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.
CONGRATULATIONS
Margo J.
for winning our Baseball Mysteries by David Kelly giveaway!!
Last Week’s Posts
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Tuesday: Ten Picture Books About Autumn
Wednesday: The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie
Thursday: Nerdy Bird by Aaron Reynolds
Friday: Twinderella by Corey Rosen Schwartz
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee
Two young adult books in one week? Oh yes I did!!
- History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera is a roller coaster of emotions. I know that is a cliché, but Adam Silvera takes us on a figurative roller coaster by switching between present tense, where Griffin is dealing with the grief of his first love’s death and the awkwardness of his new boyfriend, and the past when Griffin and Theo fell in love. The story is beautiful and sad and wonderful and terrible. In other words: you should read it and live this roller coaster.
- Turtles All the Way Down by John Green may be my favorite by him, and I have loved everything he’s ever written. Now, I know it could be the John Green hangover talking because when you finish a John Green book you always feel like you read perfection, but I found this story to be the one with most heart and hurt by him. I can tell it is personal, and it is. I’m not going to tell you much more, but I am going to say you should read it. John Green has done for anxiety in this book what Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls did for eating disorders and Impossible Knife of Memory did for PTSD, what Teresa Toten’s Unlikely Hero of Room 13B did for OCD–they show that mental illness isn’t something that the person does to annoy others or that they choose to have, and that people with mental illnesses are more than their illness though it is part of them, and loving them can be hard but they need love. I love how this is explained in Turtles.
- My parents are visiting this weekend and bought Trent and I It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton which is a book that all teachers and parents and librarians should read to all their kids. It is full of acceptance and diversity and love.
Ricki
I started the week off with M. T. Anderson’s Landscape with Invisible Hand. This is a phenomenal book. It reminded me a bit of Feed. It’s shorter and there is an alien element to the text. The book is an awesome social commentary that is wildly satirical. It’s bleak and dark.
I REREAD Endangered. This is my fifth or sixth time reading this book. My students are reading it for class tomorrow, and I wanted to remind myself of everything in the text. This book holds up to a rereading every time. Kellee—are you jealous I reread this one? I am laughing because Kellee and I are obsessed with this book. Eliot Schrefer kindly agreed to talk with my students on Wednesday. He is simply the best.
I read Miguel and the Grand Harmony, Matt de la Peña’s latest masterpiece. It is an absolutely beautiful, lyrical picture book. The illustrations are stunning and the words are captivating. This is another winner.
A friend said to me, “Have you read Flashlight Night? I love that book.” I was in the bookstore with Henry, and I decided to read it again. This is such a fun, clever story. (It’s by Matt Forrest Esenwine.)
I’d never read Triangle by Mac Barnett, so I was excited to read this one in the bookstore, too. I love Mac Barnett. Everything he writes is so clever!
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee
I am so excited to be moderating a panel between Jodi Lynn Anderson and Julia Keller at the 2017 ALAN Workshop, so I am so excited to start their novels.
Ricki
I have a few more ALAN and NCTE books on the docket, and then I’m all ready to present at the workshop. Yahoo!
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Ten Favorite Books That Feature Food
Wednesday: National Geographic Kid’s What Would Happen?
Thursday: Landscape with Invisible Hand by MT Anderson
Friday: Review with Giveaway and YouTube Video!: Bruce’s Big Move by Ryan T. Higgins
Sunday: Blog Tour with Author Guest Post with Activities and Discussion Questions!: Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
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!
and
I would have adored John Green as a teenager, but I don’t share these views on anxiety, so I’m not looking forward to Turtles. I ordered a copy from Scholastic Book Clubs, but will probably donate it to the high school if the language is inappropriate to middle school.
I don’t think it was too inappropriate for late middle school, and I think even if you don’t share those views on anxiety, there are kids who are going to connect with Aza.
Turtles All the Way Down is on my list to read. Bruce is such a great character – so funny!
Bruce is such a curmudgeon! I love it!
Both of you have books I want to read- the ones by John Green and Matt de la Pena!
I want to read Matt’s newest also!
It’s so good!
Kellee I just called in to say hello but I think I am going away having added to my “want to reads” All those books in the John Green paragraph are saying “read me”! Off to put them on my wish list! I am reading a YA as it happens at the moment The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle a debut I think. It is about a teen with epilepsy – so far I am loving it.
Hi, Kathryn! Thank you for stopping by! That’s the best part and the curse of IMWAYR!
What great reading weeks for both of you!
I can’t wait to read Turtles All the Way Down! I was a little late to discovering John Green but have loved everything of his I have read (especially Looking for Alaska). I was surprised to learn he has OCD & appreciate his sharing his experiences through this new fictional story. There is an excellent interview with him in this month’s BookPage.
And I love Endangered, too! I still need to read his other novels in that “series”. I was interested to realize he is also the author of an older novel I enjoyed years ago – a YA thriller called Deadly Sister. Jealous you get to meet him!
Hope you both enjoy your books this week –
Sue
Book By Book
Seeing him speak about his OCD and anxiety tonight (I saw them on tour) was sad and real and fascinating.
Sue, Eliot is very, very kind. He’s been at several ALAN Workshops and NCTE conventions. I very much admire him and his work.
K – I’m so glad we were able to talk about Turtles together this weekend! I’ll be interested in seeing what others continue to say about it.
Ricki, I’ve got Miguel on hold a the library. Can’t wait to read it!
I love when we can text about books!!!!!!!!!
It’s simply beautiful. I hope you love it!
I’m really looking forward to reading Turtles All the Way Down but I’m caught up in my ALAN panel reading so I need to finish that first before I get to pleasure reading.
SAME! And I have one more for an NCTE panel to read too….
SAME HERE!
I really enjoyed The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street, too. I don’t like scary movies or books, either. This one made me a little nervous, but, I agree with you that there’s a lot of good content for kids. And many of my students eat these kind of stories up! Have a great week!
I really love the look of It Takes a Village – any picturebook illustrated by Marla Frazee is sure to be gorgeous. I’ve read so many great reviews about John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down. Here’s hoping I can muster up the courage to read it. 🙂