Books to use in my future classroom

When I was in 4th grade, I read "A Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story", by Mary Downing Hahn. The story is about a boy named Drew who opted to stay at his grandparents' house for the summer instead of going to camp. Before long, Drew finds an old cigar box with marbles and a picture with a boy, Andrew, who looks exactly like him from 1910. Because of this, Drew and Andrew switch places. The switch helps Andrew because he is suffering from diptheria and needs modern medicine to save his life, and it gives Drew a chance to see what life with siblings is like, since he's an only child. After some time, Drew wants his old life back, so Andrew challenges him to a game of marbles to settle the deal.
The themes of the book are time travel, modern medicine, and being thankful for the life you're given.
All of the elements are exemplified in the story but the setting, characters, and point of views stick out most because the plots differ when the focus is on Drew or Andrew, and the different settings effect the story too.
This book would be a good side-read for a history lesson about the gifts of modern medicine. A good project idea might be for the students to choose an era to travel to, and they could pretend to be either Drew or Andrew so that traveling to the future would be an option too. They could write about things they find in their grandparents' attic.

What makes writing worth reading?

Something is worth reading when the reader can find the main message that was supposed to be learned at the end of the reading. It's really frustrating when I read an excerpt or a story and when I'm finished, I don't know what I was supposed to get out of it.
Personal preferences have a lot to do with what someone thinks is worth reading too. I personally hate when I get to the end of a story and it leaves me on a cliff-hanging note (unless I know a sequel is coming that will bring a more completed resolution to the story). I tend to steer away from non-fiction novels, but I could still say that it'd be worth reading one if I learned something "interesting" while reading.
This question brings me to ask why book publishers deny so many potential stories to be published? because if they don't like what an author writes, they think the rest of the world couldn't possibly enjoy it. If someone writes a book about a dream they had the night before and they bring a draft to a publisher who doesn't like it, who's to say that there's not someone out there somewhere who might get something out of it?

Sticks and Stones

Literally, it is a true statement because words can't leave marks on your skin-unless the spoken or written words make you cry and you have tear marks under your eyes. Figuratively, it is completely false-the part about words not being able to hurt you, anyway. Words have the power to make you feel a wide range of emotions, including sadness, happiness, anger, and confusion. There are many books that have made me laugh out loud, and/or cry at different moments because I get attached to each of the characters in different ways. If they get in precarious situations, I worry about them; if they die, I feel the weight of their loss; if they say something funny, I laugh. All in all, words have power.

1) I had balanced literacy reading lessons. I had to learn lists of spelling words for weekly, cumulative quizzes. If we took turns reading in class, my teachers made me sound out words I was stuck on.

2) I still tend to break down unfamiliar words by syllable sets. This strategy will probably help me when I'm teaching my students how to read in the near future.