Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Reading Update

I'm working in my classroom, going through cupboards and desk drawers, getting rid of junk from three or four teachers ago. I need a break.

So, here are the books I've read lately:

Book #53 was Portrait of an Unknown Woman, by Vanora Bennett. It's told from the point of view of an adopted daughter of Thomas More. This is a time period I enjoy reading about, and there were some characters I knew a bit about already. In all, an entertaining read.

Book #54 was Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine. I didn't like it as much as Ella Enchanted, but it was good nonetheless. I read this one because my daughter wanted me to. (A character or two from Ella shows up!)

Book #55 and book #56 were Dreamland and This Lullaby, both by Sarah Dessen. A student of mine had been recommending Dessen for a while so I wanted to try her books. I enjoyed both of these, probably the first one a bit more.

Book #57 was the long-awaited Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer. These books were also recommendations from a student. Somehow, I had it in my head that this series was a trilogy. I kept thinking that somehow everything was going to be wrapped up, and the closer I got to the end, the more I saw how impossible that was. Sure enough, I visited Meyer's site, and she wrote that there was no way she was stopping with three books. So I'll have to wait - again - for the next book!

For book #58 I went back to teacher books - this one was Boy Writers: Reclaiming their Voices, by Ralph Fletcher. I've been wanting to read this since I first saw it advertised, and it didn't disappoint. It's one of my long-term goals to make my classroom, and my teaching, more boy-friendly. Fletcher offers some great ways to do so. I think any teacher could benefit from reading this, particularly those like me, a female lit major who loves Jane Austen. It's a challenge to see things through the eyes of boys, but I'm working on it. (Having a son helps a lot, I'm finding!)

And now, back to the mess...

7 comments:

Bridget said...

I'm probably more than 3 or 4 teachers ago now, but you might be going through junk I left! I know I inherited the pink flamingos. :)

Ruth said...

I did find a box of yours - it had your name on it and "Ideas." It's empty though. ;-)

Bridget said...

Oh, that's so sad! I don't remember it at all, but an empty box of ideas...

Ruth said...

Yes, it did seem faintly sad!

Anonymous said...

Bridget, that just means you took all the ideas with you, not that you ran out of ideas. :^)

Ruth said...

Yeah, it just means that I don't have any ideas - you took them all!

Anonymous said...

I recently saw a review of that Boy Writers book, so I got it from the U library (since I have 3 boys!). I haven't read it though...I'd forgotten you'd mentioned it until I saw it on your year-end list of books.