Monday Mini-Reviews and MLK Day

I have been looking forward to having this Monday off school for a while. However, I didn't anticipate having the flu (yes, the real flu. I had the flu test yesterday after three days of feeling icky and finally succumbing to a visit to urgent care).  My plans of accomplishing anything have pretty much been dashed. Instead, I am accomplishing a lot of resting up. Napping.  Nose blowing.  A little reading.  A little Netflix watching.  

And since I'm up right now eating some homemade chicken and noodles my neighbor made for me, some blogging.

I've got three books I've read to tell you about, and then it's back to bed for me.

1.  Escape From Aleppo by N H Senzai - set in Syria, Nadia and her family have a normal, middle class life until war comes to their country.  When her family leaves their home just minutes before a bomb hits it and Nadia is inadvertently left behind, she is on her own as she tries to get to the Turkey border where her father will be waiting for her.  Senzai does a nice job of explaining the politics of this part of the world as well as creating a story that's full of adventure and suspense. This reminds me a bit of The Breadwinner series by Deborah Ellis, and the ending is open-ended enough that I'm hoping there might be a sequel.

2. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - I bought this book right when it was published and then put it on my bookshelf without even cracking it open.  When our sixth grade literacy teacher mentioned it to me this past week and a sixth grade student came to get the library copy that same day, I grabbed it off my shelf and read it that night.  It's beautifully written (of course, I expected no less) and I loved reading the story of Woodson's childhood. This book is so deserving of every award it has received. It's a fast read (written in verse), but I had to slow myself down so I could really appreciate the writing.

3.  The Wife Between Us by Sarah Pekannen and Greer Hendricks - this is an adult novel that will be hard to put down.  It's getting plenty of buzz as a thriller/psychological suspense novel and this author duo has done a great job with it.  It is similar to The Last Mrs. Parrish which I also enjoyed, but even if you've read that one, I still endorse The Wife Between Us.  I did have a few things figured out pretty early on in this book, but there are enough twists to keep your attention and want to read to the very end.   I actually spent a few hours up during the night with this one, unable to put it down.

And, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a new picture book to come my way Be a King: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream and You by Carole Boston Weatherford is a beautiful picture book, illustrated by James E Ransome.  Each page share an idea of how you can be like Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. The text is short, making this a book that can be shared with young children, but also with ideas and themes in it that are appropriate for older students.  I would use this even with our middle school kids as a springboard for a writing assignment as they try to personalize how they could be like Dr. King.  This is a perfect book to share on King's birthday, during Black History month, or any day of the year.

If anyone has read The Wife Between Us I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Until then, I'm off to do some more resting (and probably a little more reading).