Kellee – Page 228 – Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/22/15

July 27, 2015June 22, 2015 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

CONGRATULATIONS,

Jill the OWL

for winning a copy of The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy

CONGRATULATIONS,

Dawn G.

for winning a copy of My Dog is the Best by Laurie Ann Thompson

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My TBR For Summer 2015

Friday: Blog Tour with Review, Author Guest Post, and Giveaway!: The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton
Giveaway open until Thursday!

Sunday: Author Guest Post!: “The Joy of Sharing Literature in A Classroom” by Miriam Spitzer Franklin, Author of Extraordinary

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I had a pretty good reading week. My son was sick for 3 days, so it really hindered a lot of my normal reading time; however, I was still able to finish three novels. First, I finished Revolution. It is brilliant. I will say the length is a bit daunting, but the way that Wiles crafts those 500 pages is amazing. I also finished a mythology-based, action-packed YA novel called Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland. Very cool novel that is full of adventure! Finally, I finished listening to X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, and I now can understand all of the love it is getting. Quite a interesting, thought-provoking look at Malcolm X’s younger life.

In addition to these and reading Sandra Boynton with Trent, I did introduce him to Down by the Bay by Raffi. I love that this song that I listened to when I was a kid has a board book! It was so much fun to sing it to him.

Ricki: This week, I finished Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Oh, how I loved this book. The characterization and voice are incredible. This book was one of the (slightly) older publications on my #mustreadin2015 list. I shouldn’t have missed it when it first came out in 2013! I highly recommend it to anyone else who hasn’t read it.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I just started reading Diamond Boy by Michael Williams which is novel set in the diamond fields of Southern Africa by the author of Now is the Time of Running (which I loved). After it, I plan on getting to Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley and And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard.

I am going to take a break from audiobooks to listen to the newest episodes of the podcast Undisclosed, but when I start listening to audiobooks again, I plan on picking one of the Audiobook Sync books.

Ricki: I am trapped in dissertation reading. I am reading Ideas by Husserl, and I have fallen asleep each time I’ve picked it up. It was written in 1917 and translated in 1931. I like philosophy, but it is quite dense!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Happy 5th Anniversary to the Top Ten Tuesday Meme!: Our Top Ten Tuesday Topics

Wednesday: Two Year Blogiversary: Ricki and Kellee Check-In

Thursday: Ricki’s Favorite Pairings of YA Books with Classics

Friday: Top Checked Out Books by Kellee’s Middle School Struggling Readers

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

As part of our two year blogiversary celebration, we wanted to expand our resources here on Unleashing Readers! In our Navigating Literary Elements section of our page, we share books we feel can be used as mentor texts/exemplar texts when teaching different literary elements. In addition to updating the original Setting, Characterization, and Language pages, we have now added Voice and Conflict pages! Please check them out, and we hope you find them useful!

So, what are you reading?

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

and

Blog Tour with Review, Author Guest Post, and Giveaway!: The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton

September 25, 2015June 19, 2015 by Kellee

The Chronicles of the Black Tulip: The Vanishing Island
Author: Barry Wolverton
Published September 1st, 2015 by Walden Pond Press

Goodreads Summary: Does the Vanishing Island really exist? And if so, what treasure—or terrible secret—was hidden by its disappearance?

It’s 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. But for Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia has meant anything but adventure. Enticed by the tales sailors have brought through Map’s port, and inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for the cruel and charismatic map mogul named Rand McNally, Bren is convinced that fame and fortune await him elsewhere. That is, until his repeated attempts to run away land him a punishment worse than death—cleaning up the town vomitorium.

It is there that Bren meets a dying sailor, who gives him a strange gift that hides a hidden message. Cracking the code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure that could change his life forever, and that of his widowed father. But to get there he will have to tie his fate to a mysterious Dutch admiral obsessed with a Chinese legend about an island that long ago disappeared from any map.

Before long, Bren is in greater danger than he ever imagined, and will need the help of an unusual friend named Mouse to survive. Barry Wolverton’s thrilling adventure spans oceans and cultures, brings together the folklore of East and West, and proves that fortune is always a double-edged sword.

