It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6.3.13

Please visit Jen and Kellee over at www.teachmentortexts.com - the hosts of this Monday meme.

I'm going to summarize my reading for the past two weeks since I did not post my Monday post last Monday.  Still not a whole lot of reading happening for me just yet but I start summer break in FIVE days!  The end of the year is always bittersweet - but I'm not going to lie - I love my summertime.  So over the past couple of weeks here is what my reading life was like:

I finished:

I know some loved this book - I liked it and really appreciated it.  I know I am not the intended audience, but I do love it as a book that I know I can easily recommend to my boy readers and they will probably love it.  And it also gave me a good perspective into the mind of a teenaged guy. I will read Geoff Herbach's other books as well so I am able to discuss them more so with my students. 

Also finished:

                                                  

 

This book has received a lot of mixed reviews.  It has received criticism for  the lack of historical accuracy and how an 8 year old boy, being the son of such an important Nazi Commander not have a clue as to what is going on around him.  I personally do not think that John Boyne was trying to write a historical account of what was happening during World War II from the perspective from an 8-year old boy.  I read it as an 8-year old boy dealing with the struggle of having to pick up and move away from his friends and grandparents because of his father's job and trying desperately to find a friend that he could play and hang out with.  And do I believe that an 8-year old boy can be as naive as Bruno was in this story? Yes. But, he was also a smart and creative kid who started to put some things together.  I appreciated everything about this book and it is one that will stick with me for a long time. That's a sign of a well written story in my opinion.  

I started but abandoned:

I got about 30 pages into this book and had enough.  I'm not one to abandon books very often but I was cringing as I read this.  Anyone read anything by this author and think I should give something a chance? 

So now I am reading: 

and thoroughly enjoying it. 

Thank you for stopping by! Looking forward to Book-A-Day! :)