It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey. Kellee atUnleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.

This week was flilled with soccer. It is my last year to help chaperone the girls’ soccer team at the Hoosier Cup Tournament, and I enjoyed every minute of it. (Okay, maybe not sitting in the sun in 95 degree heat, but all the rest. Thank goodness for shady trees and a breeze!) Meanwhile, more tomatoes and apples wait their turn to be made  into sauce and canned.

I finished…

Amazon affiliate link

Jesus Prom by Jon Weece – My daughter read thiis one (she got it from a friend), and she asked me to read it, too. She had shared quite a few things from it as she read, so I was eager. I was not disappointed. I love that the book has a grammatical structure: Christians (and the plural church) are nouns in search of verbs. Each chapter focuses on a verb (one that Jesus lived) that Weece challenges Christians to take up and live:  love, be, see, die, talk, rest, turn, dance, give, go, suffer, remember, receive. Through it all, Weece shares stories from his life of just what can happen when you are not afraid to love people–all kinds of people.

Amazon affiliate link

No End in Sight by Rachael Scordis and Rick Steber – My husband brought this book back from his fire trip out to Oregon. It tells the true–and inspiring–story of Rachel Scdoris. She was born with a rare genetic disease that made her legally blind. That didn’t stop her. She ran cross country and track in school, but her true love was dog sled racing. She helped her father, who raised sled dogs and raced around the northwest. I was horrifiied by the torment she endured from some of her classmates and inspired by her growing strength and confidence as she learned to handle every larger dog teams and ever longer races. Ultimately, Rachael dreamed of racing in the Iditarod. She had to fight for the right to race with a visual interpreter, who would provide no assistance other than being her eyes. My only disappointment with the book is that it stops after she wins the right to race the Iditarod and completes the qualifying races. I was looking forward to reading her experience racing across Alaska. I did look up to see that she scratched her first attempt in 2005 (her dogs got sick), but she became the first legally blind musher to complete the race in 2006. Wow!

I’m currently reading…

Amazon affiliate link

What Have You Lost edited by Naomi Shihab Nye – I thought about not even including this one this week, because I don’t think I sat down once to read a poem this week. Oh my. I’m glad I can pick them up again in the week to come.

Amazon affiliate link

Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes – I’m just staring this one, but it sounds good. It promises lyrical writing and memorable characters. I’ll let you know more next week. It will be a perfect way to stay cool these hot days we are having.

Coming up…

Well, more poems and a visit to the past with Mother of Pearl. Now that my study group has finished Soul Feast, we are looking for our next book to read and discuss. Yes, our five week class that stretched into six has decided to keep going. I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations to share.

I hope you have a marvelous Labor Day filled with friends and celebrations–as well as appreciation for the work we all do, no matter what work it is. Happy reading!

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.