It's Monday! What are you reading?

Maybe it's the cold winter weather, but I continue to hunker down and read, read, read.  Here's some highlights of my reading life this past week.  Thanks to Teach Mentor Text blog for the inspirational meme.

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
Wow! Wow! Wow!  I really love this wordless picture book and the pages with flip down flaps that help to reveal the story.  Each time I open it and reread it, I enjoy it even more.  Little Flora is precious.  I love her little yellow swim cap and her little round perfect body.  Ok, so little Flora reminds me of my own daughter at around the age of 4!  Molly Idle's illustrations convey perfectly the story of friendship and the joy of dance.  To find out more about this awesome book you must rush over to Nerdy Book Club where author, Molly Idle wrote a recent post, and then get yourself over to Watch Connect Read, where Mr. Schu has a wonderful interview with Molly and the best videos ever.





Brave Girl: Clara and Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
This non-fiction picture book tells the story of a young immigrant, Clara Lemlich, and her fight for fare wages and safe work environments for the mostly female garment workers.  The story is told in narrative form which makes for a great read aloud for many different ages.  It is a good introduction to several topics including the women's suffrage movement, immigration, and unions.  I really enjoy Melissa Sweet's style of illustrations with all the detail, and in this book she includes fabric swatches and even sewing machine stitching.  Many of the pages look like they were inspired by historical photographs. Great book for women's history month! I definitely plan on reading this to my second graders.



Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson

This is the sequel to Hattie Big Sky which I read last summer.  I would put this book in the young adult category, and would recommend it to anyone in 6th grade or up.  I really enjoy historical fiction and this book did not disappoint.  In fact, I read the entire book on Saturday.  Most of the book takes place in San Francisco during the turn of the 20th century, a very different, yet exciting time for women.  I lived in San Francisco for 6 years, so I really enjoyed being swept back in time to the city by the bay.





Other great books I would recommend;

You can check out the other books I read this week on goodreads.

What are you reading this week?

Got any great historical fiction you would recommend?