Ricki and Kellee have been pleased to work on the 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award committee. The award finalists were announced this morning. We will, of course, do a lengthier post about the finalists, but we couldn’t wait to share the list with you all:
2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists Announced
And of course….
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.
Last Week’s Posts
**Click on any of the pictures to view the post*
Last Week’s Journeys
Ricki: Last week, I read And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini–click the image above for the review. It was phenomenal. I also finished Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a book by Jesse Andrews that I started several weeks ago. I enjoyed this one but think I would enjoy it even more if I was an adolescent boy. Lastly, I have been working on preparing for the college classes I am teaching, so I read the first third of When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers. I am enjoying it so much that it is making me want to go back to teaching high school so I can try out the new skills and strategies I am learning. It is making me rethink many of the practices of my classroom and is a GREAT text if you are looking to improve how you teach readers–struggling readers, in particular.
Kellee: This week was a different kind of reading week for me. Mostly, I read research for my book proposal. Currently, I am reading articles about socioeconomic status, emotional intelligence, and lack of reading skills in struggling readers. To be honest, after reading for research, I really haven’t felt like reading for pleasure. Like Ricki, I hope to pick up Kylene Beers’s When Kids Can’t Read for research soon. I’ve read parts of it, but I know that it’ll be a great asset to my research.
The one book for pleasure I did read was a true winner though. Sidekicked by John David Anderson is just as great as all of the Walden Pond Press titles. I cannot wait to review it for you on Saturday as part of the Sidekicked blog hop!
This Week’s Expeditions
Ricki: I want to give a shout-out to USPS for forwarding some packages that were sent to my old address. Hooray! I received some great ARCs this week. I probably would have finished the Kylene Beers book if I hadn’t taken a quick peek of Patrick Ness’ More Than This. Whoops. Ness roped me in…so expect a review of More Than This on Thursday because I suspect I will finish it within the next day. Kellee and I hit our round of reading for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award this week, so we’ll be rereading those books as well. I can’t wait to share the details of the award soon!
Kellee: Hm… First, I need to take what I’ve learned from the research I’ve done this week and transport that knowledge into my book proposal. That may take away from some of my reading time. As for pleasure reading, I am STILL listening to David Sedaris’s newest. It is so hard to get through audiobooks when I am not driving as much because it is summer… I’ll also be rereading for the Walden Award (already started actually). Check out the link above to see the finalists!! Next to that, it is going to be a surprise what I feel like. I’ll let you know next week.
Upcoming Week’s Posts
So, what are you reading?
Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading.
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Happy reading!
and
Can’t wait to read Sidekicked-it does sound good from all I’ve heard. And a new one from Patrick Ness! Terrific news! I love all that he’s written, and am so happy to hear about this. Thanks Kellee and Ricki!
Linda, come back for the giveaway! Yes, the Ness book is very, very good. You will like it for sure. 🙂
Linda, it is so much fun and well done. It is a great read.
And YAY for Patrick Ness 🙂
Kellee and Ricki, thank you so much for your encouragement to enjoy Endangered. Inspired me to post a few times about it this past week. Heaven. Heartbreaking. Powerful.
Sidekicked is on my to-be-read shelf! Love Patrick Ness as well… oh boy to a few more books on the plate! Happy reading week to you both.
Debbie,
I am so, so glad you enjoyed it. Sometimes, it is hard to share a book you love for fear that others won’t share in its joy. I can’t help but smile when I read that others like it. You may notice it is an Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalist (see the new additions to today’s post), so Kellee and I are extra proud of it.
Yay! I went and read your post about Endangered (and Hurt Go Happy and Half Brother and Primtes and The Chimpanzees I Love and Chained) – great post! So glad you loved it 🙂
I love Patrick Ness so am having a bit of a jealous fit over here. 🙂 It will be fun to see the Sidekicked blog hop! Have a great week.
I saw someone else post about it and I was jealous too. It comes out quite soon–I actually had it pre-ordered. I will be very sparing with details when I review it so I don’t ruin anything past page 20 or so. 🙂
Me too, Crystal. I told Ricki I was jealous as soon as I found out 🙂
Sidekicked was so much fun and I cannot wait to share it during the blog hop.