My Review: Whoa! Quite a book! Part swashbuckling adventure, part historical fiction, part folklore, part fantasy, part ghost story, Barry Wolverton has given us quite an intense adventure. I couldn’t predict anything that happened in the book. There were twists and turns throughout, and I never knew who to trust (though I am happy to say my favorite sailor was trustworthy). There were some really gruesome parts (blood and guts and vomit) and there were some really beautiful fairy tales. Overall, quite an adventure! (Though I warn: by gruesome, I mean gruesome!)

Discussion Questions: How did the author use folklore throughout the story to move along the plot?; What parts of history that were shared within the book were true? Fictional?; Throughout the book, stop and try to predict what you think is going to happen next then check your predictions as you read more.; As you read, make a list of all of the seafaring vocabulary that is used within The Vanishing Islands then illustrate each of the vocabulary words as they are used in the book.; Wolverton used Marco Polo’s written works throughout the book–what allusions to Polo’s text can you find in The Vanishing Island?

We Flagged: “The summer began with the grim warning that the wolves were running again. In Britannia, this was code. It meant that Her Majesty’s navy was in need of fresh bodies to replace all of the seamen lost during the year to disease, desertion, or battle. Crimping, they called it. Men and older boys kidnapped and forced to enlist, of the good of God, queen, and country. Britannia, after all, was just one of many nations fighting for nothing less than to control the world.

One boy who didn’t have to worry about being crimped was Bren Owens of Map, the dirtiest, noisiest, smelliest city in all of Britannia. (He had heard rotten things about London, too, but he’d never been there.) Bren was what they called spindly–tall for his age, but unsteady, like a chair you might be afraid to sit on. He had been born in Map because he’d had no choice in the matter.

But that didn’t mean he had to stay here. And now, too skinny for the wolves, he had been forced to take matters into his own hands.” (p. 9-10)

Author Guest Post:

“Be Careful What You Read, or Why Books Are Dangerous” by Barry Wolverton

Beginning in 1978, when Metrocenter mall opened near my home in Jackson, Miss., my family would go to the mall every Friday night. We would have dinner at one of the fine mall establishments, and then my mother would go clothes shopping, my brother would go nerd out at Radio Shack or Spencer’s, my father would go sit somewhere and smoke (you could do that then), and I would plop myself down in an aisle at Waldenbooks. I remember exactly how it felt to have that to look forward to, which is why Black’s Antique Books and Collectibles is Bren’s home away from home in The Vanishing Island. (Although the way I describe Black’s is more like I remembered Shakespeare and Co. in Paris, the ur-bookstore.)

But for a curious, receptive mind, books can do mischievous things. As I describe it in the book, “the bookstore was a blessing and a curse for [Bren]. Every few weeks seemed to bring in new adventure books, travelogues, and epic poems of war and conquest that were so popular these days. Tales from other lands and other times. For Bren, they offered proof that all things exotic and exciting lay anywhere but here.”

Books give Bren ideas. Ideas about places he’d rather be, things he’d rather be doing, possibilities that his current life doesn’t offer. Books also give him information. For instance, information about ships and the routines of their crew, so that an enterprising young man might figure out the best time to sneak aboard a ship and the best places to hide.

And it was undoubtedly in Black’s that Bren first found a copy of Travels by Marco Polo, the book that National Geographic described as “the founding adventure book of the modern world. Polo gave to the age of exploration that followed the marvels of the East, the strange customs, the fabulous riches, the tribes with gold teeth. It was a Book of Dreams, an incentive, a goad. Out of it came Columbus (whose own copy of the book was heavily annotated), Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and the rest of modern history.”

Wow, some book. Especially considering how much of it is considered dubious. Polo dictated his stories to a fiction writer named Rustichello while both were in prison during the Venice-Genoa war, and between Polo’s possible exaggerations and Rustichello’s flare for embellishment, we can be pretty sure Marco Polo didn’t really see a unicorn. (He may have seen a Sumatran rhino, though, which is still magical.)

Given all that, I hope you’ll appreciate why the Polo legend figures prominently in The Vanishing Island, without making light of the terrible cost of exploration and colonialism.

About the Author: Barry Wolverton is the author of Neversink. He has more than fifteen years’ experience creating books, documentary television scripts, and website content for international networks and publishers, including National Geographic, Scholastic.com, the Library of Congress, and the Discovery Networks. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee. You can visit him online at www.barrywolverton.com.

