It's Monday Feb 18th

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It's Monday - and you all know what that means! On the off chance this is your first Monday visit to the Mélange - Monday is the day I share what I read last week. Check out the website Teach Mentor Texts for links to other amazing teachers, librarians, and bloggers to discover your next read!




Newbery Challenge:
I tried to plow through a few this week. I'm finding that my stamina is lagging here, so I may end up taking a week or two off. But I finished THREE this week!

(audio) I know Walk Two Moons is a popular one, but it just didn't wow me. Maybe it was the narrator, at least partly. I felt much less sympathy for Phoebe than I think I was supposed to - she just annoyed me. I liked it more as I got toward the end, and saw the strands weaving back together. But I think Moon over Manifest did a better job with that. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a realistic fiction that was such a bummer.

Crispin - I enjoyed this one. I have read it before, and I like how it showcases many aspects of the middle ages without becoming too mired in archaic language. (Though I LOVE Door in the Wall - I don't think every kid would be able to wade through the text)

Out of the Dust - See - this one may have been closer in enjoyment to Walk Two Moons, but I read it with my eyes instead of my ears.... and the historical fiction piece of it was more fascinating to me than the realistic fiction setting of W2M.


Nonfiction: 
I picked up Little Rock Girl because I wanted a lead in for a group that will be reading Lions of Little Rock. I can't wait to get started on the unit. This book was great for giving the background, and I plan to also do some primary source lessons on reading photographs. There are other books in this series. 

A Splash of Red is about an artist who is local to my area. Lovely book - a great picture book biography. 

Feminist Reads Challenge
Wow ... just wow! This is the first trade edition that collects the first 6 issues of Captain Marvel. Superhero and science fiction and feminist joy ride - all rolled into one. While I'm not super keen on the art in each of the issues, I loved the story and the character. Pair this with Almost Astronauts (since the Mercury 13 ladies feature prominently in this story).





This past week - on the Mélange:

Treat Tuesday - see what my boys and I are reading! 
Sci Friday - review of a young adult science fiction novel The Pearl Wars (book one in a series) 
"You let him read WHAT?" - my rationale for what I allow my sons to read. 

My Star Wars Thursday post - on Fandom Post - where I discuss the lessons about love I've gained from Star Wars :)

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