It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 8-11-14

Thanks to our dynamic hosts: Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kelle at Unleashing Readers.
Head to either blog to find reviews as well as dozens of links to other blogs filled with reviews!

What I Read this Week:

Hope is a Ferris Wheel by Robin Herrera
Amulet Books, 2014
Realistic Fiction
261 pages
Recommended for grades 5-8

Inside these pages is a beautiful story of one young girl named Star navigating her way through the confusion of figuring out who she is.  Who is her father, and why has he been absent from her life?  Why do the kids at her new school think Treasure Trailers is such a bad place to live?  What's going on with her older sister who suddenly seems to be distancing herself from Star?
All these things swirl through Star's mind, tough to pin down for long.  Then one day she looks up to see Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" on the chalkboard, and things begin to change.
Star begins a club at school where she and others can study the works of Dickinson.  The thread of hope becomes something to bind Star with unlikely friends and the hope of finding her father.
There are some heavy issues in this lovely story, so know your reader (and their parents!).  I can't spoil the story with specifics, but if it weren't for a big twist I would say this would work for 4th graders too.
In the end, I was not ready to close this one.  I miss Star, and deeply wish I could follow her for just a little bit longer.

Bonus: Discussion questions in the back of the book give readers a chance to go deeper in their reflections...and to spend a little more time with these awesome characters!

I'm Currently Reading:

Because if it's creepy and mysterious I just can't resist it!

(On audio)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful reading week!


Comments

  1. All of those books are in my TBR pile! I'm most interested in getting to Dragonfly. One of these days...

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    1. People have been raving about Dragonfly, so I had to check it out!

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  2. Wow, Nicole, your review of Hope Is a Ferris Wheel has me itching to read that one ASAP! I did buy Dragonfly recently but it's just sitting in the ever-growing pile!

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    1. The piles are never-ending! Which is both a curse and an awesome blessing!

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  3. Isn't Hope is a Ferris Wheel wonderful Both my daughter and I adored it! Looking forward to more from this author.

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    1. Well, when I saw that you two had loved it I had to shimmy it out of my TBR pile to put it on deck. So glad I did!

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  4. Hello there Nicole - Hope is a Ferris Wheel sounds like a beautiful read. The Thickety is a new-to-me book, thanks for highlighting it! :)

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    1. Hi Myra,
      Hope is a Ferris Wheel was so special and sweet, and I actually feel like I want to spend more time with those characters, they were so distinct. The Thickety is unique-awesome art embellishments, and a dark story so far. The opening scene puts it up there for which grade I would recommend it for...kind of scary and violent.

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