It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. It offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.
The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.
We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.
Happy reading!
Kellee
- Time Bomb by Joelle Charbonneau: What an intense book!! The prologue starts with the reader learning that there are bombs going off in a high school, there are kids stuck in the school, and the news shares that one of them is the bomber. Then you get to meet all of the characters. This book challenges biases and thoughts and totally caught me off guard.
- Roxy by Neal Shusterman & Jarrod Shusterman: I am a Shusterman fan. Period. I find that the concepts that he brings to life in his books are always so unique and mind blowing. This book is no different. And this one is definitely going to be controversial. I don’t know what side of the controversy I am on, but I do know that I couldn’t put the book down.
- I’m still sucked into the Assassination Classroom series! It is such a weird feeling to want the kids to assassinate Koro Sensei while also rooting for him to keep teaching the kids because he is an amazing teacher. 1/3 of the way through the series–looking forward to seeing what happens.
- You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen McManus: Another McManus thriller that keeps you guessing until the reveal! I do have issues with representation of an educator in the book; it uses a trope I do not like. But even with the trope, I had to get to the end to find out the finale!
- I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys: Oh, Ruta Sepetys! You are a historical fiction author magician! This book blew my mind because it takes place when I was 7 but in Romania, and comparing my life to the tyranny and oppression Cristian and his family faces on a daily basis. Ruta educated me. Schooled me. Whoa.
- Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley: Probably one of my favorite reads ever. The writing is beautiful, the representation is everything, the plot is intense, the characterization is full, it culturally immerses the reader in the story, and has such ridiculously strong women. Also, the focus on missing & murdered indigenous women was missing in YA lit until now. Highly recommended.
- We Are Not Free by Traci Chee: Another terrible time in history that needs all of the spotlights. This book is brilliantly done and so intensely sad. The multiple perspectives makes the book even deeper than it could have been if written a different way.
To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2021 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.
Ricki
I finished two young adult books, and I loved them both.
I listened to We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez, and it ripped my heart out. The print and audio of this book are both incredibly well done. I will continue to use this one in my classes as all of my students have really liked it.
I could not put I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys down. In fact, I texted Kellee and convinced her to read it (see above) because I needed to talk about it with someone. She texted me updates as she read, and we talked at length about it. I learned so much from this book and am so grateful that I read it.
Kellee
Reading so many books at once, but all with different purposes!
And we’ll see how much reading I get done this week because I am going to the Florida Association of Media in Education (FAME) conference for three days! Woot!
- Reading: It Will End Like This by Kyra Leigh & Assassination Classroom Vol. 7 by Yusei Matsui
- Reading with my sister: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
- Reading with my Lunch Book Club (and will finish by Monday’s lunch!): Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
- Working on a Teaching Guide for: Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon
- Listening: Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
Ricki
I am also reading many books at once!
I am listening to With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, reading Clarice the Brave by Lisa McMann with my 8-year-old, and reading Me (Moth) by Amber McBride in print.
Thursday: Have You Seen Gordon? by Adam Jay Epstein & Ruth Chan
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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Well, now the new Sepetys book is on my list, among others new & those already there, it looks as if both of you had a great reading week! Wishing you a good week ahead back at it!
I can only imagine that I Must Betray You is amazing! Definitely has to go on my TBR list!
Kellee, Roxy sounds like such a fascinating read—I pulled up the synopsis, and the way they’ve taken a semi-normal premise and made it so unique is quite intriguing! And I Must Betray You sounds excellent as well, as does Firekeeper’s Daughter. Also, I love your comment on how Assassination Classroom feels to read!
Ricki, I Must Betray You also sounds great—that is amazing that it was so good you had to convince Kellee to read it too just so you could talk about it with someone! Thank you both so much for the great post and link round-up!
Kellee, I had Roxy on my Edelweiss account, but it expired before I could read it. So disappointed. I tried to download it again, but my devices are working well lately. Glad that you enjoyed I Must Betray You.
Ricki, I also have I Must Betray You on a device and it is one of the only books that isn’t glitching for me right now. It will be my next read. I was happy to see how much you enjoyed it. I also loved We Are Not From Here.
I have added I Must Betray You to my list. I’m a fan of Ruta Sepetys. Kellee, I’m glad you enjoyed Firekeeper’s Daughter. I adored it, especially the elders who are quite the kick ass group. Kellee, We Are Not From Here was already on my list but reading your remarks here made me check to see if my library has a copy and it finally does!