Reading list of good intentions (aka Winter Break Reading)

I'm cleaning up my classroom, getting ready for our much awaited 2-week break.  The table that also functions as my desk (a horseshoe table -- great for group work with students) is quite the display.

The Arrowhead water bottles and bowls of grapes are leftovers from our class Christmas party.  The snowflakes are  part of our collection for the surviving students and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary (more details here).  I don't know why I have 2 boxes of Kleenex.

This is me fine-tuning my lesson plans for after the holidays.  My friends and co-workers claim that I am organized.  One has even labelled me as a "linear thinker." I beg to differ.  The picture says it all.  As I write this, I should really be focused on finishing up my lesson plans, cleaning up, and getting out of here -- but the urge to write came upon me, so here I am.

Anyway, a couple of my colleagues and I use the Daily 5 CAFE in our classrooms to teach reading and language arts.  I LOVE it.  Each student keeps a "book box" -- a collection of books he/she intends to read.  

I also keep a book box (for which my blog is named) - a collection of books that I intend to read. Emphasis on intend.  In the time I intended to read these books, I ended up reading a number of YA titles such as: Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, and Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  Not really titles I would keep in my 4th grade classroom -- though I enjoyed them IMMENSELY.   I devoured them after my children were tucked in bed, and many a late night was spent caught up in the "one more chapter" cycle.  At 43 years-old, I am not a young adult -- but I totally love YA literature.

This winter break, I am determined to pay more attention to my love for children's literature.  I've taken the books out of my classroom book box, and put them in my bag to take home and enjoy.

Here they are:

In case you can't read the titles, they are (from left to right)

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Book 2 of the Sisters Grimm:  The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

The last book was The Guardians of Ga'Hoole #2 The Journey by Kathryn Lasky -- I want to read book one first, and have no idea how this one got in there.

Do you have any book recommendations for me?  I'm a fast reader, but don't think I can devour all these in 2 weeks.  I love reading, but I love spending time with my family more.  Luckily, some of that is easily combined for many of my family love reading, as well.   Send in your recommendations and I will be happy to add them to my list of books I intend to read....