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 We’ve Recently Added to Our To-Be-Read Lists
Thursday: #MustReadin2015 Spring Update
Sunday: Author Guest Post by Sue Duff, Author of Fade to Black and Mask and Mirrors
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: I have had a pile of picture books from the library to read for weeks, so I decided that this week would be when I read them. ALL of them were wonderful. Not a bad one in the bunch! You’ll see below that I am going to review nine of them this week because I was so happy with the diversity I found in these picture books, and I’ll blog about many of the others in the weeks to come. The picture books I read were:
- Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman
- Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay
- H.O.R.S.E: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers
- Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
- Firebird by Misty Copeland
- Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong
- Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
- By Mouse and Frog by Deborah Freeman
- The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
- The Sky Painter: Louise Fuertes, Bird Artist by Margarita Engle
- Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell
- Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya
- Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales
- Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown
- Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman
I also finished two novels this week. First, I read Hunt for the Bamboo Rat by Graham Salisbury which is an interesting look at World War II from a Japanese-American from Hawaii working for the army in the Phillipines. It is a WWII story like none other that I have read. It was also my first Graham Salisbury work, and I know I need to read more as he sure know how to craft a story. I also finished the early chapter book Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Tricia Springstubb. Ever since Tricia did a guest post here and on Nerdy Book Club, I knew I wanted to read her work, and I am so happy that I was able to read Cody. Readers of Mercy Watson, Junie B. Jones, Bramble and Maggie, and other stories of rambunctious young ladies are going to find a friend within these pages.
Ricki: Henry and I spent some quality time in the library. I picked up several books to read to him, but two stood out most. King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan tells the story of Basant, a holiday to celebrate the arrival of spring, and is set in Pakistan. I loved the beautiful kites and appreciated that the author didn’t make the character’s disability the main focus of the story. If I still taught high school, I would definitely use this book while I taught The Kite Runner. We also enjoyed Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony. I’ve seen this one pop up on many blogs, and I finally found a copy. I thought it was charming and will definitely be using it to discuss manners with my son. 🙂
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I am almost done with Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle. I adore these books, and the audiobooks make them even better. I do hope that there is going to be a third. I also plan on reading Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern and Fake Snakes and Weird Wizards (Here’s Hank #4) by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver.
Ricki: I am embarrassed at how far behind I have gotten in my reading. In four weeks, when school ends, I can’t wait to dive in. I know I say this every week. Anyways, I have been reading several books about discourse analysis. I didn’t post them here because I don’t want to bore you. I am fascinated by the ways we use discourse in subtle ways to reveal thinks like our figured worlds. Don’t worry, I will read some awesome YAL or picture books next week to fill the gaps. Some of you are saying, “Thank goodness I have Kellee because I can’t comment on this Ricki lady’s stuff.”
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Characters We’d Like To Check In With
Wednesday: From My (Huge) Library Pile Part Five: We Need Diverse Books (Nonfiction)
Thursday: Blog Tour and Author Guest Post!: Won Ton & Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
Friday: From My (Huge) Library Pile Part Six: We Need Diverse Books (Fiction)
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!