In My Mailbox - Scholastic Warehouse SALE!

In My Mailbox is a fun weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where book bloggers share what books they got this week from the library, bought, publishers, etc.

On Friday afternoon after school got out, I headed to the Scholastic warehouse for the first day of their warehouse sale! Educators were able to get a fast pass for the first day and got to shop, shop, shop, till we dropped! Have you ever been in a warehouse full of books? No? Me either!

I went in there on a budget though. It's Christmas, and I needed to be responsible. I had a coupon for $10 off $50, so $50 was my limit.

I think I did pretty good. Here's my haul, and it only came to $41!

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer - this one is a science fiction book that we read for children's lit, and I really liked it. I think I need to review this one on here...

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - I haven't read this classic, so I figured I would pick it up.

First Light by Rebecca Stead - I absolutely loved When You Reach Me (which is so fun because it has so many A Wrinkle In Time references), so I figured I would pick up Stead's first book

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne - this is a historical fiction must read for the middle grades, if you ask me. I cannot wait to use this book (or movie) in a lesson to teach about the Holocaust. (Yes, these are the things I think about - I CAN'T WAIT)

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi - This was a total impulse buy. It looked really good and it was really cheap so I grabbed it!

The Maze Runner by James Dashner - A more recent classic that I haven't read, but have been meaning too. I can't wait to read this one.

The Line by Teri Hall - This book looks awesome (look up the cover!) and was listed as a nominee for the YALSA quick picks for reluctant readers - so that tells me it's definitely an engaging read!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - I know most of you have probably heard of the movie by now, but if you haven't at least picked up the book and flipped through it, you are seriously missing out! Hugo is a graphic novel and the drawings inside are simply A-MAZ-ING! I can't wait to read this one, too!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - I have avoided the movies because I want to read this book - let's hope I can get to it soon!

Most of these books I have my future classroom in mind, since I hope to teach in the middle grades once I am done. That's my justification for buying all of these books anyway!

What did you get this week?

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The best part of spring for me is the occasional thunderstorm and the rainstorms. There's nothing better for a bibliophile then nothing to do on a rainy day but curl up with a good book and a glass of wine... Mmmm, heaven. :)

I had a great week for books so I thought what a great opportunity to start participating in The Story Siren's weekly meme In My Mailbox? I go to Kristi's blog every now and then when I have the urge to read YA, because if there's a good YA book out there, she's read it.

This week I had to head downtown a couple times for my Arts Integration class and while down there I figured I would pop into the main Des Moines Library. I am so, so embarrassed to admit this, but... I had never been there. This library is pretty new... they moved and expanded in 2006. How terrible that I had not stepped foot inside this library?! What makes it even worse is that I grew up in Des Moines proper and the DMPL libraries were the branches I borrowed from every week while growing up and before moving off to college. In my defense though, I graduated undergrad in 2004 and immediately moved away and didn't come back for good until 2008(ish) so I think if I was living in DSM when the new library opened I would have been there for it (I like to think so anyway).

Now that I live in the suburbs I visit two libraries near my apartment which are equally as awesome, although I have to admit the structure isn't near as gorgeous as this one... I may have to make the trek downtown more often though because I have re-fallen in love with the DMPL. :)

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Isn't it gorgeous? It's nestled right in downtown Des Moines and is huge. I think I could spend hours there and am already making plans to spend some afternoons there studying. :)

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Here is a view of it at night, it looks so incredible at night because you can see right in and see all the shelves. It's pretty spectacular.

Anyway, on with the books!

Since I am going through a YA phase I headed to that section right away and picked up two books that I have had my eye on for quite a while now. I was actually pretty surprised they were available!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I have noticed this circulating on the YA network for quite awhile now and at first immediately blew it off to be too cheesy for me. Then I noticed some of my favorite bloggers that typically read the same material as me (such as Jessica) enjoying it so I thought I would give it a try.

It looks cute and totally like something I would have loved in high school.








and

The Book of Spells by Kate Brian

This book is a prequel to the Private series, which I devoured last fall and have been reading each new one as soon as I can get my hands on it. This series is the type of stuff I loved when I was in high school so it's kinda of nice to be able to revert back to that chapter of my life and just lose myself in this world that is so different from my own.

These books are also incredibly fast reads so it's nice to be able to plow through books like this right away... Books from my favorite author, Jodi Picoult can leave me reflecting and distracted in the middle of them for too long... :P




And then... drumroll, please...
Speaking of my favorite author...

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Words can hardly express how excited I was to have won a copy of this book. It officially comes out March 1, so it's right around the corner, but I was ecstatic to have won a copy a little early so that I can get it read before the signing I am attending on March 11th in Minneapolis.
I got the book yesterday and am already a quarter of the way through it and am hoping to have time to finish it within the next few days. :)








Another book I picked up after seeing the documentary was...

Waiting for Superman, How can we save America's failing public schools?

The documentary made me cry like a baby and really hit home for me so buying this book wasn't an option for me. I wanted all of these facts in print. I think the film sensationalizes the issue a bit, but it's an issue that I think some (umm, many) people ignore. And, I say people and I mean citizens. It's great if you can afford private school or the public schools in your area are performing, but let's face it, most of them are not.

That is what's in my mailbox, what's in yours?