Book Recommendations

I haven't read much since the beginning of the school year, but here are some definite reads:

1. World Without End by Ken Follett (its the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, but need not to have read the first, I didn't)
2. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - brilliant!
3. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - this is young adult fiction, but beautifully written and a lot of great history of the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately its the first of a series/sequel and that sort of irritated me at the end, especially since I bought it in hardback. I will probably read it to my students in May.
4. Rumors of Peace by Ella Leffland - brilliant!


On my bookshelf for when I finish Rumors of Peace (about 2/3 through):
1. Deadwood by Pete Dexter - JE was interested in reading it, so I thought I might too.
2. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan - this was an NPR recommendation that I wrote down awhile ago.
3. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano - picked up at the book exchange back when, but I just haven't gotten into it yet. Any thoughts?

I'm also reading Cajas de carton (English version - The Circuit) by Francisco Jimenez as part of our school novels with the students. I will say, reading and understanding novels with my students this year has been amazing. We don't actually read novels anymore in school as a class - just anthologies of stories, sometimes they are excerpts from novels. I have three specific memories - actually four - of reading as a child: (1) reading Island of the Blue Dolphins with my mom, mostly she read it to me; (2) my fifth grade teacher reading The Chronicles of Narnia aloud to us; (3) reading Julie of the Wolves with my sixth grade class; and (4) reading Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. Many of my students are currently wrapped up in the Twilight series, others still read Harry Potter, and some The Lightening Thief series. The last one I found the most intriguing of the three, although it required quite an understanding of Greek/Roman mythology. Several people have told me they love the Twilight series just as much as my students, but I'm not there yet. I really think its a shame that we don't have core literature programs anymore, apparently they were deemed to not be effective means of teaching reading. Huh? Reading books is not a good way to get students to read - imagine that?!?

We've dumbed it all down, yet required such a breadth of material that students need to master by the end of each grade level, it really does boggle the mind. This summer I will be reading and trying to figure out how to apply Guiding Readers and Writers. Now that I have a better grasp as to what the students need to know and were they tend to be the weakest, I can better design my classroom to meet those needs.