Top Ten Tuesday: Books We Really Love But Feel Like We Haven’t Talked About Enough

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: Books We Really Love But Feel Like I Haven’t Talked About Enough

Ricki

I decided to highlight diverse books. I highly recommend each of the books below and vow to talk about them more frequently on the blog. These are books that I treasure, and I think you will enjoy them, too!

1. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

Everyone (myself include) raves about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I love this book, but I don’t think we talk about The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven enough. This book is incredibly lyrical and would be a great text to use in classrooms.

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

If you missed this book, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy. This book was life-changing for many of my students, and we had so many phenomenal discussions about humanity.

3. Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

Even experienced readers of slave narratives will learn so much about this book. It is told in two perspectives: Amari, who is torn from her village in Africa, and Polly, an indentured servant. I connected deeply with this text and think about it often.

4. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

I read this book about six years ago when it came out, and I still remember how frustrated I felt while I read it. I connected with the characters and wanted to urge them in certain directions. This is a great story, and kids will learn a lot from it.

5. Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

When I think about writing and poetry, I think about this book. I love the way the teacher engaged the students in writing about their personal lives and wish I’d had students do poetry slams when I was teaching.

Kellee

These are middle grade books that I adore, but don’t book talk and share with my students enough.

1. Hazardous Tales series by Nathan Hale

For my graphic-novel-loving class, for some reason they are scared off by the nonfiction aspect of this series. I need to book talk it and share it more with them to show them how much fun AND informative they are.

2. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes

This was the book I book talked the most when I taught 6th grade, but then I moved to 7th and 8th and students were not as interested; however, I have moved back to having one 6th grade class, so I need to share it with them. It is a fantastic (and sad) coming of age story.

3. The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech is a favorite author of mine. I love how she writes and the stories she tells always touch me in some way. My students read Walk Two Moons in 6th grade and Love That Dog in my class, but I need to share more of her titles, including the adventure-filled The Wanderer with them.

4. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

This book is one that I have never forgotten. Billie Jo is a character that just stays with you, and I often wonder what happened to her next. However, historical fiction is just a hard one to sell, and I forget to book talk this amazing book in verse that is one of the books I say helped me to return to reading.

5. How to Speak Dolphin by Ginny Rorby

Ginny Rorby is another one of my favorite authors because she has a way of telling animal and human stories within the same book that are both equally important, and although we read Hurt Go Happy at the end of the year, I forget to book talk her books throughout the year and by the time we’re done with HGH, the school year is over! I need to remember to share the importance of her books earlier in the year.

Which books do you love and wish you talked about more frequently?

 and