I’ve seen a few tweets about the Ness book recently and have been inwardly fussing about waiting for it. I’m glad it won’t be long. 😉
I have received so many recommendations lately to read Kylene Beers “When Kids Can’t Read” I need to get a copy.
Julee, it is so very good. I have post-it notes all over it. I am going to use my entire highlighter–and I am usually very sparing with my highlighting.
The excerpts I’ve read are very good- Kylene’s books are always inspiring.
I am so excited about finally hearing about the award books you have been reading! Those are all phenomenal books! Kellee–Research reading takes so much focus and concentration. I don’t blame you for not really feeling like doing other reading. Ricki–I love Patrick Ness and am really excited to see that this one is roping you in. His writing is amazing and I am excited for a new one from him!
Thanks, Andrea! We are excited to finally share the news!
The Ness book is a fantastic mystery. I am halfway through and still have no idea what is going to happen next. It would be awesome for students to make predictions.
Research reading is so tiring, but so worth it 🙂
I love Patrick Ness as well and VERY jealous of Ricki for getting to read the ARC 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed And the Mountains Echoed! I thought it was incredible, too. He’s a genius. I loved the quotes you flagged. Sounds like the Kylene Beers’s book is a must-read. I left a comment about the Walden finalists on that post. So excited for them all! I’ll be back for your giveaway posts. 😉 I got the Will Sparrow book. Thanks so much for that!!
I’ve only read The Kite Runner graphic novel; I need to read some of his books at some point 🙂
So glad you got the Will Sparrow book. 🙂
Yes, Hosseini truly is a genius. My students absolutely love Kite Runner. Listening to one of my book groups talk about it at the end of the school year really made me proud. They were so passionate about it.
Definitely get your hands on the Beers book. It is absolutely wonderful. Two professors (both of whom I respect and admire) recommended that I use it as the core text of my college course.
Is Kylene Beer’s book primarily for high school students? I need to look it up. Sounds like both of you are inspired by it.
I’ve enjoyed everything Kylene has written that I’ve read, so I assume I’d love this one as well (even though I haven’t read it in its entirety yet).
Carrie,
It is aimed for grades 6-12. That said, I could see the strategies being used in the upper elementary grades, as well. I wouldn’t say it is more high school than middle school, either. The focus is primarily on struggling readers and helping students with comprehension, vocabulary, word recognition, fluency, automaticity, spelling, responding to literature, and finding books that interest them. The bulk of the book is about comprehension.
I wish there was a “like” button so I can respond to certain comments. 😉 It seems that I need to add Kylene Beer’s book to my reading list. Glad to hear good things about Ness’s book. And Kellee, I wish I was able to chat with you in person about your research. I would love to talk more about it with you. It is one that I have been pondering with for so long.
We should chat sometime Aly- I would love to talk about it 🙂
I agree. We should develop a blog that allows you to like or flag comments. That would be so helpful! The Beers book is wonderful. My glowing praise doesn’t even seem to do it justice. 🙂
I have been on the wait list for And the Mountains Echoed FOREVER. I am finally getting close to the top and am looking forward to reading it soon. Relish and Primates look great as well. Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier!
I have been on the wait list for And the Mountains Echoed FOREVER. I am finally getting close to the top and am looking forward to reading it soon. Relish and Primates look great as well. Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier!
Watching library wait lists are so taunting!
Primates is really great 🙂
Get ready–it is a real treat. Very, very different from the other two, so keep an open mind. With each section, try not to get too upset when Hosseini leaves you in the dark about the character for a bit. Sometimes, it took me several pages to figure out how each character was connected. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
I’ve been wanting to read Me & Earl for a while. I’m not an adolescence boy, but hope I enjoy it when I get around to it. Thanks for visiting my Monday post.
LisaILJ @ I’ll Tumble for YA
It is quite funny. Kellee recommended it to me, actually.
Get ready for some toilet/lewd humor. 🙂
Sidekicked is on my reading list, as is every Walden Pond Press book is!