It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/18/21

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. 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.

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 at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

Thursday: Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho

Saturday: Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: The Remarkable Journey by Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

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

Kellee

Yay! I am so glad to be back! Being back means: the 2021 Schneider Family Awards have been chosen! Now to just wait for the announcement on Monday, January 25th at 8am CST at https://ala.unikron.com/ 🙂

Since I haven’t been able to post at all in 2021, I am going to share everything I have read thus far (that I can share). There is a lot of goodness to share here, so sorry not sorry for the long post!

Graphic Novels:

• Katie the Catsitter by Colleen A.F. Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue: Well, this was nothing like I thought it was going to be. Instead IT WAS EVEN BETTER! What looks like a cute catsitter story is actually a superhero story with brilliant cat sidekicks! LOVED IT, and it was immediately checked out from our school library!
• The Runaway Princess by Johan Troïanowski: Lots of picture books are interactive but rarely do you see a book for older children that is (other than choose adventure type books), but The Runaway Princess has fun interactive sections where the reader gets to be part of the adventure. That, along with the unique storytelling and adventures, makes this graphic novel a wonderful read.

Novels

• The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate: So, I am an ape fan, if you didn’t know, so I am a HUGE fan of both the Ivan book and picture book, so I was actually a bit worried about a Bob book. But I needen’t be–though VERY different than the first, it is just as heartfelt and emotional and everything you want.
• The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer: Holy sentient computer and LOVE in space, Batman! Wow. Phew! Couldn’t put this one down! So much to unpack with this one! Love the positives of what a human future could look like, but the negatives were terrifying. And be ready for twists and turns!
• Tales of Witchcraft by Chris Colfer: This second book in the prequel to Land of Stories series continues Bristol’s story as The Fairy Godmother. This series feels particularly relevant right now as Bristol fights an secret society that wishes to take over and destroy all that are not like them……. Chris Colfer is a genius.

Picture Books (all read with Trent; if I don’t share below it is just because it is a reread, and I’ve shared before):

• Dandy by Ame Dyckman, Illustrated by Charles Santoso: Trent and I loved the humor in this one and the puniness of it being called Dandy with lions as main characters.
• Pencil by Ann Ingalls, Illustrated by Dean Griffiths: A clever story looking at how you can find exciting things without technology.
• Stand Up! Speak Up! by Andrew Joyner: A good introduction to climate change and activism for children.
• Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds: I just love Reynolds’s work and so does Trent. This one is all about being whoever you are and how that is everything.
• Fallingwater by Marc Harshman & Anna Egan Smucker, illustrated by LeUyen Pham: I love Pham’s work! And I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s work! And Trent enjoyed the book and immediately asked if we could go to Fallingwater. I call this book a win-win-win.
• 16 Words by Lisa Jean Rogers, illustrated by Chuck Groenick: William Carlos William is one of my favorite poets and “The Red Wheelbarrow” is one of my favorite poems to introduce him to students. I loved this story of WCW and how the poem came to be (and it was a great introduction to him for Trent).
• Digging For Words by Angela Burke Kunkel, illustrated by Paola Escobar: This book tells the story of José Alberto Gutiérrez, a garbage collector in Bogota, and the library he has built in his home for the children of his neighborhood. This is a story I didn’t know, and I’m so glad I do now!
• On a Beam of Light by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky: This was a reread of a favorite for me, but my first time reading it with Trent. I was a bit nervous, but I did not need to be–Trent was enthralled and had SO many questions about everything.
• Avocado Asks: What Am I? by Momoko Abe: Avocado is having an identity crisis, but a small neighbor helps him see that his identity is whatever they want it to be.
• I Am Not A Penguin: A Pangolin’s Lament by Liz Wong: WE LOVED THIS BOOK! Funny and smart and great illustrations! Highly recommended.

• Hike by Pete Oswald: A beautiful wordless tale of a father and son on a hike to plant a tree.
• Daniel’s Good Day by Micha Archer: I love Archer’s illustrations! This story of Daniel looks at what makes a good day.
• Cannonball by Sascha Cotter, illustrated by Josh Morgan: A young Maori boy wants to make a splash but he has to figure out how HE can find the strength to do it.
• Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim: BEAUTIFUL illustrations and a beautiful story about a new student in an American school from South Korea and the common language that children can find and acceptance of each other.
• On a Sleepy Hill by Patricia Hegarty and Xuan Le: A book of cut outs exploring forest animals settling in for the night.
• Welcome to Florida illustrated by Asa Gilland, from DoubleDay Books for Young Readers: This book is part of the Welcome To series which introduces its readers to each state. The illustrations were fun and overall it was a pretty good introduction to Florida. I have some criticisms as a Floridian about the lack of authenticness in what is shown in Florida, but as an introduction it does well.
• My Heart is a Compass by Deborah Marcero: Sometimes the most interesting thing you have is yourself! A beautiful exploration of imagination.
• Where Happiness Begins by Eva Eland: When Sadness is at Your Door was one of my favorite 2019 picture books, so Trent and I were happy to see this companion. Another great book to help young children deal with strong emotions.

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page  or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

School starts this week for me, and in-person school starts for my first grader, so I am bowing out for a week, but I will see you all next week!

Kellee

I’m working on my #BitAboutBooks Winter Reading Challenge! I’ll be sharing it on my #MustReadin2021 post tomorrow 🙂

Tuesday: Kellee’s #MustReadin2021

Saturday: Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

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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