My summer is off to a great start- I can’t believe we have been out of school for almost three weeks already! I am teaching summer school and time is flying. Last week I submitted my final paper and officially finished graduate school!! I am thrilled to have some extra time this summer to read some great books, relax by the pool, and enjoy the city.
The first book I read this summer was Booked by Kwame Alexander. I was thrilled to crack open this book because I am such a huge fan of The Crossover. The prose writing was once again fast-paced and creative, although I didn’t love the storyline as much as I did The Crossover’s. The main character, Coby, is a star soccer player who encounters difficulties with his parents while navigating middle school problems like bullying and girls. One of my favorite things about this book is a craft Kwame uses. He uses interesting and complex words, but provides definitions for each word in a fun way. I recommend this book if you like learning new words and reading stories written in prose (poetry), although I would recommend The Crossover over Booked. The Crossover is on the Rebecca Caudill list for 2017 (next school year).
I finished the book Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin the other day and it was amazing. I read it because it is on the Bluestem AND Rebecca Caudill lists for 2017 (next school year). I had heard a lot about the book when it came out last year, and I was interested to read another book by Ann M. Martin that I assumed was much different from “The Babysitter’s Club” and “Babysitter’s Little Sister” books I read when I was younger! 😀 This book is truly outstanding and emotional. It is told from the perspective of Rose, a girl who has high-functioning Autism. Rose has an aide with her all day at school because she can have behavior problems, like hitting herself in the head when she does something wrong, or getting frustrated when kids in her class don’t follow the rules. Rose’s story is a sad one- her mom left when she was a baby and her dad is kind of mean to her. It is also a happy story because the best parts about Rose’s life are her love of homonyms, her uncle, and her dog Rain. Read to see what happens when a gigantic storm hit’s Rose’s small town and Rain gets lost. This book is a must-read for animal lovers who like sad books.
The next two books on my bookshelf are The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy and The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner. Stay tuned for those book reviews! I can’t wait to see what you are reading when you post in the comment section.
<3 Miss Kazan