Friday Five

I'm always a little late with my Friday Five, but I love reading Kate's post at Kate's Library, so I hope she will forgive my tardiness each and every week!

1. Just this week I started my fifth grade book clubs. As usual, I have one group reading The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. This always ends up being a huge favorite when we recall books at years' end. My other group is reading The Cay. This is totally different for me, and honestly, if it hadn't been for my friends' endorsements of it, I never would have picked it. My students looked at the cover picture and were not impressed. I can talk until I am blue in the face about not judging a book by it's cover, but I am guilty of it, too, and the cover on our version of The Cay stinks. Anyway, Jim at TeacherNinja has an interesting post on the covers of The Cay that I will have to share with my book club.

2. Pragmatic Mom has a great post about the ten top children's books featuring teachers. I love her choices, but I have a few more I might add.

3. Each Tuesday night my girls have gymnastics. This eats up our entire Tuesday, and I (of course) bring a book along. I hardly ever get to read, though, because someone (the daughter(s) not taking a lesson at that particular time) is always talking to me. This week we discovered a kids sudoku puzzle book. Perfect. And, when I got home, I discovered a great online site. My oldest daughter is all over it, and I am impressed with how much my seven year old gets it, too.

4. Several years ago I knew of and used a wonderful website for book clubs. For the life of me,I could not recall it or find it. Just this morning I happened to be browsing through a book club book I own, Goodbooks Lately by Ellen Moore and Kira Stevens, and found the url. Awesome. I can't wait to explore.

5. Another great article that Pragmatic Mom has posted from the School Library Journal blog is talking about the 2011 Newbery winner candidates. I love looking over these lists, and can add a few more titles to my wish list.