It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

Picture Books

Of the picture books, I definitely enjoyed Buffalo Bird Girl and Dreaming Up the most. They were fantastic. I had read a very thorough review of Buffalo Bird Girl earlier in the year on Debbie Resse's site and was so glad to finally get to read it for myself. I really appreciated the mix of artwork and photographs to help tell her story. This is a very accessible biography and I will be adding it to our library. I reviewed Dreaming Up yesterday and loved it.

Middle Grade and YA

Hold Fast was a twisty mystery and I enjoyed the connections to Langston Hughes. It is also a good look into the issue of homelessness. It got a few tears out of me. 

Anna and the French Kiss was a mixture of things for me: annoying, funny, cute, annoying, sweet, and a little predictable. I was listening to it on audio and came close to giving up a few times since the main character was driving me up the wall with the poor me stuff. At about the second or third CD though she finally had a reality check and that changed. The predictability was also annoying, but the cute and sweet factors made up for a lot. I became more of a fan as it went along.

Vader's Little Princess was a nice shot of humor. Hole in My Life was sobering. I read it for the Printz Challenge, but also because Jack Gantos will be in town next week. Yay!

I think my favorite YA this week was The Crown of Embers. Elisa is awesome and I am enjoying seeing her grow.

The Coming Week:

I am finishing up the audio of Eli the Good (read by the author) and am starting to speak with a southern accent as a result. I have just started reading Shatter Me and have The Water Castle on deck. I will need to read something for my review on Rich in Color for Friday too. Stop by to see the new look if you have a moment and let us know what you think.

What will you be reading? Have a great week!