[LIT] mid-summer book recs

[Pam Horton]

I just finished The Glass Castle  a memoir by Janette Walls---that was both disturbing and uplifting at the same time---was a great story---as I was reading it I was thinking about how many of our students live that same kind of life---I just started to read A Thousand Splendid Suns---I also read The Kite Runner by the same author and loved that!

>>> <macwendy at cox.net> 07/19/07 11:53 PM >>>
I, too, read 19 Minutes.  Started it the day of Virginia Tech Massacre before I heard the news.  I had to put it away for a few days, but then finished it.  Yes, quite telling and disturbing.  I also read My Sister's Keeper by the same author which I felt was better and worthy of a good deal of discussion.  Another good book to read is Like Water For Elephants.  My Honors 7th grade classes were choosing their 'passion' to write a persuasive essay and after I read this book I decided to model the persuasive essay by writing about the 'greatest shame' on earth.  It's an easy read, but also informative with period pictures.  I will never go to another circus, but I think I had already decided that long before the book.  I'm in the middle of "Middlesex.'  I pick it up and read and then leave it for a while.  Doesn't mean I don't like it,   Definitely a book talk novel!
---- lahaskell at aol.com wrote: 
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>  ??? I agree that the Book Thief would be hard for most seventh graders. I had one student who tried it but abandoned it about half way through. I've been reading a lot in this muggy, rainy weather. Annie Between the States (Civil War) by L.M. Elliott is one. I enjoyed it, but it is long for many eighth graders.
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>  I also read Sea of Monsters and enjoyed it. I couldn't keep the first two books in this series on the shelf this year. I'm waiting my turn to read the third one. 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult was wonderful and disturbing at the same time. Finally, Patterson's Quickie was great. I didn't see the end coming which was a wonderful surprise.
> Linda in ME
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> "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13 
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Linda Crowe <linda1415 at gmail.com>
> To: A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades. <lit at literacyworkshop.org>
> Sent: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 4:28 pm
> Subject: Re: [LIT] mid-summer book recs
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> At the risk of sounding like a "me, too" I am in the midst of reading The
> Book Thief.  At this point, I think it is very good, but agree that many of
> my 7th graders would struggle with it.  They are so concrete, they would
> struggle with the flow of the story.
> I've also read Shakespeare's Secret and Listening For Lions.  Next up: The
> Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and/or A Mango Shaped Space.
> Outside of The Book Thief, Listening For Lions was good, but on much lower
> level.
> Patty - Funny you mentioned The Lightning Thief; I tried to read it and
> decided it was terrible after about 40 pages.  Guess I wear my genre bias on
> my shirt sleeve!  I probably did the right thing passing that book on to
> another teacher to review.  :-)  Too funny!
> 
> Linda
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