It's Monday! What are you reading?

Thanks to Jen at TeachMentorText  and Kellee at UnleashingReaders for the weekly meme highlighting children's literature - picture books to young adult.  Don't forget to visit their sites so you can see what everyone else is reading this week!

I haven't posted for #IMWAYR since August! Yikes.  So these are the highlights of my recent reading.

Journey by Aaron Becker

This is such a beautiful illustrated and imaginative wordless picture book.  I love how Aaron Becker used the color red!

Locomotive by Brian Floca

I am a big fan of this author/ illustrator.  This book is amazing.  The illustrations are so detailed.  It is beautifully written with a poetic quality, but filled with historical details as well.  The illustrations compliment the writing so well - perfection.  I even love how the text is laid out on the pages.  I am a huge train fan.  When my children were young we always found old steam trains all over California to ride - from the Santa Cruz mountains to the Sierra Nevadas.  Our vacations always had a train theme!  Now, as a New Yorker I ride the Long Island Railroad!  Such a great piece of history.  I am sure I will have many second graders that will enjoy listening to this book.

Daredevil, The Daring Life of Betty Skelton by Meghan McCarthy

Love, loved this picture book biography on the life of Betty Skelton.  It's so wonderful to see all these great biographies coming out on not-so well-known people - especially women, doing something they loved even when they were different.  This one is perfect for younger students in grades 2-5.












8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel Divided by 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde

I found this book when I was visiting Portland this summer.  It listed on Oregon's Beverly Cleary book awards shelf.  It's a hilarious story about a squirrel that gets chased into an elementary school by a neighborhood dog.  Each chapter is told by the point of view of a different class pet as they experience the "chaos".  I plan on recommending it to my more advanced readers, who are reading longer chapter books right now in my second grade class.