Book-A-Day

I love it that I am making the time to read for myself this summer. I am always reading for Book Groups and for work as well as for my kiddos at school. 

Book-A-Day (Based on Donalyn Miller's program) is forcing me to be mindful, read and record my reading so that I can both model for my students as well as read what I want to read.

As I was listening to a really interesting book on King Tut I became really intrigued with a time period I have never known much about beyond cursory knowledge. Since then I have checked out multiple books on Ancient Egypt as well as books on Historical Timelines. Cool stuff, guys!

I fell for Eleanor & Park while wondering what all the buzz was about. Who knew?!

Common Core Math has me boning up more than my skills....I am creating, pondering, persevering and making meaning of fractions, factors, and fractals - - just kidding about the fractals but it was too good to pass up all that alliteration! Nonetheless I Fraction Frenzy has me reading all sorts of fun books for kids. What a cool thing to have literature to match a math skill. Wish I had that when I was a kid.

Keeping with my all-things-Egyptian-summer...I am reveling in the 109+ degree temperatures and have finally tried an Elizabeth Peters book. Her classic Amelia Peabody book (#1), The Crocodile on the Sandbank, was witty and delightful. I can see more of those classic books in my future. 

I am still pondering MY one amazing thing but I do know that the book, by Chitra Divakaruni was AMAZING. I L.O.V.E. her as an author and I have ever since I read Arranged Marriage back in 1995. Whoa, can I truly remember that?!?! You bet! Her writing was incredible then and it has sweetened with time. I loved how I stretched with her first book. It truly was a thrill for me to read her again. I also got to hear her at the Tucson Festival of the Book this past March. Again, Amazing!

I am not chronicling all of my books here until the end of summer, but I am diligently keeping records to show my kiddos. I even signed up for the summer reading program for adults as I encouraged my students to do. That accountability factor will help us all. In the meantime, I am on a real roll with some great books. Yep, I do love summer!