It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/9/17

I really enjoyed The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge this week – a mystery story with a fantastical element set in 19th century Victorian England. It’s an interesting look at gender roles at a time when women were not expected or encouraged to be educated. I also, finally, got my hand on The Hate U Give by debut author, Angie Thomas. It’s a story with its roots in the Black Lives Matter movement and was such a real story that I finished in a day and haven’t stopped thinking about yet. There’s talk about books being mirrors and windows and this story is both – a mirror for so many teens growing up in a low-income neighborhood, while it is very much a window for make teens who have never experienced what Starr, the main character, experiences on a daily basis. Angie Thomas writes very much like teens speak and although the language, sexual content, and violence may be too much for more conservative people, this story directly reflects what has been happening across this country and was truly eye-opening and educational for me.  This is a must-read!

I have finally started The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts by Avi and am already enjoying this high adventure, historical fiction story about a boy in search of his family and on the run from a crime he couldn’t help, but commit. I’m not sure what else I plan on reading this week, but I’ve got a bunch of ARCs I still want to finish before summer starts, so most likely I’ll pick up one of those!

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR