It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. 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!
Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee 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
Tuesday: Ten Books That Remind Us of Summer
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang was a tough book to read. The main character is a young girl who seems to have everything, but underneath her years of being a mean girl has caused so much pain and she has decided to end her life. Hard to feel sorry for her because she really does some terrible things, but at the same time, you do because she is also stuck and regretting and depressed. It was emotionally draining.
Ricki: Many of the readers of this blog devour books. We read 50, 100, (and some of us) 200 books a year. Out of all of these books, a few stand out and stick to our bones. If you haven’t read it already, I high recommend X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. It kept me awake late at night, and I was floored by the captivating writing. This is a very special book and well worth the hype it has received. I would love to use it in the classroom because there is so much to talk about! I also read the first of five chapters of Teaching Toward Freedom by William Ayers. I found a copy of the chapter online, and now I need to hunt down a full copy of the book! Henry and I read the very creatively crafted picture book, Grandpa Green by Lane Smith. The complexity of this book makes it very worthy of its 2011 Caldecott honor.
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I am almost done (should finish tonight!) with Call me by my Name by John Ed Bradley. First, please please please do not judge this book by its cover. I don’t read summaries, and this book’s cover just doesn’t fit the text. With that said, the book is really good! I am sucked into Tater and Rodney’s story in prejudice-filled Louisiana in the late 1960s. I am also still listening to #2 of The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates series. Still truly enjoying that as well!
Ricki: I fell a bit behind on my #mustreadin2015 list. I also received a few great books in the mail this week. I am being pulled in two directions…#mustreads or new books? I am going to start with Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan and see if I get pulled in the direction of a newer book.
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Top Ten Books I’d Love To See As A Movie or TV Show
Thursday: Blog Tour, Giveaway, and Author Guest Post!: Cast Off by Eve Yohalem
Friday: Blog Tour, Author Guest Post, Giveaway, Book Trailer, and Review!: The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson
Sunday: Author Guest Post by Melissa Hurst, Author of The Edge of Forever
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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Wow, two series books, X and Falling Into Place both sound good, but serious. I’ve seen other people talking about them, will keep them on the list. . . Have a good week both of you!
I am just starting the X audio–I cannot wait to get into it!
Falling Into Place is a very interesting and intense look at the dysfunction of high school and popularity.
X is VERY good! I highly recommend it!
Counting by 7s is one of my favorite books. I felt the same way about Falling into Place. I know sometimes we’re not supposed to like the main character but we do need reasons to be invested in their story!
Exactly! Hard to keep reading when everything is just so terrible!
Love Willow so much!
I am excited to get farther into it! I agree. Not liking the main character is like hanging out with someone who you don’t like very much.
Avoiding Falling into Place… yikes. Hooray Ricki- my favorite- Counting by 7s, hope you love it as much as I have. Happy reading to you both!
I love all of this praise for Counting by 7s! So far, I really like it!
You are right, Kellee – Falling Into Place was a difficult book but it really pulled me into the story when I listened on audio.
Ricki, I keep hearing great things about X – wish now that I’d downloaded it last week from SYNC but I missed it. I really want to read Counting by 7’s, too!
Enjoy your books this week –
Sue
Book By Book
It pulled me in too. And I ended up having empathy for her even though I didn’t think I would.
I would be curious to hear it on audio. I was already halfway through when the audio came out, so I was bummed. Alas, I have many other audios!
I’m glad I downloaded X last week. I will have to move it next in my cue once I finish with Dodger. I can’t to hear what you think of Counting by 7s, Rikki. It’s one of my favorites.
Kellee, Falling into Place sounds good–and important. Sometimes in our efforts to prevent bullying and help the targets, we forget that the bullies are suffering, too.
I am going to start listening to X, too! A Ricki endorsement is big 🙂
Falling Into Place is important. Rough and hard, but important. And exactly. Often times there is something underneath that is causing the bully to bully.
I am glad you downloaded it! I can’t wait to hear what you think about it. I am still working on Dodger, too. 🙂 I will most certainly share my thoughts on Counting by 7s when I finish it!
Call Me By My Name has done very well with my 8th graders. X was interesting, but a little too YA for middle school. Some of the scenes were from the autobiography, so now a I need to go and reread that. Thanks for hosting Monday!
I just finished Call Me By My Name and it is (as Laurie Halse Anderson said) heartbreaking! So good!
I am glad you also found X to be interesting. I agree about the autobiography. I definitely wanted to read it after I read X. I hope you have a great reading week!
Ricki, I am in complete agreement with you about X. I used the last few pages of chapter 3 to talk to my students about the power of words in conjunction with our discussion about Ferguson and Daniel Handler’s joke about Jackie Woodson at the National Book Awards. It was a powerful discussion.
That would definitely be a powerful discussion! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.
I start the X audio tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
That sounds absolutely wonderful. I am going to add this to my review and highlight your blog. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this connection!
I so need to get serious about my #mustreadin2015 list, but I’m finding myself really drawn to books for grown-ups right now. Maybe I should find something SHORT on my list to try to get me back to it. Moving X up in the pile!
Sometimes our brain only wants certain types of books and trying to force it won’t work. I’ve been there, done that 🙂
Me, too! I was also thinking about going to shorter books, but yet, I pick up the books like East of Eden. I am not sure why I do that to myself. Yes, please read X! I loved it.
Ricki…. so you’re saying I should go ahead and put X on my TBP (to be purchased) list????
I’m always so jealous when you say you got books in the mail – in my mind that means you got ARCs. I don’t get those. But then again I have such a huge pile, I don’t really need anything else! I’m glad for net galley and edelweis to get some new titles!
Kellee, I had forgotten about the audio you had mentioned. I will look for that this summer.
The Very Nearly Honorable Pirates League audio is fantastic–Enjoy!
I am lucky to receive some ARCs, but I don’t get them all! I actually got X from a GoodReads Giveaway, so I got lucky with that one. I DEFINITELY think you should read it!
Ricki – I just requested X at my public library and it is available! Thanks for such a convincing recommendation! And Kellee I just visited Goodreads and marked Call me by My Name as To Read – seeing your review I am back to the library site to see if they have this book. You ladies are making me dizzy! Love all of the book love 🙂
Call Me By My Name is a under radar book that needs some love! I hope you like it 🙂
Ah! I am so, so glad that I convinced you. YESSSS! I consider that a win. 🙂
Rikki, I’m so glad you enjoyed X. I loved it and found it so unique. I also adore Grandpa Green. It’s gorgeous and you’re so right about the complexity.
Crystal, I often wonder if there is anything you HAVEN’T read. 🙂
Ricki, X is one of those stories that just about broke my heart, not just for Malcolm himself, but for all those young men and women still disenfranchised and going down the same road to self destruction. Counting by 7’s will prove to be a great counterbalance I think.
Kellee, I’m not sure I could read Falling Into Place. At least not now when I am exhausted from the almost end to the school year. I’m hoping that whoever is listening to the first in The Honorable League of Pirates finishes and returns it to the library soon so I can download the audiobook. That’s the kind of fare I need these days. (although I admit that The True Meaning of Smekday is fitting the bill perfectly so far)
I am so glad Counting by 7s is a good counterbalance because I read the first few pages and wasn’t sure if I needed a happier book in between. It sounds like it perks up! I agree. X ripped out my heart, too.