It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/21/21

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: Geraldine Pu: And Her Lunch Box, Too! by Maggie P. Chang

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

Kellee

Well, HELLO!!!! I have missed you all! First, thank you to all kind wishes you sent to me or shared on the blog. I am doing well and living a new normal that is going to be wonderful!

Since I’ve been gone almost 6 weeks and many of that was spent on leave or summer vacation, I have read A LOT! I am not sure of the best way to share it, so I am just going for it!

• As you can see, I’ve been reading a lot of manga as I search for ones that I like, that my students will like, and that I want in the library. My favorite that I read, other than Promised Neverland, was definitely Amazing Agent Luna (although it is an original-English language manga which, according to my students, lowers its rep). The series Peach Fuzz and Yotsuba weren’t my cup of tea, but they’ll definitely get readers in my library. I’ve read the first Hikaru No Go and liked it, so I have the next 4 to read–I’ll let you know!
• I’ve been going through our 6-8 Sunshine State Young Reader books for 2021-2022 school year and have read 14 of the 15! I am a fan of the entire list so far (and the last book for me to read is by Kenneth Oppel who has never let me down), so I am excited to share them all with my students in the fall.
  • Cleo Porter and the Body Electric by Jake Burt: A book that is hard to put down and hard to read in our pandemic world.
  • Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi: A look at surveillance society and kids who stand up against it.
  • A Whisper in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat: I can definitely see why this book was Newbery honored–it is beautifully written and a great story!
  • Jinxed by Amy McCullough: In a near future where our phones are gone but now humans have companion animal robots, but there is something going on that Lacey is going to figure out! (And it ends in a terrible cliffhanger, so I read the 2nd book Unleashed also!)
  • The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty: I love McAnulty’s picture books and now I can say I love her middle grade novel! I loved Lucy from page 1!
  • Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander: Enjoyed looking at Muhammad Ali’s life as a child and a young man and with Patterson & Alexander writing the story, it is also entertaining!
  • The Unteachables by Gordon Korman: I had a very hard time getting past the slurs and negativity surrounding the students in the “Unteachable” class, and it definitely affected how much I liked the book, but I am so glad that the theme at the end was what it was, redeeming the book.
  • Wildfire by Rodman Philbrick: I was terrified for the characters this entire book! A good read, and I hope it brings awareness to global warming and wildfires.
  • Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Sounders: A new take on a murder mystery!
  • The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods: A raw and truthful look at race in the south post-World War II, but also a look at a true friendship.
  • Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation by Stuart Gibbs: Charlie Thorne is a genius, so obviously she is the only one that can help the CIA with discovering Albert Einstein’s last equation, but they aren’t the only ones looking for it. DUN DUN DUN!!!
• I’ve also read some books from my #MustReadin2021 & #BitAboutBooks lists! I haven’t been let down by any of the books I’ve chosen so far!
  • The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper: Yes to all of this book. Yes to the romance. Yes to the space travel. Yes to the friendships. Yes to the family issues. Yes Yes Yes. (And make sure to read/listen to the short story epilogue!)
  • All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat: This is one of the best nonfiction middle grade books I have ever read. Period. Informative, engaging, truthful… everything.
  • 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston: A fun rom-com book! Enjoyed the sequel 10 Truths and Dare, too,
  • This is My America by Kim Johnson: Whoa. Pick up this book if you haven’t. It would be a great companion to Just Mercy or a look at racial law enforcement brutality as well as modern segregation in the south.
  • Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay: Randy Ribay’s prose is beautiful, so the book has an amazing foundation, but then the story is also so captivating.
• Trent and I finished listening to the 9th Captain Underpants and are waiting for the 10th to be an audiobook (Trent is very impatiently waiting). We also read and loved Ballet Cat, books from the Who Would Win series, The Perfect Fit, and Bethan Woolvin’s fairy tale books. All of these are great for elementary classrooms!
• Trent read Geeger the Robot Goes to School and See the Cat by himself during reading time, but as soon as he was done he brought them to me and told me to read them–that is the biggest compliment you can get from him because it means he wants to talk about it with me.
• The Martian is my second adult novels in 2 months which is more than in the year before that! The Martian was such a wonderful read–I couldn’t put it down, it made me laugh, it made my anxious… A new favorite. We then watched the movie, and I was disappointed as it is when you read a book and watch the movie.
• I also grabbed Two Peas in a Pod by Sarah Mlynowsi (because I realized I’d skipped it when listening to the Whatever After series), Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur by Amy Reeder (because it looked epic and was Marvel and is middle school appropriate–on order for my library!), and The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo (because I am lucky enough to be working on the teaching guide).

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2021 Goodreads Challenge page  or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I suspect some of you have been tired of having my voice alone the last six weeks. I’ll be back next week with books to share. For now, enjoy Kellee’s long, wonderful report!

Kellee

Reading: Bloom by Kenneth Oppel

Reading during family reading time: Hikaru No Go Vol. 2: First Battle by Yumi Hotta

Trent reading during family reading time: Caveboy Dave: More Scrawny Than Brawny by Aaron Reynolds, Illustrated by Phil McAndrew

Jim reading during family reading time: Fables Vol. 6: Homelands by Bill Willingham

Tuesday: Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston by Alicia D. Williams, Illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara

Saturday: Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani

Sunday: Student Voices by Kellee’s Students of the Past & Present: “Shadow and Bone: Readers vs. Non-Readers” by Amy Calvo, Rising 10th Grader

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