It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 11/2/26

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Wednesday: Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Why Children Need Stories That Make Room for Difficult Emotions” by Florentina Cosma, Author of Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

Here is what I’ve read since I last posted an IMWAYR on 10/5/26:

Picture Books

  • Brontosaurus is Back! A Dinosaur’s Name and Return to Fame by Sarah Albee, Illustrated by Chris Hsu: I did a full review of this book HERE!
  • I Need Space by Molly Harris, Illustrated by Jon Corby: A very cute analogy picture book that compares space with a playground/socializing, etc. It would be so much fun to have kids figure out what everything was representing! Also, it does a good job with talking about advocating for oneself when overstimulated or in situations that feel out of hand. A great read aloud book that so many kids (and adults) will love!

Middle Grade

  • The Ultimate Book of Mythical Creatures by Aurore Meyer, Illustrated by Gabrielle Berger: I did a full review of this book HERE!
  • I Witnessed: The Lizzie Borden Story by Jeramey Kraatz, Illustrated by Crystal Jayme: I really like the concept of this new historical fiction series; it is kind of like I Survived, but it is about someone who witnessed something. The witnesses are fictionalized but the plot is all based in history. This one was about the Borden murders, and it takes the reader next door to the Borden house and through the before and after of the crime and trial.

  • The Forgotten War: A World War II Battle on American Soil by Candace Fleming: Fleming is just such a fantastic storyteller! This book shares the true story of Fleming’s father and of a battle I had never heard of during World War II: on the islands off the coast of Alaska! So few stories are told from the Pacific fighting, other than Pearl Harbor, so learning about these battles and more about the other side of WWII was interesting (though just as devastating as all WWII books).
  • They Battled in Blizzards by Deborah Hopkinson: This story of the Battle of the Bulge is one that isn’t often shared and it was devastating–a huge battle in the middle of a blizzard! This book takes you through the events and all of the people affected.

  • Science Comics Trees: Kinds of the Forest by Andy Hirsch: Another fun Science Comics! This one is all about trees and how they are so much more than they seem. The main “character” is an acorn that questions wanting to be a tree, so is taught all there is to know about them. I love how this series takes science concepts, adds story & humor, and makes it all so easy to understand.
  • The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch: I didn’t know about the meeting of the big three and the potential assassination of them, so this book was quite interesting to me. The author did a great job sharing about the spies and assassination plan while also building it within the context of history at the time.
  • An Immense World (Young Readers Edition): How Animals Sense Earth’s Amazing Secrets by Ed Yong, Adapted by Annmarie Anderson, Illustrated by Rebecca Mills: This is a book that I may never have picked up if not for the nonfiction committee I am on, and I am so glad that I read it because it was FASCINATING! I loved learning about how animals sense the world and how it is different than humans. I also found it interesting what the author chose to focus on as “senses” because it was more than just the regular smell, touch, see, hear, and taste.

  • Barracoon: Adapted for Young Readers by Zora Neale Hurston, Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi, Illustrated by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson: This true-life story from Cudjo Lewis, one of the last survivors of the Atlantic human trade, is heart-wrenching. I am glad that Kendi adapted it for young readers because there is nothing like it available for adolescents to read. To hear first person narrative from a formally enslaved man is incomparable to anything out there.
  • History Smashers: Salem Witch Trials by Kate Messner: I love the History Smashers series, and I am not sure why it took me so long to read them, but now that I’ve read two, I feel like I can say I am a fan! This one looks at the truth and fiction behind the Salem Witch Trials.
  • Sick! The Twists and Turns Behind Animal Germs by Heather L. Montgomery, Illustrated by Lindsey Leigh: Animals are so cool! This book looked at the germs animals encounter and how they differ from humans in immune systems, etc. I really enjoyed the section about why alligators can lost a limb in a fight but don’t get infections in the swamps–it was really interesting!

Young Adult

  • Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of The American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan Sasuweh Jones: We cannot let the stories of the American Indian Boarding Schools fall to history, and this book, written for young adults, is a good introduction to the travesties that occured (all the way up to the 1980s!). Young adults need to read this and ensure that nothing like this happens ever again.
  • Trust Fall by Lynn Painter: This is my first Lynn Painter, and I can see why all my romance readers love her–this story was cute with just the right amount of tropes and humor.

