A Fun New Reading Year

We had our first Guys Read meeting yesterday after school. It was a packed hour. There were numerous new “guys”, so we did brief introductions. Name and favorite book. Well for third and fourth graders that was not enough. They needed to included their favorite series. One of our new members had an orthodontist appointment at 4:40, so we voted for our next few books before he left.

By a landslide The Young Bond Series, Book One: Silverfin (A James Bond Adventure) (Young Bond) by Charlie Higson was picked as our next book. I can’t wait. It looks like a fun series.

After picking our next books we had a very brief discussion about Homework Machine. At first many did not like it, but once they got in to the style they really enjoyed it. A few were upset that Belch was destroyed, and Harrison could not understand why they just didn’t do the homework. He is smart like Brenton. Go figure!

The Boys of Steel The Creators of Superman by Marc Tyler Nobleman

I corresponded with Marc this past spring about how excited I was to see a book coming out about the history of a great super hero. He offered to come by my school and talk to the kids. He thought my Montclair was in New Jersey. Maybe when he is in Denver he can still stop by.

Well I received my book in the mail on Monday. It was worth the wait. The story is engaging. At times I felt like I was reading a kids version of Kaviler and Clay, but non-fiction! It is unfortunate that there are still way too many teachers like the one Jerry had.
The illustrations are retro fun.

We went to Boulder the other day for lunch and the farmers market. Of course we ended up at the Boulder Bookstore as well. I got a few books. Some for gifts, some for me, and some as possible Guys Read Book Club books.

Elephants Never Forget by Anushka Ravishankar is a special tale about a baby elephant that lives with the water buffalo. This is the gift book. I bought a few copies!

For me I got Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex. The poem The Sphinx Ain’t All That-Yeah, You Heard Me will be my poem for Poetry Friday! I laughed out loud when I read Ducks Don’t Wear Socks by John Nedwidek, so I bought it too! It reminds me of New Socks by Bob Shea.

The four books I picked for Guys Read Book Club are:
One Small Step by P.B. Kerr
Mariah Mundi The Midas Box by C.P. Taylor
The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett
The Alchemyst The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

I read a few other books this summer as possible book club selections. We meet again on the 20th, so I will post our list.

17 Takes

I have written before that I do not like to read sad books aloud with kids because, well, I don't want to cry. I get teased by friends. On Monday NPR had a piece on EB White. They ran a part form old interview with Mr. White. The original interviewer asked him to read the ending of Charlotte's Web. It took 17 takes before he could read it without crying! See I'm not a freak.

A Moose, A Hammock and a Couple of Books!

We spent a wonderfully relaxing long weekend in a cabin next to Michigan Reservoir in North Park Colorado. Recently at Jazz in The Park someone had a portable hammock. Yes, I got one for the weekend. It was nice to lay back and read a couple of books.

The Sea of Monsters was a fun read. I enjoyed the continuing adventures of Percy Jackson. I imagine a cruise ship is full of evil! I didn’t really like the third Benjamin Bartholomew Piff book. It seemed forced. However, the boys in my class really enjoyed it.

Summer is coming to an end and as usual I only made a dent in the stack of books I wanted to read. I will keep at it and maybe start next summer with a whole new stack.