What Am I Reading Monday - Brit Lit Edition 1.12.15

This year I've decided to participant in my good friend Jen's meme over at Teacher Mentor Texts. But I've added my own Brit Kid Lit twist.

I've also decided to join the British Books Challenge over at Fluttering Butterflies.  I can already tell that I will have a very large book order on my hands each month.  I'll be sure to share with you any great books I learn about from the BBC.

This Week's Book Perambulations

This week I read a book by one of my favorite authors, Annabel Pitcher.  Two years ago I read My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, which I loved and which made me cry big globbing tears.  I think I read it soon after reading A Monster Calls, so by then I pretty much owned stock in a tissue company.  I was a little hesitant to pick up Ketchup Clouds, mainly because I was worried I wouldn't like it as much as the first book - but Ketchup Clouds sucked me right in.  I was on pins and needles throughout most of the book wondering how this was all going to end and if there was some big unexpected twist - I hadn't felt such a sense of foreboding since reading A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz.  Zoe Collins {not her real name} has a pen pal, but instead of a peer from another country, it's a Texas inmate on death row.  Ketchup Clouds is perfect YA - one girl, two boys, rowing parents, SOME sort of event,  a secret and all sorts of small, realistic details that make it very easy to identify with Zoe. I highly recommend this book for middle school or high school students (and beyond!).  I cannot wait for Annabel Pitcher's next book called Silence is Goldfish!!

{P.S.  This book is readily available in the U.S. albeit with a different cover.}

Last Week's Book Perambulations

Last week's read was one of those "perfect timing" books.  I purchased it on bookdepository and my 4th grader and I sat down to have a look.   Ready?  It's...

Yes!  An Usborne book:  Lift-the-Flap Times Tables.  This book is super fun and I highly recommend it for parents and kids who are have a bit of trouble with those nasty multiplication tables.  I also recommend it for classrooms.  The layout is beautiful, with a particular times table written out in full on each page and then clever activities that depend on lifting the correct tabs, plus tips and hints.  There was only one British term that we couldn't figure out:  splurge, as in fuel tanks holding splurges.

Does your fuel tank hold a splurge?