You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

This is my week off; see you next week!

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Wednesday: Educators’ Guide for Trunk No. 3 by Allie Millington

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “5 Ways Mysteries Help Clue Students into Reading and Writing” by Sam Subity, Author of True Crime Files: Heist at the Museum!

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on other blogs. If you share your Monday post, tag with #IMWAYR!

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Author Guest Post: “Why Children Need Stories That Make Room for Difficult Emotions” by Florentina Cosma, Author of Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions

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“Why Children Need Stories That Make Room for Difficult Emotions”

We often want children to be happy. As parents, grandparents, teachers, even writers, we look for ways to make difficult things easier for them. When a child is sad, we try to cheer them up. When they are afraid, we reassure them. When they are angry, we encourage them to calm down. When they are disappointed, we look for something positive that might help them feel better. There is nothing wrong with any of this. We want children to feel safe, and we want to protect them from things that hurt.

But I have often wondered whether, in trying so hard to protect children from difficult emotions, we sometimes forget to teach them that these emotions belong in their lives, too.

Growing up is not only about learning how to be happy. It is also about learning what to do with fear, sadness, anger, disappointment, loneliness, and longing. These feelings can be uncomfortable, and sometimes they can be overwhelming but that does not mean they are feelings children need to be taught to avoid. Before we can learn how to handle an emotion, we first need to understand that it is there.

This thought stayed with me while I was writing Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions.

The story began in a very personal place: my niece. She is a sensitive, emotional child who experiences things deeply, and watching her made me think about how valuable it can be for a child to encounter characters that are not always sure what to do with their feelings. I wanted to write about a child who could be frightened or overwhelmed, who might not always know what to do but who could keep going anyway. I wanted her to have a character she could recognize, not someone who was always confident and brave but someone who could discover that courage does not require the absence of fear.

At first, Mina was simply a story I wanted my niece to have. As I continued writing, however, I found myself thinking more and more about what happens when we decide that some emotions are simply too difficult to live with.

What if we could remove every unpleasant feeling?

That question became the starting point for Mina’s story.

Mina is eleven years old and lives with her grandfather above his bakery in the magical town of Opalis, a place where tastes, smells, and emotions are deeply connected. Mina has always felt different because she cannot taste anything. She can see the beautiful pastries her grandfather creates, she can smell everything that comes from the kitchen. She even can hear them speak, feel or giggle but the experience that seems so ordinary to everyone else is  completely missing for her.

Then, something strange happens in Opalis. People begin losing their unpleasant emotions. At first, it seems like a wonderful thing. The town becomes calmer, arguments disappear, people stop complaining, and feelings such sadness, anger, fear, no longer seem to get in anyone’s way. It is easy to understand the appeal. If someone offered us a life without grief, fear, disappointment, or anger, wouldn’t part of us be tempted to say yes?

Mina is not so sure. She begins to notice that as people lose the emotions they consider unpleasant, they also begin losing other things. Memories fade, desires become weaker, relationships lose their meaning, and people slowly become disconnected from the things and the people they once cared about. They are not simply happier, they are becoming less themselves.

That became one of the central ideas of Mina’s story. Emotions are not separate little boxes that we can open and empty one at the time. They are connected to one another and to the experiences that shape us. Sadness is often tied to something we have loved and lost. Longing can tell us how deeply someone or something matters. Fear can make us pay attention, while anger can tell us that something feels wrong or unfair.

None of this means that every feeling should control our actions. Children still need to learn how to express anger without hurting someone, how to cope with fear, and how to move through sadness. But there is a difference between learning to live with an emotion and learning that emotion itself is something shameful or wrong.

The danger of a perfect world

In Opalis, the person behind this transformation is the Architect, the creator of a system called the Flattening. He believes that people would be happier, more efficient if unpleasant emotions could simply be removed.

What makes it unsettling is that it begins with something many of us can understand: the desire to eliminate suffering. If we could take away a child’s grief, fear, or pain, most of us probably want to do it. We do not like watching children hurt. The problem is that emotions do not work like unwanted objects that can simply be taken away without changing anything else.

In Opalis, a person’s shadow represents the parts of themselves they might prefer to hide. When the emotions disappear, the shadows disappear with them. The world looks cleaner and calmer, but it also becomes strangely empty. The people of Opalis have not simply lost their sadness. They have lost some of the experiences that gave their lives depth.

