It's Monday! What are You Reading?

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 try not to post about books that won't be published for awhile, but Duke by Kirby Larson is so good that I couldn't wait to talk about it! Duke will be published on August 27th so mark your calendars! I love all of Kirby Larson's books so I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of her latest book, Duke.  The book is set in the WWII time period and Hobie Hanson's father is overseas fighting in the war.  Everyone is trying to pitch in and do whatever they can to help during the war, even loaning their treasured pet dogs to help in the war.  When Hobie hears about this, he immediately does not want to send his German Shepard, Duke, to help in the war.  However, he begins to have a different mindset when he begins to learn how the dogs can help bring home his dad and others fighting in the war safe sooner.  Will Hobie regret his decision? Will Hobie's father and Duke come home safe? Once you start this book, you will not be able to put it down! I will definitely either read this book aloud during our historical fiction unit or buy multiple copies of it for book clubs.  Not only, is it a great historical fiction book, but it also is filled with friendship issues that eleven year olds face at school and in their neighborhoods.  So mark your calendars for August 27th and enjoy this read!!

A Summer of Sundays by Lindsay Eland comes out this week on July 9th! 
In this book, Sunday Fowler is the middle child of six children and feels that she gets lost in the shuffle and everyone mixes her up with her siblings and even calls her by their names sometimes.  She decides that this is going to be the summer that she will stand out from everyone else and will do something amazing to finally get noticed.  Her family is renovating a town library during the summer and Sunday is helping out when she discovers a secret metal box one day in the basement.  Inside, she finds papers that tell a story...and she decides she is going to find out who wrote the letters and the mystery manuscript.  While she sets off to read the story and uncover the mystery of who wrote it, she befriends an older man who the neighborhood kids fear and a boy her age, named Jude.  Together, she and Jude, uncover some hidden secrets, that others hoped to keep hidden forever, while trying to identify the famous author who wrote this secret novel.  This book is full of friendships, mystery, suspense, and surprises! Enjoy! 

Enjoy reading this week! :)