It's Monday! What are You Reading?

This summer, my goal is to read a book a day - thank you Donalyn Miller for inspiring so many of us to read a book a day this summer!  

Some of the books I read this week are: 

The Art of Miss Chew by Patricia Polacco

I love all of Patricia Polacco's books so whenever she publishes a new book, it is a must-purchase book for me!  This story is about a young girl, Trisha, who spends the summer with her grandmother and discovers a love for art.  Her grandmother is an artist and after spending time with her, she know that she too wants to be an artist.  When she returns to school, she gets into Miss Chew's special art class that is held at the high school after Miss Chew sees her beautiful sketches.  Right when things are all falling into place for Trisha, her classroom teacher is absent for an extended time and the new substitute tells Trisha that she needs to study how to read and write rather than wasting her time on art .  The substitute puts a roadblock up for Trisha, but Miss Chew and Trisha are up for the challenge! 

This book will be a great read aloud for all ages and will engage students in thoughtful conversations about perseverance, setting goals, passions, and working hard. 

Guys Read: The Sports Pages Edited by Jon Scieszka

I am a fan of all the Guys Read books and my 5th graders love them!  I was excited to pick up an ARC of this book at Book Expo in NYC last month.  This book officially comes out tomorrow, July 10th! My students were even more excited when I brought it into our classroom - there were lines quickly formed by some of the students to read it before school was out for the summer.  If you haven't read any of the Guys Read books - I highly recommend them.  They are perfect for middle grades and I love how many authors contribute to each book.  

43 Old Cemetery Road Book 4: The Phantom of the Post Office by Kate Klise

This is the fourth book in the series and just as entertaining as the first three.  I love the humor, play on words, character relationships, and how the books are written in the form of letters.  This is a perfect series for middle grades and also reluctant readers.  This is also a great series to use for teaching different text structures such as letters, newspaper articles, ads, contracts, and more.  The fifth book is called Hollywood, Dead Ahead and there is a little teaser at the end of this book about it.  

Please be sure to check out Jen and Kellee's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, to see what others are reading and to get more book recommendations for your TBR stacks!  

Happy Reading! :)