That was important to me because I did not want the story to suggest that difficult emotions are somehow good simply because they are painful. They are not. Grief hurts, fear can be exhausting, and anger can make us say things we later regret. But removing an emotion is not the same as learning how we live with it, and a world without difficult feelings may come at a much greater cost than we first imagine.

Children do not need perfect characters

This is also why I think children need characters who are allowed to be imperfect.

One of the things I love about middle grade fiction is that young readers are at an age when they are beginning to understand themselves in more complicated ways. They notice when they are different. They compare themselves with their friends. They worry about how people see them. They make mistakes and sometimes have no idea how to fix them.

So why should the characters they read about always have everything figured out?

I did not want Mina to be the kind of heroine who knows exactly what to do in every situation. She gets frightened, she becomes confused, she makes mistakes. There are moments when turning around would be much easier than continuing. What matters is that she gradually learns she does not have to wait until she feels fearless before she can move forward.

To me, that feels much closer to what courage actually is.

Mina also does not have to face everything alone. Her best friend, Maya, travels with her, while Splinter, a strange little puppet, becomes an unexpected companion. Together they enter an adventure where emotions can be stored, manipulated, and stolen. The adventure becomes increasingly strange, but underneath all the magic is something very familiar: sometimes a frightening experience becomes easier simply because someone we trust is there with us.

Friendship cannot take away difficult emotions, but it can make them easier to carry. I think children learn this long before they have the words to explain it. A friend may not know what to say when you are upset, but sitting beside you can be enough. Sometimes being understood matters more than being given a solution.

Stories give children a safe place to feel

A child may not be ready to say, “I am afraid” but they may be perfectly willing to talk about a character who is frightened. They may not know how to explain why they are angry, but they can have very strong opinions about whether a character was right to be angry. They may not know how to talk about missing someone but they can understand a character who feels the same longing.

Stories give us a little distance from ourselves, and sometimes that distance makes difficult emotions easier to approach.

A parent or a teacher can ask why a character reacted the way they did, whether they think a decision was right, or whether they would want to live in a world where nobody was ever sad. The child does not have to talk about their own feelings. They can simply talk about the story. And yet, somewhere in that conversation, they may recognize themselves.

That is one of the quiet things books can do. They give children language for experiences they may not yet know how to name.

Making room for difficult emotions

I do not think children’s books should become therapy disguised as fiction. Children deserve stories that are funny, exciting, strange, magical, and completely unnecessary in the best possible way. Sometimes a book should simply take a child somewhere wonderful and let them enjoy the journey.

But a story can also leave room for something deeper without turning into a lesson. It can show a child that being afraid does not mean being weak, that anger does not make you a bad person, that sadness does not mean happiness has disappeared forever, and that being different does not automatically mean something is wrong with you.

That is what I wanted to explore through Mina’s story. By the end of her journey, the emotions that have been captured are released, and Opalis begins to regain its colours, sounds, smells and life. The town is no longer as orderly or as comfortable as it was under the Flattening, but is alive again. Its imperfections have returned along with everything else.

For  Mina, there is another kind of return. In her grandfather’s bakery, she finally tastes sweetness.

For a girl who spent so much of her life feeling that something essential is missing, the moment means more than simply recovering a sense she never had before. It represents a new understanding of what it means to experience the world fully. There will be things she loves and things she wishes she could avoid, moments of happiness alongside moments of pain, and she cannot separate one from the other without changing the experience itself.

Perhaps that is one of the things children need most from the stories we give them. Not a promise that they will never be sad or afraid. Not a world where everyone always knows what to do. And not characters who overcome every difficulty without getting hurt along the way.

They need to see that difficult feelings can exist alongside friendship, laughter, curiosity, love, and joy. They need characters who make mistakes and keep trying, who feel different and discover that difference is not a flaw, and who can be frightened without giving up.

Mina’s world is filled with strange places, mysterious machines, chocolate maps, a silver fork, a mischievous puppet, and a town that slowly changes around her. But beneath that magic is a very simple idea: we are made up of more than the feelings that are easy to live with.

Sometimes the emotions we most want to push away are connected to the things we care about most.

