It's Monday! What are you reading?

I am halfway through reading Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan, which means I've discovered it is a story in four parts.  I don't want to reveal spoilers, so I'll leave it at that!

I took a break from Echo to read Oliver Jeffer's The Heart and the Bottle.

I really like picture books that leave a lot of the interpretation up to the reader, and this book has that quality through and through.  The story follows a curious girl who learns at the knee of a caring adult--until he is no longer there.  She protects her broken heart by placing it in a bottle, and we see her grow up with it hanging from her neck.  One day, she decides to release it from the confines of the glass, but can't do it on her own.  Who will rescue her heart from the bottle?

I was already a fan of Jeffers; one of my favorites is his Stuck, which I loved reading to my students in resource because they felt oh-so-much-smarter than the character in the book!  

Of course, I cannot leave out our previous Texas Bluebonnet Award winner, The Day the Crayons Quit, which Jeffers illustrated for Drew Daywalt.  The two were absolutely hilarious accepting their award at our Texas Library Association's annual conference, and who doesn't love an Irish accent?

         

We have a three-day weekend coming up; more time to read!

It's Monday; what are you reading these days?