BIG TIME BOOK AWARDS

Tomorrow is the day that all of the book awards will get announced and I just wanted to post and remind everyone because I am so excited. I can't wait to see who wins. I will be doing a big report on it tomorrow. I hope everyone is excited too.

Okay fine, I read Clementine

     For the past two months I have been reading a little book called Clementine with the third grade girl that I tutor. I have been tutoring her for the past few years and she has grown into such a great little reader. I had never read this series before, but when I started reading it I felt like Clementines spunk fit Brooklyn's. I will be honest I didn't love this book until the very last few chapters. It was funny at parts and it made me laugh how Clementine thought she was the adult, but I felt like it was too much like Junie B. Jones.

http://www.amazon.com/Clementine-Sara-Pennypacker/dp/0786838833/ref=pd_sim_b_7

     While I did not adore this story, I loved reading it with Brooklyn. She really connected with Clementine and asked a lot of questions. We used this book to practice her questioning and predicting skills. I love so much watching her grow as a reader and learner. 

     As a part of tutoring, yesterday Brooklyn wrote a book review that she has asked me to share with everyone... so here you go this is Brooklyn's book review.

-SPOILER- 

Star Review: Five Stars!! *****

Did you like this book? Why or Why not?

Yes! Because Clementine and Margret said sorry and were friends again.

What was the past part?

That they gave Clementine a party for her hard work.

What did you not like?

I didn't like that Clementine and Margret stopped being friends.

Would you read more of these books?

Yes! Clementine and Margret have funny families.

So there you go a book review from a third grader! She is so funny and smart if I were you I would go and get this book.

     Have a great Monday and if you are off for Martin Luther King Jr Day take some time to read with your kids. They will love it and you will be creating and ever lasting bond. Might I suggest Martin's Big Words. This is a beautiful book about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. with beautiful words from his has well as amazing story illustrations. 

http://www.amazon.com/Martins-Big-Words-Martin-Luther/dp/1423106350/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390224635&sr=8-1&keywords=martins+big+words

Happy Reading, 

Ms. Cara     

The First Week Of School

     This was the first week of my last semester of classes before my student teaching. I am so excited to just get in the class room and be an actual teacher. I am a person that loves school. I love the organization of it, how everything has a plan, and the teachers always know what is going on. I love buying the new notebooks for class and I am a life time learner at heart.
     I feel like this year has been a little over whelming. I have never realized how close I am to being a full blown adult. I will be graduating next December and looking for a job next spring. I will be wanting to move out and hopefully have enough money to actually live on. This all seems crazy. Today I just wanted to write about my classes and just show you all what I am doing. For the readers out there that are teachers, I would love to know if this is similar to what you college career looked like. If you are going to school right now you know the stress. It's been four days and I am already planning a project due a month and a half from now. CRAZY!!!
    I am taking Math, Science, Social Studies, and Reading. All of these classes are to show me ways for teaching these subjects to children. I am not always a logical person so Math and Science are not easy for me. I find history interesting, but nothing makes me excited like teaching reading. I have so many wonderful teachers and I feel so lucky to have them. I will however say I think I have a special place in my heart for the lovely lady that is teaching my reading class. She has really inspired me to continue to be passionate about teaching for my whole life.
    Lately I have been playing with the idea of be a reading recovery specialist. I think that I would be good at this. It would be such a great way to share my love of reading and help children learn how to be the  best readers they can be.
    Aside from all of this crazy school stuff I have been trying to think of ways to start saving money. I spend so much money on books and right now I am buying books more than ever. I have found a few web sites such as Thriftbooks (http://www.thriftbooks.com) and ebay. I also went to my local book and music exchange recently and that was kinda fun. I went with my date and he actually bought me book (swoon). He bought be the only hare back pigeon book I have and that made me the happiest girl around! Do you all know of any ways to save money on books? I would love to here how others have built their libraries.
    I swear the next blog will be about books. I have a few big book projects coming up and I am looking so forward to sharing them with you all. Have a great week and feel free to comment. If you just started school good luck!

