It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/13/25

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!

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Using Storytelling to Flip the Script on our Fears” by Adam Rosenbaum, Author of The Ghost Rules

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

Kellee

Hi, Unleashing Readers readers!! Just wanted to let you know of an announcement I’d like to share because it is going to change the books you may see me review and us feature throughout 2025: I am so lucky to be assisting with the 2026 Caldecott Award Committee, so we will be unable to feature any guest post, and I will not be able to review any, picture books, highly illustrated novels, and graphic novels published in 2025. 🥳and😟

Here’s what I’ve read since December 9th:

All Ages/Multi-Ages Manga

• Cat + Gamer Volumes 3, 4, 5, & 6 by Wataru Nadatani: I love this series! It does a perfect job of being a cute cat manga while also having enough plot that the story moves forward. It does both really well!
• Dinosaur Sanctuary Volumes 1, 2, & 3 by Itaru Kinoshita: I also love this series! I love the premise that dinosaurs were re-discovered and now there are sanctuaries of them, I love the paleontology throughout, and the plot of this one really keeps you reading, too.
• WonderCat Kyuu-chan Volumes 2, 3, 4, & 5 by Sasami Nitori: A cute cat slice of life manga where each page is a different mini story.

Middle Grade

 

• Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd, Illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter: I can definitely see why this is one of the favorite graphic novels in my library. It is hard not to feel bad for Maggie and feel invested in her journey to find the perfect situation for her.
• New Dragon City by Mari Mancusi: So, I am not a big dragon lore, high fantasy dragon book reader. But this dragon book was the perfect mix of post-apocalyptic suspense, unknown fantasy of the dragons, and family & situational drama. I very much enjoyed this read!
• The Aquanaut by Dan Santat: What a beautiful and odd graphic novel! I had no idea what this book was going to be going in, but it is so unique and so pretty to look at. It is hard to explain, but it is essentially about a young girl who lost her father to the sea and a group of adorable sea creatures pretending to be a man in an aquanaut’s suit and how their paths collide.
• Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo: Sue does NOT want to be the fluffy, girly girl that her mom wants her to be, but her secretly planned quinceañera is about more than just her mom’s expectations; it takes a visit to Honduras to visit relatives for Sue (and her mom) to learn to understand how to mix her personality and her culture’s traditions.
• Is It Real? The Loch Ness Monster by Candace Fleming: I am excited about this series! The series is set up to allow the reader to take information and decide the verdict about something mysterious, in this case the Loch Ness monster. You have to read it then let me know, DO YOU THINK IT IS REAL???
• As You Wish by Nashae Jones: This middle school rom com takes a well known romance trope (granting wishes/alternate world) and throws it into 8th grade making for a funny yet heartfelt read where you can’t help but root for Birdie and Deve’s happiness.

Young Adult

• Love Requires Chocolate by Ravynn K. Stringfield: Grumpy x Sunshine and forced proximity romance tropes come together in this romance young adult book set in Paris. Filled with great tidbits about Paris, Josephine Baker, and baking as well as a romance story that all readers will want to see happen.
• The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag: This graphic novel was a perfect modern selkie retelling that mixes the selkie mythology with a story of finding identity and first love.
• The Queen’s Spade by Sarah Raughley: This book. Y’all. This book. This twisted historical fiction thriller is all about revenge. Sally is Queen Victoria’s “African goddaughter” but in reality she is an Egdabo Clan princess kidnapped from Africa. In The Queen’s Spade, Sally focuses her completely self on seeking revenge on those who kidnapped her, including Queen Victoria. And Sally weaves such a twisted web of deceit. I could not put this down, except when I was searching for the true history of events and people included in the book. Phew! Loved it!
• The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman: I am a big fan of boarding school murder mysteries, and this was a pretty darn good one. The clues kept me guessing until the end, and it truly ends with such suspense!
• The Agathas (#1) and The Night in Question (#2) by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson: Alice and Iris think the police are incompetent and know they can do a better job. (And guess what?!?! They do.) Both books focus on a crime that seem open and shut but are more complex than they seem at first; it is fun to follow along Alice and Iris as they find clues.
• How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine: This twisted thriller (with a terribly misleading title) was quite fun to read. The title should be “How to Save Your Sister from her Murder,” but I guess it isn’t as catchy, but that is really what it is about. Oh, and wait for the end!!!

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

Ricki

I’ll be back next Monday to share all I’ve read during this break!

Kellee

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

Tuesday: Kellee’s 2024 Reading Recap and Stats

Sunday: “Friendship in Schools” by Arleen McCarthy, Author of My Friend John

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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