Mr. Zinger's Hat by Cary Fagan

This week I read Mr. Zinger's Hat with all my primary classes at school.  Reading this book this week was a really good tie in because last week we had Michael Wade as a guest speaker at the school.  He is the author of the And Then It Happened series.  His message to the students was that anyone can be a writer and Mr. Zinger's Hat proves it.  The story is about a lonely boy named Leo who is playing in the park.  He meets meet Mr. Zinger who says there is a story in his hat.  Together the two create a story.  The book had a mad libs feel to it; Mr. Zinger would start a sentence and Leo would finish it.  I really enjoyed the story and I think the kids did too.  I think it might have been a bit confusing for the kindergartens and perhaps a bit long for them.  I also think the grade 4's might enjoy this book as well.  Mr. Zinger's Hat is written by Cary Fagan.  It is nominated for the Blue Spruce award in the 2014 Forest of Reading.

Clara's Crazy Curls by Helen Poole

I enjoyed reading Clara's Crazy Curls by Helen Poole.  It was a fun and silly book that was great to read out loud.  The illustrations were very well done.  I have very curly hair and the kids often comment on it.  I think I could really have some fun reading this book and hiding a few objects in my curls like Clara does.  Clara tells her mother a lie in the story and later confesses when things get out of hand.  Her mother accepts her apology and helps her with the problem.  I would read this book to the kindergartens and possibly grade 1 class as well.

Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe by Wallace Edwards

Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe is a repetitive story that begins with an old brown shoe.  I read it to classes kindergarten to grade 3 this past week.  I don't think the story itself really grabbed the kids.  I thought they might read along with the repetitive parts but none of the classes did.  What they did love was the illustrations.  They were all quick to shout out or put their hands up to let me know what they saw.  Even the class on Friday was pointing out new things that classes earlier in the week hadn't pointed out.  The illustrations are really great.  We've talking a lot this week how everyone can be a writer.  This was a good tie in because I started each chat with 'How do you write a whole book on the subject of an old brown shoe?!?'  The kids really did like the book and a show of hands indicated that some would vote for Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe to win the Blue Spruce award in the Forest of Reading. 

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu

All Our Names was a beautifully written story.  Mengestu is clearly a very talented storyteller.  The story is filled with a large amount of violence as the beginning of a strong bonding friendship is formed between two men through an African revolution.  There is a parallel story also being told of one of the men and a relationship he becomes involved in with his social worker in Mid-West America.  A common thread among both stories is the names that the characters are given throughout.  Names was a prevalent theme throughout the novel.  I very seldom give such thought to the title of a novel but All Our Names is so fitting and beautiful.

Ultra by David Carroll

Ultra by David Carroll is a nominee in this year's Forest of Reading Silver Birch fiction category.  I read this aloud to a grade 5 class.  Ultra is the story is of13 year old Quinn, who is running an ultra marathon.  As he runs he remembers things from his past, specifically about his dad.  There are many unknowns about Quinn's father and that is something we puzzled over until almost the very end.  There were many humorous parts of the story that had the students laughing out loud.  Specifically a chapter about playing urinal hockey which happened to be the chapter that all the mom's from parent council were in the room for - of all chapters!  The students really enjoyed the book and even asked me to read to them while they ate their lunch because they were eager to hear more.  I haven't read enough books in the Silver Birch fiction category to vote yet but I would be confident saying that Ultra will get some votes at my school.

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

This is Not My Hat is a great story that really got the children laughing.  The story is about a small fish that steals a hat from a big fish while he is sleeping.  You need to pay attention to the pictures to pick up on what's going on.  I love watching the kids faces as they realise what is happening.  The book has a great ending too that has children using their imagination on what has just happened.  We had lots of discussion this week on what could possibly have happened.

Close to the Heel by Norah McClintock

Close to the Heel is the story of Rennie, a teenager who has recently lost his mother but discovered a long lost grandfather he didn't know he had.  When his grandfather dies he leaves behind a final request for each of his seven grandsons.  Rennie's is requested to take a journal to Iceland.  Rennie is ready for an adventure and to his escape his tough military father.  In Iceland he discovers he's a pretty tough guy as well.

This past Monday I attended an event at a high school in Guelph where I got to meet all 7 authors of the Seven series.  I was quite excited and brought my oldest son with me.  It was great to see how many young readers turned up on a cold Monday night to hear them speak.  The authors all spent a great deal of time speaking with everyone individually.  Many authographs were given.  It was a great night.  I loved seeing how excited the students were.

There will be a sequel to Close to the Heel published October 1st, 2014.

The Husband's Secret by Lian Moriarty

My book club read for this month was The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.  Cecilia Fitzpatrick is an every day normal housewife.  Well maybe not every day, she's a bit of an overachieving do everything sort of Mom.  One day Cecilia stumbles upon a sealed letter addressed to her with instructions to only be opened in the event of her husband's death.  The letter is from her husband and she really can't imagine what it would possibly say.  She has faith in her husband and believes her marriage to be strong.  Yet, what could the letter contain?

The Husband's Secret took many twists and turns that I didn't see coming.  I quite enjoyed reading it and I look forward to discussing it with my book club to see what they thought.  There was one little thing that really bugged me about the story which I can't reveal without spoiling the story.  I want to see if my other book club members felt the same way.  So obviously a great book club choice because I believe it will spark a great discussion.

Without revealing any details of the ending I did find it slightly different that the author really detailed and finalized the story.  There wasn't much left to the imagination (other than imagining how I would personally handle the secret).  Maybe a better way to describe it is that the story felt complete.  There was nothing hanging.  Which isn't always the way I feel when I finish a book.

I always meant to get around to reading Liane Moriarty's other novel What Alice Forgot.  I will try and elevate that book a little higher on my to read list.  She is definitely an author I will look for more books from.