Book Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between

A Curious Tale of the In-Between
Lauren DeStefano
Bloomsbury
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In this haunting story, Pram lives with her aunts in a home for the elderly, is incredibly intelligent, and sees and talks to ghosts.  When she is forced to start attending school, Pram meets Clarence, a boy who has lost his mother and suddenly Pram has a living friend who understands her.  In attempt to try and reach Clarence's mother, they visit a spiritualist, but the woman recognizes that Pram has a special gift, and she's very interested in it.  She promises to help Pram find her long-lost father, but has other plans in mind.  Pram must fight her way through the land of the living and the dead in order to find where she truly belongs.

I fell right into this beautiful story.  It's dark and eerie, yet so beautiful because the characters are so loving and breakable and strong.  Pram has few friends--well none if you count only the living--but she values her friendship with the ghost Felix so much.  Despite his being a ghost, he is a solid, true, and important part of her life, but one she cannot share with anyone else because who would believe her?  Pram's story is heartbreaking, and it's even more so because we know so much more than she does.  We're told the truth of her mother's death in the first pages, but Pram does not know, and as she begins looking for her father our hearts break for her because we know soon she will have to find out.

This is a great book for your middle school students.  It has a mystery, danger, and even death.  Pram is a literary heroine that any young girl could look up to as she battles her own fears and insecurities throughout the story.  I honestly wasn't quite sure how this book would end, and I liked that.  A Curious Tale of the In-Between will be out on September 1, 2015.  Pick up your copy and enjoy!

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Book Review: Gargoyle Hall: An Araminta Spookie Adventure

Gargoyle Hall: An Araminta Spookie Adventure
Angie Sage
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2015
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 4/5

In Gargoyle Hall by Angie Sage, Araminta Spookie seems to get herself into trouble an awful lot--but that's only because she's solving a mystery and no one else seems concerned.  Actually there are many mysteries she's working on in this book.  With her sidekick Wanda, Araminta is determined to find out why her Uncle Drac isn't sleeping in the attic with his bats anymore.  Unfortunately her plans are ruined when her Aunt Tabby decides to send her to Gargoyle Hall for Girls.  When she arrives, Araminta discovers another mystery waiting for her to solve it, because a Chief Detective is always on the case.

I thought this was really cute!  Araminta will have a lot of appeal for younger readers as she expresses her annoyance with adults and their strange social rules. She has her heart in the right place and is always trying to help, but something usually goes wrong.

When I requested this, I had no idea it was part of a series.  I just thought it looked like a book my students might enjoy and I might want in my classroom.  As soon as I realized that it was part of a series of books, I was worried that I might not be able to follow along, but the story stands on it own.  Despite that, I thought there were probably a few things I would have gotten out of knowing the back story for all the characters, especially in the relationships Araminta has with different characters.

Gargoyle Hall is a great book for readers around grades 4-6.  It's a bit spooky with beasts and ghosts, but no scary, adding to the mystery and Araminta's quest to discover the truth.  The mysteries unfold with hints as she discovers clues and hones in on her Prime Suspects.  It's a fun and entertaining read and will be available on August 11, 2015.

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Teacher Break: It's The Final Count Down! *SOB*

Here we are, ready to return.  My summer break has just jetted by, spinning around and leaving me a little dizzy and a bit wary of the start of a new school year.  I'm slightly excited, as I always am, but I'm not ready.  I don't feel as if I have not done enough to get myself and my classroom ready to go for the year (do I ever feel like I am fully prepared, though?).

I guess every year that I have been teaching I have really made some major changes to the way I teach.  I've researched and revamped and created and planned away.  This year I'm changing the way I do things, but not as much as I have in the past.

Bad?  Did I not reflect enough?  Should I have spent more time on Pinterest (ha!)? Or maybe I should have made more time to read another PD book instead of trying to read more of the books I WANT to read.  Am I already too stuck in my ways that I'm not changing a ton of stuff?

Good?  I've finally found a place where I feel like my teaching is coming together.  Yes it needs improvement and I am improving on techniques, lessons, etc, but they don't need an overhaul.  Does that mean things are just going pretty well so I shouldn't worry too much?  I am changing--I'm not just pulling out the same exact stuff as last year--it's just not to the same degree.

