Still reading this one...

Just an update here. I'm still reading The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay, which I posted back in May when I started it. I have completed several books since I started this one, and I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to finish it. I haven't gotten totally sucked in yet and this summer I really wanted to read things that sucked me in. But I'm still working at it. This happens to readers all the time!

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

why: book club and also I wanted to read this with my daughter.

when: start 8/3/13 end 8/17/13

how: As an ebook on my ipad (purchased as always from the local independent book store). And this is the first ebook my kid has read--normally she likes books with actual pages and stuff, but I convinced her to try this one on the screen.

thoughts: I loved this book. Just loved it. Take a wonderful child with a severe facial deformity who has been home schooled his whole life and send him to middle school. What happens? Well, that's what this book is about. It shows the courage of young people, both through the main character Auggie's experiences and through his friends' fierce devotion to him (even though some are slow to come around).

Click on the book image to get to information about the book from the author's website.

review haiku:
we can be so mean
met by of something different
accept--and we grow

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

why: Well, I couldn't NOT read this after finishing the previous book, Divergent.

when: start 8/2, end 8/5

how: as an ebook on my ipad and mostly in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping.

thoughts: This is a gripping continuation of the first book in the series. Not much more to say because I can't give away what you learn at the end of this book (and that made me angry that the third book in the series does not come out until October. Really?). Anyhow, perfect summertime read. I'm interested to talk with my students to see if any of them have read this series and what they think of it.

Click on the book image to get to the author's blog and scroll down to find this text.

review haiku:
beyond the fence lies
truth that changes everything
what will happen next?

Divergent by Veronica Roth

why: Someone said that this was in the same category as The Hunger Games, so I thought it would be great summer reading.

when: start 7/30, end 8/2

how: As an ebook on my ipad (purchased as usual online from my local independent bookseller!)

thoughts: As you can see, I tore through this one pretty quickly. Hard to put it down once you get started. A friend asked me recently if this was written in the same first person present tense voice as The Hunger Games, and it is, and that narrative voice is annoying, but it really didn't matter. The whole premise here of the five factions living in and around a futuristic dystopic Chicago where 16 year olds have to decide their life faction in a choosing ceremony was really pretty cool. Lots to think about there in terms of how our own society is structured and works. I had to purchase the next book in the series immediately and start reading the moment I finished the last page of this one. 

Click on the book image to get to information on this text from the author's blog.

review haiku:

at 16 years old

choose your faction, your people,

unless you don't fit