And perhaps children do not need stories that promise them a life without difficult emotions. Perhaps they need stories that remind them they can feel deeply, make mistakes, be frightened, be sad, miss someone, and still find their way home.

Published June 12th, 2026

About the Book: Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions is a middle grade fantasy adventure about eleven-years-old Mina, a girl who cannot taste anything and has always felt different from the people around her. She lives with her grandfather above his bakery in the magical city of Opalis.

When the people of Opalis begin losing emotions such sadness, fear, anger, the town initially seems happier. But Mina  soon discovers that removing difficult emotions also takes away memories, desires, connections, and even people’s shadows.

With her best friend Maya and a mysterious little puppet named Splinter, Mina enters a world where emotions can be captured and manipulated. There she discovers the truth behind the Flattening, a system created by the Architect to build a happier and more controlled world.

As Mina fights to restore what has been taken from the people of Opalis, she learns that difficult emotions are not flaws to be erased. They are part of identity, memory, love, and what makes us human.

Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions is a story about friendship, courage, emotional acceptance, and learning that every feeling has a place.

About the Author: Florentina Cosma is the author of Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions, a middle grade fantasy adventure inspired by her relationship with her young niece. Her writing explores friendship, courage, identity, and the complicated emotions that are part of growing up. She believes children’s stories can be both imaginative and meaningful, giving young readers space to recognize their own feelings while following characters through exciting adventures.

Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions began as a story Florentina wanted her niece, a deeply sensitive and emotional child, to have—a story that would remind her that strong emotions are not something to be ashamed of or afraid of.

Thank you, Florentina, for sharing this thoughtful post about why children need stories that help them understand, accept, and navigate difficult emotions!

Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

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Sofia is a 14-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. Since she was 8 years old, on select weeks, Sofia shares her favorite books with other young people her age! She is one of the most well-read youth that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role! She talks about it below, but you can find her on Instagram here!

 

Hi readers! Before you read this review, I just wanted to let you all know about my new Instagram account, @sofias_ya_book_nook! On this account, I will be posting each time a new review comes out, along with some other types of fun book posts. I would really appreciate it if you checked out my page and followed so you can stay up to date! Thank you, and without further ado, onto the review!

 

Dear readers,

Let me introduce you to a wild, dystopian psychological adult thriller that will keep you hooked until the very end, Yesteryear by Carp Claire Burke. In the days since I have finished this book, I can’t stop thinking about all of the crazy events and ideas. The mixed timeline was a bit confusing at first but I really enjoyed it. This novel follows “tradwife” influencer Natalie, as she reveals the behind-the-scenes to her supposedly perfect life. She narrates a lot of her mental struggles, specifically after having children, but never outright realizes the full extent of her psychological condition. Buckle up, if you are ready to read an insane story about the American housewife dream, and learn how far Natalie is willing to go to ensure the perfect life for herself (and her family).

Goodreads Summary

A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel. My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive. Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers-all 8 million of them-don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal-and just so happens to be building an empire from it. Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children-they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible. A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

My Thoughts

Yesteryear is a very impactful yet quick read. I found myself reading up to 100 pages in one sitting as the compulsive plot just sucked me in! Natalie’s thoughts and actions often make her a little unlikable but I didn’t mind that too much. I noticed that she always seems to think the worst of everyone but herself. Natalie is often found comparing herself to “the perfect Christian housewife” and constantly talking to God throughout the novel. There is a battle between Natalie’s true self and the fake personality she uses when filming content, referring to that as “Online Natalie.” This other version of herself constantly smiles, is always kind, and seems to have everything under control. This quite disturbing book shows the unraveling of her picture-perfect life. Natalie’s super-rich in-laws are so out-of-touch it’s concerning. All of these disturbing parts of the story come together to paint Yesteryear as an unputdownable, thought-provoking read. I would say that this novel has very important lessons and ideas, you just have to make sure you are prepared to read it!

Yesteryear is an adult novel with immensely difficult and serious topics. Some themes include postpartum depression, profanity, child abuse, sexual violence, and religious trauma.

**Thanks so much, Sofia!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/26/26

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Wednesday: The Ultimate Book of Mythical Creatures by Aurore Meyer, Illustrated by Gabrielle Berger 

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Triumph of Human Innovation” by Ben Okon, Author of I am King Chameleon

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

It’s my week off!

