Thursday, November 6, 2014

Starting Over in November

smile bookWow, I'm just amazed how life sometimes takes over and before you know it another month has almost passed without a blog post from me. Well I'm considering November my month to start over. I'm making myself a chart so I can keep track of my blogging. Hopefully I can get some motivation from the stickers that I put on the chart. I think that one thing that will help me begin blogging more is I'm actually reading again. So my book smile for today is that I'm reading again! 

I was so overwhelmed with school and all the extra responsibilities that I took on (willingly) I stopped focusing on me. I'm hoping to make a change starting today.

20821124Two of the books that have really gotten me excited to read again are two from Penguin Young Readers. I received both copies to review. The first book was Once Upon An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I'm a huge fan of Oliver Jeffers, so I had high hopes for this book. I wasn't disappointed! I love that this is not your typical alphabet book the short stories are very quirky which make them more interesting in my opinion. My favorite story was for the letter "i" about an ingenious inventor! This is an alphabet book that I think will be very popular with my students!

22402972The second book that I received from Penguin Young Readers was one that had been on my to read list since I had first heard about it, Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I was so blown away by this book! I related to it as a teacher but also as a student who has dyslexia. I didn't struggle as much as Ally did in the book because I was fortunate to have a good family friend who was a teacher at a school for dyslexic students. She tutored me for three summers and taught me how to strategies to succeed. Even if you don't suffer from dyslexia, we have all had students who struggle and just need that one teacher to take an interest in them. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

So happy that I have finally gotten a new blog post up. Now to go put a sticker on my chart and find another book to read!

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)