books are fun
1. exile's honor - mercedes lackey
2. exile's valor - mercedes lackey
3. the spiderwick chronicles books 1-5.
4. ragtime - e.l. doctorov
5. the other boleyn girl - phillipa gregory
6. the memory keeper's daughter - kim edwards
7. fullmetal alchemist vol.1 - 5 - forgive me for not looking up the author
8. the queen's fool - phillipa gregory
9. the kite runner - khaled hosseini
10. the constant princess - phillippa gregory
11. the runelords - david farland
12. the brotherhood of the wolf david farland
13. a thousand splendid suns khaled hosseini
14. the secret life of bees sue monk kidd
15. the bridge doug marlette
I just finished The Bridge last night. I borrowed it from the school, partially because I'd seen a fair number of his books get sold in the last few months (he died recently, and he's a chapel hill area author), and partially because my coworker said it was good. We have a class set of them because it was chosen as the Alamance Reads book for this year, which doesn't mean much to me, other than the fact that our department gets a class set of them, and it's usually a book that I'd like, but I'd never get my CP kids to read.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this book, and one of the big reasons I did so is because it's set right in this area. It's vaguely based on historical events, many of which actually happened in the area, and some of which happened in SC, but everything except the opening chapter (set in NYC) happens in the pocket of North Carolina I live and work in now. Besides being well written and doing an interesting mix of narrative and flashbacks, I can't help but think that a lot of my kids could actually enjoy reading this book because they'd be able to relate to the settings, and to some of the stuff happening in it. The main premise of the story is the main character getting reacquainted with his roots after losing his hot-shot job in NYC. In the process, you just get a very clear picture of what family life is like for a lot of people down in the south; one family member is predominate over all others, family reunions are a common thing, and whole swarms of family all live in the same place, having never been anywhere else. I actually think I might take a look at the other book of his that flew off the shelf after he passed away this summer. I'm sure you'll all find out if I do.
I should probably mention that The Secret Life of Bees was also really good, and was also something I thought my students might be able to relate to. Especially some of the girls. I also just really liked the way the characters were developed in this story, and found myself really pulling for the young girl that is the main character after just the first few pages. I also learned a lot about bees from it, which is just kind of neat. :)
One of my goals for the summer is to see if I can't find a way to do "literature circles" in my classes next year. Basically, I'd like to divide the class into 4 or 5 groups, assign a different book to each group, and have them alternate days between where they're talking to their group about their specific book, and days where we talk about general stuff that applies to all the books as a whole class. It will take a lot of planning on my part to make it work, though. And I need a few more books that I think will work with it. We shall see.
I need to make myself/find a books icon. Alas.
2. exile's valor - mercedes lackey
3. the spiderwick chronicles books 1-5.
4. ragtime - e.l. doctorov
5. the other boleyn girl - phillipa gregory
6. the memory keeper's daughter - kim edwards
7. fullmetal alchemist vol.1 - 5 - forgive me for not looking up the author
8. the queen's fool - phillipa gregory
9. the kite runner - khaled hosseini
10. the constant princess - phillippa gregory
11. the runelords - david farland
12. the brotherhood of the wolf david farland
13. a thousand splendid suns khaled hosseini
14. the secret life of bees sue monk kidd
15. the bridge doug marlette
I just finished The Bridge last night. I borrowed it from the school, partially because I'd seen a fair number of his books get sold in the last few months (he died recently, and he's a chapel hill area author), and partially because my coworker said it was good. We have a class set of them because it was chosen as the Alamance Reads book for this year, which doesn't mean much to me, other than the fact that our department gets a class set of them, and it's usually a book that I'd like, but I'd never get my CP kids to read.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this book, and one of the big reasons I did so is because it's set right in this area. It's vaguely based on historical events, many of which actually happened in the area, and some of which happened in SC, but everything except the opening chapter (set in NYC) happens in the pocket of North Carolina I live and work in now. Besides being well written and doing an interesting mix of narrative and flashbacks, I can't help but think that a lot of my kids could actually enjoy reading this book because they'd be able to relate to the settings, and to some of the stuff happening in it. The main premise of the story is the main character getting reacquainted with his roots after losing his hot-shot job in NYC. In the process, you just get a very clear picture of what family life is like for a lot of people down in the south; one family member is predominate over all others, family reunions are a common thing, and whole swarms of family all live in the same place, having never been anywhere else. I actually think I might take a look at the other book of his that flew off the shelf after he passed away this summer. I'm sure you'll all find out if I do.
I should probably mention that The Secret Life of Bees was also really good, and was also something I thought my students might be able to relate to. Especially some of the girls. I also just really liked the way the characters were developed in this story, and found myself really pulling for the young girl that is the main character after just the first few pages. I also learned a lot about bees from it, which is just kind of neat. :)
One of my goals for the summer is to see if I can't find a way to do "literature circles" in my classes next year. Basically, I'd like to divide the class into 4 or 5 groups, assign a different book to each group, and have them alternate days between where they're talking to their group about their specific book, and days where we talk about general stuff that applies to all the books as a whole class. It will take a lot of planning on my part to make it work, though. And I need a few more books that I think will work with it. We shall see.
I need to make myself/find a books icon. Alas.