It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

So many of my book recommendations have been from the weekly shares on teachmentortexts.com. Thank you to Jen and Kellee for hosting and thank you to all who contribute their reading lists! To see what others are reading, head on over to the website and link into all of the reading recommendations.

As is frequently the case, I went to the bookstore to find a couple of specific titles and they did not haven them...However, since I had an hour to use up before having to pick up a daughter, I found many other books to read and enjoy.

Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon is an adorable book about a penguin befriending a pinecone. A somewhat unlikely relationship, I know, but one that could inspire classroom conversations about good friends and even some habitat and agricultural lessons.

My No, No, No Day by Rebecca Patterson reminded me a lot of Harriet,  You'll Drive Me Wild by Mem Fox or Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. It's another good title for showing students that if they must write a bed-to-bed story, they really need to establish a unifying strand. In this case, the main character's day got worse and worse because of situations that most young children can understand!

Charley's First Night by Amy Hest is a cute book about a puppy's first night in a new house. Since MANY of the on-demand personal narratives I read had to do with getting a new puppy, this might be one to pull out during next year's Personal Narrative unit.

The last one I'm sharing tonight (although I did read several more!) is I Have a Dream, a picture book of Martin Luther King's speech with amazing paintings by Kadir Nelson. I would use this book to honor Martin Luther King, but I would also use it to teach principles of persuasive writing. What an amazing speech to read and re-read, as well as listen to since this book comes with a CD, as well!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone, and Happy Reading!