You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

Young Adult

Lynn Painter’s Trust Fall is a sweet autumn romance. It delighted me, and I enjoyed the journey!

Frederick Joseph’s Everything’s Not Lost: Whew. This one is incredibly powerful. It’s about a girl who is grieving her sister’s overdose. Layered onto that grief is her belief that she should have been a better sister and not occupied her parents so often with her bipolar disorder. This one is very heavy, but it is a very important book that will benefit so many kids. I am really glad it exists.

Jennifer Lee & LeUyen Pham’s As I Dream of You is a graphic novel that is well-deserving of all of the stars it has earned! It is a bit of a retelling of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. This book is REALLY good.

I am so glad there is now a sequel to Aiden Thomas’ Cemetery Boys! Espíritu is a wonderfully exciting text that sends readers on an adventure!

Jonny Garza Villa’s Ander & Santi Were Here is a queer romance that isn’t about coming out (which I really appreciate as a reader!). It is about an artist who meets a beautiful teen who works in his family’s restaurant.

Adult Romance

I recommend both Carley Fortune’s Our Perfect Storm and Laurie Gilmore’s The Daisy Chain Flower Shop if you like sweet romances!

Adult

I did not want to read Belle Burden’s Strangers because I don’t like reading about divorce, but I must say, this book was really, really good. I am glad my book club pressured me to read it!

I absolutely adored The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. It reminded me a bit of a Fredrik Backman book. I loved the writing style!

I read Verity by Colleen Hoover because my book club was going to see it in the theater. I think this book will appeal to people who like horror, but I don’t like horror! 🙂

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is a quick book, but it packs a big punch! I liked the historical information that I learned!

GoodReads has challenges each year, and I was NOT looking forward to the horror challenge. I love Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” so I tried The Haunting of Hill House. I read this book at the same time as I reread some Poe, and they were really similar.

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Wednesday: Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Why Children Need Stories That Make Room for Difficult Emotions” by Florentina Cosma, Author of Mina and the Recipe of Lost Emotions

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on other blogs. If you share your Monday post, tag with #IMWAYR!

 Signature andRickiSig

Author Guest Post: “The Triumph of Human Innovation” by Ben Okon, Author of I Am King Chameleon

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“The Triumph of Human Innovation”

“Can you tell me about a time that you innovated?”

I was caught pants-down in a job interview with that question early in my career. It was the perfect “gotcha”…obvious enough that my mouth immediately opened to respond, but with a layered complexity that caused me to stammer when I realized I wasn’t prepared.

I didn’t get the job. But that question sat with me for over a decade. What actually is innovation? How do I…well…”do” innovation?

For practical purposes, the definition I’ve adopted for this grandiose-sounding word is pretty trivial: Innovation is a non-obvious solution to a problem.

By this definition, an innovation doesn’t need to change the world. It just needs to solve something for someone, in a way that nobody else has thought to try.

For fifteen years, this earworm has squatted in the back of my brain, staying present but delicately aging. And then AI came along, and it sprang back to life.

Because as much as AI accelerates our ability to do anything that doesn’t require new thinking, it seems to inhibit our need, willingness, and perhaps even our ability to do any new thinking at all. For good reason: the collective knowledge amassed by the 10 billion humans alive during the modern era is staggering, and the nebulous neural network that contains it all has a lot of great solutions to a lot of daily problems.

By handing that tool to our children, we’re enabling them to accomplish things more quickly and independently than ever before. But are we also robbing them of the desire—and ability—to innovate? How can we flip the script on how we teach our kids and make innovation a learned skill, so they can do the work that AI can’t?

And if our kids were armed with an “innovation superpower,” could they create even better than adults? “The best children’s book in the world,” perhaps?

This was the question at the heart of the conversation when my own middle school teacher, Laura Miller, reached out to connect about my new picture book series Younger Me Academy. I had created Younger Me Academy to help children and grownups build the kind of superpowers that help them stay above the fray in a rapidly-changing world: critical thinking, problem-solving, social awareness, and executive functioning.

Mrs. Miller and I embarked together on a year-long journey to run a complete innovation lab for her sixth graders, with the stated outcome of creating “the best children’s book in the world.”

