#3--Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

I have a confession to make.  I have a problem.  I have a really bad habit of buying books (whether physical books or ebooks) and then not reading them.  I have way too many books in my house that I have never read.  So, I guess it is a good thing that I'm doing this challenge....time to read the books that are in piles all around my house.

Today's book was purchased several years ago (yes, that was years) with the intent to preview it for school....and I'm just now getting around to reading it....

Andy is the fat kid in his school....no, make that the second fattest kid at school.  The day before the first day of school, Andy meets the girl of his dreams, April....never dreaming that she would be at his school the next day.  He decides that in order to get the girl, he needs to impress her by doing something manly and heroic--he goes out for the football team.  Andy knows very little about football, and hasn't exactly been a star athlete, ever.  And with his asthma, there is no way his mom will let him play.  Andy finds a way around these obstacles, but in the meantime, almost loses his best friend and himself along the way.  Will he get the girl?  How will he handle the changes to his social status?  Better than Ronald Miller did in the classic 80s movie Can't Buy Me Love, which Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have reminds me of. 

There are some funny scenes that made me laugh out loud as well as some deep-thinker scenes since Andy never really gives up his inner-geek.

I have a feeling that this one will be making its way to the shelf at school sometime in the near future....

Happy reading!

#2--Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

I picked this one up awhile back and simply put it on my shelf with the intent to read it sometime.  Decided I needed a quick easy read today and this was perfect.  It is the story of Colton Burpo's trip to heaven.  Colton was almost four years old when his appendix burst and he had to have emergency surgery.  It was during this surgery that he visited heaven and got to sit on Jesus' lap.  Several months later he tells his parents that the hospital where he had his surgery is where the angels sang to him.  He asked them to sing "We Will, We Will Rock You," but they declined.  :)  It took several years for Colton's story to unfold and here it is.  There were some points that I gigled when I was reading and others when I was sniffling away the tears.  If you want more information about Colton, his family, or his story, you can check out their website www.heavenisforreal.net

Happy Reading!

#1--The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I've been wanting to read The Help ever since the book club at school read it last year.  Finally got a copy of it from my friend RuthAnn a few months ago and decided that it was high time I read it--since it seemed like everyone around me had read it (including my dad) and I hate going to see a movie for a book I haven't read yet.  I picked it up Monday after school and finished it Tuesday night, after midnight--couldn't put it down, even for sleep. 

The characters and relationships seemed so believable and authentic.  I would like to think I would have had the guts like Skeeter, had I lived in Mississippi during the early 1960s, but I'll never know for sure.  Having never read anything from the point of view from the help, this was an eye-opener. 

If you are one of the individuals waiting for the Cliffs Notes version to come out, don't wait....it was worth every single word!!

Happy Reading!

And so we begin

Two years ago I challenged myself to read an average of a book a week for the entire year.  I was successful in that endeavor, so this year, I wanted to up the ante, so to speak and get others involved in the process, namely, my students.  You see, I'm a middle school librarian who is always looking for ways to get my students hooked on reading.  So, the idea is that one week of every month, my students will have a say in what I read for that week.  The other weeks, I will fill with books that I have stacked in many rooms around my house, many of which were lent by friends and family and have been collecting dust for many a moon, as well as recommendations.  The only rules are 1) a re-read doesn't count, 2) if my students recommend it, it must come from the library, 3) I reserve the right to not finish a book--and it won't count toward the total goal of 52, and 4) if one of my Langauge Arts teachers would accept it on a student's reading log, it is fair game.