Maria's Mélange

Welcome to my little corner of book heaven. Here's what I read the last two weeks. Don't forget to visit the lovely hosts of this meme -  Teach Mentor Texts  and  Unleashing Readers . There are links to a LOT of posts there! Graphic Novels: Amazing illustrations and a fabulous story of a summer of changes and tiptoeing into adulthood. I can see why this one got a Caldecott Honor (keep in mind it is for middle school and up!) Not my favorite of the gods, so not my favorite of this series. Still, it was an interesting way to showcase many parts of the Trojan War. Picture Books Some amazing entries in this one - and the illustrations are all great. I wish the writing had been more consistently amazing, though. Still worth buying, especially for the Marian Anderson poem. I'm so glad someone mentioned this title a few weeks back. I'll be adding it to the stack of books I'm asking my 5th graders to blurb for our We Need Diverse Bo...

I decided to toss a quick question out there to my Nerdy Book Club and Feminist friends on Twitter. I wanted to make my "should have read in school" book for the Pop Sugar Challenge be something feminist... maybe something that I just can't believe I missed along the way. Just in case you want to use some of these, I've also indicated other categories in which they could fit.  Someone toss me a #feminist read that I SHOULD have read in high school or college? Looking for a #PopSugarChallenge title — Maria Selke (@mselke01) February 22, 2015 Never fear - my amazingly literate colleagues on Twitter gave me so many from which to choose! @mselke01 Piercy? He, She, It? — Lee Ann Spillane (@spillarke) February 22, 2015 Lee Ann says this is a science fiction choice - that sounds right up my alley!  @mselke01 The Yellow Wallpaper — Books Are Magic (@Books_Are_Magic) February 22, 2015 ** I can add this in and count it for the "title has a ...

Welcome to my little corner of book heaven. Here's what I read the last two weeks. Don't forget to visit the lovely hosts of this meme -  Teach Mentor Texts  and  Unleashing Readers . There are links to a LOT of posts there! Picture Books Jane Yolen - I am on a mailing list that Jane maintains. She puts out a poem every day and just asks that those who read take the time to read one of her books each month. Some months I forget, so this month I snagged three picture books from my library. Lovely illustrations and very simple text. Book love is evident throughout this one. Baby Bear insists that there are books over the entire day. Odd and slightly creepy, but beautiful. Would be fun near Halloween! Award - Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book I'm adding this to use with my students this week as we discuss and write blurbs for books with diverse creators and characters. Award - Schneider I loved that this is a true story! I'm also u...

Welcome to my little corner of book heaven. Here's what I read the last two weeks. Don't forget to visit the lovely hosts of this meme -  Teach Mentor Texts  and  Unleashing Readers . There are links to a LOT of posts there! Cybils Short List - I completed these titles in the past two weeks. Young Adult: I LOVED this book! I need to read the rest of the series, although I am sad that my favorite character is gone. Zombies and journalism... oh, yeah. PopSugar - over 500 pages Intriguing look at Levana's early life and what made her the woman she is today. Short, but will make the wait for Winter easier. PopSugar - 2015 release We need a LOT more historical fiction set around the Suffrage movement. This was a great one. PopSugar - Cover Love Intriguing premise for science fiction - we have aliens we are desperately hoping will make an alliance with us, so we set up an "exchange" program. I liked th...