It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers 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 head over to these blogs.

Each year, I attend the Book Expo when it is in NYC and am always so excited to read upcoming new titles! I was especially excited to get my hands on a copy of Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate and knew that would be my first read from the stack of books because she is an amazing author.

Crenshaw was an amazing read and full of imagination, social issues, relationships, and important life lessons. The main character, Jackson, is going into 5th grade and he has been faced with tough family situations including his dad being diagnosed with MS, his parents losing their full time jobs, living in a mini-van, being evicted from homes, and being faced with the unknown at such a young age.  He has the help of his imaginary friend, Crenshaw the cat, to help him through some of these challenging life situations.  Crenshaw appears when he senses he is needed and even though Jackson might not think he needs him, he does.

 This story would be an amazing read aloud, book club book, or just a great book to put in the hands of your students in grades 4 and up.  It will be available on September 22nd, but if I were you, I would pre-order it so you don't have to wait one day longer to read it! :)

Enjoy and Happy Reading! :)