Monday Reading Recap

          Visit Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.  

Ninth "Must-Read" book

           Amina, a quiet but talented Pakistani-American Muslim girl holds a dilemma that others will recognize, perhaps in their own homes. She has never been comfortable in the spotlight and struggles to stay true to her cultural traditions. She loves hanging out with her friend, Soojin, but this year in middle school, even that friendship is changing. I enjoyed the honest showing of a young girl's thoughts, about her family, including an older brother with his own growing-up problems; about her religion, and the new ideas brought from an uncle visiting from Pakistan; and about her changing friendships. Hena Khan's writing alternates chapters between Amina's school days and her family struggles, a clever way to show those parts of a young girl's life, and ending with both coming together in a satisfying way.

              Thanks to Candlewick, I received a copy of this second (adventure?) in the life of the little red chicken and his Papa, again clever in the approach to the story with boisterous illustrations and laugh-out-loud conversation between the two. The little red chicken has homework and needs help. He must find and identify the "elephant of surprise" in three books. His teacher says every good story has that "elephant" or is it "element"? It's that thing that makes one say "Whoa! I didn't know that was going to happen." Papa not only continues to find a few surprises as he reads the stories, like Rapunzel and The Little Mermaid, but the little red chicken does, too. This can't be missed as a read aloud!