It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 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!
Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, 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.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of the most incredible bloggers we know, Debbie Alvarez. For the last three years, Debbie battled cancer. She never complained, and she continued to be positive, even when she reached setbacks. Debbie was known and loved by many, and she taught us all very much about how we look at the world. Even in her last week while she was in the hospital, she was linking up and commenting on IMWAYR posts and sharing books on her blog and on social media. Debbie’s light has not gone out. Her legacy shines, shines, shines.
We are grateful to know this remarkable woman.
Last Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Finding the Line: What is “Good?”
Wednesday: Good vs. Evil: Exploring Morality Through the Holocaust
Thursday: Gender’s Lens: Society’s Views and Expressions of Gender
Friday: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: Many “Best of” lists have been coming out recently and when I read School Library Journal‘s “Top 10 Graphic Novels 2015” and Carrie & Alyson’s best of 2015 lists, I realized there were so many I hadn’t read, so I ordered a bunch from my library and I did a lot of 2015 reading this week.
First up were graphic novels. I read The Lunch Witch by Deb Lucke, Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown, Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitty Holy by Noelle Stevenson, and Lumberjanes: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson. I can definitely see why all of these graphic novels were on the top ten list because they were all brilliant in their own right. All 4 or 5 stars
Next up were picture books. I read Float by Daniel Miyares, Earmuffs for Everyone! by Meghan McCarthy, The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach, My Pen by Christopher Myers, The Skunk by Mac Barnett, Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate, The Night World by Mordicai Gerstein, Water is Water by Miranda Paul, The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski, and Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Sally M. Walker. Another set of brilliant titles. I loved all of them and I am so glad I didn’t miss them.
Many of these titles will definitely be on my FAVORITE READS OF 2015 list I’ll be sharing Friday.
Ricki: I’ve been reading like crazy, and I read a few books I’ve always wanted to read! I finished and loved Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polansky. This is a middle grade novel about a boy who has always felt as if he was a girl. I absolutely loved this story. I also (FINALLY) read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. Wow! It reminded me a bit of Stuck in Neutral, but (dare I say) that I think I liked it even more. The book is beautifully written, and I am glad we will be using it with my pre-service K-6 teachers. I think they will love it, too. I read Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Another WOW book. Now I understand why everyone loves Selznick’s work. I was lost in the story, and it was quite magical.
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I started Alistair Grim’s Odditorium by Gregory Funaro this weekend and plan on finishing it soon. I am looking forward to interviewing Greg for the blog and sharing my review and Q&A on January 8th. Then I plan on reading Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, so I can review it with Ricki in early January as well. I don’t think I’ll get any more #mustread2015 books read this week, but I cannot wait to begin tackling my #mustread2016 list!
Ricki: I am trying to knock off as many #mustreadin2015 books as I can. I am hoping to finish A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I’m moving at a fast pace, so it may be more!
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Books Ricki Loved in 2015
Wednesday: Best of 2015 Book Lists
Thursday: #mustread2015 Final Reflection
Friday: Favorite Books Kellee Read in 2015
Happy New Year!
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 so glad you wrote about Debbie. I will miss her very much,but will remember her grit in facing her illness and keeping her passion for children’s literature going strong no matter what. And wow, what a lot of reading both of you have done this week. I’ve loved the books out this past year, and know already that 2016 is going to be a wonderful one, too. Happy New Year to you both!
Thanks, Linda. This has been a really hard week. I think I’ve fallen into reading as a way to cope with it all. I am so tormented by the grief that her family must feel. She was such a bright light.
I also worked on some #Mustreadin2015 titles this week! I have some new perspective on my #Mustreadin2016 list – will share as we post. Thrilled that I made the list as it pushed me to read some titles that would have been pushed to the side and I have LOVED them! Looking forward to your upcoming posts. And speaking of lists Hmmm, Salt to the Sea will be going on my #Mustreadin2016 I think!
Hooray for Salt to the Sea! I agree about the list. While I didn’t meet my goal, it gave me a great push. I am looking forward to your final update. 🙂
Debbie was one of the literacy bloggers that inspired me to start my own blog in 2015. I still appreciate looking up a title on GoodReads and seeing what she thought of it before I start reading it! This is a great week to try to get to some of the titles I’ve been meaning to read. But I try to remember that reading is supposed to be fun and not to stress out about all the books I haven’t read yet. The books and I will get together when we’re meant to! Happy Reading!
Jana, it is so hard to try to remember that reading lists should not create stress! I am glad Debbie inspired you to start blogging. She is such an inspiration to so many of us.
Thanks for mentioning Debbie Alvarez. I did not know that she had cancer so was shocked at the news this week. She had such passion for children’s literature. I will definitely miss her voice.
She had another blog about her cancer journey. Despite all of the trouble, she was always so positive.
Thanks for the lovely words for Debbie! Out of My mind and Lunch Witch are on my unofficial TBR list. Have a great new year.
Out of My Mind is incredible. I am so glad I finally got to it!
It’s crunch time where lots of 2015 reading is happening, but I have those 2016 January books I need to read to blog about! Always so much to do. I have Salt to the Sea to read, but I’ve moved it behind most of my January releases.
I wrote my favorite 2015 books 2 weeks ago too. It’s fun to look back! Now it’s on to 2016 books, I’ll be blogging about those this week. I have to go write those posts now! Somewhere between writing and reading I have Christmas to put away. So busy 🙂
I love the energy in your post. It is so reflective of how I feel right now!
I can’t wait to dig into Salt to Sea. I’ve got a couple books I’m currently reading but I think that will be my next read after I finish those two.
Hooray! I can’t wait to hear what you think about it!
I am also deeply saddened by Debbie’s loss – she will be deeply missed in these Monday reading posts. I always look forward to what she has to say about books and reading.
Glad to see your progress for your reading goals this year, too. We have also been planning our reading this 2016 – it’s quite exciting, really. Happy New Year to you both!
I was saddened by Debbie’s loss as well. She was one of the first people to comment on my blog when I first joined this community. Such a welcoming and generous person! Kellee, you had a stellar reading week! Many of those PBs are still on my TBR list as well. For some reason, my libraries have done a dismal job purchasing 2015 titles and I haven’t bought as many PBs as I often do. I usually stock up with Caldecott buzz titles to do a Mock Caldecott in my Children’s Lit class but with the awards so early this year, we don’t have time to do the Mock Caldecott first. Ricki, Out of My Mind and Wonderstruck are two of four surefire-every-semester hits with my pre-service K-6 teachers. (Wonder and One and Only Ivan are the two others.) They’re very good gateway books too as it’s easy to bookmatch for readers who love these titles. Happy reading to you both!