Happy Reading,

Ms. Cara

Oh Hold on Guys Its a real Adult book

  Well I am actually doing a good job of keeping up with my reading goal for the month. I think I have this. This weekend I finished the book Baby Proof by Emily Giffin.

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Proof-Emily-Giffin/dp/0312348657/ref=la_B001ILIC6O_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389576981&sr=1-7

I have recently fallen in love with Emily Giffin and the way that she writes. I tend to not love the category that is known as "Chick Lit". For me that was always cotton candy reading; it was sweet to read, but it didn't give me anything. I picked up her book Something Borrowed. I got this book for maybe $3. I was looking forward to it being a quick easy read, but I got sucked into her story. I found my self seeing characteristics that reminded me of me. After that I read Something Blue. I expected not to love this. It is a sequel to Something Borrowed and told from the perspective of the more selfish friend in the book. I ended up LOVING this book. I read it constantly and couldn't seem to put it down. It had me laughing and crying. It was great. Then I read Where We Belong which is different than anything I have read from Griffin. It really touched my heart.
    Baby Proof was somewhat difficult for me. It is the story of a woman that doesn't want kids and marries a man that feels the same way. As they grow older the man realizes that he does want kid and this hurts their marriage. For me, I had trouble getting into it because I didn't relate to the main character for many reasons. I have first of all have never met my soul mate and don't know what that is like. Also she does not want a baby and that seems crazy to me. My whole life I have wanted kids so this was unfathomable for me. I did end up enjoying the story, but not nearly the way I liked her other books. I am hoping the next one I read I will like better.
    Have you read any of Emily Giffin's books? I would love to hear what you have read and liked about her books. What kinds of books do you read in your spare time? Have a great week!

Happy Reading,

Ms. Cara

Oh, Hold On Guys, We are Talking About a Real Adult Book

     Well I am actually doing a good job of keeping up with my reading goal for the month. I think I have this. This weekend I finished the book Baby Proof by Emily Giffin.

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Proof-Emily-Giffin/dp/0312348657/ref=la_B001ILIC6O_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389576981&sr=1-7

I have recently fallen in love with Emily Giffin and the way that she writes. I tend to not love the category that is known as "Chick Lit". For me that was always cotton candy reading; it was sweet to read, but it didn't give me anything. I picked up her book Something Borrowed. I got this book for maybe $3. I was looking forward to it being a quick easy read, but I got sucked into her story. I found my self seeing characteristics that reminded me of me. After that I read Something Blue. I expected not to love this. It is a sequel to Something Borrowed and told from the perspective of the more selfish friend in the book. I ended up LOVING this book. I read it constantly and couldn't seem to put it down. It had me laughing and crying. It was great. Then I read Where We Belong which is different than anything I have read from Griffin. It really touched my heart.
    Baby Proof was somewhat difficult for me. It is the story of a woman that doesn't want kids and marries a man that feels the same way. As they grow older the man realizes that he does want kid and this hurts their marriage. For me, I had trouble getting into it because I didn't relate to the main character for many reasons. I have first of all have never met my soul mate and don't know what that is like. Also she does not want a baby and that seems crazy to me. My whole life I have wanted kids so this was unfathomable for me. I did end up enjoying the story, but not nearly the way I liked her other books. I am hoping the next one I read I will like better.
    Have you read any of Emily Giffin's books? I would love to hear what you have read and liked about her books. What kinds of books do you read in your spare time? Have a great week!

Happy Reading,

Ms. Cara

Thank You Rainbow Rowell

     For the past few month, all that I have been hearing about in the world of young adult literature is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 

I was first drawn to this book because of the cover. The cove art is so simple and I feel like for me thats all I want; a nice simple story of love and young love at that. I also felt like who wouldn't love a book that is written by someone named Rainbow? How whimsical is that?
     I have personally owned this book for several months. I have wanted to read it and had a hard time finding time for it. I wanted to read it when I could really appreciate the story. As someone that is only 22 I feel very close to these characters. They swept me up and I will miss spending time with them. Here are a few things that I loved about this book...