I brought the science and psychology behind the Younger Me Academy series, and Mrs. Miller brought the classroom mastery you can only build from decades of selflessly and indignantly defying norms fueled by pure care for students. Seriously—she’s a firecracker that only aims true north.

Here’s how we pitted twenty-eight middle schoolers against the algorithm of predictable thinking:

BEING WRONG TO BE RIGHT

Most people think that the best way to build confidence is to build competence. In reality, this is a pretty fragile form of confidence. It works beautifully…until you’re threatened by a new kind of problem, more skilled competition, or even a simple absence of validation that causes you to doubt yourself.

A far more robust form of confidence is simply to become more comfortable with being wrong—and to actually build “being wrong” into your innovation process.

That’s how the the Scientific Method works, and it’s one of the most powerful tools we have to overcome the subtle biases that keep our brains from being truly creative. After all, you can’t discover a non-obvious solution without being willing to discover that your obvious solution wasn’t right.

So when our students developed an idea or a manuscript, we taught them to treat it like a crash test dummy rather than a fragile baby, and actively look for ways to break it. We rewarded them for finding the flaws and helped them get comfortable with being “wrong” over and over again as each draft led them closer to “right.”

CREATING CREATIVITY

We tend to think of our creative heroes (Beethoven, Edison, etc.) as geniuses who possess extraordinary instinct, talent, or expertise that helps them pluck great ideas from thin air.

But the reality is often less magical. The greatest ideas don’t start on a pedestal—they start as a needle under a haystack of weaker ones.

Geniuses don’t necessarily have fewer bad ideas, but they almost always create more ideas—enough that a few amazing ones eventually materialize under the pile. Edison created thousands of inventions to create the two that we all know; Beethoven developed hundreds of symphonies to land a handful among the greatest compositions of all time.

So we followed their lead. Working independently, our students used rounds of idea-generating prompts to brainstorm a haystack of hundreds of ideas before sharing a single one with the class (sharing too early influences thinking and limits variety). Once our 6th grade idea factory built its haystack, we shoveled out the “hay” using friendly tournaments until we revealed the “needles” underneath. Only then did the writing begin.

THE POWER OF “ALMOST PERFECT”

“Perfect” sounds incredible until you read the studies showing how the ever-higher standards we hold our kids to are challenging mental health. And in the world of innovation, perfectionism is nothing but a mask to hide the fear of being judged, standing between us and a world of would-be masterpieces.

We fought this by teaching our students that “almost perfect” done right is far easier, faster, and often quite sufficient. The trick is to deeply understand your objective, focus on the few things that matter most to achieving it, and the hard part: deprioritize the rest.

So our students didn’t let “perfect” get in the way of “good enough.”

Before they even picked up a pen, they ran a reverse experiment to identify the 3-4 features of a book that were most important for their readers, then tested dozens of hastily-written synopses and manuscripts to make sure the “needles” we were finding in our haystack were strong enough to hold up to the effort needed to weave a complete masterpiece.

They saved the painstaking perfection for where it really matters: the final draft of manuscripts they already knew would be winners.

BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH FAILURE

Most people think of “resilience” as the ability to rise to big challenges and persevere. In reality, Hiccup (the hero of How To Train Your Dragon) had it right: it’s usually easier to befriend the beast than to slay it.

We encouraged our students to embrace a growth mindset: the idea that being bad at something today doesn’t have to mean you’ll be bad at it tomorrow, and the act of embracing “failure” as a necessary—and even fulfilling—step on the way to success.

It’s the difference between “my manuscript isn’t great” and “my manuscript isn’t great…yet.” One sees the barrier as the end of the road, and the other sees it as a place to sit and reflect before continuing the journey.

Innovation requires an almost absurd willingness to be wrong in public, which kids (and adults!) are not naturally great at. So we made a poster to celebrate “Fearless Failure Heroes,” and structured our feedback sessions in a way that they learned to expect constructive criticism.

Then, we taught them to deliver and receive that feedback in ways that help them put down their inner shields and let the dragon get close enough for a belly rub.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK (when done properly!)

Creative success is not a solo sport. You need feedback. You need refinement. And most importantly, you need advocacy—people to see enough potential in your idea to get it off the shelf and into the world.

