It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, and that means I connect with Jen and Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts. I join in on their meme and we discuss what we've read this week.

This was field trip week, but I managed to read. When I don't read, I don't feel like I'm ready for the week!

First, the picture books:

I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems
Shark Vs. Train by Chris Barton
The Three LIttle Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy by David Soman
My Name is Elizabeth! by Annika Dunklee
Squish Rabbit by Katherine Battersby
Chilly Milly Moo by Fiona Ross
I Had A Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn
Rock N' Roll Moll by Carolyn Crimi
Hooper and Wilson by Maria van Lieshout
Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan
Gilbert Goldfish Wants A Pet by Kelly DiPucchio
M.O.M. by Doreen Cronin

The two books I will remember the most:

• I AM INVITED TO A PARTY! by Mo Willems. It was so funny and cute.
• Shark vs. Train is wonderful, too!

But I was SO glad to finally read Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.

 I'd been trying to get a copy of it for a long time, but the copy was always checked out. I went to the Scholastic warehouse sale this weekend, and there it was! It's a very sweet story about following the rules in the library!

My chapter book for the week was the MG novel Plunked by Michael Northrop.

Published: March 1, 2012

Published by: Scholastic
Hardcover: 256 pages

It's a story told in first person, and the narrator (Jack) is a 6th grade little leaguer who faces the biggest challenge of his young sports career. He really wants a starting spot on the team. (I don't want to give away any spoilers here!) Jack is a boy whose life is about baseball and everything that goes with it. His friends play on the team, and his parents are supportive and come to his games. But the challenge he faces has him questioning things he's always done. He finds himself doing things he never thought he'd do--like lying to his parents and friends.  Each chapter builds up to the next, and I found myself really thinking through the consequences of the story. I was surprised by some events, and I liked that because it meant the story was unpredictable. Jack has to work through difficult days with determination, and he makes mistakes along the way.
This book really made me think about the students in my class who play sports and about what they go through every time they play a game--whether it's baseball, hockey, volleyball, football, or any other sport. I have several baseball players in my class--almost a whole team!--and I am very curious about how they would like the book.

I really enjoyed this book even though I don't know as much about baseball as I do about football. Considering I was really tired from field trip planning and the overall awesomeness of teaching 4th grade, I read it in two nights!

I am currently reading Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner.

This is a really intense science adventure, and it's very exciting so far! I've been wanting to read it for a long time, and I finally got it! I'll blog about this one next week.

Finally:
This week in my class we are continuing to add to our class total of books read this year. At last count we were well over 2,000 books! Tomorrow we'll be setting our final goal of the year, and I'll be sharing more titles from my Scholastic book sale.

Happy reading!