Playing catch up still...somehow

So as I was counting my book numbers, I realized that I'd left out Ender's Game, which I finished a couple of weeks ago. That made me a little bit sad. But not really. I also realized that I am behind (again) because...I can't count, probably. I thought I was caught up, but apparently not.

About Ender's Game. A highly enjoyable book, and I won't bother talking about it too much, since it's been talked about a million times before. My only issue with it was that the part where the author gets to his point, the lesson of the book, is so short, it's easy to miss. I would have liked to see more on that lesson, but I have no suggestions for how the author could have done that, nor do I think anyone cares about my opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, this book is way beyond the majority of my students, so I would save this for either a student who is super advanced (I have one in mind already), or for sixth or seventh grade students. I do think it is an essential read, but I don't think any of my kids are ready for it.

Speaking of things my kids aren't ready for, I tried to read the book I bought last week, The Cruisers, by Walter Dean Myers. Found out in the early pages that it's not appropriate for my students. In one scene, the narrator is talking with his mom about how he's going to throw a party and drink beer while she's away (he's in eighth grade), and she tells him she wants him to wait until he's at least sixteen. She may or may not be being sarcastic, but I'd rather not let a fifth grader make that decision. I stopped reading it shortly thereafter since I knew it wouldn't be read by any of my students. Off to the book swap it goes.

By adding these two books, I will now finally be caught up. Unless I counted wrong. Again.

I have been inundating myself with books to make sure I stay on top of my reading goal. On Sunday I ordered The Son of Neptune, the second in my new Heroes of Olympus series, and Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville. It was recommended to me by somebody on Reddit, so I thought I'd give it a try. Then today, while waiting for a friend to meet up for lunch, I popped into a local independent bookstore (that also happens to offer amazing teacher discounts) and bought Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, and Fraction Fun, by David A. Adler. To top that off, I borrowed The Feminine Mistake, by Leslie Bennetts, on the recommendation of a friend. I have five new books to read this week, on top of the thirty or so books I brought home from my school. I had better get to reading all this.