What I Am Reading Now....

As a middle school librarian, I try to read books that I can recommend to my students.  Now that we are in full Battle of the Books practice mode, I am trying to read as many Battle of the Books books that I can so that I can write practice questions for the students.

I just finished The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=100515

This is a wonderful book that takes place in New York in 1967.  It is about a seventh grader named Holling Hoodhood.  That's correct....Holling Hoodhood--(I know the nerve of those parents!).  Holling is neither Jewish nor Catholic, so on Wednesday afternoons(instead of joining his classmates at Catholic school or Hebrew school), he reports to his language arts teacher, Mrs. Baker, who teaches him Shakespeare.  Holling discovers the underlying meaning of much of the Shakespearian terminology and proceeds to use in it in places where he otherwise might use a curse word.  This book is funny, for the most part.  Holling (bless his heart) has to deal with quite a bit of bullying and sometimes makes choices that do not help his cause. As I read this book, I found it predictable because I was able to tell what kind of life Holling had after the first few chapters.  I recommend it to anyone who enjoys middle grade humor yet at the same time can relate to being picked on.

I have just started Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/318404.Drums_Girls_And_Dangerous_Pie

So far, this book has had its funny moments, but it is real quick to slap you back into reality. The main character, Steven, loves to play the drums. He is in middle school and has a five year old brother, Jeffrey, who gets on his nerves. One morning, Steven is fixing oatmeal for Jeffrey, who is sitting on a barstool. Jeffrey somehow falls off the barstool and Steven gets blamed for his bloody nose that will not stop bleeding.  Jeffrey is whisked off to the ER by their mother and Steven spends all day at school trying not to think about Jeffrey.  After school, Steven returns home to find out that his brother does not just have a bloody nose.  He has ALL, which is a form of leukemia.    That's about as far as I have gotten.  I want to go and pick it up right now and continue reading it.  I think I will...but before I do that, I wanted to share this jewel with you:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Belle-Weather/Celia-Rivenbark/e/9780312362997

Yes it's Belle Weather Mostly Sunny with A Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits by Celia Rivenbark.  This is my adult book right now.  I have only read one chapter of this so far and it is great.  It is a lot like her other books--full of southern colloquialisms and sarcasm.  I love it!  I look forward to laughing out loud as I read this.

That's what I am reading right now.  How about you?