IMWAYR

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 to
TRACY B.
for winning a set of Maggie and Bramble series

Congratulations to
CRISTEN K.
for winning a copy of The Shadow Lattern

Last Week’s Posts

   

Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Love To Be For Halloween

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This week was a great week! Halloween is so much more fun when you have a child!! Trent was one adorable dinosaur (and bee, pumpkin, and penguin over the last couple of weeks).  Trent and I also read a fun Halloween themed book: Five Black Cats by Patricia Hegarty. It has great rhythm which made is so much fun to read.

I also was able to reading Mira’s Diary 2: Home Sweet Rome by Marissa Moss. I am a fan of these books because it teaches history while taking the reader on an amazing adventure. I have now started the 3rd one.

Ricki: I agree with Kellee. My little giraffe had an awesome Halloween, too! We read an awesome, new book by Oliver Jeffers called Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters. This book was great fun. I love Oliver Jeffers’ quirky sense of humor. I will post a full review soon! We also laughed with Bob Shea’s Don’t Play with your Food (Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie!). I highly recommend both of these picture books. I finished reading Mingshui Cai’s Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. This was a very interesting text that addressed many of the ongoing debates about multicultural literature. It made me think a lot—and thinking is a good thing!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: Like I said above, I am now reading the 3rd Mira’s Diary book which takes place in London. So far, so good! With Trent we are working our way through a Sesame Street box set of board books. So far we’ve read Zoe’s Gift and Grover’s Opposites and they are pretty cute books that serve a specific purpose. Will be good for teaching lessons later in Trent’s life.

Ricki: This week, I plan to read Goodnight Moon seven more times, based on my son’s demands. We will also read some great picture books. I let him pick, so I can’t predict those titles for you. I am in the middle of Suzanne Myers’ Stone Cove Island and really enjoying it. Lastly, I am reading Lynn Atkinson Smolen and Ruth A Oswald’s Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices. This should be my last, long PD text for the semester’s independent study. Then, I am off to start writing my literature review for my dissertation—ahh!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

  

Tuesday: Top Ten Books We Want To Reread

 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

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
ANNE S.
for winning the set of hardcover copies of the Double Vision series!

Last Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Series We Want To Start

Wednesday: Nonfiction Graphic Novels List

Thursday: Bramble and Maggie blog tour with a Q&A with author Jessie Haas

Friday: Author guest post from Teresa Flavin, author of The Shadow Lantern

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I had a wonderful reading week. I finished This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki and An Army of Frogs: Frogs versus Scorpions by Trevor Pryce and Joel Naftali. I really wanted to love This One Summer. I love coming-of-age stories, and I love graphic novels (and I love so many of First Second Books’ books); however, I just felt like this one was missing something. I did like it, but I wanted to love it. The artwork was fabulous though! And the blue really added a special tone to it. Well done, but I just didn’t connect to it the way I wanted to. In the world of anthropomorphic books, Trevor Pryce’s and Joel Naftali’s Army of Frogs is definitely holding its own. This action-packed adventure about Darel, a not-so-ordinary frog, and the war he finds himself in the middle of is going to be a huge hit for fans of Warriors, Seekers, Guardians of Ga’hoole, Wolves of the Beyond, Silverwing, and Redwall. What does make this series stand out even more, though, is the AMAZING illustrations! You should read it for the story, but you HAVE to read it for the illustrations.

Additionally, I did read a ton of picture books that I got from the library after IMWAYR friends praised them. Reading all of these picture books has prompted a start to a new “series” that I’ll have randomly–“From My (Huge) Library Pile.” Since so many of them are so good, I want to be able to share them with you. My first “From My (Huge) Library Pile” post will be this week, and I already have 2 others planned.

Trent and I mostly did rereads this week; however, we did read Books Always Everywhere by Jane Blatt (recommended by Alyson) which is a wonderful book about different types of books in all different places. I specifically liked that there were babies in the illustrations showing books in babies’ lives.

