#IMWAYR September 24, 2018

Each week I try to join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. 

Here's what I read this week:

Middle Grade

We were very excited to welcome Trudi Trueit and explorer Zolton Zakacs to my school on Friday to share their new book, Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret. Our students sat on edge to listen to Trudi talk about the book and Zolton talk about his life as an explorer. When Cruz is accepted to The Explorer Academy in Washington D.C., all he wants is to prove he deserves to be there and hasn't been chosen because his mother had been killed in an accident in the school's lab and his aunt is a professor. But right away he learns that his mother's accident may not have been an accident at all and the people that killed her may be after him too. The book is Spy Kids meets science geek. 

Growing up there were three other Stacy's in my class, but at least we all spelled our name differently. When Naomi and Naomi are introduced by their dating parents, having the same exact name with the same exact spelling is not a happy coincidence. Both Naomi want their lives to stay the same, having their single parent to themselves, but their parents are determined to force them to get to know each other, even if it means changing everything. Told from the two Naomi's points of view, this book is about dealing with change as your family move forward after divorce. I really loved how the authors let the reader root for both girls, even during the conflicts between them. 

If you read Inside Out and Back Again, you should read All The Broken Pieces. Matt Pin's living in America with his new American family. He wants to forget the war torn Vietnam he escaped from and the mother and brother he left behind because the memories and guilt are too painful. But when he realizes he is not the only one dealing with the consequences of the Vietnam war, he finds a way to help himself while helping others. A powerful novel in verse.

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Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below. 

It's Monday, what are you reading?

#IMWAYR September 17, 2018

Each week I try to join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. 

Here's what I read this week:

Middle Grade

Fantasy meets science fiction in this series by James Riley. Owen wants life to be more exciting so when he notices his classmate Bethany reach into a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and pull out some chocolate, he thinks he finally found a way to make things more interesting. He convinces Bethany to take him into his favorite series, a Harry Potter meets the Matrix world of action and adventure. But when the characters escape, things get much more interesting than Owen anticipated. Told from multiple points of view, HP fans and book lovers will enjoy this one.

Young Adult (Mature Audiences)

Have you ever wanted to live a different life? When Donetella manipulated her sister Scarlett to enter the game of Caraval to escape their abusive father and a forced marriage, she knew she was doing the right thing. After all, Caraval is a world of make-believe and everything that happened to Scarlett was a game. But now, in this second book the first game is over and it's Donetella's turn to play. But this time the stakes are higher and death in this game may be real. Fans of the first Caraval will find that there are many more layers to the game than first suspected. I can't wait for book three.

The stakes are not as high in the fourth book of Sarah J. Maas's Court of Thorn and Roses series, but you get to know more about the characters from the previous books. Told in multiple points of view, this book satisfies those missing Ferye, Ryland, and their court. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen to them next.

 This book is the satisfying conclusion to the Unwind series. I can't say much more without giving things away.

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Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below. 

It's Monday, what are you reading?

#IMWAYR September 3, 2018

Each week I try to join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. 

Last week was my first week back at school, thought most of the time was spent in staff development and with classroom setup. My students asked for a fantasy themed room this year so, with some help from Pinterest, here's what I came up with:

Tomorrow I get to share the room with my students. I can't wait for them to see it!

Here' what I read this week:

Picture Book

A beautiful book that tells the amazing story of how Malala learning to use her pencil and her voice to change the world.

I love this book about the importance of dreaming big.

Middle Grade

Emmie feels invisible at school. Katie is the popular kid. On this one particular day at school their lives will touch and readers will be surprised how it ends. Graphic novel.

Penelope is easily embarrassed so when she falls down and is helped up by a school nerd, she is quick to push him away instead of being teased. But the moment haunts her and motivates her to find a way to seek common ground when her art club and the boy's science club go to war. Graphic Novel with incredible end pages that explain how the author wrote and illustrated the book. Can't wait to use this to start a graphic novel writing unit this year.

Young Adult

In the future The Big Water has destroyed most of the world, but those living on the Navajo reservation survived. Now called the Dinetah, they survive in the new world among reborn gods and monsters. Maggie is a monster hunter, her clan powers woken when she is almost killed by a monster as a child. Convinced her power is also making her evil, she hunts alone until a medicine boy named Kai changes what she knows about herself and her world.

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Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below. 

It's Monday, what are you reading?