reading this week:

     

 Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier                                 If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Happy Reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 3/25/2013

This will be my first post linked to Teach Mentor Text's What are you reading? 

I read everyday and love sharing what I am reading. I have just finished Every Day by David Levithan and now I am working on finishing up Scarlet, book number 2 in the Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer, but more on that next week. 

Every Day by David Levithan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first thing that came to mind as I was reading Every Day was one of my favorite TV shows several years ago-Quantum Leap. A is a genderless being that is propelled into a different, unsuspecting host body every day. A respects the host body by making as little changes as possible until he meets Rhiannon and falls in love with her. Remarkably, Rhiannon begins to love A back although she never  knows what A will look like each time they meet. Can such an improbable love story find a happy ending? Read it to find out. You will not be disappointed. 

View all my reviews

These are the books we are reading at home this week. 

Waking Dragons 

by Jane Yolen and Illustrations by Derek Anderson

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

A young knight helps his dragon prepared for the day brushing teeth, changing into outdoor clothes, and eating waffles for breakfast. Waking Dragons is an easy flowing rhyming book. The illustrations are bright and colorful and offer multiple opportunities for good discussions. Point in fact-why did the dragon first brush his teeth and then eat his breakfast? We brush after eating in our home. 

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld

Candlewick Press

In a word, this book is beautiful.

Beautifully written.

Beautifully illustrated.

Young readers and older readers alike will marvel over glimpses into the natural world.

Outside Your Window is a book of nature poems divided into four sections by the four seasons. 

Each reader will discover a favorite section as they meander through this jewel of a read. For me, it was "Listen to the Pond" frogs singing out "Rrruuprrrppp rrruuurrrrppp. Nature lovers will enjoy the process of speckled frog eggs evolving into tadpoles and eventually into frogs. Excellent book to reinforce learning objectives for science based topics through poetry.