Like I have said in previous posts one of my favorite things to do during the summer is READ! In our house during the summer, we try and make it a priority to turn the TV off more and read in the evenings. Living in our new house my favorite thing to do is to put the screened in porch lights on and read out there in the evening after the kid have gone to bed. Here are the books that I have read this summer:
I started the summer out by reading Standards-Based Learning in Action. Our school has been doing standards based grading for 2 years now, so as a faculty we all have been reading this book to help grow our teaching and grading. This book gave a very comprehensive look at what standards-based grading look like in action, from giving formative assessments to using data to inform instruction to transitioning to a standards-based grading system. It was very insightful and gave me many idea on how to improve in the classroom.
The next two books I read this summer are part of a 3 part series. The 3rd book does not come out until October and I cannot wait. The stetting of these book is in St. John... how perfect for a summer beach read! The books center around the main character, Irene Steele. In the 1st book Winter in Paradise, Irene rings in the new year one cold and snowy night, everything she thought she knew falls to pieces with a shocking phone call: her husband, who was away on a business trip has been killed in a helicopter crash. She heads right to St. John and discovers that her husband has been living a secret life.
The 2nd book, Trouble in Paradise picks up a year later. Irene continues to search and find out more about the 2nd life her husband had been living in the beautiful St. John. Now Irene and her two sons go back to St. John to determine the truth about the mysterious life and death of the man they thought they knew. Both of these books were very exciting and hard to close each night. I kept wanting to find out the mystery of the plot. I look forward to the 3rd book coming out in October.
Another favorite I read this summer, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen, is a surprising tale of possible murder. For years, rumors of the Marsh Girl have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town in NC. The book starts off when the handsome Chase Andrews is found dead. Everyone in town immediately suspect the Marsh Girl, Kya Clark, is to blame. The book continues with getting to know Kya, who has survived for years alone in the marsh and she calls home, finding friend in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Again this was a page turner to find out who the true killer of Chase Andrews is.
The last book I have read up until this point, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. This was a powerful historic novel, based on real life scandals in which Georgia Tann, director of an adoption organization in TN, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country. In this book it goes back and forth from present day to Memphis in the 1930s. In 1930, twelve year old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live aboard their family's boat on the Mississippi River. Their father rushes their mother to the hospital to have a baby and Rill- the oldest sibling is in charge. The children are taken away from their home one night and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage. The children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parent- however they quickly discover that this is a lie. The siblings fight to stay together and alive.
The book then bounces back and forth to current day in SC to Avery Stafford, who is born into wealth and politics. Avery begins to look into her family's hidden history and leads into some devastating truths about the TN Children's Home orphanage.
Edit: I have read one more book on our trip to Mobile. This book, The Lies that Bind, was such a good book that I read it in 4 days. In a another wonderful book by Emily Giffin, main character Cecily lives in NYC and is faced with the tragedies of 9-11. Throughout this page turner there is also plenty of love, heartbreak, family drama, and unexpected twists and turns. This is a must read for anyone who is a big Emily Giffin fan or just looking for a quick easy read.
Well, these are the books I have picked up this summer so far. Let me know if you have other recommendations.
