Reading Roundup: February 2019

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February is a wonderful month for reading. It’s still winter which means it’s a great time to curl up on the sofa with a cup of steaming hot cocoa, a warm, fluffy blanket, and a great book.  This month, I was able to take advantage of my time indoors with several great books.

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To learn more about any of the books featured below or to purchase one of them, click on the cover art.

February Books

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

First Chapter Fridays

This month I started First Chapter Fridays with my junior high students. I had tried this one other time with my 7th graders using House Arrest by K.A. Holt. Read about House Arrest in my January 2019 Reading Roundup post here. Going forward, I decided to choose three books each week because I teach three different sections of ELA. Orbiting Jupiter is the book I chose for the last class of the day, my most challenging class.

The Results

After reading the first chapter of Orbiting Jupiter, all eight copies disappeared off the counter. I could have used more–that’s how much this group of 20 boys and 6 girls wanted to read this book. As it is, several of them are waiting for friends to finish. Some lucky student will be able to have my copy on Monday, because I finished the book in less than six hours. I was interrupted, or it could have been sooner.

The Book

Orbiting Jupiter is the story about love and loss. The narrator, Jack, lives on a farm with his parents. They agree to foster a fourteen year old named Joseph. They don’t know much about him at first, just that he has a daughter and that he tried to kill a teacher. I have to warn you: this book is a tear-jerker. You won’t be able to put it down.

This wasn’t the first time I’d read Orbiting Jupiter. It was a YSU English Festival  book  a few years ago, and I loved it then. I wanted to get it into the hands of more students, and First Chapter Friday allowed me to do just that.

The other books I shared on my February 1 First Chapter Friday were Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton and Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen.  Read on to find out why I chose those two titles.

 

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

I started this book in January. Nonfiction always takes me much longer to read than fiction. All I can say is: Wow! Every American should read this book. We’re so used to our romanticized and sanitized view of history, that Brown’s book is a real eye-opener. I’d heard of some of these events, but there were just so many more atrocities that were perpetrated towards the Native Americans than I’d ever heard about.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is definitely not light reading. There are many, many names, dates, and places. I found myself wishing for a period map of the United States. A map would have helped me visualize better. Being from Ohio, I’m not familiar with many of the western landmarks. I don’t know exactly (or even vaguely) where the Powder River or the Platte is.

I am glad I finally read this book, even if it did not have a happy ending. Of course, I did know the ending before starting to read, but I don’t think I really understood how the Indians were basically exterminated by the U.S. Army as this period is often glossed over in history books. They had so many reasons to distrust the white men. It’s really quite sad how many women and children were killed in the Indian Wars.

Update:  I found an illustrated version of this book at a local bookstore that included maps. Click on the image above to check it out.

Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen

The dynamic duo of the eccentric ex-governor of Florida and fourteen-year-old Richard track down and rescue Richard’s cousin Malley after she is kidnapped by a man she met online. This book is action-packed from start to finish–perfect for a young reader. As usual, Carl Hiassen does not disappoint.

One Tequila by Tricia O’Malley

If you like mystery with a bit of magic and romance, this could be the book for you. Set on Tequila Key north of Key West, main character Althea Rose is a psychic who moonlights as a scuba-diving photographer. On a dive, she and a friend find a murdered man and must solve the mystery to save a friend.

This was a cute book. However, the ending did seem a rushed and  a little far-fetched. Despite that, I am still planning to read the next book in the series, Tequila for Two.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

Nightjohn is a book that I read with my 8th grade students each year. It’s a short book with a lower reading level, yet is high interest for junior high readers. The lexile level is only 630–about a 3.5 grade equivalent. However, I wouldn’t recommend it for lower than 7th grade due to the violence, occasional profanity, and inferred rape.

The main character in Nightjohn is a 12 year old slave named Sarny. The master purchases a new slave, John, who begins to teach Sarny how to read and write in secret. Unfortunately, Sarny gets caught writing in the dirt, and the consequences are brutal.

There is actually a Disney movie based on this book. However, the film is vastly different from the novel. I usually use this as a comparison/contrast activity and ask why the film directors and producers made the choices that they did.

If you are interested in the Nightjohn film, check out the link above. It’s currently showing on Prime Video.

The Empress Holds the Key by Gabriel Farago

If you like action, adventure, and mystery, The Empress Holds the Key could be the novel for you. The main characters fly from continent to continent in this action-packed thriller that combines the present with the past.

A Dangerous Game by Heather Graham

This book is part of the New York Confidential Series. You can read about the first book in the series, Flawless, in my January Reading Roundup. A Dangerous Game is book #3. However, skipping #2 did not hurt the storyline.  In this book , an unknown woman thrusts a baby into Kieran Finnegan’s arms before returning to the street where she is brutally murdered. Kieran and her FBI boyfriend must solve the mystery and find out who the baby is and why she was left with Kieran.

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede

If you can only read one book on this list, this is the book to read! (Orbiting Jupiter is awesome, but The Day the World Came to Town is real-life.)

The date is September 11, 2001, and the United States has closed its airspace. Planes en route from Europe must land somewhere, and for many of them, that somewhere is Gander, Newfoundland. Thirty-eight jets land at Gander International Airport, bringing almost 7,000 extra people to this town of 10,000.  Amidst the chaos, the people of Gander welcome their temporary visitors with graciousness, dignity, and compassion.  It’s an amazing story of a town coming together to share everything they had with those in need.

The Civil Rights Movement: An Interactive History Adventure by Heather Adamson

This is a pick-a-path adventure book that I had my students read this month. I read a few of the paths, then read the book exactly how you AREN’T supposed to: from beginning to end. I wanted to see what every page had to say.  The book has three story paths with 40 different choices and twelve possible endings. It’s a great overview of the American Civil Rights Movement. I really like that it allows students to make choices and see what the consequences of those choices would have been.

Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton

Each year, my 8th graders read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  It’s been a favorite for years, and they often ask about other books that S.E. Hinton has written.  Rumble Fish is a book that I had read as a teenager. I decided to reread it so that I would be able to tell students about it. However, Rumble Fish is not The Outsiders, and the main character, Rusty-James is not lovable Ponyboy Curtis.  I may have students that will really like it, but it’s low on my list.

Born Survivors by Wendy Holden

This was the third non-fiction book that I downloaded from Amazon Prime Reading this month, and it was another winner. This is the true story of three young Jewish women who hide their pregnancies from their Nazi captors. Each of the women gives birth in April 1945 while the Germans are fleeing the Americans and Russians. None of the women knows about the others. I don’t know how these women withstood the cruelty that they faced and found the strength to survive. Despite the odds, these babies have grown up to be the youngest survivors of the concentration camps.

First Chapter Friday Books for February:

As I indicated above, I’ve started reading the first chapter of a book to each of my junior high reading classes each week. Students often borrow these books as soon as I am done reading, so I try to have multiple copies available. If I don’t have one for a particular student at that time, I tell him or her to write it down on a personal list of books to read. Here’s my list of First Chapter Favorites for February. To read about House Arrest, go to my  January 2019 Reading Roundup.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I’ve finished eleven books this month. All things considered, if I was forced to pick my favorites, I would pick Orbiting Jupiter for my fiction choice and The Day the World Came to Town as my non-fiction choice.

What have you been reading lately? I’m always looking for new ideas even though the stack of books beside our bed is much higher than my husband would like.

Happy reading!

 

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