It's Monday! What are you reading? 10-7-13

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

My reading week was so-so, but my lack of reading time was made up for when I learned of some exciting news on Twitter and Facebook this week, shared with the world by none other than Adam Rex. On Friday he shared the following:

It is also my pleasure to announce that the DreamWorks adaptation of Smekday will feature Ms. Jennifer Lopez as the voice of Gratuity's mom!
— Adam Rex, bub. (@MrAdamRex) October 4, 2013

Now if you know me at all, then you know that I am the annoying gadfly that makes everyone listen to the audiobook of The True Meaning of Smekday because it is not only one of the funniest books ever written, but it's also one of the best audiobooks ever produced. One of the reasons why Smekday is so funny is because there is a hilarious and endearing alien named J.Lo in the book who has a very unique cadence and manner of speaking. So the fact that J.Lo is going to be the voice of a character in a movie where an alien in the story is named J.Lo, well that's just pretty darn meta (and epic!) don't you think?

Last week I finished reading:

Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Oh I loved this one! I immediately started Smoke after. I'm planning a longer review but we'll see if that happens. I'm feeling uninspired to write reviews lately and I don't know why.


Some picture books I enjoyed last week:

The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dusan Petricic
I finished reading this book and immediately began to cry. In fact, my dog Frank got up and clearly was concerned for me, as evidenced by this photo. This is another book that is awaiting a longer review.

Here is an interview with the author and illustrator


Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman
Yet another picture book text that can spark students' interest in little-known stories.

Carnivores by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Dan Santat
Carnivores have feelings too! At first I wasn't diggin' this book, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized my reaction as I was reading was very similar to my initial feelings about I Want My Hat Back. In fact, I could see this text being paired with I Want My Hat Back to talk about whether we sugar-coat stories for kids or give it to them straight. Carnivores can't fight who they are. They eat other animals. It's what they do. 

And how can you not want to read this book when you see the book trailer?
 


Currently reading:

Smoke by Ellen Hopkins


Currently (still) listening:

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
Yep. I'm still pluggin' along on this one.