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: Books We Can’t Believe We’ve Read
Thursday: Guest Review!: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee
- I am so glad that I finally picked up a Gae Polisner book! The Memory of Things is such a special book. It is so much more than just a time machine back to one of the worst days in our history, it is a look at the human spirit.
- I am officially done with the published Whatever After books! I love them still; I think Abby and Jonah are such fun kids and their adventures teach such great lessons amidst crazy plots.
- Rebels by Accident by Patricia Dunn was recommended to me by a student of mine that is in my class for the second year. She begged and begged for me to read it so she could talk to me about it, and I am so glad I finally did. She is from Egypt, and I can definitely see why this book is special for her. She really only had one concern about the book’s representation of her country; other than that, she (and I!) loved it though we were left wanting more of Miriam’s story.
- For this season, Jim, Trent, and I have season tickets to the Orlando Philharmonic’s Storytime Symphony which is every couple of months. This last storytime presentation focused on jazz music, and we were read the story The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub, and we were so lucky to have the author there to read to us. We enjoyed it so much that we bought a copy to listen to in our car.
- The first Storytime Symphony of the season, in December, was Paddington, so after we listened to The Jazz Fly, I found some Paddington audiobooks through our library to listen to.
- In the car on the way to school, we have continued listening to an audiobook every morning. The new ones we’ve listened to recently are Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo by John Lithgow and King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood. The first was a new to me book as well, and it is pretty funny, with a great rhyme & rhythm, and loved the inclusion of a variety of animals. King Bidgood is a book that we read often when I was a kid; however, we had a different audiobook than the one that came with our copy. I wish I could find one that was the same because I can still hear it in my head. This new audiobook adds extra things to the story which, in my opinion, it doesn’t need.
Ricki
I’ve been working on coding data this week. Because I’ve been staying up until 2/3 am each night, I haven’t been able to read as much. I am excited to check out your blogs and see what you all are reading!
I REREAD Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz for the fifth time. Gosh, I love that book so much. I am looking forward to teaching it tomorrow afternoon. If history repeats itself, it will surely be a great class. 🙂
The boys and I read A Color of His His Own by Leo Lionni. I enjoy his books. They are fun to read and colorful. He reminds me a bit of Eric Carle.
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee
- After the Whatever After series, I made quite a drastic change, and I am now listening to Prisoner B-3087. Alan Gratz just is so talented at tying story and history; however, I will tell you that I have to emotionally be ready to listen to it.
- Ink by Alice Broadway is such a unique concept, and I cannot wait to share more with you when I finish it.
Ricki
A third of my class is reading Whale Talk next week, and I am excited to be facilitating their group conversation! I will definitely be reading it to prepare!
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Books That Have Been on our TBR List the Longest
Wednesday: History’s Mysteries by Kitson Jazynka
Friday: SuperPowers!: A Great Big Collection of Awesome Activities, Quirky Questions, and Wonderful Ways to See Just How Super You Already Are by M.H. Clark
Sunday: Author Guest Post!: “Art in Stories” by Nancy K. Lodge, Author of Mona Lisa’s Ghost (Lucy Nightingale #2)
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 love two of the books you mentioned, The Memory of Things and Whale Talk (a long time ago)-yes, both authors certainly tell great stories!Have a good week.
Yes! I am really looking forward to reading it again. 🙂
Among all the books you shared here, I was especially taken by INK – immediately placed it in my To-Find stack on Goodreads. Hopefully, we get that here in Singapore soonest.
Ooooh, that does look good. Thanks for sharing, Kellee!
Gratz is always good! Whale Talk– haven’t thought of that one in a while. Not even sure I have it anymore.
I had to re-buy it. 🙂
I hadn’t read a Paddington book in a long time or even thought much about the character, but I recently listened to the illustrator R.W. Alley speak at an event and that renewed my interest.
Now I am intrigued. 🙂
I need to check out the Whatever After books. So many of my 3rd-5th grade girls LOVE that series. It’s in heavy circulation in our school library.
Whale Talk had such a profound impact on me. I’ll still never forget that scene where Heidi tried to wash the black off her skin.
Also: since you’ve read Aristotle and Dante several times, Ricki, I’m curious if you’ve listened to Lin-Manuel narrate the audiobook? I’ve been meaning to listen to it because, hello? It’s Lin-Manuel, but I’ve just been so busy with other things. I think that will be my goal this summer.
Yes! I listened to it last year. My student (who is Mexican-American) is very strict about the way that book is represented and she came into class raving about the audio, so I had to get it. It’s fantastic. We were just talking about it in class today, actually!
Whale Talk was one of my first YA books in college. I loved it. I am really looking forward to sharing it with students next week.
Wow, so many good books this week!
Kellee, I haven’t heard of The Memory of Things before, but it sounds really good! My boys and I used to enjoy Audrey Wood books – I think she and her husband did some together, right? And I didn’t know there was another Alan Gratz novel I haven’t read yet! My TBR list just keeps growing!
Ricki, My boys LOVED the Leo Lionni books! Such fun! Good memories. And of course, Aristotle and Dante is such an amazing book.
Hope you both enjoy your books this week!
Sue
Book By Book
Yes! And I’ve also read The Memory of Things and recommend it highly!
Kelle, I agree that you have to be in the right frame of mind for some of Alan Gratz’ work. I started and abandoned Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II because I just wasn’t ready for it.
Storytime Symphony sounds like a fabulous experience!
Ricki, Whale Talk looks like a wonderful read. I’ve added it to my goodreads and local library lists.
Happy reading to both of you this week
It’s so good, Cheriee. It’s one of those books that really stands the test of time.
There’s surprisingly lots of great picture books about jazz for kids.
And I can’t wait for more Aristotle & Dante.
I agree. More, more, more Ari and Dante.