Book Tastings- hook, chapter 1 reading, read aloud, circle time, picture books, YA Fiction, YA Books, classic books, relevant books – Details, episodes & analysis

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "Walkin' the Dog" by: Chis Lynch.

In a family of strong personalities with very strong points of view, Louis is what his mother lovingly calls "the inactivist," someone who'd rather kick back than stand out. He only hopes he can stay under the radar when he starts high school in the fall, his first experience with public school after years of homeschooling.

But when a favor for a neighbor and his stinky canine companion unexpectedly turns into a bustling dog-walking business, Louis finds himself meeting an unprecedented number of new friends--both human and canine. Agatha, a quippy and cagey girl his age always seems to be telling two truths and a lie. Cyrus, a few years his senior, promises he's going to show Louis how to be a better person, whether Louis wants him to or not. And then there are the dogs: misbehaving border terriers, the four (possible stolen) sausage dogs, the rest of Louis's charges, and a mysterious white beast who appears at a certain spot at the edge of the woods.

Dogs and human alike all seem to have something they want to teach Louis, including his menacing older brother who keeps turning up everywhere. But is Louis ready to learn the lesson he needs most: how to stop being a lone wolf and be part of a pack?

If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Walkin' the Dog.

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Chris Lynch

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "Across the Desert" by: Dusti Bowling.

Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old "Addie Earhart" shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. While watching this daring girl fly through the sky, Jolene can dream of what it would be like to fly with her, far away from her own troubled home life where her mother struggles with a narcotic addiction. And Addie, who is grieving the loss of her father, finds solace in her online conversations with Jolene, her biggest--and only--fan.

Then, one day, it all goes wrong: Addie's engine abruptly stops, and Jolene watches in helpless horror as the ultralight plummets to the ground and the video goes dark. Jolene knows that Addie won't survive long in the extreme summer desert heat. With no one to turn to for help and armed with only a hand-drawn map and a stolen cell phone, it's up to Jolene to find a way to save the Desert Aviator. 

If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Across the Desert.

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Dusti Bowling.

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "How to Win a Slime War" by: Mae Respicio.

Alex Manalo and his dad have just moved back to Sacramento to revive their extended family's struggling Filipino market. While Alex likes helping at the store, his true passion is making slime! He comes up with his own recipes, playing with ingredients, colors, and textures that make his slime truly special. Encouraged by a new friend at school, Alex begins to sell his creations, leading to a sell-off battle with a girl who previously had a slime-opoly. Winner gets bragging rights and the right to be the only slime game in town.

But Alex's dad thinks Alex should be focused more on "traditional" boy pastimes and less on slime. As the new soccer coach, Dad wants Alex to join the team.

Alex is battling on multiple fronts--with his new friends at school and with his dad at home. It will be a sticky race to the finish to see who oozes out on top.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: How to Win a Slime War

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Mae Respicio 

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Apartment House on Poppy Hill" by: Nina LaCour.

Welcome to 1106 Wildflower Place: It is no ordinary apartment house, but you, reader, are no ordinary visitor. So, please, come in!

Two new tenants have just arrived, and nine-year-old Ella is determined to help them settle in. Who better to teach them about the glitchy lights and the nighttime noises? After all, Ella knows all the neighbors. Well, almost all. No one has met the mysterious Robinsons who live on the top floor. Will a special neighborly celebration change all that? This bighearted chapter book by bestselling author Nina LaCour, highlighted by lively illustrations throughout, celebrates community, friendship, family, and home. It is a place of walking dogs that aren't yours, keeping surprises secret, and making everyone feel welcome.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Apartment House on Poppy Hill.

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Nina LaCour 

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "Outside Nowhere" by: Adam Borba.

Charming and funny, Parker Kelbrook can wriggle out of anything he doesn't want to do. So when he's forced to take a job at the local pool--a threat to his beach-filled summer plans--he comes up with the perfect prank to get himself fired.

Once Parker's father catches wind of his latest scheme, he decides enough is enough, and Parker is sent halfway across the country to work on a farm alongside five other kids who aren't his biggest fans. As Parker learns to roll up his sleeves and keep his head down, strange things start happening. And after he awakens one morning to find a seventeen-hundred-pound dairy cow on the roof of a barn, he suspects that something magical and mysterious is growing in the farm's fields.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Outside Nowhere

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Adam Borba. 

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first 15 pages of "Game Changer" by: Tommy Greenwald.

Thirteen-year-old Teddy Youngblood is in a coma, fighting for his life after an unspecified football injury at training camp. His family and friends flock to his bedside to support his recovery--and to discuss the events leading up to the tragic accident. Was this the inevitable result of playing a violent sport, or did something more sinister happen on the field that day?

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Game Changer

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Tommy Greenwald.

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the 15 page of "Odder" by: Katherine Applegate.

Meet Odder, the Queen of Play:

Nobody has her moves. She doesn't just swim to the bottom, she dive-bombs. She doesn't just somersault, she triple-doughnuts. She doesn't just ride the waves, she makes them.

Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself--and about the humans who hope to save her.

Inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers, this poignant and humorous tale told in free verse examines bravery and healing through the eyes of one of nature's most beloved and charming animals.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Odder

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Katherine Applegate

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Line Tender" by: Kate Allen.

Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have kept their heads above water--thanks in large part to a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white--and then another tragedy, cutting short a friendship everyone insists was "meaningful" but no one can tell Lucy what it all meant. To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother's unfinished research on the Great White's return to Cape Cod. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she'll finally be able to look beyond what she's lost and toward what's left to be discovered.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Line Tender

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Kate Allen

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Night War" by: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

It's 1942. German Nazis occupy much of France. And twelve-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighborhood. She escapes Paris, landing in a small French village, where the spires of the famous Chateau de Chenonceau rise high into the sky, its bridge across the River Cher like a promise, a fairy tale.

But Miri's life is no fairy tale. Her parents are gone--maybe alive, maybe not. Taken in at the boarding school near the chateau, pretending to be Catholic to escape Nazi capture, Miri volunteers one night to undertake a deadly task, one that spans the castle grounds, its bridge, and the very border to freedom. Here is her chance to escape--hopefully to find her parents. But will she take it? One thing is certain: The person Miri meets that night will save her life. And the person Miri becomes that night could save the lives of many more.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Night War

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

Enjoy, Anne

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 

Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Mystery of Locked Rooms" by: Lindsay Currie.

Twelve-year-old Sarah Greene wants nothing more from her seventh-grade year than to beat the hardest escape room left in her town with her best friends, West, and Hannah. But when a foreclosure notice shows up on Sarah's front door, everything changes. Since her father became ill two years ago, things have been bad, but not lose your house bad...until now.

Sarah feels helpless until the day Hannah mentions a treasure rumored to be hidden in the walls of an abandoned funhouse. According to legend, Hans, Stefan, and Karl Stein were orphaned at eight years old and lived with different families until they were able to reunite as adults. Their dream was to build the most epic funhouse in existence. They wanted their experience to be more than mirror mazes and optical illusions, so they not only created elaborate riddles and secret passages, but they also claimed to have hidden a treasure inside the funhouse.

Once in, Sarah, West, and Hannah realize the house is unlike any escape room they've attempted. There are challenges, yes, but they feel personal. Like the triplets knew who would get in. It seems impossible, but so does everything about the house. As soon as they're in she immediately worries that attempting the funhouse is a bad idea but Sarah has no choice but to continue, since her future is at stake.

Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Mystery of Locked Rooms

Loved this book and interested in seeing what else these authors have written be sure to check out Lindsay Currie.

Enjoy, Anne