Unleashing Readers

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!

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

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?

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

Author Guest Post!: “How Pre-Writing Made Me a Better Writer” by Melissa Hurst, Author of The Edge of Forever

September 25, 2015June 7, 2015 by Kellee

“How Pre-Writing Made Me a Better Writer”

When I started writing my first book, I was so excited. It was a shiny new story, and the possibilities were endless. The first few chapters were easy to write. After all, I had been thinking about them for several weeks while I created character profiles and sketched out the major plot points. But soon I began to lose steam. Getting words down was difficult, and I started to dread the blank page I had to face each day.

It took me over a year to write the first draft of that book. Sure, on some days it was easy to work, but more often than not I struggled to reach my daily word count goal. The really frustrating part was that I couldn’t figure out why. I knew where I wanted the story to go. So why was it so hard to write certain scenes?

I finally had a breakthrough after reading a book that suggested pre-writing each scene or chapter. Pre-writing sounds like more work, but I found it to be incredibly useful. Before I started writing for the day, I took out a notecard, labeled the chapter number, and I jotted down what was going to happen. I didn’t include many details or use dialogue, I just wrote what I wanted to happen, and I listed what characters would be in the scene. Doing this forced me to clarify my thoughts and really think about what was necessary to move the story forward. After that, writing became so much easier. I could finish each chapter more quickly instead of wasting time trying to figure out what to type. The blank page wasn’t so scary anymore.

Looking back, I should have known that pre-writing would help me. When I was still in school and received writing assignments, I’d usually procrastinate because I didn’t know what to write about. But when I started using an outline as a guide to tell me what information I needed to include in each paragraph, it wasn’t so difficult anymore. I could usually finish a paper in an hour or two, whereas before that it would take me several days.

I know a lot of people don’t like the thought of pre-writing, especially kids. But I like to think of it this way. When you have to travel to someplace new, isn’t it easier to have a guide to show you the way?

About the author: Melissa Hurst lives in the southern US with her husband and three kids. She writes YA science fiction and fantasy, which means she considers watching Star Trek and Firefly as research. She dreams of traveling around the world and maybe finding Atlantis one day. You can usually find her with a book in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other. Or consuming lots of chocolate.

The Edge of Forever is her debut novel.

About the book: In 2013: Sixteen-year-old Alora is having blackouts. Each time she wakes up in a different place with no idea of how she got there. The one thing she is certain of? Someone is following her.

In 2146: Seventeen-year-old Bridger is one of a small number of people born with the ability to travel to the past. While on a routine school time trip, he sees the last person he expected—his dead father. The strangest part is that, according to the Department of Temporal Affairs, his father was never assigned to be in that time. Bridger’s even more stunned when he learns that his by-the-book father was there to break the most important rule of time travel—to prevent someone’s murder.

And that someone is named Alora.

Determined to discover why his father wanted to help a “ghost,” Bridger illegally shifts to 2013 and, along with Alora, races to solve the mystery surrounding her past and her connection to his father before the DTA finds him. If he can stop Alora’s death without altering the timeline, maybe he can save his father too.

Thank you to Melissa for her post that I cannot wait to share with students!

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

September 25, 2015June 5, 2015 by Kellee

The Dungeoneers
Author: John David Anderson
Published June 23, 2015 by Walden Pond Press

Publishers Summary: The Dungeoneers is an action-packed, funny, and heartbreaking middle grade fantasy-adventure from the author of the acclaimed Sidekicked and Minion, John David Anderson.

The world is not a fair place, and Colm Candorly knows it. While his parents and eight sisters seem content living on a lowly cobbler’s earnings, Colm can’t help but feel that everyone has the right to a more comfortable life. It’s just a question of how far you’re willing to go to get it.

In an effort to help make ends meet, Colm uses his natural gift for pickpocketing to pilfer a pile of gold from the richer residents of town, but his actions place him at the mercy of a mysterious man named Finn Argos, a gilded-toothed, smooth-tongued rogue who gives Colm a choice: he can be punished for his thievery, or he can become a member of Thwodin’s Legions, a guild of dungeoneers who take what they want and live as they will. Colm soon finds himself part of a family of warriors, mages, and hunters, learning to work together in their quest for endless treasure. But not all families are perfect, and even as Colm hones his skills with fellow recruits, it becomes clear that something from outside threatens the dungeoneers–and perhaps something from inside as well.