Read This If You Loved: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson

Recommended For:

Make sure to visit other stops on The Vanishing Island blog tour!
Tour information: http://www.walden.com/8039-2/

6/15/2015 Blue Stocking Thinking bluestockingthinking.blogspot.com
6/16/2015 The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia    hauntedorchid.blogspot.com
6/17/2015 Small Review   smallreview.blogspot.com
6/18/2015 Maria’s Melange   www.mariaselke.com/
6/19/2015 Unleashing Readers    unleashingreaders.com
6/19/2015 The Hiding Spot   thehidingspot.blogspot.com
6/22/2015 This Kid Reviews Books thiskidreviewsbooks.com
6/23/2015 Mundie Kids mundiekids.blogspot.com/
6/24/2015 Paige in Training    pageintraining.wordpress.com
6/25/2015 Novel Novice novelnovice.com

Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Thank you to Walden Pond Press for having us be part of the blog tour
and for providing copies for review and giveaway!**

Links for Barry Wolverton:

Website: http://www.barrywolverton.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wolvertonhill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bwolverton
Instagram: https://instagram.com/wolvertonhill/

Links for Walden Pond Press:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WaldenPondPress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaldenPondPress
Website/Blog: http://www.walden.com/books/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/waldenpondpress/

Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Flight of the Honey Bee
Author: Raymond Huber
Illustrator: Brian Lovelock
Published September 10th, 2013 by Candlewick Press

Goodreads Summary: Follow the flight of a honey bee as she searches for nectar to sustain her hive and, along the way, pollinates flowers to produce seeds and fruits.

A tiny honey bee emerges from the hive for the first time. Using sunlight, landmarks, and scents to remember the path, she goes in search of pollen and nectar to share with the thousands of other bees in her hive. She uses her powerful sense of smell to locate the flowers that sustain her, avoids birds that might eat her, and returns home to share her finds with her many sisters. Nature lovers and scientists-to-be are invited to explore the fascinating life of a honey bee.

Kellee’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I love books that mix narrative and information nonfiction within one book. This text introduces Scout as she exits the hive and goes about her bee-siness (hehe!). This part of the story is told as a story. Then on each page, there is information about bees in general to help the reader understand Scout’s journey. This unique text structure mixed with the realistic yet artistic illustrations really makes Flight compelling to read. In addition to learning about bees and the vocabulary included in the book, this book could be a great addition to a lit circle inquiry group about insects or as a mentor text to create student narrative and informational mixed writing about a animal after researching.

Ricki’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I read this book aloud to my son while he was eating breakfast, and he was captivated by the illustrations and story. I immediately texted Kellee and told her we had to schedule a day to review it! I had a lot of fun following Scout on her adventure, and I know kids will become so engaged in this story that they will forget they are learning. I thought I knew a lot about bees, but I was surprised by how much information is packed into this text. Readers will cheer for Scout as she encounters obstacles. I try to integrate nonfiction into every unit, and this would be a great book to show students just how accessible nonfiction can be. Then, they could pick a creature or object in nature, conduct research, and write their own narrative nonfiction texts.

Discussion Questions: How do bees help the environment and humans?; How can we help save the bees?; What are the different types of bees? Why are they all important?

Flight of the Honey Bee Teacher Guide from Candlewick

We Flagged:

flight of the honey page — (c) 2013 Raymond Huber http://www.raymondhuber.co.nz/

Read This If You Loved: Lifetime by Lola M. Schaefer, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman, The Alphabet of Bugs by Valerie Gates

Recommended For:

and

**Thank you to Candlewick for providing copies of the text for review!!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/15/15

August 23, 2015June 15, 2015 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

CONGRATULATIONS

Emily M.

for winning a copy of Cast Off by Eve Yohalem

CONGRATULATIONS

Amanda T.

for winning a copy of The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson!

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015

Thursday: Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway!: The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy

Giveaway open until Thursday!

Friday: Blog Tour, Review, Author & Illustrator Interview, and Giveaway!: My Dog is the Best by Laurie Ann Thompson

Giveaway open until Thursday!

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I had a pretty good week! Although I didn’t get to read a book a day as I’d like, I did read every day and finished two novels, a graphic novel, a picture book, and a new board book.

The two novels I read are both must reads! Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King is just another brilliant novel by King. This book is just an explosion of thought-provoking commentary mixed with humor, feminism, romance, depression, and a touch of magic. I also finished The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Jonsberg. I do not know how I missed this book! Jonsberg has given us another book that will help readers build empathy for students around them that may be a bit different.

