It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 5/19/14

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

   

Tuesday: Top Ten Books We Almost Put Down

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I read two really good books this week! First, The Living by Matt de la Pena. WOW! This book scared the kajeebees out of me! It actually affected my dreams. You know a book is good when it enters into your subconscious. Ricki already reviewed it here if you want to check it out, and I plan on reviewing it in the future. I also read Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina. I first learned about this book when Meg’s blog post “Author Uninvited” went viral on Twitter. I promised myself that I would read the book, and I am glad I did. It is an important book. It can be paired with Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia, Trino’s Choice by Diane Gonzales Bertrand, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson, and many more to discuss the impact bullying has on a person.

Trent and I read some great books this week:

• Little Oink and Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Some very well done reverse psychology board books with some mighty adorable main characters.)
• Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski (A fun pop-up book about different monsters.)
• Cat Says Meow: and other animalopoeia by Michael Arndt (Loved the onomatopoeias in this one, and especially how the author intertwined the animals’ noises into his illustrations of the animal.)
• You are my Baby: Ocean by Lorena Siminovich (This will be one of the books that will be a lot more fun when Trent can help match up the babies to the mommies.)
• Hug by Jez Alborough (Beautifully illustrated almost wordless story of a chimpanzee trying to find the right person to hug.)
• It’s Time to Sleep, My Love by Eric Metaxas (A very lyric bedtime board book.)

Ricki: This week, I finished The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. I loved the first half of this time traveling tale and particularly enjoyed the hints of dystopian fiction. I became a bit disengaged in the second half of the story, and I can’t quite put my finger on why that was. Overall, I recommend the book, and if you enjoyed All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, I think you will like this one, as well. It is very different from  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! I also finished Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I have learned so much from this great nonfiction work. My brother just flew to Montana, and I blurted out, “John Steinbeck says it is the most beautiful state!” I appreciated learning about the tidbits of America.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I plan on starting The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson today, and it is one that I’ve wanted to read since NCTE 2012 so I am excited. Trent and I plan on read the final Rosenthal book from the Little series, Little Pea, but then who knows. I also still have a pile of picture books I want to read (with or without Trent :D).

Ricki: I am halfway through Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos. I am not surprised that it was a finalist for the Morris Award. It reminds me a lot of several other phenomenal YA books (It’s Kind of a Funny Story, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Everybody Sees the Ants, to name a few). Henry and I just got our library reserve copy of Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. We are excited to read that. Lastly, I am starting a PD text: Reading for their Life: (Re)Building the Textual Lineages of African American Adolescent Males by Alfred W. Tatum. I will let you know how it is!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Books About Friendship

 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!

  and