Summer Challenge Weeks 1-3

As I mentioned before, I began reading a book three days into my summer vacation because I finally had the free time to do so. Three weeks later, I have decided to continue by reading a book a week.

Here are my first three in review:
Week 1: Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot

• This is the fourth book in the Heather Wells mystery series. Heather Wells is a former pop star who is the assistant dorm director of Fisher Hall at New York College. Despite the administration's best efforts, Fisher Hall's nickname "Death Dorm" isn't going away any time soon, because people keep dying.  I love Cabot's style of writing, and this was a quick read for me. While Cabot is well known for her young adult fiction such as The Princess Diaries, her writing for 20-somethings is also worth reading.

Week 2: Persepolis by Majane Satrapi

• Many schools have started to incorporate Persepolis into their curriculum, and since English teachers and my husband  have recommended it as a "good read," I thought I should see what everyone has been talking about. This book begins with a ten-year-old girl who is growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and moves through her early teen years. This graphic novel (think cartoon strip in book form) is a pager turner. I know next to nothing about Iran's history, but even with my limited historical knowledge, I was thoroughly engaged by Satrapi's memoir.

Week 3: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

• A dear friend recommended this book to me, and I had no clue what I was getting into. Flavia de Luce is a precocious eleven-year-old who finds herself smack dab in the middle of a murder mystery. Bradley's elevated vocabulary made me feel as though I were reading a novel of literary merit equal to something from Jane Austen. Even with a main character quite younger than myself, I felt challenged and engaged by his descriptive writing, elevated vocabulary, and lovable main character. I will also be using an excerpt or two when teaching narrative writing to students, because this is an amazing example of good writing.