It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/29/15

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,

Betsy

for winning a copy of The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton

Last Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Happy 5th Anniversary to the Top Ten Tuesday Meme!: Our Top Ten Tuesday Topics

Wednesday: Two Year Blogiversary!!!!: Ricki and Kellee Check-In

Thursday: Ricki’s Favorite Pairings of YA Books with Classics

Friday: Top Checked Out Books by Kellee’s Middle School Readers

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This week has been filled with reading! I apologize for the long update, but I want to share them all!

I finished three special novels.

• Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland: An action-packed, mythology-based YA novel that keeps you on your toes. What an adventure!
• Diamond Boy by Michael Williams: I loved Williams’s Now is the Time for Running, so I was so happy to see that he had written a companion and that it explained one of the interesting secondary characters from Running. I was blown away by the characterization within this book. Although the plot is what propelled the story, the characters in this book are what made it. I also love the thinking that this book would cause. This book is at the same time easy to connect with, but also so completely different than anything most of the readers will have experienced. Quite unique.
• And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard: An award-winning book that deals with some really tough subjects. I love the mix of Emily Dickson as our protagonist, Emily Beam, deals with two very tough, life changing incidences.

I also read a ton of picture books. I was thinking of only sharing the ones I enjoyed the most, but I loved them all!

• Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry: Although the text is super cute, teaches a great lesson, and has some very quirky, puny moments; however, it is the illustrations that really push it past other cute picture books. Very much worth a read.
• Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall: I. Loved. This. Book. I wanted to hug our crayon. I think this book could start some really smart conversations and actually would be a really good companion to books like Fish in a Tree because it looks at how the expectations of others doesn’t always fit in what a person can do and will do.
  This is a special book.
• Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: I am a sucker when it comes to books about imagining. I love the twist that this is from a unicorns point of view and that there is a girl out there just for her. I also really adored the Disney-esque illustrations–would make a great movie!
• Stormy Night by Salina Yoon: Living in Florida means that we have pretty bad storms about 4-6 months of the year. I love how Yoon had the little bear become the “strong one” during the storm to help him forget about what he is afraid of. Like always, Yoon’s illustrations are just so wonderful–I love how they completely cover the page and are so colorful.
• The Hueys in None the Number: A Counting Adventure by Oliver Jeffers: Leave it to Oliver Jeffers to make a counting book unique, funny, and just a little bit weird. Trent and I both really liked this one–I see it being in our reading rotation.
• Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman: The perfect book to read on the day of the SCOTUS decision! I love how Newman introduces LBGT families in such a nonchalant way (because they are just a family!!!!).
• Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton: We love Sandra Boynton, but this one is definitely for kids a bit older than Trent. We will revisit when he is older. Trent did love yelling QUACK whenever he saw the angry duck.
• Peek-a-Who? by Nina Laden: Trent loves Peek-a-Zoo, so it is no surprise that he liked this one too. They are fun books that hide an illustration then it is revealed when you turn the page.

Between Thursday and Friday, I will be reviewing five more that I read this week as well!

Ricki: My head has been in so many books this week! I finished four excellent picture books. Little Tree by Loren Long is most certainly going to be popular. Long is the author of the Otis series. I loved the quiet nature of this timeless book. In honor of the SCOTUS decision, I read Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman. Candlewick has a new version of this classic, and I loved the illustrations! I also read Space Boy and His Dog by Dian Curtis Regan. This would be a great book to kick off excitement about a unit on space, and most schools teach this topic! The last book I read was a English/Spanish translation: Sofi and the Magic, Musical Mural/Sofi y el Magico Mural Musical by Raquel M. Ortiz. This is a great book to highlight the Spanish language, art, and imagination.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: Tonight, I just started Lies We Tell Ourselves which I plan on finishing by Tuesday. After that, I am going to grab something from my #mustreadin2015 list or my Summer TBR list.

Ricki: I am just about finished with Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley. I am obsessed with this book. It reminds me of how I felt after reading A Snicker of Magic. I am reading Circus Mirandus as I do my fitbit steps, and it seems to inspire me to walk juuust a bit farther each night. 😉  For grad school, I am reading Ideas by Edmund Husserl. It is a philosophical text that was written in 1917 and translated in 1931. As you can imagine, it is riveting. But it is actually quite interesting to read this founding thinker’s ideas (Ha! do you see what I did there?).

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Books We’ve Read So Far In 2015

Friday: From Kellee’s (Huge) Library Pile Part Seven

 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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