On My Nightstand August 1, 2013

I just finished Divergent last night by Veronica Roth. It started out a little slow for me but man it really gets going about halfway through the book. I stayed up super late reading it and then had to immediately order Insurgent, the sequel, on my Kindle. Technology rocks. I would have loved having a Kindle when I was 12 years old and waiting days and days for my mother to take me to the library! 

Anyways, Divergent is a great book if you love The Hunger Games and other Dystopian Tales. There is a great interview in the back of the book with Author Veronica Roth. I love when books add this special touch. It's so nice for students to read how an idea is formed and how the novel comes to life. They even show Veronica Roth's music play list that she listened to when she is writing the book. Writing to music is a great way for a writer to get into the mood of the piece they are writing. 

I am almost halfway into Insurgent and it's pretty exhilarating too. I get sucked into a good love story and Tris and Four have a lot of that great on again/ off again... are they? aren't they?will they last? stuff that keeps you hooked!  It also poses an interesting question about society like most Dystopian tales. Are we better off separated into sects of people that think and act like we do? Or is a mixture of personalities the way God intended us to be? Great discussions to have with students!!

 I am sure it's going to kill me to have to wait until October to read the final book Allegiant!! I might have to go ahead and pre-order that sucker now..

There is a lot of buzz about the Divergent movie too which is out March 21, 2014.  This is is such a great year for great books that have been made into movies.  Ender's Game will be out November 1st.  Catching Fire is November 22nd (already on my Outlook Calendar-my husband thinks I'm really sad) Maze Runner hits theaters February 14th.
I will be having a lot of great conversations with my sixth grade babies about whether or not the movie is better than the book! 

It never is right?

So that's what's on my nightstand now. After Insurgent, I plan to start Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Prodigy (The second book in the Legend Series) and then move onto a few grown up books!

:)

P