the book stack

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I {heart} book stacks, which is one of the reasons I {heart} The meme, What are you reading Monday? hosted at Teach Mentor Texts. Here are a few books in my stacks around home…

THE JADE NOTEBOOK by Laura Resau, Delacorte
Press, a division of Random House, 2012
THE JADE NOTEBOOK by Laura Resau took me a little bit to “get in to,” but I ended up in love. I posted a little about it on Two Writing Teachers and will be coming back to it later this week for inspiration for some notebook play. I hope you will plan to join me on Thursday for Discover.Play.Build. Challenge (and experience first hand how to use this book in writing workshop).

WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE edited
by Amy Ehrlich, Candlewick Press, 2012

Last night I cracked open WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE: ORIGINAL STORIES ABOUT GROWING UP VOLUMES 1 &2 edited by Amy Ehrlich (Candlewick Press, first paperback edition, 2012). Oh, wow! For those of you interested in writing memoir or teaching personal narrative & memoir, this is a must have book. It features twenty different authors, including Mary Pope Osborne, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, Avi, Paul Fleischman, and Jane Yolen. Wow, right? Short stories are often hard to find, especially short stories you want to use as mentor texts in writing workshop. This collection does not disappoint (and I’m only a short way into it!). I feel like I’ve been given a gift each time I finish a story.

LETTERS TO LEO by Amy Hest
and Julia Denos, Candlewick Press, 2012
We just finished LETTERS TO LEO by Amy Hest and Julia Denos (Candlewick, 2012) as a family. Talk about voice! If you are looking for a mentor text to teach voice, it comes through loud & clear in this charming book. Annie is a fourth grader, dealing with the ups and downs of life. In addition to the crystal clear voice and whimsical illustrations, I love the way this book is all about the ordinary bits of life. Annie’s mom died a few months prior to the start of the book. We catch glimpses of her mom, but nothing that lingers. I like how this made Annie’s life feel even more real to the reader and how the processing of her mom’s death was true to a fourth grader. As if that’s not enough, Annie doesn’t only write letters…she writes essays and poems too. I would totally add this to my must-read-aloud pile of books.

Click on the image to read about other book stacks
at Teach Mentor Texts.

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7 Comments »

  4. You are so right about it being hard to find great short stories. I think sometimes it's because short stories are so unique. They really aren't just a shortened novel, they have their own nuances. I'm looking forward to reading When I Was Your Age!

  5. I love When I Was Your Age, Ruth, & have used it often when teaching memoir. It's wonderful. I like hearing about Letters To Leo. It sounds great for that certain child. Thanks for telling about your stack!