Ricki: I finished Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration. I couldn’t stop highlighting! I always type up all of my highlights (because I am a little bit obsessive), and I will be doing a lot of typing. She just gets it. I think any reader of this blog would love the book. Rosenblatt is the reader response guru. She validates what I believe about teaching reading.

Henry’s grandparents and aunt bought him several adorable puppet books, like this one. We were all laughing hysterically this week as Henry kept grabbing the puppets. I also loved The Magic of Maxwell and His Tail by Maureen Stoler Kanefield. It has a fantastic moral and teaches children to make the most of their unique qualities. I rarely review picture books, but I will definitely be reviewing this one in the upcoming weeks. I want to read it a few more times first. 🙂

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I started Mira’s Diary: Home Sweet Rome this weekend, and I am so happy to be back in Mira’s world. I adored the first one, so I am very much looking forward to reading the 2nd and 3rd book of the series. I also have some graphic novel e-galleys from First Second Books that I plan on reading soon. Additionally, I am still rereading my Walden books in preparation for ALAN.

Ricki: For professional development, I am reading Mingshui Cai’s Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. I am also planning to read Suzanne Myers’ Stone Cove Island, a YA book that will be released next month. Of course, Henry and I will find some new picture books to read. It depends on his mood. (Don’t tell anyone, but I am planning his first birthday party, which will be Goodnight Moon-themed! I’ve been working on the decorations all weekend. I figure that my blog readers won’t tell the guests.)

Upcoming Week’s Posts

   

Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Love To Be For Halloween

 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

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 to
LINDA B.
for winning a copy of Julie Sternberg’s book Friendship Over!!!!

Last Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Places We Want To Visit (After Reading a Book)

Thursday: Guest Post “Five Ways to Bring MG Books into the Classroom” by Fleur Bradley, author of Double Vision

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: Well, my ambitious goals of reading were defeated by another bout of ear infections and work for school. Such is life! I did get to finish one graphic novel I got from Top Shelf Productions on Netgalley called Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimble Witch which was a Coraline-esque tone/mood with a mix of Wizard of Oz and Miyazaki. The illustrations were a bit messy, but in a purposeful way that made everything feel urgent. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Trent and I did some rereading including revisiting David Smells by David Shannon and Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. We also read Up Close by Gay Wegerif and Kiss, Kiss Good Night by Ken Kesbitt for the first time. Up Close is a unique way to talk about shapes, colors, and animals. I’m sure it will be a favorite. Kiss, Kiss is a sweet book that is a great bedtime story.

Ricki: Henry and Trent are both in the sick club. My poor guy has been sick all week, and we had to make a few trips to the doctor’s office. But we read! I finished a very well-written, comprehensive book called Holocaust: A Concise History by Doris L. Bergen. I read it in preparation for a Teaching the Holocaust Workshop I am attending this Wednesday. It is an integrated workshop for secondary history and English teachers.

Henry is obsessed with Goodnight Moon. When his father or I try to read him a different book, he fusses. The second we take out Goodnight Moon, his whole body relaxes and he giggles. So we read it every night. Meanwhile, I’ve been reading to him as he crawls around the room—he will only sit in my lap for Goodnight Moon. I want to expand his reading list a bit, so chasing him with a book is necessary. We enjoyed Brian Patten’s Can I Come Too? and Alex Latimer’s Pig and Small. Both were charming picture books. I also read an early chapter book to him, Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. I scheduled a blog post about Worst Witch for October 30—just in time for Halloween!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I am currently in the middle of two books: An Army of Frogs by Trevor Pryce and Joel Naftali in preparation for my NCTE panel with him on teaching graphic novels and This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, and I hope to finish them both. I also want to revisit all of the Walden books. Additionally, I still have that huge library picture book pile LOOMING at me from the other side of the living room. I need to spend some time with them. Finally, I will be rereading the Matt Tavares biography picture books I read a couple of weeks ago as I am writing a teaching guide for them this week. BUSY week ahead!

Ricki: I just started Regina Brooks’ Writing Great Books for Young Adults. I am enjoying it thus far and will keep you posted when I have read more! I am still reading Rosenblatt’s book. It is great, but I had to finish my Holocaust book in preparation for the Workshop I described earlier. Can I pause the day and just read, please?

