Everyone is feeling tired at school – kids and teachers – so I looked for books with some sort of visual eye candy.
Monday – Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Brett Helquist
Tuesday – The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley – I liked the banners on each chapter.
Wednesday – I, Funny by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
Thursday – Ninja Timmy written and illustrated by Henrik Tamm
Friday – The Loser List: Revenge of the Loser by H. N. Kowitt
We do all our heavy work before lunch: reading, Writing, math, Social Studies. Science, Health. The kids go to lunch at 12:10 and, because they have Specials immediately after lunch, I don’t see them again until 1:35. They come in, we fill out our planner and I do read aloud.
Read aloud is my favorite time of day. We’ve read four books since September:
We finish Flora and Ulysses by Friday, and begin a new book when we come back in January.
I chose The Doll People when I heard there was a 4th book in the series. The boys in my class were skeptical, but I asked them to give it a chance and, of course, they loved it. In fact, we are writing letters for the Library of Congress’ Letters about Literature contest, a couple of boys are writing about that book. Just the other day, I said “Sock it to me” and I was rewarded by a chorus of mini Aretha’s. They learned about the RESPECT song because of The Doll People.
The fourth book is The Doll People Set Sail.
Goodreads Summary:Annabelle Doll, Tiffany Funcraft, and their families are whisked out to sea when the Palmers accidentally place them in a box destined for charity donation. And it turns out they’re not alone-there are plenty of other doll people on the ship, too. After traveling thousands of miles, will they be able to find their way home?
The summary sounds a bit like the last Toy Story movie, but this is way better. fans of the three previous books won’t be disappointed and, readers who haven’t read those books will bo OK, although I always recommend reading things in order because it makes more sense. Although I was disappointed that Brian Selznick is not the illustrator, Brett Helquist does an excellent job capturing the essence of the Doll/Funcraft family adventures.
If you are looking for a good series to give a middle reader, this is an excellent choice.
booksandbassets 