Book Challenge #14 & #15

Dear Students,

      This Book Challenge update had me read another book in a favorite series as well as introducing a brand new book series to me.  I will start with the favorite series.  Seth challenged me to read I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944,  I had a feeling I would enjoy it simply for two reasons.  One reason is because I love the I Survived series.  The other reason is because I love to read anything to do with World War II.  This book shows WWII from a different point of view.  As Americans we usually see WWII from the USA's side.  However, in Europe, many people were treated unfairly years before America joined the war.  This book showed how it was for those in Europe who were run out of their homes.  I loved the different aspects of the invasion this book showed.  The author did not limit herself to just one part of the invasion, but shows the reader lots of ways the Jews had to run to escape the Nazis.  This book is full of history, action, adventure and surprises!  I would recommend it for sure!

      The second book was one Lily S. challenged me to read.  It is called.Thea Stilton and the Chocolate Sabotage.  OH. MY. STARS!!!! Can I just say how much I am in love with this series now?  I love how it emphasizes vocabulary words.  I love the little mouse puns that are all through the book.  I love how this one incorporated so much of our social studies standards into the book. I am going to be reading more of these for sure! I really liked this one and how it was a mystery.  I usually don't like mysteries, but I love how all the friends worked together to solve the problem.  What a great life lesson that is for us!  Of course, I love the chocolate involved!  I can't wait for the next one I read.

I would recommend these books to any of you!  I know a lot of you have read the I Survived series, but if you haven't read the Thea Stilton or Geronimo Stilton books, go NOW!!!!

Love,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #12 & #13

Dear Students,

     I was really hoping to get more of YOUR books read over Christmas break.  However, I am glad to say I did get 2 of your books read as well as some books that I just wanted to read.  Isn't that what Christmas break is all about anyways?  So what did I read over the break?

      Kendyl read a book for enrichment after school that had a lot of my favorites rolled into one book - Christmas, World War, New York City, historical fiction and diaries.  It is called When Christmas Comes Again.  I absolutely loved it! I have read these Dear America books before, but had never read this one.  I really like them for many different reasons, so when Kendyl told me about this one I was ready to read it.  Most of the historical fiction books I read take place during the Civil War or World War II.  This book took place in World War I.  I don't know if I have ever read anything from that time period, but loved it.  I will be looking for others now to read from this time period.  One of my favorite things about the book was seeing Simone change.  She grows up in a very well-to-do family in New York City.  Her mother is from Paris ( I loved that we had just studied France when I read this.).  Simone decides she needs to do more to help the war effort than just roll bandages at home.  She leaves a life of comfort and joins the war effort going back to her mother's home city of Paris.  The book really gives a great look at life during the war for families back home, soldiers and those who were helping.

     The next book I read was a challenge from Kaylee.  I was excited about this one as well even though it is a genre of books I don't normally care for - mysteries.  Kaylee challenged me to read Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Dance Off.  This was a great book for many reasons, but I loved seeing Nancy Drew as a young child.  As you get older, there a a TON of Nancy Drew books you can read.  Boys, never fear!  Nancy had great friends, the Hardy Boys that you can read about instead of having to read about a girl!  I love how Nancy doesn't let being a girl stop her.  She is a great problem solver and uses her brain to think about how to use the clues given to her to solve the problem.  You think you have the mystery solved when others pop up into the story! I would recommend this one to any of you!

     What did you read over the Christmas break?

      Your bookworm teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #10 & #11

Dear Students,

    I finally finished it!  For the past umteen forever weeks, I have been trying to read Dork Diaries #3 Tales of a Not-So-Talented Pop Star.  Thanks, Lilly, for recommending this book to me.  I will admit that I really did not want to read this book at first.  This is probably the reason I had a hard time getting into it and getting it done.  However, I did enjoy it.  I liked the book because I really do believe it gives you a good look into how kids feel during the middle school/junior high years.  Most kids are very concerned about keeping their friends and keeping secrets that may effect how others feel about them.  I also loved how it was written in a journal.  I would encourage all of you to keep a journal.  You don't have to write in it every day, but when things happen to you, write them down in the book.  It is super fun to look and read it later on in life.  Thank you, Lilly!  I am try to read another one of these soon, but I have other challenges to get to!