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Series We Want To Start

Wednesday: Nonfiction Graphic Novels List

Thursday: Bramble and Maggie blog tour with a Q&A with author Jessie Haas

Friday: Author guest post from Teresa Flavin, author of The Shadow Lantern

 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 

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: Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels

Thursday: Ricki’s Road to a Dissertation

Friday: Author’s Guest Post: Julie Sternberg’s The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee:  This week I was able to finish The Mutts Diaries which is a wonderful collection of the Mutts comics. I’m glad they put it into a graphic novel to spread the Mutts love. I also read some picture books this week. First, I read the superb Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman. The illustrations were beautiful, and I enjoyed the Max-ish journey the bears went on. In preparation for some future reviews, I read Noodles & Albie by Eric Bennett and My Yellow Balloon by Tiffany Papageorge. I look forward to sharing both of these with you all. Additionally, I read 4 baseball biographies by Matt Tavares: There Goes Ted Williams, Growing Up Pedro, Becoming Babe Ruth, and Henry Aaron’s Dream. They are so well done!

With Trent, we continued to reread. I have been letting him choose the book from our shelf because that helps him keep engaged. I currently have a nonstop moving child so the reading to him is sometimes quite difficult, but I’ve found the letting him choose helps. We did read two new books: Thomas the Tank Engine Shapes and Sizes and Penguin and Pumpkin. I just adore Salina Yoon’s stories and illustrations. Although this isn’t my favorite Penguin book, it is going to be loved by Penguin fans.

Ricki: This week, I read Jessie Haas’ three Bramble and Maggie books. Each of the books was delightful. They are the perfect books for kids transitioning from picture books to chapter books because the illustrations are delightful and the repetition of words will make readers feel satisfied and challenged.

Henry, my husband, and I went to New Jersey this weekend and stayed in a hotel room. Henry (my 10-month-old) wasn’t pleased with my reading light and wouldn’t go to bed, so I sat on the bathroom floor and read a good chunk of Louise Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration. Last week, Elisabeth Ellington commented that this book, is “one of the most important books ever written about what we do when we read.” I kept thinking about her comment as I read, and I think she is spot on. I am about halfway through, and I love it.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I am currently reading This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki during my advanced reading class at school. We’ll see how much I get through today. Reading time is split between my reading and conferencing. I STILL have that pile of library picture books with some amazing books in them. I will get to them very, very soon! My other reading is going to be full of preparation for NCTE and ALAN. At NCTE I am part of the Abrams “Teaching Graphic Novels in the Classroom” with Cece Bell, Frank Cammuso, Nathan Hale, and Trevor Pryce. I wrote the teaching guide for Cece’s, Frank’s, and Nathan’s books, but I haven’t had the pleasure of reading An Army of Frogs by Trevor Pryce yet, so I have them to read. I also want to reread the Walden winner and finalists as I am chairing the Walden panel during ALAN and need to come up with questions for the authors. I also have a couple graphic novels from Netgalley on my phone that I may read if I don’t have a book with me.

Ricki: I plan to finish Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration. I also want to read Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch in preparation for Halloween!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Place We Want To Visit (After Reading a Book)

Thursday: Guest Post “Five Ways to Bring MG Books into the Classroom” by Fleur Bradley, author of Double Vision

 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

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 to MARY H. for winning a copy of Rory’s Promise!

