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 go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week in reading:

Cinderella is Dead was a really entertaining retelling where few things and people are as they seem on the surface.  

Black Girl Unlimited is a YA that is highly autobiographical magical realism with a very unique format. There are many jumps in time and space. It also deals with some really tough situations. Had me crying multiple times. TW: sexual assault/rape. 

Ghost Squad is a slightly creepy and fun middle grade adventure with ghost chasers and plenty of ghosts.

The Widows of Malabar Hill is an adult 1920's murder mystery. The main character is one of the first female attorney's in India. I read this for the Books and Boba monthly read and really enjoyed it.

Song Below Water was a wonderful bit of YA fantasy. I listened to this one and it was fabulous.

William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad is a picture book bio of a person I did not know about. Among other things, he kept track of people who had escaped slavery and was able to help some family members find each other and reunite. 

Elatsoe is another book full of ghosts. This one is listed as YA, but it reads a little more like middle grade to me. It's a page turner regardless. Elatsoe is a Lipon Apache (as is the author) and uses family knowledge to help with the ghosts. It will be published in August.

The Coming Week:

I'm still reading Taking the Leap. I have How We Fight for Our Lives and Men We Reaped up next. Happy reading!

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 308/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 183/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 121/200

#MustReadin2020 - 232/36
#YARC2020 - 42/55
#RamadanReadathon2020 - 10

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 go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

What's been happening on the blog: 

Review on Rich in Color: Dating Makes Perfect

Group Discussion Announcement: Stamped

Last two weeks in reading:

 

The Warmth of Other Suns was a long book, but it moved so quickly. Wilkerson has shared the story of the Great Migration through three distinct voices in addition to information informed by many, many other personal stories and an extraordinary amount of research. She wove it together in a very compelling narrative. 

I also read a few picture books over the past few weeks. Two were about the outdoors. Hike is a nice wordless picture book with a nice little twist at the end. The Camping Trip is a cute one and is in a graphic novel type of structure. Elbow Grease vs. Motozilla is not exactly my cup of tea, but I know some students who will love it. Fun trucks and a giant monster machine will be just the things for some of my readers. Kaia and the Bees is a sweet one. (couldn't help myself there) Kaia's family keeps bees up on the roof, but she's a bit afraid of them. 

Alphamaniacs has 26 brief stories of folks who have done amazing things with words. Some of the stories are standouts, but many are not as interesting. I'm not quite sure who this is aimed for and don't think I'll get it for my elementary school. It's too long and not as entrancing as it would need to be for all of those pages with young ones. 

Cilla Lee-Jenkins: This Book is a Classic is another cute chapter book in the series. Cilla has a fun voice. 

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows was more adult than I expected. I know the title was a clue, but I thought they would allude to the stories, but there are some stories shared that are definitely very adult and intimate. The book does revolve around the stories, but it is really more about the women. I quite enjoyed it.

The Coming Week:

I'm still working my way through Making Comics. I've started another book by Pema Chodron called Taking the Leap. I'm reading an ARC of a YA called Elatsoe. I'm listening to Song Below Water and accidentally started reading The One and Only Bob. Happy reading!

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 300/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 176/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 114/200

#MustReadin2020 - 22/36
#YARC2020 - 42/55
#RamadanReadathon2020 - 10

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 go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week in reading:

Buried Indians: Digging Up the Past in a Midwestern Town is a memoir about a town I have spent a lot of time in over the years. It's really about the stories we tell ourselves and how people and place interact. The woman telling the story is white and grew up in a small predominantly white town. She shares how her knowledge and thoughts about the Indigenous people there changed over time. As I have been learning about place based teaching, this was a helpful text.

The middle grade novel From the Desk of Zoe Washington digs a bit into the criminal justice system as Zoe learns more about her father. He has been in prison for her whole life, but she didn't know much about him. She begins to exchange letters with him and wonders if he may actually be innocent. I loved the story and especially liked the baking experimentation and the music playlist. I will absolutely have to try the cupcake recipe.

Forest of Souls is a cool YA fantasy. The author is Hmong and has included some of her culture within the story. It has a lot of twists. This one was on my #MustReadin2020 list.

Becoming Better Grownups: Rediscovering What Matters and Remembering How to Fly is a book being read by a teacher book club so I grabbed it. The author is the man who created the Kid President videos with his nephew. It's often humorous and is also inspirational. 

Dating Makes Perfect was an ARC I got this week and it is a super fun YA romcom. It was the perfect way to relax by the waterfalls this past week. I will review it at Rich in Color next week or later this summer.

The Henna Wars was another fun YA romcom. I was really wanting to have some books to make my heart lighter and this was another good one for that. It was on my #MustReadin2020 list.

The Coming Week:

I am not really certain what I will be reading, but I did just download the audio of A Song Below Water and Cinderella is Dead just shipped so it may be here soon. I think I have some ARCs I need to get to, but I can't remember what's waiting. Happy reading!

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 289/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 169/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 110/200

#MustReadin2020 - 21/36
#YARC2020 - 40/55
#RamadanReadathon2020 - 10