Our Weekly Progress:
This week, Emma turned 2 months old, and with that birthday, I went back to work. I love teaching, and luckily, my 150 seventh graders keep me busy enough that I don't miss my baby too much during the day. But I can tell that it's going to be a tough transition.
We've made an effort this week to keep reading, though, and even finished our 10 books early (so we got a head start on next week's set!) Even though we've only read through about 3 inches of 1 library shelf, I'm still super-excited about our challenge, and eager to continue reading. Here are the books we read this week:
Our Weekly Favorite:
Summary: "At the animal shelter, a young boy and his family choose a pet- Norman, the little stray dog who has been there the longest. Norma is brown and white, with a stump of a tail. He's so glad to have a home that he does a "hula dance of happiness" whenever he sees his new owners. But the family soon discovers that Norman won't respond to commands. He doesn't even seem to know his own name. They conclude that lovable Norman just isn't very smart... until a chance encounter in the park makes them think otherwise.
This charming story from award-winning author Caroline Adderson, with Qin Leng's delightful illustrations, will entertain readers of all ages, especially dog lovers."
Why I Loved it:
Other Books We Read This Week:
This week, Emma turned 2 months old, and with that birthday, I went back to work. I love teaching, and luckily, my 150 seventh graders keep me busy enough that I don't miss my baby too much during the day. But I can tell that it's going to be a tough transition.
We've made an effort this week to keep reading, though, and even finished our 10 books early (so we got a head start on next week's set!) Even though we've only read through about 3 inches of 1 library shelf, I'm still super-excited about our challenge, and eager to continue reading. Here are the books we read this week:
Our Weekly Favorite:
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Title: Norman, Speak!
Author: Caroline Adderson
Illustrator: Qin Leng
Rating: 5 stars
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This charming story from award-winning author Caroline Adderson, with Qin Leng's delightful illustrations, will entertain readers of all ages, especially dog lovers."
Why I Loved it:
- There were parts of the book that made me laugh out loud!
- This book teaches a super-important lesson: not to assume that somebody isn't smart just because they have trouble speaking your language.
- [SPOILER ALERT] I think the storyline of this book is genius. If I adopted a dog from a shelter that wouldn't listen to my commands, I wouldn't in a million years have thought that maybe the dog "speaks" a different language! It made for a very entertaining and thought-provoking tale. This book could definitely be a great starting point for parents to discuss topics like race and language differences with their children.
Other Books We Read This Week:
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Title: I Want to Help!
Author: Diane Adams
Illustrator: Nancy Hayashi
Rating: 3 stars
I was excited to read this book after giving 5 stars to a different Diane Adams book, called I Can Do It Myself! Unfortunately, this book was disappointing. The storyline was very similar to the one featured in I Can Do it Myself, but the rhymes were a bit more forced, and the ending, instead of being heart-touching, seemed a bit contrived.
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Title: Nothing
Author & Illustrator: Jon Agee
Rating: 3 stars
I enjoyed this cute story about a rich lady who wants to buy a store full of "nothing."
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Title: The Retired Kid
Author & Illustrator: Jon Agee
Rating: 4 stars
I thought this story about a kid who moves to Florida to retire is pretty funny, and teaches a good lesson about being content with what you have. This was my favorite of the Jon Agee books that we read this week.
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Title: The Other Side of Town
Author & Illustrator: Jon Agee
Rating: 2 stars
Another cute story, with some slightly annoying repetition.
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Title: Z Goes Home
Author & Illustrator: Jon Agee
Rating: 3 stars
A good ABC book with some creative illustrations.
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Title: Terrific
Author & Illustrator: Jon Agee
Rating: 3 stars
I thought this book was pretty funny. This might open up a good conversation about sarcasm.
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Title: Black is Brown is Tan
Author: Arnold Adoff
Illustrator: Emily McCully
Rating: 2 stars
I liked that this book told the story of an inter-racial family, and talked about the color of each member's skin in a positive way. However, I am not personally a huge fan of free-verse poetry, and found some pages to be quite nonsensical. Then again, I don't like dry wines and subtitled films either- maybe I'm just not classy enough for books like this one!
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Title: It's Time to Sleep, It's Time to Dream
Author: David A. Adler
Illustrator: Kay Chorao
Rating: 2 stars
I didn't find this book too interesting, but the illustrations were creative. A silhouette of the bedroom showed its own storyline, even as the text told a different one.
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Title: Ordinary Oscar
Author: Laura Adkins
Illustrator: Sam Hearn
Rating: 3 stars
The slightly-boring plot of this book would have caused it to earn 2 stars, if it wasn't for the delightful copy of the "Daily Snail" newspaper included for reading on the last page. I wish the rest of the book would have been as much fun as its ending!
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