But balancing teamwork and independence requires walking a tightrope of cross-disciplinary psychology. Team up too early, and people converge on the first decent idea. Give an individual too much ownership, and they may not help their peers succeed. Encourage them to “grow the pie” without letting them take a big enough slice, and they won’t be as selfless next time.

So we walked the tightrope:

  • Ideation vs. Refinement: Our students generated ideas independently, and refined them together (because nobody can see the flaws in their own baby)!
  • Generosity vs. Self-Interest: They identified their own strengths and weaknesses, so they knew when to ask for help vs. lend their skills to others.
  • Ownership vs. Motivation: They “owned” their ideas and early synopses, but only until they were partially developed. Then they worked in teams that allowed others to carry them forward in different directions to challenge, reshape, and share ownership of the work.
  • Competition vs. Collaboration: We balanced camaraderie with competition by ensuring students were teaming up for their work, but with a competitive edge through cross-class tournaments.

In other words, we didn’t just teach them how to work together. We also taught them when not to.

The Triumph of Human Innovation

One of my favorite outcomes of this project was the new book, I AM KING CHAMELEON! I DEMAND TO BE SEEN! If you picked up the book without reading this article, you’d probably never notice these principles sprinkled throughout as you search for that arrogant lizard.

But just like a chameleon, they are camouflaged in the story. King Chameleon begins by demanding an immediate solution to his camouflage problem:

I am a KING! But how can I command a king’s respect…

When COLOR-CHANGING SKIN makes me so tricky to detect?!

No matter how loudly he bellows, there is no easy answer. He tries and fails until he finally humbles himself and perseveres through the haystack of his bad ideas until he’s neck-deep in mud.

Only then does he realize that the solution wasn’t the only thing hidden—the problem itself was unclear. He didn’t need to become more visible; he needed to become more comfortable in his color-changing skin and learn the value of collaboration and friendship:

“I guess, though I’m invisible, I’m happy to be me.

I’m not your KING chameleon…just a friend that you can’t see.”

That’s a pretty good metaphor for innovation, since the breakthrough isn’t always just a better answer. Sometimes it’s a better question.

That’s where the AI parallel gets interesting. AI models can create polished rhymes, generate structure, and produce in an instant what would take humans hours. But the universal rule with AI is “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”

AI can’t produce anything worth using without a human to ask the right question. A human who, like King Chameleon, has rolled in the muddy mess long enough to rule out the wrong ones. Someone who has experienced the vulnerability of middle school, felt the embarrassment of a terrible idea, or felt the unbridled joy and relief of a long-awaited breakthrough.

And AI certainly can’t replace the deep bond that only a teacher like Mrs. Miller can create with her students—one that, 25 years after leaving her classroom, led us to a messy, human experience that created a solution to an AI-generated problem we didn’t even know existed yet. One that hopefully changed the lives of 28 students who are now better prepared to fail fearlessly, think non-obviously, and innovate.

It definitely changed my life too. After all, the next time someone asks me to “tell me about a time that you innovated,” I now have an answer:

“I helped create the ‘best’ children’s book in the world.”

It’s certainly up there—at least in my book (pun intended). I hope you think so, too!

I Am King Chameleon: I Demand to be Seen!
Author: Ben Okon
Illustrator: Sourav Majumder
Published September 8th, 2026 by Sourcebooks Wonderland

About the Book: From award-winning author Ben Okon comes a hilarious seek-and-find picture book. Can YOU spot this chameleon playing hide-and-seek?

I’m Classroom King Chameleon: I’m the Coolest King at School!
Author: Ben Okon
Illustrator: Sourav Majumder
Publishing December 8th, 2026 by Sourcebooks Wonderland

About the Book: King Chameleon is too cool for school… or so he thinks. From bestselling author Ben Okon comes this hilarious seek-and-find picture book perfect for kids 4-8!

King Chameleon is back—and this time he’s taking over the classroom! From math class to the soccer field to the school play, King Chameleon is determined to show the whole school that he is SO cool. His outrageous, over-the-top personality and “cool” talents turn every minute of the school day into laugh-out-loud classroom chaos.

Packed with silly rhymes, comedic confidence, and hidden chameleons to spot, I’m Classroom King Chameleon! I’m the Coolest King at School! is a wildly funny interactive picture book for kids, parents, and educators alike. This back-to-school book is perfect for first day of school gifts, classroom read-alouds, bedtime giggles, and fans of funny animal characters. Can YOU find this cool chameleon playing hide and seek?

