It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Thank you Jen and Kellee for hosting this weekly!  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to check out their blog Teach Mentor Texts :)

About a week ago, I was in my glory at BEA (Book Expo of America) in NYC surrounded by new and upcoming books!  This was my third time going to BEA and I will continue to go each year.  The Javitts Center is filled with high levels of energy and excitement for books!  It is a great opportunity to meet authors, learn about new books being released, get ARCs signed by authors, and be around thousands of people that share a passion for books and reading.  One of the best parts of the day is coming home from the conference to look at all the new ARCs and make my new TBR piles, as well as think about which books I will recommend to different kids in my class.

Some of the books I have read this past week are: 

Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner comes out on September 10th.  My students were very excited when I showed them we had an ARC of this book! This year was the first year I had a student with a concussion...not just one student, but three! So they were the first ones who wanted to read this book since the main characters suffered from a concussion and are attending a facility to try to get rid of their ongoing symptoms.  This is a suspenseful book that is filled with mystery and adventure!  My 5th graders who have read it so far, loved it. :)

 The Show Must Go On! (Three-Ring Rascals) by Kate Klise and Sarah Klise also comes out on September 10th.  This is Book 1 in their new series and I was excited to read it since I love the 43 Old Cemetery Road series! This book/series is written in a similar style to the 43 Old Cemetery Road series and has some letters, illustrations/graphics, and speech bubbles.  Readers love their writing style and find it very engaging. This series will also hook reluctant readers too and is perfect for grades 3-5.  I look forward to continuing to read the next books in this series too.

Home Sweet Horror: Scary Tales Book 1 by James Preller will be released on July 8th.  I am not the scary story type of reader, but I always have students each year who enjoy reading scary stories.  However, sometimes the scary stories are not always appropriate or sometimes even too scary for middle grade readers.  I enjoy James Preller's books so when I saw him signing ARC's for his new Scary Tales series at BEA, I knew I wanted a copy.  At first, I thought it was going to be a book of scary short stories since the title was Scary Tales, but it is actually one continuous scary story with short chapters.  It is a short chapter 
book with illustrations and an appropriate amount of "scary" for middle grade readers.  


Last year, at BEA, I received an ARC of Book 1 in this series so I was very excited to get my hands on Templeton Twins Make a Scene: Book 2 by Ellis Weiner (thank you to the generous person who gave me their copy when I asked where they got it from...thank you, thank you!) This book will be released on October 8th in bookstores.  If you haven't read The Templeton Twins Have an Idea: Book One yet, then definitely add it to your TBR list! 

In addition to the ARCs I received at BEA, I also have been reading books that will support our American Revolution unit that we are currently in.  

One book that we have been reading is The Split History of the American Revolution: A Perspectives Flip Book by Michael Burgan.  This book is part of a series, including one on World War II, the Civil War, and Westward Expansion.  I love this series because it tells both perspectives for the historical event. For example, in the American Revolution book, if you hold the book one way, you read about the Patriot perspective. However, if you flip the book around, you read about the British Loyalist perspective.  It is a great tool to teach point of view and perspective! I highly recommend this series for social studies units and/or nonfiction reading.  

Enjoy reading this week! :)