The graphic novel I read was Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes which is the first book in a series that so far is good, but… Holy cliffhanger, Batman! I love the cross-curricular aspects of this graphic novel and that smart kids are the star of the book. I did feel like this book was an introduction to the series and that this series is really going to pick up with book 2. This one is an introduction and the adventure/mystery is just starting.

The picture book I read was Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber which we’re reviewing for you on Wednesday.

Trent and I read a new, silly board book this week. The Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz is full of nonsense rhymes while telling thestory of a hippo whose hiccups are causing problems.

Ricki: Happy Birthday, Kellee! I love you more than you know, my friend.

Well, my poor father fell down the stairs and broke his leg, so I have been helping him get around. This means a lot of lifting and not a lot of reading. I am thankful he is okay, so I am not sorry my priorities had to shift a bit this week. I did finish listening to Dodger by Terry Pratchett. To be honest, I wasn’t blown away. I enjoyed listening to it, but I didn’t find it to be incredibly unique or interesting.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: The reason why I was not able to finish more novels (I finished Glory O’Brien on Monday and Candice Phee on Tuesday) is because Revolution by Deborah Wiles has stalled me a bit. This is a me problem, not a book problem. It is just so big which makes it not a travel or bed book. That really eliminates a good chunk of my reading time, so I have found myself on social media instead of reading a bit more while reading this book. I hope to have finished it by the time this posts (I’m writing this on Saturday because I am going out Sunday to celebrate my birthday which is Monday/today! Yay!), but I don’t know if that is realistic.

I am also listening to X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. I am about 70% of the way through, and I listen to it whenever I can. It is fascinating! I look forward to Ricki’s review on Thursday.

After Revolution, I’m going to stick with reading about civil rights by reading Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley. Then I’ll switch it up to mythology with Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland then blood diamonds with Diamond Boy by Michael Williams. Hopefully I get more novels read this week. I do have a training on Tuesday, but next to that, I should be able to focus on reading and blogging this week.

Ricki: I can’t decide which AudioBookSync free summer read to listen to next. There are so many great choices! Which is your favorite? While I have you here, I want to pick your brains because you are incredible teachers: Does anyone have any suggestions for creative discussion formats to use in the middle/high school classroom? I am looking to try something new in my Methods class next week. They are future secondary teachers (of all subject areas). We’ve done Jigsaws, Fishbowls, Give One Get One, Four Corners (Agree/Disagree), and Post-It Notes (on Discussion Questions posted on the Walls). Please feel free to share in the comments. (And if you’d like, I can gather your ideas and create a blog post describing each of these in more detail.)

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My TBR For Summer 2015

Friday: Blog Tour, Review, Book Trailer, and Giveaway!: The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton

Sunday: Author Guest Post!: “The Joy of Sharing Literature in A Classroom” by Miriam Spitzer Franklin, Author of Extraordinary

So, what are you reading?

and

Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway!: The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy

June 17, 2015June 11, 2015 by Kellee

The Disappearance of Emily H.
Author: Barrie Summy
Published May 12th, 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: A girl who can see the past tries to save the future in this compelling tween mystery.

A girl is missing. Three girls are lying. One girl can get to the truth.

Emily Huvar vanished without a trace. And the clues are right beneath Raine’s fingertips. Literally. Raine isn’t like other eighth graders. One touch of a glittering sparkle that only Raine can see, and she’s swept into a memory from the past. If she touches enough sparkles, she can piece together what happened to Emily.

When Raine realizes that the cliquey group of girls making her life miserable know more than they’re letting on about Emily’s disappearance, she has to do something. She’ll use her supernatural gift for good . . . to fight evil.

But is it too late to save Emily?

About the Author: Barrie Summy is the author of the I So Don’t Do mystery series starring thirteen-year-old detective Sherry Holmes Baldwin and the recently released The Disappearance of Emily H. Barrie lives in Southern California with her husband, their four children, two dogs, a veiled chameleon, and a fish. There was once a dwarf hamster, but let’s not go there. Visit her online atbarriesummy.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Barrie.Cox.Summy

My Review: Raine has moved from town to town throughout her life as her mother tries to find the man of her dreams; however, her mom promises that this last move is finally where they are going to settle. When Raine starts school though, she finds that this may not be where she wants to stay. On top of all of this, she has moved into a missing girl’s home which throws her in the center of Emily H’s disappearance. When Raine finds herself investigating Emily, she ends up in the middle of more than she bargained form.

