It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!
Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.
We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
Last Week’s Posts
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Tuesday: Top Ten Board Books According to our Toddlers
Wednesday: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Thursday: Blog Tour and Review: Race Car Dreams by Sharon Chriscoe
Friday: Emma G. Loves Boyz: A True Love Journal Volume One by Taro Meyer
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee
Thank you so much Netgalley for letting me have the opportunity to read these four upcoming graphic novels! They are all must reads though they are all SO different. Pheobe and Heavenly Nostrils never disappoint; The Stone Heart is a perfect, action-packed sequel to The Nameless City; Secrets & Sequences continues the secret coders story; and The Amazing Crafty Cat is a perfect book for artistic students.
This book is so much fun! Funny yet important! The theme in this one is quite evident, but don’t forget to continue the conversation with the elephant also to talk about how everyone makes mistakes and that’s no reason to not like someone! And don’t miss out on Heidi’s Nerdy Book Club post about her inspiration.
Rita Williams-Garcia’s Gaither Sister series is one of those series that everyone should read. It deals with so many different topics and themes, and Gone Crazy in Alabama is a wonderful finale. There is a very shocking twist about 3/4 of the way through, but the ending is perfect.
Ricki
I sobbed through 60% of Jo Knowles’ See You at Harry’s. This is a powerful book, and as an emotional pregnant woman, it really hit me hard. I am looking forward to recommending it to my students!
Henry and I enjoyed They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel. It is a clever book that would be fantastic to teach point of view. Each animal sees the cat in a different way, and the perspectives are fascinating. This is a great book that would be a great addition to classrooms.
I really enjoyed Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet. I’ve been trying to teach my son about colors, so this book was a great way to get him interested in the topic! And I avoided a lot of mess!
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee
I’m still listening to See How They Run by Ally Carter. It continues right where All Fall Down ends, but I am still having trouble getting into it; however, I had the same trouble with the first. I am sure Ally Carter has something up her sleeve.
I am not sure what I am going to pick up next! I will let you know 🙂
Ricki
I am slowly making my way through John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me, and as I said last week, it is most certainly NOT because it isn’t an excellent text. I am hoping to finish it this week.
I am excited to start Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed. I’ve been working hard on keeping up with books that feature Islamic/Muslim content for a new research project, and I have heard this book is excellent!
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Favorite Sci-Fi Books
Wednesday: The Curse of the Were-Hyena by Bruce Hale
Thursday: Shy by Deborah Freedman
Friday: A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston
Sunday: Author Guest Post!
So, what are you reading?
Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!
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I really like Written in the Stars, but I hesitate to give it to 6th graders. It’s a bit much. Good, but a bit much for younger readers.
That makes complete sense! I would be giving it to much older readers, so I don’t think that would be a problem. But your insight is helpful!
Kellee, I loved the first book in Williams-Garcia’s series, but I need to find the rest of them!
Rikki, I sobbed through See You at Harry’s, too. Such a powerful book!
I liked #2 and #3 better than #1!!! Hope you get to them and like it.
It is so wonderful!
Written in the Stars was an excellent read! Well written and excellent as a novel, it also gave great cultural insights!
This is fantastic news. These are the things I want to hear, Phyllis! Thanks for stopping by!
Kellee, I am also a fan of those Gaither sisters. I still need to read the middle one in the series. As you know, I’m waiting for See How they Run. I’m sorry it starts out slow, but if it is good, then slow is ok.
Ricki, Don’t you just wish you could write like Jo Knowles? She writes so much truth into her work that the tears feel authentic. Written in the Stars is on my list.
See How They Run just got crazy! It is getting good!
Jo Knowles has that very special something. She is one of my favorite authors, for sure!
See You At Harry’s just destroyed me, I blubbered like a baby throughout most of that wonderful book. Such wonderful characters and beautiful writing. I haven’t actually spoken to any children who’ve read it, though – just fellow emotional grownups!
That’s a good point—I don’t know any kids who have read it, either! I blubbered like a huge baby. That book really hit me hard. It didn’t help that my son is 2 and a half.
I’m looking forward to your review of Shy. I’ve heard good things about it! LOVED A Child of Books. K poured over the illustrations in that one.
You’ve heard good things because it is good! A great classroom read.
Child of Books was brilliant!
My son is obsessed with reading Shy. We’ve read it at least 100 times. I really enjoy reading it each time!
Wow, Ricki, it sounds like you have really discovered some amazing book through this Islam/Muslim project you are doing! I hadn’t heard of this one yet. See You at Harry’s sounds great, too!
Kellee, with all those wonderful graphic novels, you are reminding me that I am overdue for reading one! I am so behind on everything that I haven’t even looked through the publishers’ fall catalogs yet – hope I don’t miss out. I will try to get to that this week – thanks for the reminder!
Hope you both enjoy your books this week –
Sue
Book By Book
You’re welcome! Yay graphic novels!
I am excited to start reading it! I will let you know how it goes!
That research project on Islamic/Muslim novels caught my eye – that’s bound to be very very interesting. 🙂 I have yet to read a Rita Williams-Garcia novel. Hopefully soon!