     Thanks to Aaron the next book I picked up was Magic Tree House #46: Dogs in the Dead of Night.  I will admit I have enjoyed reading these Magic Tree House books that have come out later.  I use to read them to LB and Carter, but these later ones have come out since then.  When I first saw this, I thought it might take place in Alaska or somewhere like that.  I was shocked about how wrong I was because it takes place in the Alps.  I thought that was awesome since we are studying Europe right now.  I also loved the history with Napoleon coming in as a supporting character. Who would love to know more about him?  My favorite part was the dogs!  I think Saint Bernards are SUPER cute.  I don't want one living in my house, but I think they are precious!  I loved learning more about these dogs and how important they were to the people in the Alps.  I may have to read the Fact Tracker book that goes along with this one now! It was a great read, Aaron!

     What is up next?  Thanks for all the suggestions! I have enjoyed them!

Your teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #8 & #9

Dear Students,

      I am so excited about what we are going to be doing after Thanksgiving in order to get ready for Christmas! To help me prepare, I read these two books this past week.  I know it was not a challenge any of you gave me, but I needed to read them.  The first one I read and LOVED it.  It does help that it is about one of my most favorite cities in the world - London, England.  It is a Magic Tree House Fact Tracker called Rags and Riches.  It is informational text all about life in Victorian England.  I loved reading about how children lived back in these days even though it is so sad how most children had to live.  I am not going to tell you a whole lot because I want it all to be new when we look at parts of this in a few weeks.  It really is a good read and, because your teacher is a nerd, I will probably be reading it again!

      The other book I finished is the companion to Rags and Riches.  It is called A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time.  Again, I don't want to tell you much about it because we may be using it for part of our Christmas study.  However, I will tell you that Jack and Annie go back to London, England, to help one of my favorite authors, Charles Dickens.   He is the man who wrote A Christmas Carol. Jack and Annie help Mr. Dickens and realize they also helped the world for years to come.  I can't wait for us to get into this book!

      I have told you I love Christmas! This is getting to Mrs. Becky's favorite part of the year and I am so excited these two books are going to be part of our celebration.

Your Christmas loving teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #7

Dear Students,

     This week I have read I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001.  Thanks to Dhanin for challenging me to read this book.  I will admit, while I love historical fiction, I was a little unsure about reading this book because I remember that day so well.  I remember teaching school that day to a class full of third graders who were trying to figure out what was going on in the world.  It was a very scary day.  You know I don't like scary, so that was another reason I was unsure of reading it.  However, I must say I enjoyed the book as much as you can enjoy a book like this.  I loved reading about Lucas and seeing his life as a child of a NYC firefighter.  I love how the author talked about how difficult a job firefighting can be because it is the truth.  I can't believe Lucas was actually there when it all happened.  I was so - wait, I don't want to ruin the ending for any of you who haven't read it!  I really couldn't believe the book was done! I wanted more! I would highly recommend this book to any of you who enjoy historical fiction or want to know more about that day in our country's history.  Be sure to read the notes and timeline after the story has finished.  You will learn a lot from that as well.

                         

Your teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #5 & #6

Dear Students,

     I feel like I am finally getting in the groove of reading!  This weekend I finished two books I think you should all read.  The first one I read on Friday while I sat out with y'all at your play time. I needed to get some Vitamin D (which you get from the sun) and I love watching you play!  It is a poetry book.  I know many of you have not read a poetry book yet and neither had I!  It is called It's Thanksgiving!  It is full of poems about Thanksgiving Day and the traditions around that holiday (which just happens to be one of my favorites).  I think my favorite poem had to be the one about watching the football game.  I liked it because our family loves to watch football at anytime.  In the poem, the dad yells at the tv.  I can relate to that because I have been known to yell at the tv myself!  I think you should all read this one! There are two copies in the red bucket.

     The next book I finished was a Magic Tree House book that La'Tariyahna challenged me to read.  I love the fact that she wanted me to read a book she had read.  (If any of the rest of you want to challenge me to read a book, please do so!)  This book is called Danger in the Darkest Hour.  When I first got it, I had no idea what it would be about.  I read the inside of the jacket cover and realized it was about one of my favorite times in history - World War II.  I just loved the whole thing.  My favorite part (without giving away the ending) was that Jack learned he has the ability to do whatever he puts his mind to doing.  Kathleen had lost her magic, and Jack was freaking out that they were going to get caught by the Nazis.  She and Annie played a little trick on Jack, but it was only to give him the confidence he needed.  I really love reading anything about WWII because both of my grandfathers fought in WWII.  I think many of you would enjoy this book.  Thank you, La'Tariyahna for challenging me to read this one!

     What will I read next?  Someone (who forgot to put their name on the comment) challenged me to read I Survived September 11, 2001.  I am going to try to read that one if it is in the library.  I am worried about reading that one because I remember that day very vividly.  However, I will give it a try for sure!  What do you think I should read?

