What I've Read This Summer!

I've been reading A LOT this summer and I'm loving it! I wish I had more time to do so during the school year. I've been reading for personal enjoyment, but also some chapter books I think my 5th graders may enjoy reading. I want to be able to give some great book commercials (if you haven't read Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild-what are you waiting for?!?! Pick it up now! She discusses this in her book). Here are my reviews from last weeks great books.

 

The Fault in our Stars, By John Green Synopsis

The Fault In Our Stars is a fabulous book about a young teenage girl who has been diagnosed with lung cancer and attends a cancer support group. Hazel is 16 and is reluctant to go to the support group, but she soon realises that it was a good idea. Hazel meets a young boy named Augustus Waters. He is charming and witty. Augustus has had osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, but has recently had the all clear. Hazel and Augustus embark on a roller coaster ride of emotions, including love, sadness and romance, while searching for the author of their favourite book. They travel to Amsterdam in search of Peter Van Houten the author of An Imperial Affliction. While on their trip Augustus breaks some heartbreaking news to Hazel and both of their worlds fall apart around them. If you enjoy young adult books, full of witty humour and heartbreaking events, this book is perfect for you. Expect to laugh, cry and smile throughout this novel. (The Gaurdian)

 

My Thoughts on the Book

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was witty and has an unflinching look at mortality. It was an easy read and at times difficult to put down. This is definitely a book for high school aged students (in my opinion). There are some topics that deal with sexuality and I wouldn't feel comfortable with a student in my class reading this or even in middle school/jr. high. I haven't seen the movie yet, but will once it comes out. I'm always curious to what is better the book or the movie and more often than not the book is way better.

 

 

 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, By Ransom Riggs Synopsis

 Jacob has listened to his grandfather’s mysterious and fanciful tales about his childhood all his life, but he always assumed they were exaggerations.  That is, until one day, when sixteen-year-old Jacob finds his grandfather dying after some sort of vicious attack and sees the monster that murdered him, something right out of his grandfather’s stories.  Desperate to understand what has happened, Jacob travels to a small island off the coast of Wales in order to find the truth about his grandfather’s past. (S. Krishna's Books)

My Thoughts on the Book

This book started off with a bang! It was so suspenseful and I was hooked right from the beginning, but midway through the book my interest started to fizzle, just a bit. I do like the vintage photos that were used throughout the novel. They added to the mystique of the story line. It was definitely an interesting and unique book. The cover does give the book a creepy feel, but it isn't as scary as it may seem. There are some frightening elements, but it is more of a fantasy than anything else.

 

 The Seer of Shadows, By Avi Synopsis

Newbery Medalist Avi weaves one of his most suspenseful and scary tales—about a ghost who has to be seen to be believed and must be kept from carrying out a horrifying revenge.

The time is 1872. The place is New York City. Horace Carpetine has been raised to believe in science and rationality. So as apprentice to Enoch Middleditch, a society photographer, he thinks of his trade as a scientific art. But when wealthy society matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht orders a photographic portrait, strange things begin to happen.

Horace's first real photographs reveal a frightful likeness: it's the image of the Von Machts' dead daughter, Eleanora.

Pegg, the Von Machts' black servant girl, then leads him to the truth about who Eleanora really was and how she actually died. Joined in friendship, Pegg and Horace soon realize that his photographs are evoking both Eleanora's image and her ghost. Eleanora returns, a vengeful wraith intent on punishing those who abused her.

Rich in detail, full of the magic of early photography, here is a story about the shadows, visible and invisible, that are always lurking near.(Goodreads)

My Thoughts on the Book

This was another quick read, I was able to read it in a day. I enjoyed it (but I've always loved a great ghost story/suspense novel). I like the historical setting in which the book takes place. It deals with race relations during that time period and includes some historical language. This book is probably not a book for a sensitive reader since  it has some frightening elements...ghosts can be scary and death is involved in the story line. The publisher suggests the book is for children ages 9-12. I think depending upon the child, a good age would be 11 and up.

 

What I've read this summer!

