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 at least three of the other linked blogs.
Happy reading!
Thursday: Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Kellee
Young Adult
- Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers, Illustrated by Jeff Edwards: This book is very much outside of my comfort zone as I am not a fan of horror, and this one starts off with a bang (the first story is a doozy!), but I am so thankful that Ricki told me to not give up because she was right that in the end, I would enjoy the beautifully crafted book that Rogers created. She did a phenomenal job of writing such a wide variety of monster stories that transcend time from the 1800s to the future, and she layers these stories with truths about racism, systemic oppression, sexism, and other violences that are in the real world.
- The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas: High fantasy is also a genre I enter into tentatively, but I am so glad I jumped right into this one because this became one of my favorite reads so far this year. The way I described it to my students is that it is an older and more diverse version of The Hunger Games combined with Percy Jackson. I listened to this one, and I didn’t want to leave my car because I wanted to know what happened next to Teo, our protagonist and underdog in the Sunbearer Trials. And now I have to wait until SEPTEMBER for the next book in the duology!
- Medusa: The Girl Behind the Myth by Jessie Burton, Illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill: I read this book in less than 24 hours because it was so brilliant. The way Burton kept (most of) the myth as it has been told over time but also touches on such important themes such as sexual assault, stereotyping, and misogyny. I am so impressed with how this book was crafted and loved how she decided to do this retelling. Just wow.
To learn more about any of these books, click on any title/image to go to the book’s Goodreads page or check out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.
Ricki
This is my week off–see you next week!
Kellee
- Reading: As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
- Listening: Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives it Changed by Dashka Slater
- Tuesday: The Incredible Octopus: Meet the Eight-Armed Wonder of the Sea by Erin Spencer
- Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Soil Science in Jackie’s Garden” by Peggy Thomas, Author of The Soil in Jackie’s Garden
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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All the YA books sound great, Kellee. Medusa sounds especially intriguing! Thanks!
Every book here sounds excellent, Kellee! I’m very intrigued by the Medusa retelling, like Linda above, and I also looked up Accountable, which looks immensely well-written from the preview I read—I’ll be curious to see your thoughts on it! Thanks so much for the great picks and for hosting us!
Horror isn’t a genre I ever read, but I am intrigued by your description of Man Made Monsters, and I think I will try to read it. But not at night!
Man Made Monsters sounds interesting. I may look into that for my Spooky Reads this year.