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 go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.
Last week in posts:
Last week in books:
I'm not a huge fan of the Jack series because Jack is naughty beyond what I enjoy, but I applaud the author and illustrator for listening when their ARC went out and making a change. The main character had been a monkey and they heard about Edi Campbell's work so they switched to dogs. Orange for the Sunsets was a good historical fiction set in Uganda during Idi Amin's regime. One main character is Indian and one is Black. Amin has called for all Indians to leave the country and this threatens to tear their friendship apart. It's nice to have a middle grade that deals with a topic that doesn't appear in many books except one I read a few years ago, Child of Dandelions. The new Mia Mayhem is another fun early chapter book. The Infamous Ratsos Project Fluffy was a disappointment. Several characters have crushes and are trying to get a boyfriend or girlfriend. As this is aimed at first/second grade students, it's not my favorite topic choice. It's humorous and kids will likely enjoy it, but I'm not sure why the author felt that was a topic to pursue. The Scarecrow is beautiful and sweet as a scarecrow basically adopts a baby crow.
Just Ask! is by Sonia Sotomayor. It's about many different disabilities and how often, people would not mind if you just ask about the differences you see rather than stare or make rude comments. There are some people who have brought up two issues about that book worth considering. The books speaks of differences, but does not use the word disabilities. Also, it credits Autism Speaks which is a troubling organization. One other comment from someone else indicates that saying be brave is also troubling as people with disabilities are not being brave by existing. They are living their life. Here is the post/discussion from The Conscious Kid. I still think the book could be a valuable conversation starter, but it's good to be aware of the issues.
I quite liked the It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity. It will be a wonderful book for so many children and families. It's simple to understand and very affirming. For Black Girls Like Me was a look at cross racial adoption, but also mental illness. It's well done, but the choice to omit commas in the text was a distraction for me. What's Your Favorite Food? is a collection of foods that various illustrators enjoy. It would be a great mentor text for a class book. The Yellow Suitcase is an excellent exploration of loss and grief. Around the Passover Table isn't so much a story as an explanation of the steps in a Passover seder. In When I Found Grandma, a young girl has a somewhat complicated relationship with her grandmother who lives far away. She is embarrassed by this woman who is loud and so very different, but eventually comes to see her value.
I'm reading What Girls Know by Neesha Meminger. It's a memoir-novel in verse. The author sent it to me for review so watch for that over on Rich in Color later this week. After that, I still have several piles of books to read for the Wisconsin State Reading Association committee I'm on so will likely be reading some MG and YA for that. Have a great week!
Reading Challenge Updates:
Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 720/550
Diversity on the Shelf 2019 - 255/275
#MustReadin2019 - 21/30
Year of the Asian 2019 - 30/30
I appreciated getting to listen in on the conversation about disabilities from the book Just Ask! It's interesting how divided people are on their preferences of what to be called -- some dislike the term while others are happy with it. Like so many other groups in society, I supposed we shouldn't rope everyone into the same corral. But I'll definitely continue listening and taking note of the various viewpoints. That's interesting about the commas in For Black Girls Like Me. I read this one with my ears (audiobook) so I had no idea it was written that way. And I had Orange for the Sunsets checked out over the summer, but had to return it when things got especially busy with our house prep. Sounds like I need to grab a copy again! Thanks for all these wonderful shares, Crystal!
ReplyDeleteOh! I'm sad to hear that about the latest The Infamous Ratsos book. I just read the first one and enjoyed it (and think I might read it to my four year-old), but definitely agree, the demographic is way too young for crushes. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteSo many books Crystal! I adored Inside Out and Back Again and Listen Slowly and so I'm really looking forward to Butterfly Yellow.
ReplyDeleteLots of good books. I'm confused about the commas -- the sentences are complex but just without commas? I'd be lost!
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