Listening to Books is FUN!

I'm not living in Bolingbrook right now, so I actually have to drive to work. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to and from Tibbott School. I've been listening to books on CD in the car every day! It is really fun. Since the beginning of the school year I have listened to:

Life as We Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Heat by Mike Lupica
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

Have you checked out a book on CD from the library yet??

The last time I wrote I had just started a few books. I'm happy to report that I have finished reading them and many, many more!

I LOVED the Aurora County All Stars! It was awesome. The Tibbott Library has a copy of the book plus we have the audio book for The Aurora County All Stars! Be sure to check it out, you won't be disappointed!

I finished Black Duck and many other Caudill books this summer. In my next entry I will give my reviews of them and ask you some questions to answer after you read them! I enjoyed Black Duck very much, I think many of our fourth and fifth graders will enjoy it, too!

I've been very busy reading again! I finished two really great books!

The Facttracker by Jason Carter Eaton was AWESOME!! The author is always "talking" to the reader and having "pop-quizes" to make sure you are paying attention. I really liked the characters in the story, and it made me laugh out loud several times! There is even a dramatic EXPLOSION in the story!

I'm getting a head start on reading the Caudill Award books for next year. I enjoyed Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park. It is another great book. No explosions in this one. If you ever wanted to know how authors come up with ideas and how their characters change over the course of a book, you will like this one. After every chapter, Julia (the main character) and the author have a conversation about what is happening in the story. I liked this story of two friends who work together on a project. They learn a lot about each other, as well as learning a lot about silkworms.

Next year we will have audio books on CD for checkout!! One of the ones I purchased for next year is called The Aurora County All Stars by Deborah Wiles. I've been wanting to read this one since I met her earlier this year. I've been listening to it in the car. I love it. The author has done a really good job of not letting the reader know too much, so you want to keep reading (or listening) to find out what happens next! This story has something for everyone, baseball, pageantry, and a mysterious death of an old gentleman. I'm almost finished listening... I can't wait to hear how it ends!

I've also started reading Black Duck, it is also on the Caudill List for next year. I'm only one chapter into the book, so I don't have too much information about the story yet. Stay tuned, and I'll let you what I think of it.

Keep reading!

I just finished reading On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck. I had the chance to meet Richard Peck at the Anderson's Author Breakfast, he was an amazing speaker. I could almost hear his voice reading the words to me as I read this book to myself. I loved this book. I wonder if I love it more because Richard Peck talked about the inspiration for this book at the breakfast. It was a great story of a boy growing up in the United States during WWII. My Grandpa drove a tank for the US Army in Germany during WWII. My mom was born towards the end of the war. As I read the story, I envisioned my family having similar experiences. I had probably learned about all the rations that took place during the war, but didn't fully understand until I read this book. I will have to talk to my Grandma Irene about this soon. She is 90, and still in great health. However, I would like to talk with her about this before forget. It would be so interesting to hear her talk about how she dealt with the rations.

Meeting Authors is Fun!

February... The month of meeting authors and illustrators!!!

At the beginning of February I had the chance to go see Brian Selznick. I had seen him before, and was so excited to go see him again! His talk about his book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" was amazing! It is always so much fun to listen to authors talk about how they got their ideas for their books. I was so excited that I got to ask a question during the "question and answer" part of the program. I asked him how many pens it takes him to illustrate his books. He said "too many to count"! Since I already had a copy of Hugo Cabret signed by Brian Selznick the last time I met him, I had two copies of his book signed for the kiddos at school. He also let me have my picture taken with him!!

Anderson's Book Shop had an author breakfast in mid-February. So many authors... so much fun!!! Kevin Henkes and Richard Peck were the keynote authors. Kevin Henkes introduced us to a new chapter book he wrote. Richard Peck talked about how he comes up with the ideas for his books. I had read "Here Lies the Librarian" and loved it, so I was excited to hear about his other books. The Spatulatta Girls were also there doing a cooking demonstration promoting their new book. They were awesome to meet! There were also so many other great authors and illustrators at the breakfast! We had the pleasure to meet Jeffery Ebbeler who illustrated the book Punxsutawney Phillis, which I had just read about 15 times to the kiddos for Groundhog Day. I also met Aaron Reynolds again. We are getting excited about his visit to our school in May.

The last week of February, Scholastic Book Fairs sponsored Deborah Wiles at the Bolingbrook Golf Club. She was amazing! Last year her book, "Each Little Bird that Sings" was on the Caudill Award List. I read it and LOVED it. As much as I love a good fantasy or adventure novel, I really love a good "make me cry" book every now and then. Again, I loved hearing her explain how she came up with the ideas to write this book and others. She signed a lot of books for the kids at school. I hope they enjoy reading them as much as I did!

I wonder who I will get to meet next!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

So Many Books!

I've been so busy reading books, that I haven't had much time to blog on what I have been reading!

I read the entire Gregor series by Suzanne Collins. It was AWESOME!! My favorite character from the series is Ripred! Like Harry Potter, I was sad to read the last word on the last page of the last book.

I started reading The Far-Flung Adventures by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. I began with Fergus Crane. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading the rest of the adventures.

I finally read MVP Magellan Voyage Project by Douglas Evans. I found it to be very exciting and I had to keep reading and turning the pages to see what would happen next!