Mini Reviews: Cinderella Part 1--Halloween Children's Stories

Since I am currently working on getting my teaching credential, I am not only reading a bunch of textbooks and articles, but many children's books as well. We started a new unit in our language arts, where students get to learn the elements of a fairy tale. The unit began with a modern retelling of Cinderella. So I decided to read a few variations of this classic tale. Let's begin with the Halloween themed ones:

Book #1

CinderHazel: The Cinderella of Halloween by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

Children's Book: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Life with his little brother, two-year-old Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Fudge is actually a tiny terror in disguise, causing mischief everywhere he goes. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he’s never far from trouble. He’s an almost three-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter’s had it up to here!

When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter’s pet turtle, it’s the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge for too long. Way too long! How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?

Amazon  *  B&N  * Scholastic

It's Banned Books Week!!!

 Yup, that's right. It's Banned Books Week!
That means that we defend the right to read whatever we want!

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical

Hello readers!

So this past Saturday, my brother and I decided to cross-off an item from our bucket list: to go see The Hunchback of Notre Dame! I've been wanting to see this musical since it premiered in Germany back in 1999. When I heard that it was playing at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts (which was just a few minutes away from me), I knew that I had to jump at the chance to catch this production. And I am so glad that I did!!!

 Watch the trailer above for the highlights of the musical.

Little Free Library Adventures #3

Hello everyone! I have been occupying myself with work, dance, and of course school these past few weeks. I have not been able to focus on any reads or writing any posts since there has been so much on my mind lately. But I figured that I should at least post one of my Little Free Library adventures that I had a couple of weeks ago. 

My good friend got married on August 20th in Santa Barbara, California. I made the two hour trip to witness my friend's most memorable day as well as be part of her wedding (I was a bridesmaid). My plan was to drive back home that same night but my mother forbid me to do so in fear that I would be too tired to drive home. So, the good daughter that I am, I decided to listen to her and found an hotel in Ventura (it was too expensive to stay in Santa Barbara for just a few hours of sleep). 

I have never been in an hotel room all by myself before so I was excited to take advantage of it and try to sleep in. However, my busy mind did not allow me to. I was up at seven in the morning and couldn't find a way to relax until checkout time at 12. By 9 am, I couldn't stand the quiet and the thought of being alone in a strange room.  So I decided to look up the LFL map to see if there were any stops nearby. There sure were!!! 

Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North

 "Okay, so the only way you could be reading these words right now is if you (SOMEHOW?) ignored all the very clear instructions to make a choice, and instead (again: SOMEHOW??) thought you were reading a regular book in which you can just sit back and enjoy the ride and never ever get to make any choices."
~Ryan North, Romeo and/or Juliet

Romeo loves Juliet. Or Rosaline. And Juliet loves Romeo. Or Viola. Or Orlando. It's Shakespeare as you've never played him before.

In this choose-your-own-path version of Romeo and Juliet, you choose where the story goes every time you read! What if Romeo never met Juliet? What if Juliet got really buff instead of moping around the castle all day? What if they teamed up to take over Verona with robot suits? Whatever your adventure, you're guaranteed to find lots of romance, lots of epic fight scenes, and plenty of questionable decision-making by very emotional teens.

All of the endings—there are over a hundred—feature beautiful illustrations by some of the greatest artists working today, including New York Times bestsellers Kate Beaton, Noelle Stevenson, Randall Munroe, and Jon Klassen.

The Eyes of Kid Midas by Neal Shusterman

Again...I've been lagging with my reviews. I did not log in to blogger in over a week. Since I read this one a while back, this will be a quick review. I think...lol

 What if a seventh grader could have everything he wanted? He'd make ice-cream cones materialize out of nowhere and zap up every video game he'd ever wanted, right? But what if he was also tired of being bullied and all it took to change that was to put on a pair of sunglasses? Kevin Midas's new look is more than just for style -- he's out for revenge!

Amazon

My Thoughts: I have enjoyed reading Neal Shusterman's books before. So when I came across this book at a library book sale, I quickly snatched it up. This was a quick and easy read meant for middle schoolers, but even the older folks could enjoy this one.