Fiction Friday

Amanda over at The Teaching Thief did this awesome linky over the summer called Fiction Friday. It was a great way to link up and find out about all kinds of fiction to use in the classroom. I read some of the best books ever last summer, all thanks to this linky. I love being introduced to new books.

I've gotten a few reads done this fall and wanted to share them, Fiction Friday style.

I finally read....

I read it a month ago, and am now reading it to my class. 

Maniac is a kid who is searching. He is searching for a home, a family, and love. Maniac stays true to Spinelli at his best: your heart breaks at the same time it is blooming for this incredible character. 

I read Fig Pudding aloud to my class this fall. I had never read it before, so each word I read to the Fab 4s was the first time I had read it myself. I recommend reading it before hand, because there is a very sad part in it and it's good to be prepared. 

Cliff Abernathy is the oldest in a family of six kids. This book is great at demonstrating that it isn't easy being the oldest, but it isn't easy being the youngest, the middle, the only girl, the second oldest, etc. It's a story about family, sharing, and keeping some things sacred to yourself.

The Lost Hero is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, based off the Percy Jackson series by same author Rick Riordan. I started reading this last week to see if it would be something I would recommend to my higher readers. It's a level W, so it won't be appropriate for most of my readers to tackle on their own, but would be great as a book to read along while listening to the audio version on an iPod. 

So far I'm liking it. I'm a fan of mythology; if you really dislike Greek/Roman mythology I would pass on this one. The characters are all half-blood children of Greek gods. There are many other mythological characters as well. 

I realized yesterday that this hits one of the 4th grade Common Core State Standards having to do with vocab. 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).

It's an action adventure story about several teens who find themselves pulled into a world hidden to mortals. I can think of more than a few kids in my classroom who would love this series. 

What are you reading this fall?