Great Books for Kids and Teens: It's Monday 2/6! What Are You ...

Whew,
another rollercoaster week here!? The lows?? Both of my sons and I were
all very sick last week with a flare-up of our chronic illness and
spent much of the week lying around the family room uselessly (I really
hate being unproductive!).? However, on Saturday, the mail delivery
included two key items we've been anxiously waiting (hoping) for: our
youngest son's acceptance into the local Charter high school he wants to
attend and our oldest son's acceptance into University of Delaware (his
first college acceptance).? All that good news came at once,
considerably brightening up the week for us!? So, hopefully, this week
will be a whole lot better than last.

All those sick days meant plenty of time for reading:

• I am still reading book for one of my book groups, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about two Cuban brothers who move to NYC in the early 1950's and start an orchestra.? I'm almost finished with it.? It's a very good book, though a bit long and sometimes rambling.? I have enjoyed the story and the writing.
• I am also still listening to an audio book, The Power of Six by Pitticus Lore, though with everyone home sick all week, I didn't have much time to myself to listen.
• My husband, Ken, finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson.? He said it was very good, though not quite as riveting as The Devil in the White City (also by Larson).? I definitely plan to read this one, too.
• For a change of pace, Ken is now reading a suspense novel, Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman.? I think this is one of the books I picked up for him at Borders' going-out-of-business sale last fall.?
• Jamie, 17, finished Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, Book Three in the Chaos Walking trilogy.? It must be an exciting conclusion because I heard him talking to the book, "Oh, no!? No!", then later, "Oh, good."? He really enjoyed this exciting sci fi trilogy.
• Jamie is now reading The Whisper by Emma Clayton, sequel to The Roar which he and I both loved.
• Jamie has also started a new book for his World Lit class, To Live by Yu Hua, a Chinese novel.? He says it's "not bad" so far which is high praise for required reading!
• Craig, 14, is reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and enjoying it very much.? We will all be ready for the movie adaptation when it is released in March!

Last week, I wrote a review of Wonderstruck, an amazing, one-of-a-kind middle-grade book by Brian Selznick.? I also posted my list of Top Ten Book Club Picks and a summary of Books Read in January (is it really February already?).? And, just for fun, I shared a very cool video for book lovers.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, and a kidlit version is hosted at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Source: http://greatbooksforkidsandteens.blogspot.com/2012/02/its-monday-26-what-are-you-reading.html

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