It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's 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 your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts 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 visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you want to know more about what I've been reading, visit my Goodreads shelf.

Last Week on the Blog:

Celebrating Bookish Things

Last Week in Books:

I read a bunch of picture books this week (more than 35), so I'll just share the best of the best. My favorites this week were:

All of these are worth tracking down and reading. I especially enjoyed Her Right Foot. It's a very unique way to deliver information and made some points about our country that many should here in this day and age of anti-immigrant/refugee sentiment. Quite a few of these are biographical and I liked learning more about these people. Stolen Words was a bittersweet story told in an attempt to show the effect of residential schooling on Native people and also offer hope of healing. **edited - I had some qualms about the book (the dream catcher and that it was based on what she wished she had talked to her grandfather about), but ignored them when I saw that the author was of Native descent. Since then, Debbie Reese has posted an excellent review of the book. At this point, it is not one I would recommend since there are much better books about that time in history. I wish I had paid more attention to those feelings of unease and questioned what I was reading more. This is definitely  a learning process.

 A Different Pond has local connections as the author grew up in the Twin Cities. I appreciate this book for it's look into an immigrant family. It also has one character mentioned who is Hmong. That's a plus since we have a large Hmong community and they do not see themselves in traditionally published work very often.

These five books are the ones I shared in class this past week. All were great and I'd recommend them. The Baby Chicks goes with the song Los pollitos dicen. We read that and sang the song before going to the reading room to learn about magazines. One of the magazines had a story about a hungry chick. It's such a fun song to sing.

I also read some middle grade and young adult titles. 

Love, Hate, & Other Filters (an ARC from the publisher) was really good. It was realistic fiction dealing with parental expectations, friendship, romance, and living in the US as a Muslim. A Line in the Dark was a thriller and dealt with friendship, romance, and jealousy. It kept me guessing. Spirit Hunters was fabulously creepy at the middle grade level. I loved it.

In addition, I read one adult title:

Crazy Rich Asians is basically a romantic comedy starring some seriously rich Asians. I saw a Twitter post recently about a handbag that goes for more than $200,000. I wondered who would buy such a thing. This book is full of people who could. They pay more for one dress than we paid for our home and car together. It was a light and quick read and just what I was craving.

The Coming Week: I started reading Shine by Candy Gourlay. It's on my #MustReadin2017 list. It wasn't available at the library or through ILL so I finally purchased it. I may get to some ARCs this week, but I'm not sure. I keep getting distracted by other books.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 740/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 241/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 20/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 144/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 109/100

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week though this month I have been remiss. I haven't put my celebrations online this month yet so here are quite a few of them.

I am often celebrating bookish things and this month is no exception. First though, I am thankful I had both of my adult children home for a few days and we were able to spend some time together. One of my children is a fan of BTS (a Korean music group) so we spent time watching their videos. When we did, we found this fun moment:

While watching BTS videos I found an example to go with a reading of The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by @DrewDaywalt #kidlit pic.twitter.com/UcQn7cpqEx

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 24, 2017

Watching their videos is truly a treat as they are cute, have fun dance moves, and their songs are very catchy. It's even better because I get to enjoy something with my child & it connected to a book!

Another fun lit moment was finding the book A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by Thi Bui:

#bookaday A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by @MsThiBui It’s a wonderful story that shares much about family & what they do with & for each other. pic.twitter.com/iYMdA4PbfH

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 23, 2017

We have many Hmong students in our school and there are very few books where a Hmong character just randomly shows up. Plus, this is a wonderful immigrant family story.

My first grade students and I read You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith illustrated by Danielle Daniel and made a display. It was super exciting to hear back from the author:

We got our display up after reading You Hold Me Up by @ltldrum & illustrated by Danielle Daniel #wisnativenov17 #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth @WisDPIais #onapride pic.twitter.com/mEkiPIXUXH

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 16, 2017

Please give my love to the students! Their words & illustrations brought tears to my eyes! Imagine our world with these young citizens as our future leaders!💗💫

— Monique Gray Smith (@ltldrum) November 16, 2017

I also had bookish fun at the adult storytime. I shared the essay Bad Feminist #2 by Roxane Gay and many other people shared from books and essays. Next time I want to bring picture books.

