"The Alchemyst"

    I've jumped on the "Alchemyst" series bandwagon, thanks to Ms. Martinez' urging.  The series is centered around real life alchemist Nicholas Flamel (Harry Potter fans should recognize the name) and author, Michael Scott, brings him and his wife into the modern world and creates a fantastical account of the almost 600 years since his recorded death.

I'm only a few chapters into the first book, "The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel," but I'm enjoying it.  I love that the story and history of the characters refers to actual historical events, such as the great fire of London and the Irish Famine.  I can tell I'm only scratching the surface of what this book and series has to offer and I can't wait to emerge myself in it.

     Also, as many of my students know I have a fraternal twin brother, so I love that our protagonist is a set of boy/girl fraternal twins!

    Visit Michael Scott's website (www.dillionscott.com) to read or listen to the first chapter of the book.
 

Reading Slump

I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately.  I think I rushed myself to finish as many books as possible and now I'm burnt out.  I think to help get me going I'm going to start of light and read a classic that I missed out on growing up: Sid Fleischman's "The Whipping Boy." I'll update afterwords to let everyone know if my slump is over.

More reading!

When summer started I anticipated enjoying much more free time.  Two months off sure is different as an adult than what I remember as a child.  I'm making the most of my vacation by spending plenty of time with family, and reading as much as possible!
I re-read The Outsiders, but since I plan on reading it with seventh grade this upcoming school year I'm going to keep from blogging about it until then.

 I've also read "The Girl Who Played with Fire," which is the second in a trilogy of mystery/suspense novels.  I don't typically care for this genre but I've making hypothesis along with the series protagonists Mikael and Lisbeth.

Today I took a long bubble bath and finished Jacqeline Woodson's "Hush."  In this novel a girl's father, a police officer in Denver, witnesses two of his colleagues kill an innocent boy.  The father decides to come forward with and testifies against to two other officers.  The girl, Toswiah, and her family must now be placed in witness protection and moved to New York City. They must change their identities and can never speak of their old, happy life in Denver.  Toswiah becomes Evie and hates her new life.  Her family members cope in such different ways that she feels even more alone.  More than anything Evie wants her old life back to feel like she belongs and is apart of something.