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
ERIC W.
for winning the Won Ton and Chopstick Giveaway!
Last Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: First, I want to thank everyone for your kind words about Trent. It was pretty scary, but he is doing so much better! Thank you for understanding about my lack of blog visits last week as well! On top of the allergic reaction and ER visit, two bugs hit our house in one week. It was rough!
As for reading, I have read some great novels over the last two weeks!
- I finished Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle and immediately wanted another one! I love Nate so much, and the audiobooks were phenomenal!
- I also read Here’s Hank: Fake Snakes and Weird Wizards which is a early chapter book which I will review on Friday. I think Hank and Cody, of Cody and the Fountain of Happiness, would be really good friends!
- Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern was a book I hadn’t heard anything about before I picked it up, but it was a fascinating look at disabilities with a huge cup of romance. It was like Out of My Mind for teens.
- Laurie Halse Anderson has another winner with The Impossible Knife of Memory. Anderson just knows how to craft a novel that tugs at your everything while you read.
- All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is our next Twitter chat book, and I finished it this weekend. It is a powerful look at mental illness. I will review it soon, and you can see Ricki’s review here.
With Trent, we just kept on signing Sandra Boynton’s Fifteen Animals, Barnyard Dance, and Personal Penguin over and over 🙂 Good thing I love it! I also read Green is a Chile Pepper to him, and we made it all the way through which is great news! My mom also read Peanuts: A Scanimation Book with Trent. He loves the moving pictures!
Ricki: I am in Chicago at the AERA (American Educational Research Association) convention, so I am unable to post an update. Many of you attend NCTE, so if you want a comparison, they are similar with the session formats, but people dress up a bit more formally, and the session topics are focused on any subjects and any levels of education Kindergarten through Post-Secondary Education. Most of the attendees are professors and graduate students, although there are some practicing teachers. I enjoy the eclectic feel of the sessions and attend sessions in my area (English Education), in parallel areas (Literacy), and in outside areas (last year, I got to watch a really cool presentation about revamping Physical Education). They have a neat roundtable format that I don’t believe exists at NCTE. It is a huge room with many roundtables, and each table has three-ish presentations. The presenters discuss their work and get feedback from the others.
I apologize in advance that I can’t comment on blogs this Monday, but I promise to catch up and post double-time next week! I’ll also share anything cool that I learn. 🙂
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I am currently listening to Kristin Levine’s Paper Cowboy from my #mustreadin2015 list. Has anyone read it? I would love to chat with someone about it. I hope to finish it this week. I also started reading A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier which is a historical fiction YA novel about the flu epidemic of 1918. After Death-Struck, hopefully my hold on I’ll Give you the Sun will be available at the library, so I can read that next.
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors
Wednesday: Blog Tour, Author Interview, and Giveaway!: Sky Painter by Margarita Engle
Thursday: Win a set of Ruta Sepetys’ books!
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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I’m glad that Trent is better, Kellee. It’s scary & then so hard when babies are ill because they can’t talk. I hope this coming week is much better! I just started All the Bright Places, so can’t chat-too bad. I just finally got it from it being passed around in the classroom. Ricki, hope your conference is terrific-sounds like it!
Thank you Linda! It is so hard to know what is wrong when communication isn’t available!
All the Bright Places is intense. I look forward to hearing what you think!
Paper Cowboy was okay, but I can’t get anyone to check it out. It moved very slowly, I thought, and was more depressing than it needed to be. Sadly, I ordered it BEFORE I read it, which makes me realize why reading everything first is such a good idea!
Thank you for sharing!!
I’m glad Trent and the rest of the folks in your house are feeling better. I hope you have a healthyweek! I do want to read All the Bright Places. I hear such good things about it.
Enjoy the conference, Rikki. I can’t wait to hear about it once you return.
Thank you Kay!!
All the Bright Places is a special book. You should read it when you can.
Kellee –
Glad everything turned out OK with Trent and your family got through the viruses!
I really liked Say What You Will – it gave me unique insights into two different disabilities.
Ricki – enjoy your conference!
Sue
Book By Book
Thank you! I am so glad the reaction was just that instead of an infection. Phew!
I agree about Say What You Will. It was a fascinating look at cerebral palsy and OCD.
Curious about I’ll give you the Sun, looking forward to reading it this summer. Happy reading to you both…
I’ll let you know 🙂
Kellee, I agree with you about Nate. I want him to come back for an encore. 🙂
I loved the Sky Painter. Looking forward to your post about it.
Encore! Encore! Encore! 😉
Read your review of Engle’s memoir as well. I cannot wait to read it!
Trying to check out some blogs after our Twitter chat! Big night to be on the computer!
I have Cody to read (also on my #mustreadin2015 list!!!) Now that I think about it, so is 5, 6, 7, Nate and Impossible Knife of Memory!
Ricki, I wonder how close to me you were in Chicago??
It is a big computer night! It has been attached to my lap all night 🙂
Your #mustread list sounds epic!
You should definitely listen to 5,6,7, Nate! Tim Federle does an amazing job!
I thought the Impossible Knife of Memory was excellent. I hope that your family is healthier and happy this week Kellee.
Have fun Rikki!
It truly was excellent. Anderson has a way of taking a seemingly regular book and moving it to a whole new level.
Thank you for your well wishes. They are greatly appreciated!
I’m wondering about All The Bright Places. It’s on my to read list and I’ve seen it in book stores with children’s books, but my older readers are telling me that it should be in on the grade seven shelf. I am looking forward to Cody and the Fountain of Happiness. Early chapter books that have substance are hard to come by, and I feel terribly recommending something that I know is at a right reading level, but that I couldn’t stomach myself. Paper Cowboy sounds really intense!
All the Bright Places is very much a high school book. Very well done!
I am loving the trend of great early chapter books that are coming out. The more I read, the more I realize there are some amazing ones out there.
Kellee – I too am thrilled Trent is doing well. Such a scary experience. Ricki, looking forward to hearing about your Chicago experience. Loved chatting All the Bright Places tonight Kellee! Hope you can both join in our next chat 🙂
Thank you Carrie!
And I did as well!