It's Monday Feb 27

At first I thought I didn’t read much this week… but I guess I did better than I thought! Still a bit of a slow down from last week, though.

    Be sure to check out the other posts in this meme at Teach Mentor Texts. Of course, that might lead to an out of control wish list… but worse things have happened.

Finally wrote up my thoughts on Wonder:  http://bit.ly/wqjem8

Newbery Challenge – Nerdbery Update

The Cat Who Went to Heaven (1931)  It was cute, and sweet, and short. An artist is commissioned to paint Buddha for a local temple. It will make his career, and keep him from starving to death. As the story of Buddha goes, all the animals except for cats came to receive his blessing on his death bed. The cat wasn’t welcome, because of her self-righteous attitude. Yet the artist’s cat seems to be intent on making her way into his painting. The story is set as a series of vignettes of the life of Buddha, interspersed into the story of the artist creating his work. As I don’t know the true stories of Buddhism, I don’t know how accurate these stories are. While I still don’t quite see it as award winning material, this was one of the better early Newbery books as far as readability and my interest level were concerned.

Adventurous and Funny:

The Genius Files – Never Say Genius – by Dan Gutman

This is a fun romp with entertaining co-protagonists, Coke and Pepsi. The twins are both exceptionally bright, and have been recruited into the Genius Files organization. Coke has a perfect memory, and his sister’s analytical skills are constantly required to decode the secret ciphers they receive. This is the second part of their cross country RV trip with their parents. They face death in the form of being dipped in boiling oil like french fries and hypothermia while dunked in ice cream. Kids will like the randomly goofy facts about America tossed in as their mom collects information for her website Amazing, but True.

Comics and Graphic Novels for Kids:  If you are looking for good suggestions for kids in this area, you can check out the pinboard I started on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lleullin/comics-and-graphic-novels-for-kids/

Bone: Out From Boneville (vol 1). I finally made the time to read this much loved comic. Yes, it is fabulous! It has fun characters, lots of humor, and just the right level of creepiness. Off to check out the next!

Princeless issue #1: I’m going to sing the praises of this one. Princeless is a wonderfully funny and bright story of Adrienne who is stuck in a tower and finds a way out on her own to rescue her sisters from their towers. The first of four issues (so far), I think it strikes just the right note for boys and girls. Yes, there is a lot of pink, but there are also dragons. There is even a short story about the prince who tries to rescue our princess at the end. The first four will be collected as a trade to be released in April. I will definitely be buying it for my classroom.  I formally reviewed it for Fandom Post http://www.fandompost.com/2012/02/22/princeless-1-review/

Anya’s Ghost: I’m about halfway through this one. Definitely a graphic novel for the older set (there is smoking, drinking, swearing). I’m really enjoying this story, though. More details next week once I’m done.

For me:

Finished Heir to the Empire. It’s a Star Wars extended universe book, featuring the characters from the original series like Han, Leia, and Luke. I adore “hearing” their voices again. I also love some of the new characters introduced like Mara Jade. Very fun! I’m just wondering why it took me so long to read any of these books! I’m a huge Star Wars fan!

Still reading Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card. 

(my other blog site died during March, so I'm trying to move them all over here slowly but surely)