It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.
If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.
Last Week:
I interviewed author Julie Chibbaro
over at Rich in Color
I reviewed One Word from Sophia
by Jim Averbeck & illustrated by Yasmeen Ismail
Picture Books
I had time to sit and read piles of picture books. My favorites were Swan, Mango, Abuela and Me, Knit Together, Lillian's Right to Vote and Toys Meet Snow. Finding Spring, Sona's Wedding Game, Double Happiness, Dolphin SOS and Miss Hazeltine's Home for Shy and Fearful Cats were also pretty wonderful.
Middle Grade/Young Adult
I enjoyed both of these, though for different reasons. Feral Nights was a fun romp. It was great for a getaway which was perfect since I was listening to it on audio while driving to and from Madison several times this week. It didn't require intense concentration, but it kept me entertained. The Marvels is simply gorgeous and the storytelling is also beautiful. I fell in love with it and will likely reread it multiple times.
Adult
Junot Díaz will be speaking at UW Madison in February. I will try to attend so wanted to get caught up on his books. This is a collection of short stories and while the main character was generally not likable, I found the stories compelling.
The Coming Week:
I was depressed by the beginning of Out of Darkness so I haven't made much progress. I keep putting it down. I am determined to pick it up again though. I am listening to Mister Monday, the first book in the Keys to the Kingdom series. I am also reading the narrative nonfiction book Most Dangerous. I finally got Echo and Circa Now so may get to those this week.
Reading Challenge Updates:
Diversity on the Shelf/Diverse Books - 194/100
Goodreads - 482/520
#MustRead2015 - 44/53
Diversity Reading Challenge - 12/12
Pura Belpré Challenge -86/86 (some were read prior to this year)
Around the World with Books Map
Great books this week! I read the ARC of The Marvels and now I'm reading it to my daughter. Such a good one to go back to!
ReplyDeleteI have never read any of Cynthia Leitich Smith's novels although I've heard good things. Still haven't gotten around to reading The Marvels yet! I need to read Lillian's Right to Vote as well. When we got it in at my library, I saw that it had more text than the average picture book so mentally set it aside to read at a later date and still haven't gotten around to it!
ReplyDeleteI love Swan - such a beautiful picture book, and a lovely tribute to dance and artistic expression. Thanks for sharing - looks like you had a good reading week!
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to get a copy of The Marvels at NCTE! I have heard such wonderful things! I hope you have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteYou've got a lot of interesting picture books on your list. Swan is getting a lot of book love these days so I'll have to get to it. I loved When Mama Courted Otis!
ReplyDeleteI love Selznick's work, so I need to get The Marvels ASAP. I am so looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteLike Cheriee, I too really liked Otis :)
Happy reading this week!
Lots of great picture books, Crystal. The ones I'd love to see are Swan and Dolphin SOS. I love Finding Spring, and so many others you shared. Still need to read The Marvels. Thanks, Crystal, & for our conversation about The Hired Girl.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read The Marvels! So many fantastic titles here. I just expanded my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteI just borrowed a copy of The Marvels from the library and can't wait to read it. I am book talking it today to my book club for adults - hopefully they will select it as a possible book for us to discuss in the coming months. :)
ReplyDeleteI just borrowed a copy of The Marvels from the library and can't wait to read it. I am book talking it today to my book club for adults - hopefully they will select it as a possible book for us to discuss in the coming months. :)
ReplyDelete