I've been on a reading kick this summer. It's been great! So far I've read 8 books in the past three weeks. Of course, I still have a HUGE stack of books to read. But I'm making progress! I love reading, but never have the time during the school year. I've read a few professional development books, young adult novels, and some novels my 5th graders have been reading or I think they'd like to read. I think it is so important to be able to recommend books for my students to read and I can I do so, if I haven't read them myself. It also helps with gathering read aloud books.

I always find it helpful when I come across teacher's who review books they've read on their blogs. I really appreciate their insight and it helps me with choosing books for my students or myself. I've used the summaries from a few websites (of course sited where the info came from in case you want more info) and then wrote a quick response on what I thought of the book.

 

Prisoner B-3087, by Alan Gratz Synopsis

Survive. At any cost.

10 concentration camps.

10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.

It's something no one could imagine surviving.

But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.

As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.

He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.

Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?


Based on an astonishing true story. (Good Reads)

My Thoughts on the Book

"If I had known what the next six years of my life was going to be like, I would have eaten more." Such a riveting phrase from the first few pages of the book. I put this book in my classroom library this year and noticed my boys could not put it down. It definitely got a lot of wear and tear this year. Of course, I needed to read it and just like my students, I couldn't put it down!

 

It is a tale of survival that defies odds. Yanek Gruener, a Jewish boy living in Krakow, Poland during WWII, had his life turned upside down when the Nazis took over Poland. The story takes you through his life right before the war starts, in the midst of the war, and when the war ended. It is such a harrowing story, that shows little by little how Polish Jews lost one freedom after another. It touches upon war, loss of family, persecution, and survival.

 

I've read a lot of books that deal with the topic of the Holocaust and this was one of the best I've ever read! It is well written and suitable for upper elementary (5th grade) or middle school students to high school students. 

 

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak Synopsis

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

 

Liesel Meminger and her younger brother are being taken by their mother to live with a foster family outside Munich. Liesel’s father was taken away on the breath of a single, unfamiliar word – Kommunist – and Liesel sees the fear of a similar fate in her mother’s eyes. On the journey, Death visits the young boy, and notices Liesel. It will be the first of many near encounters. By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.

 

So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down. (Book Lover Book Reviews)

 

 

My Thoughts on the Novel

I really enjoyed reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak! Yet another book I couldn't put down! One of my all time favorites too. This book has been labeled as young adult literature. I've heard that young adult literature is appropriate for 7-12 grade. However, I think The Book Thief would be more suitable high school students. Of course, that's just my opinion and I'm sure there are 7th and 8th graders who would enjoy reading the book. I just feel that there are some intense and powerful themes in the novel. As well as, some inappropriate language. It is a beautifully written novel that takes a unique narrative style---death is the narrator. It is a tremendously powerful portrayal of life under Nazi rule, as experienced by German youth. Throughout the novel there is plenty of grief, sadness, violence, and cruelty. Although, it also gives examples of personal sacrifice, heroism, friendship, and courage. I saw the movie and while it was good, the book was a lot better. The movie left out some important situations or scenes.

 

 

 

The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies Synopsis

Fourth-grader Evan Treski is people-smart. He’s good at talking with people, even grownups. His younger sister, Jessie, on the other hand, is math-smart, but not especially good with people. So when the siblings’ lemonade stand war begins, there really is no telling who will win—or even if their fight will ever end. Brimming with savvy marketing tips for making money at any business, definitions of business terms, charts, diagrams, and even math problems, this fresh, funny, emotionally charged novel subtly explores how arguments can escalate beyond anyone’s intent. (Good Reads)

My Thoughts on the Book

The Lemonade War was a great read! It is probably more suited for 3rd and 4th grade students, but I think my 5th graders would enjoy and maybe even relate to the sibling rivalry in the book. It would  be a great read aloud too! The books is humorous, makes math fun, and gives some savvy marketing tips that the kids can relate to. It also captures the bond between siblings and explores how arguments can escalate beyond anyone's intent. I think it would be fun to read this during a unit that deals with business or have the students work in groups to create their own business plans and so forth. I can think of so many ways to incorporate projects and class activities using this book.