Enjoying adult storytime at Turtle Stack Brewery. Thanks La Crosse Public Library. #booklove pic.twitter.com/TQfBlR8bUI

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 15, 2017

One other lovely moment from this month was when I finally listened to the audio of Aristotle and Dante:

That lovely & surreal moment when you're listening to Aristotle & Dante by @BenjaminAlireSa & hear @Lin_Manuel say Alexander Hamilton. pic.twitter.com/MVGJAHL5z6

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 4, 2017

Finally, I was also able to go see Jason Reynolds speak in Madison. I am always inspired and moved when he shares from his heart. Not only did I see him, but I was able to spend several hours in the car with two other librarians and that was awesome bookish talking time.

I'm glad I get to spend so much time doing the things I love with fun people and excellent books.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's 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 your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts 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 visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you want to know more about what I've been reading, visit my Goodreads shelf.

Last Week on the Blog:

Review of The Hate U Give 

Review of The Day Tajon Got Shot

Last Week in Books:

I'm reading a bunch of picture books right now, so I'll just share the best of the best. My favorites this week were:

John Herrington's Mission to Space is a great look at the world of an astronaut. It's a great nonfiction book and I love that it highlights his Chickasaw heritage. 

Apex Predators is another fantastic nonfiction book. It would be great paired with Jess Keating's What Makes a Monster. The predators of the past were particularly frightening - the stuff of nightmares.

I love a good puzzle so Look! What Do You See? pulled me in immediately. It didn't take long before my eyes started to catch the patterns and it's immensely satisfying to break the "secret code" the author has created. It looks very much like Chinese characters, but it is something else entirely. It was fascinating. I had to run out and find a teacher to show it to right away. We puzzled through them together. It was also fun because we got to sing our way through.

"Fall in Line, Holden!" is a really engaging story of Holden, a young Navajo boy, who sees things in a unique & imaginative way. I like that it has connections to the residential school era so you can talk about that history. It's also great that in the bio of the author, Daniel W. Vandever (Navajo), readers learn that his grandfather was a code talker. That also provided the opportunity to discuss who the code talkers were & book talk Bruchac's novel Code Talker. Here's a great interview with the author of Holden.

I also read Turtles All the Way Down for book club. I read it pretty much in one sitting so it was definitely interesting and compelling. It was hard to witness the struggles of the main character though. It wasn't an easy book to read.

The Coming Week: I just started Love, Hate and Other Filters. I'm also being tempted by some ARCs on Netgalley and Edelweiss so that might be my holiday reading. Here are the ARCs I may dive into: Dread Nation, Voices in the Air, The Poet X, Shadow Girl, Black Panther: The Young Prince, and The Belles.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 674/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 229/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 19/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 137/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 103/100

Review: The Hate U Give

Title: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 444
Availability: On shelves
Review copy: Digital ARC via Edelweiss & library copy post pub

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Review: Starr has some seriously heavy things to deal with after she witnesses the shooting of her friend. She isn't named in the press and she has to decide if she wants to go public. She can keep quiet and try to go about her life. That's the safe path. She's scared though and doesn't want to have any of this affect her or her family. The problem is that even if she stays quiet, their lives have already been affected. 

I loved this book for so many reasons. First, Starr is a fully human character with all her quirks and strengths. She makes me laugh, cry, cringe, and shake my head sometimes. I also adore her family. This book is about so much more than a shooting. It's about what a family can and does do for each other. There are parents here that are trying hard and still fail, but they keep trying. That was something shown over and over again. You also see that there are often layers of things happening. It may look like someone doesn't care, but it's not necessarily the case. Their way of showing love just might not look the way you would expect.