I often find myself struggling with magical realism books because I can’t grasp the magic that the author is trying to throw in the real world. With this book, however, I really liked the magical twist that was put on this mystery book. Raine has the ability to grab memories. She sees sparkles that show her where the memories lie, and she is transported into the memory. I really liked this addition because it reminded me a little bit of Medium the TV show–just some more clues in a mystery.

Overall a book that I read in one sitting and had twists and turns that made me want to keep reading, and the mystery itself had a satisfying ending.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book will find its most success in a middle school classroom or school library. It is one of those books that one student is going to read and is going to make his/her friend read so they can talk about it.

In a classroom, I, personally, would use this book to talk about bullying and best choices. Sections of the book could be pulled out that will definitely start conversations.

Discussion Questions: Do you think Raine made the right choice when she discovered the secret?; Do you think Raine made the right choice when dealing with Jennifer?; Why do you think Jennifer is so mean?; What caused ____ to make the choice s/he did?; Do you believe that Raine’s mother can change?

We Flagged: “I reach into my front pocket for the small, scratched-up silver heart with a dent in the side where I once dropped it on the sidewalk. I balance the heart in my palm and watch as tiny sparkles dance across it, sparkles only I can see.

I need a memory from my first day of kindergarten. A shot of courage for facing Yielding Middle and all the yuck that goes along with being the new girl.

I close my hand to trap the sparkles, then shut my eyes, drifting into the memory.” (p. 2)

Read This If You Loved: The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney, A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Recommended For:

Don’t miss out on the other stops of the blog tour!

Thursday, June 4	Ms. Yingling Reads	http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/
Fri, June 5	proseandkahn	http://proseandkahn.blogspot.com/
Mon, June 8	Once Upon a Story	http://mariaburel.com/
Tues, June 9	Read Now, Sleep Later	http://www.readnowsleeplater.org/
Wed, June 10	Sharpread	http://mrcolbysharp.com/
Thurs, June 11	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
Fri, June 12	Small Review	http://smallreview.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Thank you to Barbara at Blue Slip Media for having us be part of the blog tour
and for providing copies of the text for review and giveaway!**

Find Blue Slip Media on Facebook

On Twitter: @barbfisch @blueslipper

Visit their website

Faraway Friends by Russ Cox

June 10, 2015 by Kellee

Faraway Friends
Author and Illustrator: Russ Cox
Published May 5th, 2015 by Sky Pony Press

Goodreads Summary: This is the story of the adventure of a little boy named Sheldon and his dog, Jet. When Sheldon’s best friend moves away, Sheldon spies the word “Jupiter” painted on the side of the moving truck. Sheldon feels sad at first, but realizes that this is a sign—what he needs is a rocket ship! So Sheldon and Jet do some sketching and some scrounging, and, with a wagon full of equipment and supplies, the two future astronauts head to the backyard. With a glop and a wham, piece by piece the ship begins to take form, and soon it’s Commander Sheldon A. Flyer and Space Cadet Jet ready for takeoff! The duo jets around satellites, zooms by planets, speeds through space storms, and zips past other flying saucers . . . untilplop, they’ve arrived, somewhere with a green, alien life-form and a furry black blob.

This book encourages children to channel loneliness and boredom with creativity and imagination, and ultimately it is a story of new friendship. Featuring vibrant illustrations by debut author and illustrator Russ Cox, this action-packed story is sure to appeal to young readers in search of something that is out of this world!

My Review: I loved this story! It promotes imagination, has science elements, and is about the tough subject of friends moving away. When Sheldon’s best friend moves away, he believes he has moved to Jupiter so the only solution is to build a spaceship for himself and his dog, Jet, to go to Jupiter to see his friend. I adored that Sheldon went through a planning and sketching phase before building and “blasting off” with Jet. They then fly through outer space until a ship malfunction and a visiting alien change their plans. Children will love the colorful illustrations, fun adventure, and comic relief of Jet all while exploring themes of friendship, loss, and imagination.

