My Summer Reading...Summer is Over Update

At the start of the summer, I shared a post explaining how my students had been allowed to choose many of the books on my summer reading list this year. You can see the post here.

As summer has now come to an end and the 2015-2016 school year is about to begin, I find myself reflecting on what I did, and read, over the summer months. I had promised my students that any book they wrote down, that I had not already read, I would get done this summer. This helped to spur me on as I read more books in one summer than I ever have before. I couldn't let them down (they had been so excited to control what I read and wanted me to read the best of what they liked) and I wanted to be sure to set a good example. I told my students that if I liked the first book of a series, I'd keep reading, but if not, I would only read the first one. 

Here is the list of books my students placed on my reading list:

• NBA Playbook by Fred Kerber
• Fangbone: Third-Grade Barbarian by Michael Rex
• I am LeBron James by Grace Norwich
• Animal Ark: Dog at the Door by Ben B, Baglio
• Dinkin Dings by Guy Bass
• Snoop Troop by Kirk Scroggs
• Superstars of History: The Good, The Bad, and The Brainy by R.J. Grant
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell
• Bone series by Jeff Smith
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
• Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• A Dog Called Kitty by Bill Wallace
• The Wickit Chronicles: Ely Plot by Joan Lennon
• Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelson
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
• Deadtime Stories: Little Magic Shop of Horrors by Annette & Gina Cascone
• any I Am...books or Who was...books

 I am proud to say that I didn't let my students down, and read every book that they put on my list.

Some of the series were really good, and I kept reading. This included the Harry Potter series, the Bone graphic novel series, and the Spiderwick Chronicles. I read the first two Percy Jackson books, but did not read beyond that. Book series that I did not love, and so only read the first book, included A Series of Unfortunate Events, Dork Diaries, Divergent, and The Wickit Chronicles.

I am glad to say that, even though I did not love every book my students put on my list, I did not hate any of them either. My students have some really good tastes in books and did not disappoint or provide me with a boring summer. I look forward to requesting another summer reading list in May from mt new classes of 4th graders!