I’ve been wanting to start participating in the weekly What Are You Reading? meme hosted by Teach Mentor Texts for a long time. I know it’s a day late, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
Last week, I finished:
This was a Printz Honor Book for 2013 and part of the YALSA Hub Reading Challenge. You can’t really go wrong with Pratchett doing his version of the Victorian novel. It’s very Dickensian, and in fact, Charles Dickens is one of the characters in the story. I didn’t love this as much as the Tiffany Aching novels, but then, what books do I love that much? It’s unfair to hold even Terry Pratchett to that standard. And I liked this very much.
I finally, FINALLY finished Kirby Larson’s 2007 Newbery Honor book, Hattie Big Sky–just in time for the sequel! 2007 was a very fine year for the Newbery: Higher Power of Lucky won, and Rules was an Honor Book. (So was Jennifer Holm’s Penny from Heaven–which makes for a very girlcentric Newbery year). Hattie Big Sky is just the kind of book I (and Newbery) like: a homesteading story about going West. Kirby Larson also has a really nice blog with excellent resources for teachers, readers, and writers: http://kirbyslane.blogspot.com/
I put G. Neri’s graphic novel, Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, on the syllabus for Children’s Lit and Adolescent Lit this semester, and I wanted to read his other books. Chess Rumble is a short illustrated novel written in verse about Marcus, who has some serious anger management issues. He’s on the way to getting kicked out of school–and maybe out of his home too–when he gets saved by chess. A very quick read with a strong message about self-control and thinking ahead. G. Neri’s website has lots of good stuff on it–plus he does Skype visits with schools and libraries!
This week, I’m reading these books and probably a whole lot more (it’s spring break, so I’m trying to do #bookaday or maybe #twobooksaday):
What are you reading this week?
Haha, I felt the same way about Dodger! I love some of Pratchett’s books SO MUCH that it doesn’t seem fair to hold him to that standard for all of his (many, many) books. Good luck with your reading goals this week–I’ve been meaning to reread Hero and the Crown myself some time soon…