1.  I loved the way that this book was set up. It had chapters, but each chapter was broken up so that the reader was able to read both Park and Eleanor's perspective on what was taking place. I liked this because it helped to develop the characters and made them seem more real. Usually in a situation like this I feel like the author loses their voice, but not in this situations. I feel so close to these kids. I wish they were real. 
2. I loved her word choice and I loved how she crafted the story so that the reading is in love too. I have read so many love stories, so many in fact that I really don't care to read them any more. I don't like to read things where everything is perfect, that isn't real life or real love. This is why this book is something special. Eleanor is a pudgy, red head that gets made fun of constantly and lives in an abusive house hold. The writer writes this where the reader feels like they are living and feeling Eleanor's real pain. Park is written in a way that you, as a reader have no chance of not falling in love with him. He is amazing, loving, caring, and wonderful. I love how their love starts and how they see each other. 
3. I love that this story makes you feel in love. I have recently started a new relationship, and I love that this book puts in to words some of my feelings. The book says things and suddenly I am like "whoa, this is exactly how I feel. This person makes me feel alive!" I love that Rowell shows what real, imperfect, first love looks like. I love it all!

These picture are all from pinterest. I loved them so much I had to share.

     I look forward to reading more from Rainbow Rowell ( Her amazon web page: http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Rowell/e/B0042IIWBU/ref=la_B0042IIWBU_st?qid=1389316095&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB0042IIWBU&sort=daterank). Eleanor & Park is probably one of my favorite books right now! I can't wait to read her other books Fangirl, Attachments and Landline which comes out in July.

 

 If these books are half as good as Eleanor & Park then I will be one happy girl.

     This book makes me so happy. I would love so much to hear what other people are thinking. Please leave comments if you have them. I hope you all enjoyed this. I hope maybe more people will read this book. 

                                                                                          Happy Reading,

Ms. Cara

Taking a Journey and Finding a Magic Tree

     Well today I took a trip to my local Book-a-Million and wanted to look at some books that I have heard about lately. As I am sure you know, books, like everything are expensive. I like to read books in the store and then buy the ones that I feel that I absolutely must have. First, I went and found a book called Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson.

http://www.amazon.com/Tap-Magic-Tree-Christie-Matheson/dp/0062274457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389137899&sr=8-1&keywords=tap+the+magic+tree

     I wanted to look at this book because I knew that it was an interactive book and I think that those are fun to use in one on one time with children. This book reminds me of the book called Press Here by Herve Tullet. This too is a interactive story that I often take with me when I go and babysit.
     I personally loved this book. I think books like this are very fun and they make reading feel more like a game rather than a task. I also liked the fact that this book took the "magic" tree through all the seasons and gave the children a feeling of power. It make the reader feel as if they are the one that is making the seasons change. It's almost as if they are Mother Nature. This is definitely a books that I will be getting.

     For my January reads I had chosen to pick up a copy of Journey by Aaron Becker. 

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Aaron-Becker/dp/0763660531/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389138449&sr=8-3&keywords=journey

I have been putting it off since the book came out. I have heard so many good things about the book and all the children's book people that I follow on twitter talk about it like its fabulous, but I will admit that I do not care for wordless picture books and this is in fact one of those. I opened this book to find that the pictures are wonderful and really something special, but for me I just didn't have the deep connection that I was hoping to have. For me, the best part about a book are the words. I love words and everything about them, from what they sound like out loud to the way they make you feel just because of how hauntingly beautiful they are. I wanted deeply to love this book. I wanted to make up this beautiful story about a girl that goes through a magical door she draws on the wall and I wanted to feel the magic, but I did not. Its a good idea and the pictures look like dreams, but I think I will have to look at it a few more times to have any sort of connection. I had a great connection with this video for the book, so maybe the next time I look at the book I will feel better about it. The book trailer is the video above. If you have looked at Journey I would love to hear your thoughts. You can leave them in the comments below or feel free to tweet me at @cara_farmer . I would love so much to hear from my readers.