“I’m Cooler King Chameleon, and I’ll come with you to school.

I bet that you’ll be glad to have a friend who’s CRAZY cool!”

About the Author: Ben Okon is the award-winning author of dozens of children’s books including the new “I AM KING CHAMELEON! I DEMAND TO BE SEEN!” a collaboration created from an innovation lab built with Mrs. Laura Miller for her 6th-grade class at BCHA. Ben is also a strategist with experience at companies like Google and Bain & Co. and holds an M.B.A in Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School of Business and a B.S. in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.

Thank you, Ben, for this aweseom call for using the human mind!

The Ultimate Book of Mythical Creatures by Aurore Meyer, Illustrated by Gabrielle Berger

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The Ultimate Book of Mythical Creatures
Author: Aurore Meyer
Illustrator: Gabrielle Berger
Published September 15th, 2026 by Twirl Books

Summary: Discover the world of monsters, dragons, giants, and mermaids!

With more than 50 flaps, tabs, pop-ups, and rotating wheels, creatures from mythology and folklore come to life in this oversized, interactive book. Young readers will learn about creatures such as the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, Pegasus, mermaids, the phoenix, and many more!

Perfect for curious minds aged 5 and up, this book offers a hands-on introduction to mythical and legendary creatures from around the world.

•Supersized spreads with rich, detailed illustrations
•Over 50 interactive features to keep kids engaged
•Diverse content draws from mythology and folklore from around the world
•Perfect introduction for young children to mythology and folklore
•Captivating family read-aloud

About the Creators: 

Aurore Meyer is a writer of games, documentaries, and workbooks for children and adults. She works near Bordeaux, France.

Gabrielle Berger launched her illustration career in 2018. She lives in Paris, France.

Review & Educators’ Tools for Navigation: This is such a fun book! It is exactly what it titled: An ultimate introduction to mythical creatures from all over the world, and the interactiveness definitely adds to the engagement. I loved that it is inclusive of the whole world yet does a good job of giving an introduction to so many but in a way that doesn’t feel like an encyclopedia. 

Trent read the book, too, and he said the book was really cool! He said the pop-ups were really creative, and you can tell that the creators spent a lot of time researching and creating it. Also, he says that he liked that there was a mix of cultures represented in the mythologies.

There are so many ways this book could be used, but it will assist in any mythology lesson in any classroom, is a great addition to a mythology book collection in a library, AND it is a great book to have at home, too!

Discussion Questions: 

  • What different countries and cultures did you find mythical creatures highlighted from?
  • There are many mythical creatures introduced in the book. Which introduction makes you want to learn more?
  • How do the interactive elements of the book add to the storytelling of the book?
  • How do the author choose to organize the book? What are some other ways the book could have been organized?
  • Which of these creatures have you heard of before? Where have you heard of them?
    • Extension: An allusion is a brief, indirect reference and there are often allusions to mythology. Have you ever watched or read something with an allusion to a creature in this book?
  • Why do you think the author created this book?
  • There are mythical creatures introduced that are from different countries/cultures that are a bit similar. How do these creatures compare and contrast with each other?

Flagged Spreads: 

Click HERE to view a video to see the pop-ups

Read This If You Love: Mythology, Pop-up Books

Recommended For: 

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**Thank you to Blue Slip Media & Twirl Books for providing a copy for review!!**

Instagram: @chroniclekidsbooks  |  @blue_slip_media
Facebook: @chroniclekidsbooks  |  Blue Slip Media

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/19/26

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Wednesday: The Brontosaurus is Back!: A Dinosaur’s Name and Return to Fame by Sarah Albee, Illustrated by Chris Hsu

Sunday: Author Interview with Eloy Moreno, Author of Invisible

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

I am so sorry that I am not posting today; I’ll update you in two weeks 🙂

You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

This is my week off; I’ll see you next week!

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Wednesday: The Ultimate Book of Mythical Creatures by Aurore Meyer, Illustrated by Gabrielle Berger 

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Triumph of Human Innovation” by Ben Okon, Author of I am King Chameleon

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on other blogs. If you share your Monday post, tag with #IMWAYR!

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