My Review: This is one of those fantasy novels that transports you to another place and throws you into an adventure that keeps you guessing and reading. In The Dungeoneers, I loved going to school with Colm and learning all about dungeoneering ways including how to be the best rogue, history of dungeoneering, swordplay, and all about monsters. This aspect reminded me a bit of Harry Potter because I got so sucked into his schooling and education, like I did with Harry’s, because I wanted to know everything I could about this world. The Dungeoneers also has some majorly suspenseful moments which makes sense in a book about stealing treasure from dungeons. In addition to his world building, he really knows how to build some characters! The three other members of Colm’s guild are such well-rounded characters and all so different. I can picture each of them, and I so want to be their friends (even Lena, who is a bit barbaric). I also loved the plot twist at the climax of the book! I did not see it coming! Just wait for it everyone!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation/We Flagged: First and foremost, if you teach middle school, you should probably buy this for your classroom. High fantasy and adventure lovers are going to eat this one up.

Also, if you want to talk to students about building characters or setting, this book can definitely be a help with either. There are specific sections in this book that could be pulled out and used to discuss imagery, word choice, and characterization:

“In the flickering torchlight it was hard to make out all of her features clearly, but he couldn’t miss the sharp chisel of her chin, like a weapon itself. Her crimson hair was cropped short in the back, falling across one eye in front, the other shining brown in the flicker of light. Her lips were pursed, pulled tight against her teeth in a determined smirk.” (p. 93)

“Except Quinn didn’t look like he could call lightning from the sky or produce fireballs from his fingers. Colm had expected the first wizard he met to be more in keeping with the descriptions from his book–white-bearded and billowing and larger than life. Quinn looked barely big enough to summon his own shadow.” (p. 96)

“In contrast to the dreary tunnel behind them, the great hall before them was filled with light. Huge chandeliers hung from chains of gold, the flicker of a thousand candles casting fiery halos against the ceiling. Giant marble pillars anchored the four corners of the room, and a hug winding staircase with gold rails led both up and down in its center like a vortex. The floors were polished marble as well, dark green and buffed to a mirror sheen. A strange clock with twenty-four separate hourglasses hung over a set of huge double doors…” (p. 115)

Discussion Questions: If you were Colm, would you have gone with Finn?; What secret do you think Wolfe is keeping?; Lena is expected by her family to do well as a barbarian because of her upbringing. How would it feel to have that type of pressure put on you?; Colm makes a decision at the end of the book–do you agree with it or not?

Book Trailer:

John David Anderson’s Top Five Dungeoneers

Obviously The Dungeoneers owes a lot to fantasy tropes and conventions that have been around since Gandalf packed his first pipe. In fact, while writing it I sometimes felt like I should roll a d20 to see what my characters would do next (here’s hoping the book is a critical hit—ah, nerd humor). Afternoons spent playing Baldur’s Gate or reading Mercedes Lackey (or in my younger days, Lloyd Alexander) coalesced into a love of sword-swinging, lock-picking, monster-bashing rogues who risk everything on the hopes of finding that fabled cache of riches at the end of the corridor. In short, I was raised by dragons. Maybe I’m a Targaryen.

Obviously popular culture is not hurting for dungeoneers of interest, but I thought I would pick five key dungeon divers that had a distinct influence on me and the book. Note: I am defining a dungeoneer as anyone who willingly enters into some dank, creature-and-trap-infested cavern, catacomb, crypt, tomb or lair with the express purpose of taking whatever shiny, valuable objects are to be had. In other words, I’m kind of liberal with my use of the word.

5. Minsc and Boo: If you’ve ever played the game Baldur’s Gate, you will know these two. Minsc, the butt-kicking, infinitely quotable ranger, and his trusty hamster, Boo. Minsc was a tank and liked to carry big swords. More than that he had a big heart and recognized a noble enterprise, especially when it required some head bashing. Favorite quote: “Make way evil! I’m armed to the teeth and packing a hamster!

4. Ellen Ripley. All right, this one is a stretch, I admit, but in Aliens she does go down into a lair and fight off monsters (lots of them, including a queen) to rescue something she treasures (the little girl, Newt). Plus ever since I saw Aliens I’ve been drawn to tough female characters. I won’t lie—there’s a little bit of warrant officer Ripley’s feistiness in The Dungeoneers’ Lena Proudmore, though Lena doesn’t get to fire a grenade launcher (much to her chagrin).

3. Bilbo Baggins. You could name several characters from Tolkien’s mythos that fought their way out of dungeons, but Bilbo gets the cake for not coming out empty-handed. In fact, it’s the Burglar’s snatching of the Precious that drives the mythology. What did you find down there in the goblin caves, Bilbo? Oh—just the makings of a gazillion-dollar franchise. Finn Argos would be proud.

