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Top ten(ish) books of all time

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Yesterday I was talking about books with @mollybmom  on Twitter.  She has made a comment that she hadn’t taken me for a fantasy buff.  In the book conversations, I often mention that the particular book being discussed were “definitely part of my top ten ever.”  I said that to Jana during this conversation.  It got me thinking…  If I had to make a definitive list, which books would actually made the cut?  I tried to make a top 10 list, but decided to expand my definition to count series as only one choice in the top ten.  Here is what I came up with, in no particular order.

1 – Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card

  01 enders-game   01 enders-shadow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 – The Drangonlance Chronicles by Tracey Hickman and Margaret Weis

02 DragonsofAutumnTwilight_1984original

02 DragonsofSpringDawning_original

02 Dragons_of_Winter_Night_cover

 

 

3 – The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

03 The Hunger Games

03 Catching Fire

03 Mockingjay

 

4 – The Deprivers by Steven-Elliott Altman

04 The Deprivers

 

 5 – The Harper Hall Trilogy by  Anne McCaffrey

05 Dragonsong

05 Dragonsinger

05 Dragondrums

 

6 – The Icewind Dale Trilogy by RA Salvatore

06 The Crystal Shard

06 Streams of Silver

06 The Halfling's Gem

 

7 – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

07 Little Women

 

8 – The Giver Trilogy by Lois Lowry

08 The Giver

08 Gathering Blue

08 Messenger

 

9 – The 39 Clues Series by Various Authors

09 1 The_Maze_of_Bones

09 2 One_False_Note

09 3 Sword_thief_cover

09 4 Beyond_the_Grave

09 5 The_Black_Circle

09 6 In_Too_Deep_cover

09 7 The Viper's Nest

09 8 The Emperor's Code

09 9 Storm_Warning_cover

09 10 Into_the_Gauntlet_cover

 

10 – The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

10 1 Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone

10 2 Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets

10 3 Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban

10 4 Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire

10 5 Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix

10 6 Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince

10 7 Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows

 

Do you have any recommendations that might change my mind???  Please share!

“Voice” from a reader’s perspective

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“Voice” is generally associated with the 6+1 Traits Writing program.  I’ve never actually thought of it from a reader’s perspective before until this week.

This summer, I read “The Hunger Games”.  I loved it.  I was immediately taken in by the characters, the drama, the emotion of the book…  I loved the book.  I recommended it to my husband who is also a reader.  He generally doesn’t read Teen Lit.  It took a while and a few twitter recommendations from people who were not me, but he picked up the book this week.  He had it done within two days.  He loved it too.  However, his interests in the book were completely different than mine.  His first interest lie in the geography of the book.  The references to North American geography peaked his interest enough to ask me questions, look at maps, search the internet for further information while I didn’t even notice them.

That got me thinking about my own teaching.  When I talk about books in my class, do I think about the difference “Voices” of my readers?  I know that I try to find books for all their reading interests, but have I ever looked at one book and tried to see the different voices within it?  The answer is No, I haven’t.  However, I AM interested in trying to have that discussion some time.

My teacher librarian and I have talked about trying to establish a book blog.  A place where students could post reviews of books in our library and others could search, read and comment, or post their own reviews for the books.  I wonder if that could be a forum for these “Voice of the Reader” discussions.

What do you think?  Have you ever had these discussions with your students?  Can you share your ideas?

Thanks for reading.

Ideas please…

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Well, I need your help.  I’ve gone into my room 4 times this week and each day I have walked out with no more ideas than when I walked into my room.  What do I need help with?  How to set up the desks in my room…  The layout of my room is not ideal, however it is what it is and I can’t change much of it.  I can’t move anything on the diagram below.  In the room I have to fit 26 student desks, a prayer table, a hexagonal shaped table that can be broken into two halves and three small bookshelves (that fit under the height of the word wall board).  I would love to have a reading corner, but I’m not sure I have room.  I also want to make sure that my students can see the whiteboard and the SMARTBoard.  HELP!!!  Does anyone have any ideas?  I would appreciate all suggestions!

My_classroom_layout