It's Monday Reading!

                 Thanks to Jen at Teach.Mentor.Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers for this terrific Reading community. Come share or at least visit!
          Tweet at #IMWAYR

      Happy One Year Anniversary to Kellee and Ricki! Celebrate with them this week!

           I’ve read some great picture books that I know have been suggested by others. Thanks to all who keep adding to my list. What fun it is to read these books!

Breakfast Served Anytime – written by Sarah Combs

             I am late reading this from NetGalley. It is a debut novel published in April, and I finally found the time to read it.  I thoroughly loved this young Gloria, off to Geek Camp, a month without tech (wow) before her senior year in high school.  Within the group of four students, and the teacher, all begin to feel comfortable being their true selves, especially when they accept who the others “are”. Gloria faces additional challenges with her perky roommate Jessica, also not exactly what she first seems. It becomes a summer of learning for Gloria as well as the others in the story. Sarah Combs writes beautifully as she peels off the layers of each character, using the classes led by the teacher and the experiences of the group. Told with Gloria’s strong voice, it is a poignant read of that time just before a child leaps into adulthood.  It’s definitely for teens, no younger.

Celebrating Travel

            Thanks To Ruth Ayres, we have Celebration Saturday! Tweet at #CelebrateLu  and today at #AllWrite14
         Link up here!  

 At All-Write-literary conference in Warsaw, Indiana. What a marvelous time filled with verbs! Yes, VERBS (most important part of speech): talking, learning, laughing, yearning, thinking, listening, sharing, sitting, smiling, introducing, greeting, eating, writing, applauding, photographing, story-telling, hugging, commiserating, questioning, watching, walking, driving, discovering, snacking, reading, and, of course, CELEBRATING!

        Thanks to Ruth Ayres and Mary Helen for their warm, hosting welcome!  More next week when home with the laptop.

Changes Still

     Thanks to those who write for the Two Writing Teachers blog, we have the Tuesday Slice of Life Sharing.
     Since I last wrote two weeks ago, school has ended, my daughter and family are still with me, (although it may be the final night), I've been to Texas to stay with a grandson to help out while he recuperated from a baseball hit to the eye, and now I'm on my way tomorrow to the All-Write Conference in Warsaw Indiana. When I return, I'll have five days, and my daughter, two grand-daughters, and that same grandson are taking a road trip to Mid-Missouri to visit my brother and family, back on the 2nd. June will be over... Wow!  So, what have I learned anew in these days since I said goodbye to school? (Pictures were posted on FB, but wanted to share again.) 

It's Monday - Reading Magic

                 Thanks to Jen at Teach.Mentor.Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers, we have a terrific Monday Reading community. Come Visit!
          Tweet at #IMWAYR

            I’ve been out of town helping with my grandson since last Tuesday and didn’t have much time for reading, yet managed to finish We Were Liars on the plane coming home. My grandson is better, still restricted to quiet activities (eye injuries are serious!), but it does look as if he’s escaped surgery! I had a wonderful time with him, and with my son and daughter-in-law. Now I’m back, and on my way to the All-Write conference this Wednesday, so exciting. I hope some of you will be there! And I hope to find more books to read for this summer!

We Were Liars- written by E. Lockhart

                  One cannot put this book away from one’s mind either during the time reading, or at the end. It will be one that stays with me for a long time. I re-read parts as I read, and am actually happy I have it on my Kindle, because it’s ready to visit again. I wonder if I’ll see more truths this time? The story tells of a few summers on a private island owned by a wealthy family who gather each summer.  There are gorgeous descriptions and achingly beautiful scenes. The story mesmerizes, from parts about the patriarch to the youngest, and the secrets can’t be revealed except when you turn your own pages as you read it yourself. 

Monday-reading wrap!

                 Thanks to Jen at Teach.Mentor.Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers, we have a terrific Monday Reading community. Come see what everyone shares!
          Tweet at #IMWAYR

            I've read some of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart-so compelling already, but having my daughter, son-in-law & two granddaughters here, & now my grandson in Texas having a baseball accident will bring me to be with them on Tuesday. My time is definitely not my own, yet! Hopefully this book will be finished this coming week.

However, I did read some good books this week.

The Julian Chapter: A Wonder Story – by R.J. Palacio

           It’s an extraordinary piece of writing that expands a book that is already “wonder-filled”, yet this short story filled me with delight. When we read and love a book, although it can be satisfying, questions do arise, particularly about other characters. It’s one of the reasons I loved the way Cynthia Voigt wrote books about the characters in Dicey’s Song. In those novels, I learned so much about Dicey’s friends and family, too.

           Discovering the backstory of Julian, the bully in Wonder pulls me back into the story of August, and those events that connected these two young boys. Now I want to read Wonder again, which of course will make me imagine what the expanded story of others might be.  I appreciate R.J. Palacio’s sharing this story.