2. Link. Yes, it’s another video game, but for me, Link was the start of my love affair with dungeoneering. Link never met a rupee he didn’t like and spelunking through monster-infested lairs in search of Zelda was in his spritely 8-bit blood. I can still remember playing the original Zelda and getting eaten by an undulating stack of pancakes or impaled by a triceratops all because I didn’t know I was supposed to feed it bombs. To this day I still carry around a candle and a big stick of meat. Thank you Nintendo for stimulating my imagination and sucking away my time.

1. Indiana Jones. No sword (except in the second movie, and then it’s more of a machete). No armor. No dragons or ogres or orcs (though the Nazis are monstrous enough). But Indy, for me, is the archetypal treasure-hunter. Not only was he the dashing film hero of my childhood (and what I wanted to be when I grew up until I realized that everything cool had already been dug up already), he also helped engender my love for wise-cracking, whip-smart, ruggedly-charming, and occasionally flawed protagonists. His make-it-up-as-you go philosophy and daredevil antics were often replicated by a young, eight year old boy named Dave, who would pretend the floor was made of lava as he jumped from dining room table to couch and back again. Plus Indy knew that the greatest treasures always came at a price, a lesson that struck a chord with me.

So those are my top five. I’m sure your list is different. That’s the cool thing about inspiration—there are a lot of wells, and we get to drink from whichever ones we please. Who knows, maybe in twenty years some kid will be making a list of his favorite dungeoneers and put Colm Candorly somewhere near the top.

Right behind a bald guy and his hamster.

About the Author: John David Anderson is the author of Sidekicked and Minion. A dedicated root beer connoisseur in his spare time, he lives with his wife, two kids, and perpetually whiny cat in Indianapolis. You can visit him online at www.johndavidanderson.org.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anderson_author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnDavidAndersonAuthor?ref=hl

Read This If You Loved: Hero’s Guide (series) by Christopher Healy, Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling, Foiled (series) by Jane Yolen, Giants Beware! (series) by Jorge Aguirre

Recommended For:

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to visit other stops on the blog tour:

6/2/2015 Maria’s Melange mariaselke.com

6/5/2015 Unleashing Readers unleashingreaders.com

6/6/2015 The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia hauntedorchid.blogspot.com

6/7/2015 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers insatiablereaders.blogspot.com

6/8/2015 This Kid Reviews Books thiskidreviewsbooks.com

6/8/2015 Ms Yingling Reads msyinglingreads.blogspot.com

6/9/2015 Read Now Sleep Later http://www.readnowsleeplater.org/

6/10/2015 Charlotte’s Library charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com

6/11/2015 Nerdy Book Club https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/

6/12/2015 The Hiding Spot thehidingspot.blogspot.com

**Thank you to Walden Pond Press for providing a copy for review and giveaway!**

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/

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

September 25, 2015June 4, 2015 by Ricki

Cast Off: The Strange Adventures of Petra de Winter and Bram Broen
Author: Eve Yohalem
Published: March 10, 2015 by Calkins Creek

GoodReads Summary: It’s 1663 and there is an extra passenger on board a Dutch merchant ship setting sail for the East Indies. Twelve-year-old Petra has stowed away to escape her abusive father. But she quickly realizes that surviving for months at sea will be impossible without help. So when Bram, the half-Dutch / Half-Javanese son of the ship’s carpenter, finds her hiding spot, Petra convinces him to help her stay hidden . . .and help disguise her as a boy.

If Petra is discovered and exposed as a girl, she could be tossed overboard, or worse . . . returned to her father. And if Bram is exposed for helping her, he could lose the only home—and family—he has. As tensions rise on the ship, with pirates attacking, deadly illness, and even mutiny, Petra and Bram face impossible decisions that test their friendship and threaten their dreams of freedom.

Told in alternating voices and filled with secrets and intrigue, this richly researched novel is historical fiction at its best.

Review: Take me away! This book whisked me off on a marvelous adventure filled with grave dangers, stow aways, tall ships, and mutiny. I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my childhood favorites, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Petra escapes from a horribly abusive relationship with her father, and her bravery is an excellent model for young readers. She is discovered by Bram, the illegitimate son of the ship’s carpenter, and they form a very special friendship. This book delivers richly realized themes—particularly those of loyalty, heroism, sexism, and racism—that are very relevant to readers across time. I imagine a wide variety of audiences would appreciate this text because it touches on so many fascinating topics. It is clear that the author did her homework, and the result is magnificently entertaining.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book is an excellent example of a text that could be analyzed with a critical theorist lens. (See Appleman’s book about teaching critical theory to students of all levels.) I imagine rich classroom discussions would evolve from the application of gender theory or race theory, for instance, to this text. This is a compliment to the author and the depth of this book.

