Summer Reading...Bring it on!

I have been walking around for several hours now writing blog posts in my head.  We ate on paper plates summer china, so I could start getting my thoughts down quickly before they disappeared.  As soon as I read Clutter-Free Classroom's Linky post my mind has been racing. Getting lost in a good book is my favorite summer time activity!  The link challenge:  Share the titles of books you will read this summer!

I was recently asked to teach literature to 7th and 8th graders two afternoons a week. Is that a dream job, or what?  First graders all morning and then reading young adult novels with teenagers in the afternoon...Life doesn't get any better! The young adult fiction category is one of my favorite groups of reads.  Before having a teenager I never would have wanted to spend very much time with a whole group of them.  I thought they were rather intimidating.  I've gradually gotten to know this special breed of humans and have found them to be humorous, imaginative, and hungry for adults to talk to.  The best thing about spending time with them is that I get to decide on the reading list of books that we read together and books that they get to choose from independently.  Here are three of my favorite young adult reads:

The Giver

Lizzy Bright and
the Buckminster Boy

Life as
We Knew It

These are three books by authors who have won awards and have other books written in their own special style.  I hope that when My 7th and 8th graders read these books they'll want to read more by these same authors.

Here are some young adult books I plan to read at this beach....

  

From my 80s Giveaway, I know most of you may remember being a teenager better than I!  Please leave me a comment about a book that you think I should read this summer and include in my curriculum next fall!

I'm also planning on participating with Heather of Heather's Heart in her summer book study of Conscious Discipline.  I'm waiting anxiously for my book to arrive in the mail, so I can get started.

 My summer reading will include reading some material by some of my favorite authors...YOU!  I love reading your blog posts. They make me cry, laugh and cheer!  If you have read this far, thank you for being an inspiration to me and following along in this journey of joy!