Starr is a student at a predominantly White prep school. As a White reader, I found it helpful to see the way Starr felt she had to be a different person in school than she was in her neighborhood. The way she moves through the world is different in each space because of the expectations of people around her. I've heard people talk about code switching, but this story really paints a thorough picture of how that looks day to day. I think this is something that many people don't fully understand unless they've been there themselves.

Recommendation: This book has a lot going on and is one I would highly recommend to anyone interested in understanding some of the current discussions around justice and policing. I'll also be recommending it to anyone who wants to read a well crafted story with compelling characters. I didn't want to leave them. In fact, I've read the book three times already and will likely read it again to visit Starr and her family once more.

Extras:
The Hate U Give discussion at Rich in Color
Politics and Prose Video Interview with Angie Thomas

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's 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 your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts 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 visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you want to know more about what I've been reading, visit my Goodreads shelf.

Last Week on the Blog:

Native Perspectives posted at Rich in Color

Last Week in Books:

My YA reading this week has been rather intense. The Marrow Thieves is a fantastic dystopian novel (for more see mini-review linked above). Dear Martin is realistic fiction that is extremely timely and quite an emotional ride. It's also very compelling. I read it in one afternoon. I took one brief break because I needed an emotional break for a few minutes. How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child is a look into Sandra's life as a refugee. She shares the pain of losing her younger sister and how her family survived. It was especially interesting to see how she viewed her educational experiences.

My favorite picture book this week was You Hold Me Up. With simple text, readers see the many ways that people can hold each other up. It's a wonderful book of kindness, healing, and community. The end note explains that it is part of an effort to bring healing in the aftermath of the residential school experiences of indigenous people.

It Starts with a Raindrop is a bilingual (Spanish/English) book introducing the water cycle. It's nice to find bilingual nonfiction. Peach Heaven is a picture book about the author's memory of a day when peaches came with a flood. It's a sweet book and takes place in Korea. I appreciate finding picture books set in other countries. It's from the same author as The Name Jar. It's an older title, but I was able to find a used copy online to purchase. Who Wants to Be a Princess? What it Was Really Like to Be a Medieval Princess is a great look at the realities of living as royalty in medieval times. It erases some of the romance and pairs images of the Disney-type of princess life with more realistic images. 

I also finished re-reading The Hate U Give for Battle of the Books. I cried - again for the third time. Such a good book. It's a must read book.

The Coming Week: I'll be skimming through a lot of books in prep for our Battle of the Books on Friday. Other than that, I may read John Green's newest book, Turtles All the Way Down and an ARC of Love, Hate and Other Filters.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 626/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 223/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 19/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 132/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 97/100

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's 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 your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts 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 visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you want to know more about what I've been reading, visit my Goodreads shelf.

Last Week in Books:

 

I re-read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and really enjoyed it again. I listened to some of it so I could savor the sound of Lin-Manuel Miranda reading it and saying Alexander Hamilton, but then I finished it off with the hard copy. I also re-read Ghost by Jason Reynolds. Both of the re-reads were in preparation for a Battle of the Books competition I am in later this month. There are four of us on our team and we're pretty excited. I was also happy to read Ghost the same week I got to see Jason Reynolds speak again. He's a wonderful speaker and really challenged me as a teacher to know my students.

Of all the picture books, Malala's Magic Pencil stood out the most. She did a fabulous job of connecting the magic pencil to our ability to tell our own stories and make our voices heard. 

The Fox Wish was precious and Lines by Suzy Lee is another great wordless book.

Real Friends was fantastic. I'm happy to find another great memoir in graphic novel format. It's so easy to relate to and it definitely reminded me of my younger days.

The Coming Week: I'll be finishing up Marrow Thieves and will be re-reading The Hate U Give for my Battle of the Books team competition coming up soon. I'm also still reading How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 617/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 217/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 19/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 126/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 95/100