So...what have you been reading?

Now, I myself do enjoy a good political satire, like something by Kurt Vonnegut or Christopher Buckley (see Boomsday or Thank You for Smoking), but I will be the first to admit that it has been a long time since I've read a book intended strictly for an adult audience.  More often, as a fifth grade teacher, I end up getting into a new young adult series that might interest my kids and I can read to them during read-aloud time.  After reading the older, classic stories that I love to read every year, such as A Wrinkle in Time and my all-time favorite, The Phantom Tollbooth, I decided it might be time to pick up something different.

The first book I read this year was Slob by Ellen Potter.  This was a great book for 4th-6th graders.  It followed Owen Birnbaum, who was both far fatter and far more intelligent than average, as he evaded bullies and teachers in school.  Throughout the course of the novel he is working on completing a strange machine that is supposed to help him solve a big mystery that is revealed near the end of the book.

Since then, I have been on a bit of a Suzanne Collins craze, just like the rest of the country.  I read her series The Hunger Games over my last work break.  Actually, I read the first two books in the trilogy in about four days, and then finished up the last over Thanksgiving!  I thought the stories were written very well, doing an outstanding job of letting you relate to the main character, Katniss. 

I enjoyed The Hunger Games so much that I decided to give her preceeding series, The Underland Chronicles, a look.  On Kindle, the books still have very high ratings (averaging at 4.5) but some people were disappointed when it wasn't the same type of read as The Hunger Games.  Some readers, it seems, didn't give the books a fair review by comparing the two.  The Hunger Games is clearly written for an older young adult audience, where as the Underland series is intended for readers ages 9-12.  The story isn't as detailed, the writing doesn't dive as deeply into the mind of the characters.  It isn't intended to!  I felt the beginning of the first book, Gregor the Overlander, was a bit rushed, but the book, as well as the second one, only got better with time.  If you have a young reader between 8 and 12, I'd recommend the series if he or she is into action fantasy.

I look forward to buying more books on my new Kindle and exploring the genre more.  I've read my share of young adult being a teacher, but there are many series that my students seem to love that I haven't touched yet.  Erin Hunter's Warriors series has been passed around my room lately, and of course the Percy Jackson books as well.