     I hope that everyone is keeping warm! I know I have been snuggling in with a good book every night and I am looking so forward to telling you about Eleanor & Park. I am in love with it so far.
Have a great Tuesday night.
                                                                                              Happy Reading,

                                                              Ms. Cara

New Year and New Books

    I thought that today would be a great day to show everyone what books I plan on reading this month. With school starting I know I am going to start getting busier, but my new years resolution was to blog more because I truly enjoy it! I wanted to show you all my goal for the month and then I will give weekly reviews on what I have finished. I want to write this based on category and let you see what a variety I read. I think when teaching and working with students it is so important to read in front of them and let them know that reading is an important part of your life. It is a very very important part of mine.

Fun Read:

You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons by Mo Willems

http://www.amazon.com/Never-Find-Rickshaw-When-Monsoons-ebook/dp/B00EZ6OUB0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389018467&sr=8-1&keywords=you+can+never+find+a+rickshaw+when+it+monsoons

    We all know that I am in love with Mo Willems and this book is a true gem of his. This is a cartoon a day journal that he did before he was famous. It has his thoughts on his cartoons and it is neat to see his thoughts and what he is like as a person. I am about 100 pages in and so far it is truly wonderful and in a lot of ways educational.

Adult Read:

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Proof-Emily-Giffin/dp/1250042348/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-2&qid=1389018734

     I have recently fallen in love with Emily Giffin and spent my winter break devouring her books. I have started reading this one and honestly I am struggling with it a little, but I think it is because I haven't found the beautiful love story of it yet. I am excited to keep reading and see what happens. I am sure that the ending will be sweet and heart warming.

Young Adult:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

http://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-Park-Rainbow-Rowell/dp/1250012570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389019003&sr=8-1&keywords=eleanor+and+park

     I am so excited to read this book. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about this and on every best young adult book of 2013 this book has been right at the top. I am not really sure what to expect, but I do know that I am sure to fall in love with these characters. The quote on the front reads " This sexy, smart, tender romance thrums with punk rock and true love. Readers will swoon over Eleanor & Park." I mean how could I not love a book that is said to be a tender romance?

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

http://www.amazon.com/Hollow-City-Peregrines-Peculiar-Children/dp/1594746125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389019266&sr=8-1&keywords=hollow+city

    I am honestly freaking out about this book. I mean with a cover like that who wouldn't be excited? I am not normally the type of person that enjoys books like this, but when I read the first book on the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series I was completely captivated. The photos in the book are truly beautiful and haunting and the first book has achieved kind of a cult classic following. It is also rumored that this book will be made into a movie by Tim Burton so I really can't to see what is in store with the sequel. I just have to wait one more week and this book is mine!! 

Children's Chapter Books:

The Nancy Clancy series by Jane O'Conner

http://www.amazon.com/Fancy-Nancy-Clancys-Charming-Chapter/dp/0062277936/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389020029&sr=8-3&keywords=nancy+clancy

     I am a huge fan of Fancy Nancy and I am excited to read the chapter books. I am going to read them with some of my tutor girls so this is kinda a mandatory read, but it is a really fun one! I have heard nothing, but amazing things about the series and I am excited because I know that a new one is coming out very soon. A perfect and very pretty set of books to have in my classroom one day!!

Picture Book:

Journey by Aaron Becker 

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Aaron-Becker/dp/0763660531/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389020355&sr=1-1&keywords=journey

     This is one that I have got to buy! I have heard so many amazing things about this book and while I am not a huge fan of wordless picture books this book is said to possibly with the Caldecott award this year so I have to have it! I am excited to see what all the buzz is about and the pictures do look crazy amazing!

     I am so excited to review these books and I hope that they are all things that you may be interested in. I would love to get some comments about what you are reading or hear what you think about these books. I love comments and really hope to get some on this blog :) 

                                                              Thanks for reading and as always Happy reading!

                                                                               Ms. Cara