Your book loving teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #4

Dear Students,

     I am making some headway on my challenge! The past few weeks I went back to my "happy reading place" and read a historical fiction book called The Girl in the Torch. WOW! This one was great!  It is about a girl named Sarah who lives in Europe.  Her parents are planning to come to America when tragedy happens.  Finally, she and her mother get to America only to have her mother be stopped at Ellis Island.  It looks like Sarah will have to go back to her homeland when she decides to jump off the ship and swim to Liberty Island.  For weeks, she hides out on the island getting food out of trash cans and actually sleeping in Lady Liberty's crown.  I thought the story would end there, but it doesn't!  Many times it seems like Sarah's dream of becoming an American citizen is going to not come true.  Even at the last chapter I was beginning to wonder!  If you enjoyed our study of Ellis Island, you will enjoy this one.  Lots of adventure, suspense and history all rolled into one.  Unfortunately, I cannot count it as a mystery!  Oh well! I know many of you will enjoy reading this one!

           

Your history loving teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #2 and #3

Dear Students,

          For the past forever (at least it seems like it), I have been reading The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck.  I have had this book for a few years now and had never read it.  You all know how much I love (ha! ha!) fantasy books - especially animal fantasy books, so I thought I would read this one in order to say I had read it as well as to mark book #2 off of my 40 book challenge list! Even though I did not read this book quickly, I did enjoy it.  I loved the main character in the book very much.  He is not named until the very end of the book for a good reason, so I will call him Nameless as he refers to himself throughout the book.  Nameless believes he comes from nothing.  He is not the best at school.  He has no family except a dear old aunt who takes care of him.  He fights for everything, but especially trying to find out who he is.  He does not give up in the book.  We see him take his struggle of not knowing who he is all the way to the Queen of England herself which apparently mice do not show (or talk) themselves to humans.  It is against their rules.  I think quite a few of you would enjoy this book very much.  You can learn many lessons from Nameless, but the one I want you to learn as you read it is the idea that everybody is somebody.  You are important.  You can make a difference.  You matter.

          I was on a roll over Fall Break and finished another book!  This one I devoured!  You are probably thinking to yourself that it is a book that has to do with history, and, if you are, then you are correct!  The other book I read was Who Was Susan B. Anthony?.  I read this book because we are going to be studying her in social studies this week.  It dawned on me that I did not know much about this woman who is a big part of our history. How was I going to teach you about her if I did not know about her myself?  I enjoyed parts of the book because it mentioned a lot of people I have studied about in history - Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and others.  I enjoyed seeing how and why Ms. Anthony thought it was important that women have the right to vote.  The one thing that bothered me was how the women went about getting their ideas into place.  At times they were not very nice to others about it.  They spoke ugly words.  They were mean to others.  I found myself thinking that I didn't blame the men for giving the women the right to vote the way they acted!  I do appreciate what Ms. Anthony and her group did to help get women the right to vote so our voice could be heard in the American government.  I can't wait to see what you think about her, her life and her goal! I would love for you to read this book just so you can get a better understanding of what she did to shape our history.

          Well, there you go! 3 down and 37 more to go! See I can do math!  I have missed all of you this week and am ready to be back with our little family!

                   Love from your teacher who is almost done with her fantasy books,

                                                                    Mrs. Becky

Book Challenge #1

Dear Students,

     This past week I FINALLY finished Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo.  I have heard wonderful things about Ms. DiCamillo as an author, but have never read anything of hers.  That is one reason I am excited to be doing the 40 Book Challenge with you.  I really thought this book would be realistic fiction. However, I quickly found out I was mistaken.  It is for sure a fantasy book. (YAY for getting one of those crossed off my list!)  It is a fantasy because in the book the squirrel communicates with the humans around him and he writes poetry to express how he is feeling at the time.  I knew when he picked up the vacuum cleaner that this was not going to be realistic fiction at all!
     This is a different kind of book in that it mixes normal chapters with types of comic book features.  This is because Flora, the girl in the book who loves Ulysses the squirrel, reads a ton of comic books.  She relates everything that happens to Ulysses to the things that happen in her comic book world.  This makes it easy to read.  The chapters are pretty short, so if you can read a lot at one time or can just read a little bit.
     I think many of you would enjoy this book because it has a super hero and a villian (Flora's mother).  It would be a good transition for some of you from the graphic novels you are reading to a novel.  I hope many of you will choose to read this book at some point this year.

                                                         Love,
                                                            Your teacher who doesn't like to read fantasy books,
                                                                           
                                                                       Mrs. Becky
 

Mrs. Becky and Ms. Melodie with our first books in the 40 Book Challenge!