Discussion Questions: In what ways do gender and race play a role in this text?; How does the author weave history into the story?; What does Petra and Bram’s friendship teach us about humans in general?; How do the main characters display qualities of bravery?

Read This If You Loved: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi; Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld; Secrets of the Realm by Bev Stout; Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Recommended For:

Giveaway!

One lucky winner will receive a copy of CAST OFF: The Strange Adventures of Petra De Winter and Bram Broen (U.S. addresses; allow 4-6 weeks for delivery; offer ends 7/10/15).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post from Eve Yohalem, Author of Cast Off!

In 2009 I got this great idea for a seafaring adventure about two kids who sail from Amsterdam to the East Indies in the seventeenth century. There was just one problem: I knew next to nothing about the seventeenth century. Or the Netherlands. Or the East Indies. Or sailing.

No matter. I like a challenge. I researched for a full year before I started writing, and after I started writing, I kept researching. I’m still researching. (I like researching.)

Today my Cast Off file has more than four hundred different source notes. I read lots of books: scholarly academic stuff, journalistic stuff, fiction, memoirs, journals, every first person account I could find. I spoke to people who knew much more than me—VOC scholars, maritime scholars, curators, my husband (he sails), surgeons, and dentists. I hung out in oddball museums. I traveled to Indonesia, where I slept in the jungle and held baby orangutans, and to the Netherlands, where I retraced every step of my characters that I could and explored the dark nooks of two different full-scale East Indiamen replicas.

I have no research training. It would have helped if I’d majored in history in college, but I didn’t. Mostly, I followed my nose. I knew that my story would begin in Amsterdam and take place mostly at sea on an East Indiaman bound for Batavia. I knew two of my characters: a Dutch girl and an East Indian boy, both twelve years old. That’s a lot to get started with.

What’s surgery like by candlelight below deck on a rocking ship before the invention of anesthesia? How do you fire a 4,000 pound canon without getting crushed by the recoil? These were the kinds of questions I tried to answer.

I tried to convey what it felt like to cram three hundred men onto a 150-foot long vessel for six months (damp, dark, and airless below, smelled bad, no privacy). The layout of the ship is based on actual ships of the period, as are the various jobs, daily schedule, terrible food.

For my characters’ medical knowledge, I have to thank John Woodall’s The Surgeon’s Mate, a seventeenth century medical guide no ship’s surgeon would have been without.

And in case anyone’s wondering, I got most of my slang from the always entertaining A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew: In Its Several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, Cheats, &c., with an Addition of Some Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c. by B. E. Gent, c 1698. In my opinion, some of these terms should be brought back into everyday use. Please help make “Kiss my blind cheeks!” go viral!

Follow Cast Off on the blog tour:

Mon, June 1	Book Monsters	http://thebookmonsters.com/
Tues, June 2	The Hiding Spot	http://thehidingspot.blogspot.com/
Wed, June 3	Books Unbound	http://booksunboundblog.com/
Thurs, June 4	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
Fri, June 5	Read Now, Sleep Later	http://www.readnowsleeplater.org/
Mon, June 8	Mother Daughter Book Club	http://motherdaughterbookclub.com/
Tues, June 9	Cracking the Cover	http://www.crackingthecover.com/
Wed, June 10	The Compulsive Reader	http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/
Thurs, June 11	The Children’s Book Review	http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/
Fri, June 12	I Read Banned Books	http://www.jenbigheart.com/

*Thank you to Barbara at BlueSlip Media for sending this book for review!*

The Alphabet of Bugs: An ABC Book by Valerie Gates

July 27, 2015June 3, 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!

The Alphabet of Bugs: An ABC Book
Author: Valerie Gates
Photographer: Ann Cutting
Published June 2nd, 2015 by Sky Pony Press

Goodreads Summary: Do you know what a Chrysina resplendens or a Papilionidae butterfly looks like? Travel through the alphabet with The Alphabet of Bugs to learn about the many beautiful and unusually named bugs found in nature—and brush up on those ABCs as well! Valerie Gates’s charming alliterative style paired with Ann Cutting’s stunning photographs of all types of bugs is sure to delight curious children and adults alike.

With silly alliterative sentences and vivid photographs, The Alphabet of Bugs will capture the attention of young kids and teach them about the many beautiful and unusually named bugs found in nature as they learn their ABCs. Ultimately, the book will encourage young kids to go outside and explore nature as they try to find the bugs pictured in the book.

