It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. 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!
Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee 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.
Congratulations to MARY H. for winning a copy of Rory’s Promise!
Last Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Us To Read
Wednesday: Recent Nonfiction (Mostly) Picture Books Part Two: Biographies
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: We had a rough week at the Moye house filled with illnesses (both Trent and I are still sick) and loss (we said good bye to our beautiful cat, Bella, on Friday) AND we also went away for the weekend to Disney so my husband, Jim, could run in the Tower of Terror 10 miler, so Trent’s reading really took a hit. Although we did reread a few favorites including The Going to Bed Book by Boynton, The Pigeon Has Feelings Too by Willems, and I Love You Through and Through by Rossetti-Shustak and we were able to read the super-cute You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang today, we definitely didn’t hit our #bookaday quota this week. But sometimes life overrides reading…
I actually was able to read three books this week. First, I needed something light, so I read a collection of Big Nate comics called The Crowd Goes Wild!. I really like the Nate stories. I know that Wimpy Kid is the favorite, but Nate is just so much more likable! I then read a phenomenal book by Ann M. Martin, Rain Reign. Once I started reading this one, I couldn’t stop. I fell asleep with it and my glasses on on Saturday night and jumped right back into it on Sunday so I could finish it. I cannot wait to share it with you–I will review it soon. And this week I am so excited to share with you Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett. You will all want to get this one.
Ricki: This week, I finished Shirley Brice Heath’s Ways with Words. This ethnographic book is a classic study about Heath’s research in two neighboring towns—both mill towns, but one predominantly White and one predominantly Black—next to Appalachia in the Piedmont Carolinas during the Civil Rights Era. She studied the ways the people (and primarily the children) use words and how that might impact the youngsters when they start schooling. I often see this study cited, so I was interested to read Heath’s work directly. Her methodology is admirable, and I think this is a very important study for every teacher to read, primarily elementary school teachers and English/language arts teachers.
Henry and I read some puppet books this week. H.A. Rey’s Curious George Pat-a-Cake is not the most unique book I’ve ever read, but the giant Curious George puppet that peeks through every page made him laugh hysterically all week. We read it about forty times. We also read a Mary had a Little Lamb puppet book, but I can’t remember the title. Neither of these books is one I would recommend to use in the classroom, but they are both great for parents. 🙂
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I started reading The Mutts Diaries by Patrick McDonnell, so I will probably finish that. I have a HUGE pile of picture books from the library for me to read, so I will most likely sit down and read most of them this week because they are due soon. I also have Trevor Pryce’s An Army of Frogs and all of the Walden books to read in preparation for NCTE/ALAN, so I am going to read those soon. With Trent, we are going to continue rereading and working on finding favorites. We’ll see where the week takes us!
Ricki: This week, I think I will read Rosenblatt’s Literature for Exploration. Has anyone read it? I know it is cited everywhere. I am trying to read all of the books that are consistently cited in education. I also want to read Jessie Haas’s Bramble and Maggie series.
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels
Thursday: Ricki’s Road to a Dissertation
Friday: Author’s Guest Post and Giveaway of Julie Sternberg’s The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over
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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Sam & Dave is getting so much buzz! I can’t wait! Have a great reading week you two!
Thanks, Earl! Have a great week, too!
I will be very interested in hearing if you like it or not Earl 🙂 I think you may enjoy the little bit of humor in it.
Life overrides books sometimes. Sorry for your loss Kellee, so hard to lose our little loves…
Ricki – love those puppet books, laughter is good incentive to reading and rereading books and making some that aren’t notable at all in other ways the most special ones… I can remember a few that I read, reread, and reread…. probably can recite still… Can’t wait to read Sam and Dave!! And Rain Reign. Happy reading to you both!
I agree, Debbie! They may not be the most well-written books, but those puppet books are certainly enticing for my son. He drags them around the room all day long!
Thank you so much Debbie. But life definitely does override everything sometimes *hug!*
Personal Penguin by Boynton is probably my favorite right now. The song sung by Davy Jones is so catchy!
You will really love both Sam & Dave and Rain Reign. Both special books in different ways.
