The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (Neil Gaiman)

This is an interesting story. It's funny, and one I think kids would love. I'm a little bothered by how the dad is portrayed though. He's so out of it and so consumed with reading his newspaper that he doesn't even notice he's been traded again and again.The mom is busy and bossy, and the sister is a real I-told-you-so kind of girl. They're all people who seem to be in every family! It would be kind of a funny way to start off a Father's Day discussion....but then perhaps follow it up with a more serious book about dads (or not!) :)

I loved the artwork in this book. It's kind of bizarre - like the story - but fascinating too. I also loved the little blurb at the end that tells us how he came up with this story.

Sunwing (Kenneth Oppel)

Earlier this year I read Silverwing with my Grade 3 Book Club. I was surprised at how good it was. I decided I wanted to read the rest of the books in the series. It's taken me a while to get at it, but I finally did: this past week I read Sunwing. It's equally as good as Silverwing. There are lots of good twists and gripping moments that keep you on your toes, and adds in a touch of romance (don't worry....not too much).

In this book Shade is trying to find his father, who he fears is dead. There are still a number of characters from the first book: Marina, his friend who he invites into his clan, the elders (who are actually female bats....love that!), Goth, the terrible giant jungle bat who eats other bats (is a bat who eats other bats a cannibal?), Shade's mother, Chinook, and more. The characters in this book are very memorable.

I keep telling my own kids that they should read these books, and they look at me like I'm crazy, "Mom. It's about bats. How weird is that?" I felt the same way when I heard about this series...but it's well worth the read! I actually ran into a picture book while I was marking PATs that was about bats, and I was surprised at how drawn I was to it. I have a real affinity for bats now!

On to the next one! Firewing!

Great Estimations and Greater Estimations (Bruce Goldstone)

This was a book left by a teacher for other teachers to read. Such a cool math book! It's a great way to teach estimating. Fun!

Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Story(Steven Guarnaccia)

Goodreads summary:

In this quirky, artsy retelling of "The Three Little Pigs,” the pigs and their homes are nods to three famous architects—Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright—and their signature homes. Each house is filled with clever details, including furnishings by the architects and their contemporaries. Of course, not all the houses are going to protect the pigs from the wolf’s huffing and puffing. Which one will? The wolf, and readers, are in for a clever surprise ending.

This book would be a great one for our Structures and Design unit! It would be interesting to teach them about the three great architects mentioned in the book (Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and my personal favorite: Frank Lloyd Wright). Frankly, I think this book would be a great one for all ages)

Hey! Wake Up! (Sandra Boynton)

My four year old niece read this book to me tonight. Well, she didn't exactly read it. She totally has it memorized. It was so cute! I love Sandra Boynton! She is brilliant.

Little Black Book of Colors (Menena Cottin)

Book summary from Good Reads:

Living with the use of one's eyes can make imagining blindness difficult, but this innovative title invites readers to imagine living without sight through remarkable illustrations done with raised lines and descriptions of colors based on imagery. Braille letters accompany the illustrations and a full Braille alphabet offers sighted readers help reading along with their fingers. This extraordinary title gives young readers the ability to experience the world in a new way.

This book would be great to use with our Hearing and Sound unit in science. We had two presentations during that unit and each time the kids had a lot of questions not only about the deaf world, but about blindness too.

This book is simple and very beautiful and really gives you a lot to think about.

Extreme Productivity (Robert C Pozen)

I'm always interested in these kinds of books. It's partly a curse from being told that I have the ability to accomplish a lot. That seems to cause me to take on too much.

I'm always interested in being more productive. That being said, I am becoming less and less interested in these books. It reminds me of how I know what to do to lose weight, but am not so good at doing it. I get all the theory behind how to be more productive. I'm just not sure I always have the energy or discipline to make it happen.

Oh well. This one seemed like a good one. Read it if you want....or not, like I did. I skimmed all the main bullet points at the end of each chapter. Good enough for me.