Last Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Us To Read

Wednesday: Recent Nonfiction (Mostly) Picture Books Part Two: Biographies

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: We had a rough week at the Moye house filled with illnesses (both Trent and I are still sick) and loss (we said good bye to our beautiful cat, Bella, on Friday) AND we also went away for the weekend to Disney so my husband, Jim, could run in the Tower of Terror 10 miler, so Trent’s reading really took a hit. Although we did reread a few favorites including The Going to Bed Book by Boynton, The Pigeon Has Feelings Too by Willems, and I Love You Through and Through by Rossetti-Shustak and we were able to read the super-cute You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang today, we definitely didn’t hit our #bookaday quota this week. But sometimes life overrides reading…

I actually was able to read three books this week. First, I needed something light, so I read a collection of Big Nate comics called The Crowd Goes Wild!. I really like the Nate stories. I know that Wimpy Kid is the favorite, but Nate is just so much more likable! I then read a phenomenal book by Ann M. Martin, Rain Reign. Once I started reading this one, I couldn’t stop. I fell asleep with it and my glasses on on Saturday night and jumped right back into it on Sunday so I could finish it. I cannot wait to share it with you–I will review it soon. And this week I am so excited to share with you Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett. You will all want to get this one.

Ricki: This week, I finished Shirley Brice Heath’s Ways with Words. This ethnographic book is a classic study about Heath’s research in two neighboring towns—both mill towns, but one predominantly White and one predominantly Black—next to Appalachia in the Piedmont Carolinas during the Civil Rights Era. She studied the ways the people (and primarily the children) use words and how that might impact the youngsters when they start schooling. I often see this study cited, so I was interested to read Heath’s work directly. Her methodology is admirable, and I think this is a very important study for every teacher to read, primarily elementary school teachers and English/language arts teachers.

Henry and I read some puppet books this week. H.A. Rey’s Curious George Pat-a-Cake is not the most unique book I’ve ever read, but the giant Curious George puppet that peeks through every page made him laugh hysterically all week. We read it about forty times. We also read a Mary had a Little Lamb puppet book, but I can’t remember the title. Neither of these books is one I would recommend to use in the classroom, but they are both great for parents. 🙂

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I started reading The Mutts Diaries by Patrick McDonnell, so I will probably finish that. I have a HUGE pile of picture books from the library for me to read, so I will most likely sit down and read most of them this week because they are due soon. I also have Trevor Pryce’s An Army of Frogs and all of the Walden books to read in preparation for NCTE/ALAN, so I am going to read those soon. With Trent, we are going to continue rereading and working on finding favorites. We’ll see where the week takes us!

Ricki: This week, I think I will read Rosenblatt’s Literature for Exploration. Has anyone read it? I know it is cited everywhere. I am trying to read all of the books that are consistently cited in education. I also want to read Jessie Haas’s Bramble and Maggie series.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels

Thursday: Ricki’s Road to a Dissertation

Friday: Author’s Guest Post and Giveaway of Julie Sternberg’s The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over

 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

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 On My Fall To-Be-Read List

Wednesday: Recent Nonfiction (Mostly) Picture Books Part One: Informational

Friday: Rory’s Promise Blog Tour with Book Trailer and Author Q&A

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This week wasn’t as successful reading-wise as last week, but I did read a really good book in celebration of Banned Books Week–Cleopatra in Space by Mike Maihack. It is a super fun graphic novel! I cannot wait for more in the series. Love the inclusion of Egyptian history in a sci-fi world.

On the other hand, Trent and I read some board books that are definitely going to be some of our favorites and will be read over and over again including the classics The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. But my favorite this week was Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton. It is just as good as her others, but what made me love it even more is the song that you can get off of her website. I have been singing it to Trent all week! It is wonderful!

Ricki: This week, I finished listening to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This popular adult fiction made me laugh and made me cry. It is a very touching, British story about a young woman in her 20s who becomes caregiver to a paralyzed man in his 30s. At one point, I texted my husband that I would be in the house soon. I couldn’t leave my car because I didn’t want to stop listening.

Henry and I received some great, new picture books from one of our best friends. We started reading them this week, but some are holiday-themed, so we hold off on sharing them until we get closer to the holidays! We enjoyed I Know a Bear by Mariana Ruiz Johnson and discussed its beautiful message. I taught (10-month-old) Henry all about implicit themes as his father chuckled in the next room.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I started The Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over by Julie Sternberg, and I will definitely finish it this week in preparation for our blog tour stop on October 10th. I also cannot wait to read Mac Barnett’s newest Sam & Dave Dig A Hole which I recently got.  And if I have time, I have 4 baseball biographies by Matt Tavares I cannot wait to read (and I have the honor of writing a teaching guide for them).