Kellee, sorry for your loss, and for the sickness, too. Sometimes weeks are not what we imagined. I hope this coming one is a good one for you. I loved Rain Reign, beautiful story. And Ricki, I’m not familiar with the puppet books, but they sound like good baby gifts! I researched your two PD books, don’t know either, & they sound fascinating. Will keep them on my list. Thanks to both of you!
Linda, I am glad I introduced you to them! While you may not be familiar with the Rosenblatt book, I bet you are familiar with the concept. She introduced Reader Response–reading a text and responding to it in an open way and making connections. I haven’t read the book, obviously, but I will most certainly keep you updated about it after I am done!
Thank you for your kind words Linda. Sometimes it seems like everything happens at once (there are some other things happening as well… all at once). But luckily we have family and books and love and friends to all go back to 🙂
Wasn’t Rain Reign a wonderful story! It is beautiful and special and so well written.
Kellee, I hope all of you are feeling better soon. Enjoy both the books and life! Ricki, I want to read Heath’s book now. I grew up in North Carolina (east of the Piedmont), and would be fascinated to see the different ways words and language affected the kids and school.
Kay, if I had a paper copy of it, I would send it your way! It is really quite interesting. She used fantastic techniques. I am going to do a blog entry about it after I have more time to process the ideas. 🙂
Thank you Kay! Books definitely help with life 🙂
We had a similar week, Kellee – got back from a trip to New Orleans, I got bronchitis, and we lost our beloved hamster, Lola, last night. So sorry to hear about your cat and hope you are feeling better.
I totally agree on Nate vs. Wimpy Kid. Neither of my sons liked the Wimpy Kid books all that much because they said the main character was too mean! The especially didn’t like the way he treated his best friend (yeah, I have very caring sons!).
And we all love Mutts – enjoy!
Ricki, we are all HUGE Curious George fans though I hadn’t heard of that one yet. I loved him when I was a kid, and so did my sons. My nephew’s most beloved stuffed animal is a Curious George blankie (the kind with an animal head attached to a blanket). I haven;t read the Bramble & Maggie series – hope you enjoy it!
Sue
Book By Book
I am also a huge Curious George fan! Because so many people have been interested in the puppet book, I will try to get a good picture next week with Henry and post it!
Rough week all around Sue 🙁 I’m sorry for your loss and illness as well. You know I mean it when I say I understand!
I’m so glad you are on the Big Nate boat with me. I never liked how Greg treated Rowley–it made me so sad! (And yes, you do have caring sons. Love it!)
And yay Mutts! They are so funny!
Kellee, so sorry to read about Bella. That is so, so hard. Ricki, I think Literature as Exploration is one of the most important books ever written about what we do when we read. I’ll be very interested in your thoughts. I read the Heath book years ago but don’t remember very much from it.
Elisabeth, the Rosenblatt book is cited so frequently that I am excited to read more about it! Have you read Deborah Appleman’s book about Critical Encounters? She explores lenses beyond Reader Response, and I found it to be very interesting.
Thank you Elisabeth. Such kind words–I appreciate it.
Hi Ladies!!!! I am so so so jealous – I’m dying to do the Tower of Terror run! I’m a huge fan of the disney Villains! Getting away in sept is a little difficult in teacher world!! But we did just make our Disney reservations for May so I have that to look forward to! Can’t wait to read Sam and Dave, the book trailers have been great! It looks like you have some good posts coming up, I’ll be sure to check in!
The Tower of Terror run is so much fun because you get to hang out in the part afterwards. I didn’t do it this year, but have in the past–a blast!
It’d be great to meet you in May. You’ll have to let me know when you are here.
Sam and Dave is such a cool book–you’ll like it a lot.
Hi, Michele! I am not much of a rides person, but I do love to run! I hope you have a terrific week!
I absolutely loved The Most Magnificent Thing. Such a great book to use in a writing workshop classroom.
A great book to use in all classrooms! 🙂
I haven’t read it, but I will certainly check it out!
Such diverse titles this week for both of you. Kellee – sorry for the challenging week – illness and loss – all so challenging. Amazing how much reading you did do! Ricki, I can just imagine the giggles with those puppet books. The interactive aspect of books is quite incredible!
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