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.

One of my daughters has always loved Patricia Polacco books, so when I saw her newest one on the library shelf on Saturday morning, I brought it home for Cecily. Fiona's Lace is classic Patricia Polacco, weaving history and family saga together in a way that teaches readers and leaves them with a lump in their throat or even a tear. Fiona, Patricia's great-great grandmother, and her family left Ireland in the 1800's to find a better life in Chicago. Instead, they found more struggles and eventually lived through the Great Chicago Fire. Expect the strong family bonds, symbolism, and the beautiful language that exemplifies Patricia Polacco's books. You won't be disappointed.

I also picked up With Books and Bricks by Suzanne Slade with pictures by Nicole Tadgell. A lovely narrative about Booker Washington's struggles to first attend school and then build a school, this book is a wonderful example of narrative nonfiction as well as a book full of themes of perseverance, resilience, and growth mindset. 

Moses, the True Story of an Elephant Baby by Jenny Perepeczko is a book that will delight young and older elementary students. The photographs of Moses with his more typical domestic friends are adorable and the stories about his adventures and misperceptions about the human world are funny and entertaining, although older readers will pick up on the underlying sadness of Moses's plight; he was orphaned due to African poachers on a quest for ivory. Jenny Perepeczko slides in many facts through the engaging text features, craft moves that could definitely inspire and mentor apprentice information writers!

Happy Reading!