Jen Vincent and Kellee Moye cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs. To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to check out their blogs Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.
I love
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick and for about the past 4-5 years, I have read it aloud to my fifth graders as our first chapter book read aloud. Each year, I change up some of my read alouds, but this book is one I keep going to as one of my first read alouds of the year. In 2011,
After Ever After came out, which is the sequel to
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. For some reason, I kept putting it off and didn't read it until this weekend. I do NOT know why I waited because it is such a good book! Usually I'm not a huge fan of sequels to books or movies because they sometimes are not as good as the first and are a disappointment. However, this is completely not the case with this book. If you have read and loved
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, then you will love
After Ever After!
This sequel is told from Jeffrey's perspective and he is now in eighth grade, just like Steven was in
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. Now Jeffrey's cancer is in remission and he is dealing with all the typical issues eighth graders find themselves dealing with at that age, but has to deal with them without Steven since he is in Africa at the time. Jeffrey, just like Steven, finds himself having a crush on a girl for the first time and is also struggling with math. On top of all of this, Jeffrey has to cope with the fact that his best friend, Tad, also has cancer and unfortunately has not hit the five year mark for remission. They have a very strong bond as friends, help each other in many ways, and understand one another. This sequel is full of social issues and will tug at your heartstrings so have a box of tissues nearby as you read it!
Enjoy reading this week! :)
I have three books by Jordan Sonnenblick sitting on my TBR shelf to read this summer. I definitely want to get to them now. THanks for sharing. Have a great reading week!
ReplyDeleteI also loved this sequel. I was reticent to read it, but when I picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised. I find it is so hard to move to a sequel when you love the first book. I don't want my image of the first book to be tarnished!
ReplyDeleteI saw your rave review of this Sonnenblick title on Goodreads and requested the first book. I'm looking forward to reading this author. Seems like I need to be emotionally prepared for both titles!
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