So that's what my back to school "freak-out" is all about this year.  Time to mentally prepare myself.

Good luck to all you teachers out there prepping your own classrooms and fine tuning your back to school letters.  Enjoy those last minutes of a perfect and clean classroom while you can (I love the last few days before students come because my room is finished and it looks beautiful and it will never look that beautiful again until next year).  Get another book squeezed in, and spend some quality time with loved ones.  (Oh and don't forget to clean the house one last time because you know it won't happen again for at least a month!)

We have a week until teachers report, and two weeks until the first day with students.  Are you a teacher?  How are you feeling about it?

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New Book Purchases

Well I've gone a little overboard buying books lately. 

Today I received these two books! 

I'll be using The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore the first week of school as a read aloud and I'm excited to share it. I love the idea of living in this beautiful library with books flying around.  

I also pre-ordered Scrap City by D.S Thornton and A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano. 

In addition I'm adding a few Araminta Spookie books by Angie Sage to my classroom. 

 Love getting new books on my doorstep! 

Book Review: The False Prince

The False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen
Publisher: Scholastic, 2012
Source: purchased
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sage is an orphan, just doing his best to get find enough food to eat each day, when a strange man named Conner comes to the orphanage and purchases him.  Sage has little choice but to go and finds himself in a contest to become the lost prince of Carthya.  He and two other orphans are pitted against one another as they attempt to transform themselves into what the prince would be like four years after his disappearance.  The boys who fail will die, keeping the secret buried forever.

I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this novel when I first started reading, but after the first few chapters Sage really started to grow on me.  Jennifer A. Neilsen has created some great characters dealing with a huge consequence.  She also keeps many secrets from us until the end--some of which I had guessed, but others that surprised me because I just assumed otherwise.  I like not always being right about twists.

The plot moves along quickly.  With only two weeks for the boys to prepare for the final selection of who will be presented at court, there is a lot to cram in there, but Neilsen managed to do this without it feeling like a grocery check list of skills for them to learn and problems that needed to pop up in the middle of it all.  Sage is a character who can't keep his mouth shut and always finds himself in more trouble than his peers, but he also earns the respect and care of others, which helps him when he's in the most trouble.  The question is whether this is enough to keep him alive and help him win the title of the false prince.

This is a great choice for anyone who enjoys fantasy novels.  The quick moving story and many problems in which Sage finds himself will appeal to most readers, especially those reluctant readers.  There are two other books that follow The False Prince and I will definitely be trying to get those in soon.

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Sunday Status: A Curious Tale of the In-Between

A Curious Tale of the In-Between

Lauren DeStefano

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 

Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review 

"To find her father, the only tools Pram had were some old photos, a compass (which she wore around her neck for safekeeping), and a name: Maxwell Baines (66)." 

Pram is a young girl with a unique ability-- she can see and talk to ghosts.  Her mother died in childbirth, but Pram has never seen her ghost. When she meets a friend whose mother has recently died, she tells him the truth, trusting him with this huge secret and hoping for his help in searching for the father she never met. 

Based on the description there is much more to it than this, but I haven't made it far enough in to really see where it's headed.  I like Pram and I'm already concerned about her well-being. Her friends (both the alive and dead) are not as compelling, but I'm expecting more from the two if them as I read. 

Teacher Break: My Classroom Library

I'm almost finished with my classroom library.  There are a few more books here and there that I need to bring from home and/or label and fix up, then I'll have them all in there.

Here is one side of my library.  Above it is my star reading chart where students' names will go as they read books.  

The other side of my library.  I feel like I lost a books last year.  I'll just have to buy more!!

And part of my Golden Recommendation Shelf.

It's not golden--that's okay.  It's still the thought.  I may decorate with some golden duct tape if I get a chance before school starts.  I won't actually have the books out there the first day or two school.  I'll let it build some suspense and see if that piques interest.

The directions for books from this shelf.  

So if nothing else, I'll have my library.  Who wants to take bets on how long it stays nice and neat?  I'm betting two and a half days, and that's a long shot!