Children who already know their basic bugs will broaden their horizons, and parents who are tired of simple butterflies and beetles will find this book worth rereading. Spectacular photographs of insects of all kinds will inspire children to learn more about the different creatures found in the natural world. And while children learn about bugs, they are also learning the alphabet through silly sentences.

Kellee’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: ABC books can get repetitive, so it is so nice to find one that is different and unique. The Alphabet of Bugs not only introduces the reader to 26 different insects, the bugs are accompanied by close-up, detailed photos and alphabetic sentences with intense vocabulary. I could see this book being used as a daily read aloud with each day having a different letter which would lead into a study of the insect and the vocabulary introduced.

Ricki’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I loved the photography of this book. Admittedly, I don’t like bugs very much, but I know many kids who do! I feel fortunate to have this book because I suspect my son will love it when he is a bit older. Each photograph is juxtaposed with a bright background color that reflects the letter. This would be a great mentor text to teach alliteration. Readers at any level would find it to be interesting. I would challenge younger students to create their own alphabet book about a topic of interest.

Discussion Questions: What other bugs can you think of that start with this letter?; After doing some research, what else have you learned about this bug?; How does the use of photography and alliteration enhance this text?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Love: Nonfiction books about insects; Alphabet books

Recommended For:

and

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We’d Love to See as Movies or TV Shows

August 4, 2016June 2, 2015 by Ricki

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.

Tyrell, A Long Way Gone, All the Bright Places, Absolutely True Diary, Aristotle and Dante

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Books We’d Love to See as Movies or TV Shows

Ricki

1. Tyrell by Coe Booth

My students would faint if this book became a movie.

2. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

I loved teaching this book and found it to be very inspirational. I think it would be well-received by audiences.

3. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

I will be surprised if Hollywood doesn’t pick up this book. It would be a really big hit.

4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

If this became a movie, I would be a very, very happy girl.

5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I am not sure how this would translate to film, but with a good, creative director, I think it could be marvelous.

Kellee

1. The Living by Matt de la Pena

Whoa! Would this movie be intense! It would definitely be a summer blockbuster!

2. Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz

The first book, Stormbreaker, has already been made into a movie, but I think the series would make a fascinating TV show following a young spy as he tries to save the world (reluctantly) from Scorpia.

3. The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson

Fans of Harry Potter are going to love this book, and it would make an epic movie just like Rowling’s series.

4. Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

Endangered would make such a wonderful movie! Being able to journey with Sophie as she tries to save herself and Otto would be so suspenseful!

5. Princess in Black by Shannon Hale

I love the Princess in Hale’s books, and I think she would make such a wonderful protagonist in a princess adventure story.

Which books would you love to see brought to the big/small screen?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/1/15

July 27, 2015June 1, 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.

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Ten Books That Remind Us of Summer

Friday: Author Guest Post and Giveaway!: “Doing it Over…and Over…and Over Again” by Pete Hautman, Author of Eden West

Don’t forget to enter into the giveaway! It is open until 6/7, and we have THREE copies to give away!

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

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang was a tough book to read. The main character is a young girl who seems to have everything, but underneath her years of being a mean girl has caused so much pain and she has decided to end her life. Hard to feel sorry for her because she really does some terrible things, but at the same time, you do because she is also stuck and regretting and depressed. It was emotionally draining.

Ricki: Many of the readers of this blog devour books. We read 50, 100, (and some of us) 200 books a year. Out of all of these books, a few stand out and stick to our bones. If you haven’t read it already, I high recommend X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. It kept me awake late at night, and I was floored by the captivating writing. This is a very special book and well worth the hype it has received. I would love to use it in the classroom because there is so much to talk about! I also read the first of five chapters of Teaching Toward Freedom by William Ayers. I found a copy of the chapter online, and now I need to hunt down a full copy of the book! Henry and I read the very creatively crafted picture book, Grandpa Green by Lane Smith. The complexity of this book makes it very worthy of its 2011 Caldecott honor.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I am almost done (should finish tonight!) with Call me by my Name by John Ed Bradley. First, please please please do not judge this book by its cover. I don’t read summaries, and this book’s cover just doesn’t fit the text. With that said, the book is really good! I am sucked into Tater and Rodney’s story in prejudice-filled Louisiana in the late 1960s. I am also still listening to #2 of The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates series. Still truly enjoying that as well!

Ricki: I fell a bit behind on my #mustreadin2015 list. I also received a few great books in the mail this week. I am being pulled in two directions…#mustreads or new books? I am going to start with Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan and see if I get pulled in the direction of a newer book.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

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

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

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

So, what are you reading?

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