P.S. The cover glows in the dark!!!!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Like I shared above, there are some deep themes that can be addressed while/after reading this book. I also think it will promote a want to build a space ship, and it would be great to have students plan and build a spaceship (maybe not life size, but for an egg or pipe cleaner person?). The book also has onomatopoeias throughout which always makes me happy as they may be my favorite type of figurative language, and there is also great vocabulary words throughout to learn about.

Discussion Questions: Before reading, look at the cover and predict what you think the book is about. After reading, look back at the cover. What did you predict correctly and incorrectly based on the cover?; Has a friend of yours ever moved away? How did it make you feel? What did you do to help deal with the loss?; If you could build a spaceship and visit anywhere, where would you go?; When Sheldon and Jet blasted off into space, did you catch the clue for the ending in the background?

We Flagged:

faraway-friends-sample 2 — (c) Russ Cox 2014

“BLAST OFF! In a spectacular plume of smoke Sheldon and Jet roared into space.”

Read This If You Loved: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, Journey by Aaron Becker

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Sara at Skyhorse Publishing for providing a copy for review!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/8/15

August 23, 2015June 8, 2015 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

CONGRATULATIONS

LINDA B.
AMANDA S.
JANA E.

for winning a copy of Eden West by Pete Hautman!!!

Last Week’s Post

Tuesday: Top Ten Books I’d Love To See As A Movie or TV Show

Thursday: Blog Tour, Giveaway, and Author Guest Post!: Cast Off by Eve Yohalem

Giveaway open until Wednesday!!

Friday: Blog Tour, Author Guest Post, Giveaway, Book Trailer, and Review!: The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson

Giveaway open until Friday!!

Sunday: Author Guest Post by Melissa Hurst, Author of The Edge of Forever

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I wasn’t able to read very much during the week because my last week of school was CRAZY, but I tried to make up for it this weekend. I did finish listening to The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #2: The Terror of the Southlands by Caroline Carlson during my commutes, and it was just as wonderful as the first one! Highly recommended! This weekend I was able to finish the novels The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy (check out my review on Thursday) and The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton (check out my review next week). Very different books, but both kept me on the edge of my seat. I also finished Llama Llama Sand and Sun by Anna Dewdney with Trent (he is all about touch and feel books right now as well as books that are small so he can carry them around with him), My Dog is the Best by Laurie Ann Thompson (see our review on Friday), Faraway Friends by Russ Cox (see my review on Wednesday), and Little Robot by Ben Hatke. Hatke does such an amazing job with such little words. He is able to really impact the reader without saying more than a word. I love that the protagonist is such a unique, strong, little girl and that she is so innovative. Great theme of friendship and determination.

Ricki: I was bad this week. I started too many books and finished none. I don’t know why I do this to myself. It makes me look like a bad reader! My favorite is Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. You all weren’t kidding. It is wonderful! I keep laughing out loud because Willow is quite the character!

One of my dissertation committee members send me three books that I must read this summer before I write my proposal. They all concern phenomenological research. In very vague terms, I plan to research the ways secondary English teachers use multicultural young adult literature in the classroom. Therefore, I have to read a lot of books about how to conduct phenomenological research! It sounds boring, but the books are quite interesting thus far.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: SUMMER IS HERE!!! That means I will get to read more than I did when school was in! Yay! I am still doing a good amount professional development over the summer (a week long online class on assessment, a three week long online class on building a rigorous unit of instruction using the Marzano Instructional Model, a one day coaching foundations course, a one day common formative assessments course, two days end-of-course assessment writing, and possibly another two week long online course that is the extension of the first Marzano course) and I have two secret projects I have to finish by the beginning of July, so we will see if I am able to keep up with #bookaday (or equivalent number of books to equal a book a day). I’m going to try, but not going to make myself feel bad if I can’t.

In my “to read this week” pile, I plan on getting to at least Glory O’Brien by A.S. King, Revolution by Deborah Wiles, and Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland. I also have a lot of picture books I want to read sitting by the couch. I planned to start listening to X this week, but I have instead gotten sucked into Undisclosed a podcast about Adnan Syed, the topic of the podcast Serial. Oops.

Ricki: Please see the above books. I should probably finish those before I make big plans for others. No promises I won’t start another, though. 😉

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015

Thursday: Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway!: The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy

Friday: Blog Tour, Review, Author & Illustrator Interview, and Giveaway!: My Dog is the Best by Laurie Ann Thompson

So, what are you reading?

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