Sorry It's Been So Long...

Well, I've been so busy reading books for my 40 Book Challenge that I haven't had an opportunity to write lately. 
Before our Thanksgiving Break I received a few books from the book fair that students purchased from my wish list and I want to tell you about two of them.  The first book is called The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky and it is written by Holly Schindler.  The main character is Auggie Jones and she lives with her grandfather in a poor part of town.  When one of her classmate's father starts the town House Beautification Committee, homes like Auggie's are in violation of the committee regulations and could be torn down if they are not repaired.  What starts as a home renovation project for Auggie and her grandpa becomes much more as they unexpectedly redefine people's perception of beauty.  The thing that I loved most about this book is how much it reminded me of Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. 

The second book that I'd like to tell you about is Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes.  The genre of this book is historical fiction and it deals with the topic of segregation.  This is a topic that I can not learn enough about.  In the story the main character, Sugar, lives on a plantation along the Mississippi River.  Slavery is over, but Sugar is without a mother and a father, so she stays at the plantation with the only friends she knows and continues to work.  The message in the book is important and powerful, so READ it!