I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I took the time to get some reading done, and shopped for book gifts on Black Friday.
I have four fifth grade lunchtime book club groups that meet once a month in the library. Two of the groups discuss books they have personally chosen to read, and the other two groups read books together.
I just met with one of the latter groups to discuss their first choices of the school year.
Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy is the first in the Skulduggery Pleasant series--and a pleasant surprise when I read it! The books are somewhat popular in my library, but I had never cracked one open until this book club. What I thought would be a kidlit horror book ended up being so much more--mystery, lots of magic, and a classic good versus evil conflict with an independent, feisty twelve-year-old female protagonist--and a centuries-old walking skeleton detective. I'll be promoting this series more in my library!
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde starts off by poking holes in the traditional fairy tale, and then offers six variations on the story.
More than just fractured fairy tales, these renditions are smart twists of character and plot. What if Rumpelstiltskin wants to eat the baby? What if the king really didn't want the (annoying) miller's daughter to spin gold straw? The readers in my book club thoroughly enjoyed the short story retellings of this classic.
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I love perusing the catalog of Bas Bleu, and can't wait to get these in the mail:
I'm adding Walk This World at Christmastime to my home AND school libraries...and adding it to the gift basket of a dear friend as well!
It's Monday! What are you reading these days?
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