It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

This is book fair week at school, and as usual my "wish list" pocket on the teacher display is slightly embarrassing. No matter, a girl can never have too many books!

I finished reading Starry River of the Sky last week. Although it took me a few chapters to settle in, I ended up falling in love with Rendi, Mr. Shen, Peiyi, and Madame Chang and their story. And it may be true that I'm a little envious of how well Grace Lin wove everything together by the end of the book. Lin's writing brings Chinese folklore to life. Themes of kindness and forgiveness, along with peace and balance flow easily through the story. An added bonus is Lin's beautiful artwork sprinkled throughout each chapter. I was very eager to hand this book into the waiting hands of a student the day after I finished it, and she has been gobbling it up ever since. After reading Starry River, I added Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to my to-read list.

My next must-read was In a Glass Grimmly, Adam Gidwitz' follow up to A Tale Dark and Grimm. Now, you should know I never actually read A Tale Dark and Grimm -- I'm not even sure why -- I always wanted to read it, but it just never happened. Enter October 2012, and I'm hunting new reads for my kids and along comes In a Glass Grimmly. I read the introduction to my class and they were beside themselves begging me to hand it over to them. I told them I'd be happy to pass it along... after I read it. And so I planted myself on the couch this weekend and read. And read. And read. Honestly, I had so much fun with this book I just couldn't put it down. Granted, some of the parts were a little nose-wrinklingly gruesome to a girl that won't even open her eyes during the scary movie previews! But it was a great twist on some oldies but goodies, and I really enjoyed how all the stories eventually wound back together. Tomorrow I will hand this over to my kiddos, and watch some magic take place.

This week I'm focusing on Cris Tovani's first two chapters of So What Do They Really Know? and will post my reflections this weekend. I posted about this last week, inviting readers to join me and post your own thoughts each week as we read our way through this book. I had started this book around the beginning of the year and loved what I read, but the beginning of year doldrums grabbed ahold of me and I didn't keep going. But it definitely seems to be a book worth reading -- I am currently using the Conversation Calendar mentioned in the first chapter and love how effective it has been to direct conversations. I'll post a longer reflection of these two chapters, so watch for that at the end of the week!