It's Monday, What are you Reading - Aug 20

Summer is winding down, and I will soon have much less time to read. This week includes time in my classroom getting set up, as well as a full day of training. Next week ramps up with in-service days and a final summer hurrah (a weekend trip to Washington, DC with my husband and sons).

I still intend to read, though, and I may have to bump up my Goodreads goal (again). I started the year with a goal of 175 books and bumped it to 250 once I realized I was going to be reading a lot of graphic novels and some picture books.

Thanks again to the lovely ladies at Teach Mentor Texts (Jen and Kellee) for hosting this each week. And extra big thanks to Kellee for all the times she's given me suggestions in the Sci Fi range this summer.

First, a big Whoo Hoo for The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee. Honestly, friends... if you haven't read Tom Angleberger's works, you are missing out. I even dedicated last week's Star Wars Thursday post to the Fortune Wookiee.

Non-Fiction: In keeping with my Science Fiction theme, I added in a little Science Fact. The Mars Curiosity has really inspired me. I have several more books in my stack for this week that are specifically about Mars. I was so excited by space exploration as a kid, and I hope to create some units around this topic for my students this year. Moonshot was a simple book that described the Apollo 11 mission. I loved the illustrations, but thought the words themselves weren't as lovely as they could have been. Look to the Stars was more an overview of the whole space program. As it was written by my man Buzz, I was so excited to read it. I loved the illustrations, and the formatting of the text (it included quotes at the bottom of each page). It was written several years ago, so I intend to use this as a springboard to have my students create the next few pages in the book, based on recent events.

Newbery: I continue my quest to collect all the "nerdberries" by the end of 2013. I'm over half way through (I'm not going completely in order). This book had some lovely parts, but just didn't do it for me. It felt disjointed and I never really came to care about any of the characters.

Science Fiction / Post-Apocalyptic:
Ah, the beauty of the extended universe of Star Wars. Dark Force Rising is book 2 in a series that focuses on what Han, Leia, and Luke are up to after the events in Return of the Jedi.
Rot & Ruin I read based on a recommendation from Hannahlily. I definitely enjoyed it. It has a really intriguing take on the ethics of handling the undead.

Comics / Graphic Novels: Comixology had a sale on Nightwing this week, so I grabbed the issues that made up this mini series. Huntress (in this version) is a daughter of the mafia and a third grade teacher in real life, so she fascinates me.

I also read a few single issues (including issue one in a mini-series about Spike - from the Buffy series).

Currently Reading (and "in my pile")

I started Divergent. Yes, I do love it.

I also have a stack of space related picture books to finish up. If you are interested in what is happening with the Mars Rover, there are some great twitter feeds to follow. Hit me up for more information.