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 see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. The lists of the books in the images below may be found at Goodreads. 

Last Week on the Blog: 

Review: Batter Royale

Last Week in Books: 

Here are some of the books that stood out last week.

Picture Books--

Luli and the Language of Tea is sweet and shows children connecting through tea. They are from various places in the world and have slightly different names for it, but they can all relate to one another through this beverage. Opposites Abstract by Mo Willems was really clever. There isn't much text, but he communicates so well with very little text and simple illustrations. A Boy Named Isamu is a nice book that shares a bit about the life of the Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi who found inspiration in nature. It's a book to encourage wondering. Big Truck Little Island is a fun story about a road getting blocked by a large truck and the way people deal with that challenge. Calvin is the story of a young transboy and how he lets the people in his life know who he really is. The family and school are supportive.  

I also read two books that were closely related and noticed a difference. Light for All by Margarita Engle has the Statue of Liberty and immigration as a focus and I is for Immigrants by Selina Alko also speaks to immigration in the U.S. They both celebrate immigration and the phrase "a nation of immigrants" is brought up in both. The difference I noted is that in Engle's author note she addresses an issue with that phrase. "That phrase ignores the true experiences of Indigenous and African American communities who were either here before conquerors and immigrants arrived, or were brought by force, kidnapped, and enslaved." Alko does point out that there are also descendants of African slaves, but doesn't mention Indigenous folks which is a common omission. 

Early Readers--

Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes is another fun early chapter book from the Juana and Lucas series. It has humor and realistic situations as Juana and her family prepare to welcome a new family member. 

Young Adult--

My Mechanical Romance was a very fun rom-com centering on a young woman who is kind of aimless, but begins to find her way unexpectedly through the school robotics team. 

Sugar Falls is a graphic novel that shares about a young woman who is sent to a residential school in Canada. It's a reissue of a short story by David Robertson that had been published ten years ago. I really appreciated how it showed a focus towards healing. 

Adult

Kamila Knows Best is inspired by Jane Austen's Emma. It's not direct, but it is related enough that I realized that without being told ahead of time. As I read, I was thinking that it reminded me of Emma. It's a fairly light and fun rom-com.

The Coming Week: I just started reading Kelly Yang's newest book New from Here and am reading many books for ages birth to 14ish for the class that I will be teaching online in Oct. so I can finish up my reading list for the students. I am not sure how reading will go though since I am simultaneously starting several part time jobs which add up to full time. Onboarding in multiple places means a lot of paper work and meetings. It's exciting, but also there are many details to keep track of and I don't have a lot of extra brain space for other things. Have a great week!