Trent and I are going to do some rereads of favorites this week because it has been a ton of fun reading 210 books in 219 days of his life, but I feel like we need to revisit some of the ones I really love.

Ricki: As much as I love reading the same five board books over and over again with Henry because they are staples in my living room and his nursery, I will be branching out and exploring the new picture books we received this week. I also received two great ARCs from Penguin Random House this week, so I will be sharing and reviewing both of those soon.

If you are a middle or high school English language arts teacher, I would greatly appreciate your help distributing the message below for my dissertation study! Thank you!!!

We are seeking middle/high school English teachers for a brief research survey. For more information, click: https://uconn.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_7U0gerNF8XslNpH. We would greatly appreciate it if you shared this post with other teachers!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

 

Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Us To Read

Wednesday: Recent Nonfiction (Mostly) Picture Books Part Two: Biographies

 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

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 Authors We’ve Only Read One Book From But Need To Read More

Friday: My Time on the Walden Committee and Call for Applications

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

 Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I had quite a good reading week! I made time for a bunch of smaller texts I needed to read and truly enjoyed them.

First, I had a 3 books from Cinco Puntos Press to read: Conspiracy Girl by Karen Chacek, The Lovesick Skunk by Joe Hayes, and Festival of Bones by Luis San Vincente. All three of these books were so unique! I would love to talk to someone else who has read Conspiracy Girl, so if you do, contact me! The Lovesick Skunk was NOT what I thought it was going to be, and ended up being a quite funny nonfiction picture book which I will most likely review in the future. Festival of the Bones is a great celebration of the Day of the Dead, and I look forward to sharing it.

I also read 3 Netgalley books: Stubby the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero by Blake Hoena, A Tale of Two Daddies by Vanita Oelschlager, and The Zoo Box by Ariel Cohn. All three of these were wonderful in different ways. Stubby told a story of a true hero, Two Daddies introduces the idea of LBGTQ families, and The Zoo Box is a Jumanji-esque graphic novel that was a lot of fun.

Additionally, I read Bramble and Maggie books 1-3 by Jessie Haas and The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. Bramble and Maggie books are wonderful early reader chapter books about a girl and her horse. The Way Back Home is probably in my top 5 favorite Oliver Jeffers books now. He is so quirky!

Trent and I also read quite a few wonderful books: Frank! by Connah Brecon, Baby Beluga by Raffi, The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper, Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, and Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney.  Frank! we will review later this week. I could not believe I hadn’t read Goodnight, Gorilla before! What a fun almost wordless book. Perfect for bedtime. I also LOVED reading Baby Beluga because I listened to that song so much when I was a kid. The others are just great board books!

Ricki: This week, I enjoyed reading Rory’s Promise by Michaela MacColl and Rosemary Nichols. It was an interesting historical fiction that reads more like a creative nonfiction due to the depictions of real-life people. I learned a lot about orphan trains and enjoyed this new information about history. I also read a great nonfiction picture book called Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas written by Lynne Cox and illustrated by Brian Floca. I loved learning about the elephant seal who refused to leave her home in Christchurch, New Zealand and think kids will love this story, too!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: In my advanced reading class, I give my students 10-20 minutes a day to read and some days I get to read with them. Last week I started Cleopatra in Space and plan to finish it this week. My plan includes The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over by Julie Sternberg and another graphic novel that is at school and its name I can’t remember.

Ricki: Unfortunately, there will be no pleasure reading this week. I have chapters upon chapters of textbooks I have to read for my doctoral studies. I’ll be reading several chapters in Creswell’s and Maxwell’s books about Qualitative Methods. I will also be reading Shirley Brice Heath’s Ways with Words. So far, I enjoy this last one. I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, but in case you missed it, it is a foundational ethnography about the ways children learn to use language in the 1970s southeastern United States.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

   

Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read List

Friday: Rory’s Promise Blog Tour with Book Trailer, and Author Q&A

 So, what are you reading?

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