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
Jeffery Magee might have had a normal life if his parents weren't killed in a freak accident. Instead he finds himself living on the street between two parts of a racially divided town, trying to figure why these two groups think of themselves as so different when they really have a lot in common. A modern classic that can still be enjoyed and discussed by today's kids.
This is the second graphic memoir from Shannon Hale and I loved the way she took the events of the first book and showed how even though she thought she had life and friendship figured out, as we age those same things get more complicated. Shannon also does a good job of sharing how anxiety was a challenge in her life. I wish I had this book when I was in middle school. Shannon's questions and thoughts resonated with me because I felt the same way when I was her age (and I'm pretty sure I am her age). Even though kids today have some differences such as technology and cell phones, the thoughtful questions she asks about love and life and friendship are still being asked by tweens and teens today.
Young Adult
When seventeen-year-old Zoe is caught in a snowstorm with her brother and their dogs, all she can think is she needs to find them shelter. The fact that the neighbor's house, which should be empty looks lived in doesn't occur to her until after a man living there kills her dog and threatens her life. But just when things seem hopeless, a mysterious, good looking stranger comes out of the ice to save the day. As Zoe finds out more about this stranger, who she names X, she finds out that there is much she doesn't know about her world, X, and her neighbors and how they connect to the "death" of her father. Told in multiple points of view, this story will have you on the edge of your seat.
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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.
