It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Not a big reading week for me.  I had something every night after school. It was a good week, but VERY busy!  I did read a bit every night before bed so I got a little bit of reading in, but not much.

I am about halfway through with Haruki Murakami's book WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING. My friend, Samantha Bennett recommended it to me and I'm so glad I'm reading it. It is a great essay/memoir-type book focusing on running and writing. I love hearing about people talk about the things they are passionate about.  And I love his insights about running. It is a good read.

I also read a graphic novel from the Sports Illustrated Kids series-SPOTLIGHT STRIKER. I am so glad to have discovered these.  I was pleasantly surprised reading this and plan to order several more from the series for the library. They are short, sports-based graphic novels that will be perfect for lots of kids. I thought the characters and story lines were pretty well-developed too. A great new find!

I am also about halfway through THE HUMMING ROOM by Ellen Potter and am enjoying it. I am a huge Secret Garden fan so this is a fun read. I will write about this one after I finish it.

My favorite read of the week was MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS by Kate Messner. I love everything Kate Messner writes and have been waiting for this second book about Marty McGuire since I read the first arc last year. I knew I had to read this one fast because there will be many teachers and students fighting for it once I share it at school. It was a great read! I loved the character of Marty right away when I read the first book and I love her even more now.  Years ago, when I read the second Clementine book, I knew I was hooked for life.  I felt the same way when reading this second Marty McGuire book.  Marty tells the stories in this series and I LOVE her voice.   Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:

Plus, Monday is veggie goulash day in the cafeteria, which would be awful except that they serve ice cream cups for dessert because who would buy goulash if you weren't getting ice cream with it?


Mrs. Grimes goes up on stage with clickety-clackety shoes. If those were my shoes up there, I'd jump around and make some more noise on that nice wood floor, but I guess Mrs. Grimes has very good self-control and that's why she gets to be principal.


I  don't do paper dolls, especially not ones dressed in scratchy-looking dresses.


I am not patient. My mom says "patient" and I are not even distant relatives.


I write three observation journal entries without even peeking, which is pretty clever if you ask me.


Seriously, how could anyone not love Marty? Not only is she a great character but this book is all about how she does a project to help the environment. There are so many great connections that this would make a great read aloud for any grade level.  It is a great school story about a great character. I am already anxiously awaiting the next Marty McGuire book!

I have several books on my stack and I am hoping I have more time to read this week:

I received Michael Scotto's upcoming book, POSTCARDS FROM PISMO which looks great. I am huge fan of LATASHA so I am looking forward to this read. Others on my stack are THE FALSE PRINCE, CROW by Barbara Wright and BEFORE YOU GO, an upcoming YA novel by James Preller

I'm also looking forward to checking out FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT: FALSE APOLOGY POEMS by Gail Carson Levine which is due out this week and TRAIN LIKE A MOTHER which is due out later this month.

Visit TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for the round up!