I've been a little busy lately, but I'm working on more reviews for you! In the interim, here are some thoughts.
Book Bargains I get most of my tween books from BookOutlet.com. Their $10-off-$30 sale ends at noon today (Monday 7/20) but even without a sale, you can find some great bargains. That implies you actually have to look for bargains – but you don’t. Every book is a bargain! Last week I ordered 15 tween books (11 paperbacks and 4 hardcovers) for $42 shipped ($42 for the books, less $10 discount, plus $10 shipping.) A few of the books were $1.49. And these are popular books by well-known authors. Have you been to BookOutlet.com yet? Well, go! Go on….Go!
Couldn't finish this one... I believe that when reading for pleasure, students should read what they want to read. (Most adults do!) I always encourage middle-schoolers to check-out two books in case they don’t like the first one they start. And I tell my students to give the book at least 20 pages before deciding they don’t like it. I gave Sailing to Freedom by Martha Bennett Stiles (Henry Holt and Company, 2012) 26 pages, then called it quits. I almost always finish a tween book I start. But for me, Sailing to Freedom was sailing in the wrong direction. Set before the Civil War, Sailing to Freedom features a boy who receives a pet monkey as a gift from his seafaring father. Then his mom needs to leave town for a few weeks, and the boy has to stay with an uncle, a shopkeeper who clearly doesn’t want the boy. He doesn’t feed the boy properly, and makes him sleep on the hard floor in the loft above the store. Then, the monkey gets into the molasses and the uncle goes upstairs to strangle it. (I don’t like monkeys myself, but gee-whiz!) But before he can find the monkey a slave hunter comes in to discuss strategy for capturing escaped slaves. Bottom line: I’m not liking this. Time to move on.
Catching Up Confession: I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird. With all the hullabaloo over Harper Lee’s “lost” sequel Go Set a Watchman being released this summer, I decided to order a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird from Amazon. I’ll be posting my review on TweenReading.com after I read it.
That's all for now. Happy reading!
Book Bargains I get most of my tween books from BookOutlet.com. Their $10-off-$30 sale ends at noon today (Monday 7/20) but even without a sale, you can find some great bargains. That implies you actually have to look for bargains – but you don’t. Every book is a bargain! Last week I ordered 15 tween books (11 paperbacks and 4 hardcovers) for $42 shipped ($42 for the books, less $10 discount, plus $10 shipping.) A few of the books were $1.49. And these are popular books by well-known authors. Have you been to BookOutlet.com yet? Well, go! Go on….Go!
Couldn't finish this one... I believe that when reading for pleasure, students should read what they want to read. (Most adults do!) I always encourage middle-schoolers to check-out two books in case they don’t like the first one they start. And I tell my students to give the book at least 20 pages before deciding they don’t like it. I gave Sailing to Freedom by Martha Bennett Stiles (Henry Holt and Company, 2012) 26 pages, then called it quits. I almost always finish a tween book I start. But for me, Sailing to Freedom was sailing in the wrong direction. Set before the Civil War, Sailing to Freedom features a boy who receives a pet monkey as a gift from his seafaring father. Then his mom needs to leave town for a few weeks, and the boy has to stay with an uncle, a shopkeeper who clearly doesn’t want the boy. He doesn’t feed the boy properly, and makes him sleep on the hard floor in the loft above the store. Then, the monkey gets into the molasses and the uncle goes upstairs to strangle it. (I don’t like monkeys myself, but gee-whiz!) But before he can find the monkey a slave hunter comes in to discuss strategy for capturing escaped slaves. Bottom line: I’m not liking this. Time to move on.
Catching Up Confession: I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird. With all the hullabaloo over Harper Lee’s “lost” sequel Go Set a Watchman being released this summer, I decided to order a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird from Amazon. I’ll be posting my review on TweenReading.com after I read it.
That's all for now. Happy reading!