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
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Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: I was doing so well with Winter Break #bookaday and then Christmas happened! It is so hard to just excuse yourself from all of the family fun to go read and with people from out of town visiting, it was even harder. With that being said, I did read 5 books over this week.
The first 4 were graphic novels: Romeo and Juliet by Gareth Hinds, The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown, Bluffton by Matt Phelan, and Lost Boy by Greg Ruth. They were all VERY different yet I enjoyed them all in a different way. I’ll be reviewing Dust Bowl and Romeo later in the winter.
The 5th book I read was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and OMG! I read it all in one sitting and I loved every second of it! If you have been following my pregnancy reading at all, you know that sitting down and reading a novel in one sitting has been something that has become hard for me, so I was so proud of finishing Fangirl in one night!
Ricki: This week, I finished The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher. This was quite different from her other book, Stolen. It is a mystery/thriller, and I really enjoyed the way she depicted the setting. I also read several books to baby Henry. We started with a few classics: The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper, Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle (I loved this board book—the see-through sections are beautiful!) and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. Then, we read some new picture books that were both fantastic! Both were based on true stories. The Man with the Violin is based on a true story and has a wonderful lesson for children (and adults)—to stop and admire the beauty in the world. We also finished On the Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne. This was really fun. I can’t wait to read it to Henry when he is older. I love how it teaches children to be curious.
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I am still listening to Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane, but I am not getting much reading done during the break without the commute. I love what I’ve read so far, but I don’t know how much I’ll get read this week either. I also started reading You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle and thus far I am really connect with the narrator and I look forward to reading more of it.
Ricki: I am almost finished with The Living by Matt de la Peña. The only reason I haven’t finished it is because I have it in actual book form, and I can only read e-books while nursing. It is very, very good. I am losing some sleep over it because I read it when I should really be sleeping. I also downloaded Winger by Andrew Smith on my Kindle. So far, I am loving it. It is reminding me a bit of John Green’s Looking for Alaska so far.
Upcoming Week’s Posts
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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Certainly want to read Fangirl, & I’ve heard Winger is good. Someday soon! Happy New Year!
So many books… 🙂
Happy new year to you as well Linda!!
Happy New Year, Linda! I hope you have a wonderful week!
For some reason, I can’t get myself in the mood to read Fangirl but everyone’s raving about it! And great baby book choices! Mister Seahorse is a great Father’s Day gift.
Sit down and start reading it and it’ll put you in the mood 🙂 Just a fun book.
Earl, it is very good. My favorite by her, so far. The characterization is beautiful.
Loved Dustbowl and Bluffton. Fangirl was a lot of fun. I listened to it. It would seem like winter break would be great for reading, but holidays and family make it a bit challenging for me too. I finished The Living this week and loved it. I am looking forward to the sequel. Have a great week!
Dustbowl was brilliant! Bluffton didn’t do it for me the way it did for others, but I did enjoy it.
How was Fangirl as an audio?
It was a nice one. I just found the fanfic passages a little long.
One nice thing about the book was you could skim if you wanted 😛
Yes, I missed that advantage of hardcopy. I wanted to fly through those parts a bit faster. 🙂
I just finished THE LIVING last night! I loved it too. The sequel is going to be great! Happy 2014!
Great books ladies. I am working on Celebrating Writers right now and it is really good so far. As usual, I look forward to your top ten Tues. 🙂
Thank you Gigi 🙂 We really appreciate the support 🙂
Gigi, I am glad you like it! I found it to be such an uplifting book! Let me know what you think when you finish it!
Kellee – Fangirl was my number 1 book for 2013. I just couldn’t get enough of it. I love how Rowell ends her books too, even though I know some readers don’t prefer the loose ends. Have you read Attachments? Highly recommend.
I didn’t like Eleanor & Park’s ending because I assumed the negative (many people assumed the positive) and I felt cheated; however, I really liked the ending of Fangirl.
I have not read Attachments–on my TBR now 🙂
I was just thinking I wanted to read Attachments. I will have to reserve it from the library. 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation!
Woot to finishing Fangirl, I had to finish it all in one go… just not a “put downable” book! Oohh I didn’t realize Mr. Seahorse was a board book now! Loved The Man with the Violin as well… Winger is now added to my TBR list… happy reading week to you two!
It really is one of those books that never had a putting down part–that says something about how good it is!
I think we have similar taste, Debbie. Happy New Year!!!
Thanks to Ms. Yingling for letting me know about this blog! This is an awesome way for us to learn about new books and share our reading experiences. I’ll be coming back!
So glad you stopped by and we hope you find the blog useful and a great community–welcome!! 🙂
Daniel,
Thanks for joining us! Ms. Yingling is great! We hope you enjoy our posts. 🙂 🙂
Wow, that’s quite a bit of reading for both of you for a holiday week! Sounds like some good books. I just read Lucy Christopher’s middle-grade novel Flyaway, so I would love to read her latest.
Enjoy your books this week and Happy New year!
Sue
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I haven’t read any Lucy Christopher, but I know I need to!!!
Happy new year to you too!
I didn’t realize she had a middle-grade novel! I will have to check that one out!
I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE. On the one hand I liked it, on the other hand, I’m just kind of “meh” about it. I think I liked it more because I listened to Gaiman narrate it. I could listen to him talk all day. 🙂
I’m listening to Gaiman read it too. I’ll let you know how I like it when I finish it, but I am enjoying it so far–very Coraline-esque already.
I am two titles (library due dates) away from reading Fangirl! Can’t wait! Impressed with all of the reading you are doing with that little newborn Ricki! I want to read this new Christopher title too. Stolen was haunting.
Yay 2 away!! 🙂 Let us know what you think.
Thanks, Carrie!
Enjoy Fangirl. It is really, really good! I am jealous you get to read it for the first time. I wish I could go back in time!
Ricki – I just read A Man With the Violin and loved it. Keep reading picture books to Henry. You will need to read Please Bring Balloons by Lindsay Ward. Beautiful books. Kellee – I still need to get to the Romeo and Juliet graphic novel, as well as, Lost boy GN.
Lost Boy was a very different graphic novel. Still digesting it. Romeo and Juliet was a beautiful interpretation 🙂
Alyson, when he and I go to the library for the first time, that will be the first book I get! Thanks for the recommendation!
Hi there Kellee and Ricki, I own a copy of Let it Snow but haven’t read it yet. Seems perfect for the season. I hope to find The man and the violin in our libraries soonest. 🙂 I hope you both have a wonderful 2014, and here’s to more books and readings for the coming year!
It is perfect for this time of year! You should pick it up 🙂
Happy 2014, Myra! I hope you love The Man and the Violin!