Let's talk about what we read over break

Welcome back 6th graders!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!  Now that we’re back in school, it’s time to talk about all the great books we read over break.  So here’s what I want you to do:
In the comments section tell us in two concise paragraphs about your reading experiences over break. Here are some questions to consider:

• Did you read a really great book you couldn’t put down?  If so,  share with us!
• Did you struggle with certain books?  Getting reading done at all?
• Any cool reading-related gifts?
• Did you try a new reading experience for the first time? (Listening to an audiobook?  Reading an e-book? )
• How far did you progress in your twenty book goal? (or just how many books did you read in general?)

To make sure this doesn’t just become an assignment that you all come on here to complete without actually reading others’ thoughts, you will also be required to refer to a previous classmate’s post. You can always come back and comment later if you’re one of the first commenters and you don’t have anything to respond to.
This assignment will be worth 30 points.  Twenty points for your two paragraphs and ten points for adding to the discussion by mentioning something from another classmate’s post (and it should be more than just, “Hey _____,   that sounds really cool!”)


What did I read over break? Well I'm glad you asked!

I know a lot of you will be jealous to hear that I am currently reading the ARC of The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, the sequel to The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. It is just as funny as the first book, and since I listened to the audio of the first book, I keep hearing Bronson Pinchot's voices for all the characters in my head as I'm reading. It's a pretty awesome experience actually. 

I finished an incredibly spooky audiobook called The Diviners by Libba Bray. For those of you who like Mary Downing Hahn and want to move into a more young adult book, The Diviners would be a great choice, though it's 578 pages so it is quite a time commitment. But it is so good! It takes place in 1920s New York, during the Prohibition and Flapper era and the main character, Evie, has special powers that she's trying to use to help stop a serial killer.

I also finished reading a book called You Tell Your Dog First by Alison Pace. It's a series of personal essays about why dogs have been so important in her life and writing career. I loved everything about it because it was funny, endearing, and helped me find a kindred spirit in knowing there are other people out there just as crazy about her dogs as I am. :)

I read a ton more books but I'll leave you with that. I could actually write like ten more paragraphs about the books I read but I doubt you'd read it all. I'm just happy that two weeks of no grading or lesson planning got me out of my reading funk. I was having a really hard time finishing books for quite a while and my lazy days of doing nothing helped me get quite a bit accomplished. My final book tally for 2012 was 93 books. Granted, those are novel-length books and when you take picture books into account I read over 300.