Capture the Flag- Review for You!

As a teacher new to 3rd grade this year, I was looking to expand my selection of read alouds.  I was so excited to read some of my old favorites to my kiddos, but bummed to hear they heard them from their 2nd grade teacher last year!  Yeah, yeah, I taught 2nd grade last year and read those books too, but I just hoped I could be the first to introduce them to my 3rd graders too!

So I was really excited when I got the chance to receive a copy of Capture the Flag by Kate Messner.  This was a new release this summer, so my students hadn't heard it yet and we have enjoyed it!

The book has relateable children characters, a mystery, and lots of fun and laughs along the way!  I loved that it took place in Washington D.C., so we had lots of ways to connect the book... especially this election season!

The story begins when the kids (Henry, Jose, and Anna) meet up at a D.C. airport and realize that an important national treasure (hence the title...) has been taken from the Smithsonian!  The three work together to unravel the mystery and bring the flag back!

This was a great way to introduce my 3rd graders to some higher-thinking literature and get them interested in more challenging chapter books.  As a lover of writing, I was totally into the varied sentence structure and the way the author crafted such suspense in her wording and sentences.  This would be a superb mentor text for writing!

I'm super excited about checking out Kate Messner's other books.  Her Marty McGuire book stars a 3rd grader!  When I taught 2nd grade, I could never find books about 2nd graders... but now that I'm in 3rd, 2nd graders are everywhere and I can't find any books starring 3rd graders!  And did you know she wrote Sea Monster's First Day?  I LOVE THAT BOOK!!!!!

I hope you'll check it out!  Here's the link to her website!