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.

Past Weeks on the Blogs:

Review: 10 Gulab Jamuns

Giveaway at Rich in Color

Last Week in Books:

 

 

The two chapter books I read were wonderful and both made me cry. I knew I would enjoy The War I Finally Won because I adored The War That Saved My Life. These are two fabulous pieces of middle grade historical fiction. Starfish came strongly recommended by Eric Smith and I had wanted to read it for awhile. 

Rot, the Cutest in the World was likely my favorite picture book this week. It cracked me up and I knew it was a perfect gift for one of my friends. 

Caroline's Comets and Muddy were great picture book biographies. I think we are getting spoiled with how many excellent nonfiction books are being published lately.

Update on Korean Dramas:

This is my year for watching Korean Dramas. I will blame it on Maureen Goo and the somewhat overwhelming dismal political situations of this year. I wrote about my introduction to K-Dramas here. Since then, I have watched quite a few more.

I tried Reply 1997, another recommendation from Maureen Goo. It was distinctive because the characters were a little more realistically flawed and it was a nice palate cleanser after the almost fantasy aspect of Boys Over Flowers. After that, While You Were Sleeping caught my attention. It's one of my favorites. It had a supernatural element, and it was fantastically funny. My husband never did make it through Goblin (Guardian), but he did give another one a try when he found it on Netflix. He's into Crime/Thrillers so Stranger (Secret Forest) was right up his alley. We watched that one together. My next rom/com was Because This is My First Life. For Winter Break I chose Coffee Prince. I pretty much binge watched that and have finished it already so I'm contemplating my next series and in the meantime, my husband has started watching Strong Woman Do Bong Soon so I'm re-watching it with him. :)

The Coming Week: 

I have a fairly ambitious stack of books set aside for Winter Break. First Rule of Punk will be a re-read and the rest are new to me.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 839/550
(when I made my goal, I didn't know I'd be on a picture book award committee - eek!)

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 255/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 21/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 154/125

#MustReadin2017 - 23/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 124/100

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week:

My reading week was definitely varied this week. The Shadow Hero was available to me through Netgalley and I loved it. He's a superhero from the past and I will review this excellent graphic novel closer to the July release date. Inheritance was a great sequel to Adaptation. I was happy to spend more time with Reese, Amber, and David. More Than This was a challenging book with so many questions and not a lot of answers. I don't know that there is any possible way to talk about the book without spoiling things. I am pretty amazed by Patrick Ness. The Wig in the Window was a fun middle grade mystery. Nightjohn was a powerful look at slavery through a child's eyes. Bitter Melon was a coming of age novel involving a Chinese American girl who is trying to respect her mother's wishes while figuring out what she wants for her life. I enjoyed the fable The Flight of the Hummingbird. It is a great inspiration for making a difference in the world. The other book I read was Tender at the Bone. I like to read books about food and memoirs with food are the best. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. The last half was a little slow for me, but it was still a nice read.

The Coming Week:

I'm reading One Came Home, The Fifth Wave and Miles from Nowhere right now. I have Kindred on the shelf and will likely start that one next. It should be a great week. I hope yours is also.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week:

My favorite picture books were Little You, a beautiful board book, Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue, another gorgeous book, and surprisingly enough Dot. There have been other books about keeping a healthy balance around technology use, but I thought Dot. is done very well. The Black Rabbit was very cute and I liked What Does the Fox Say? way more than I wanted to. It's like one of those things that I don't want to admit that I enjoy. The illustrations were really cool.

Trail and America the Beautiful are both fabulous pop-up books that were donated to our library. Trail is actually a poem that is displayed in circles that the reader turns on each page. America the Beautiful showcases many landmarks from across our country. I know that the students will be excited to see these new additions to our collection. My students love to sit and read books from our "special collection" on days when they aren't checking out books. I keep books with movable parts on a shelf near our couch and chairs and they don't leave the library, but are available to read in the LMC.

I read several books of fables since our second grade has been studying fables and I just bought new books for the unit. The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World was hilarious. Mulla Nasruddin is a delightful character with wonderful tricks up his sleeve.

Africa is My Home was a fascinating read. I didn't know this bit of history and liked seeing it from a child's perspective. It would be nice paired with Never Forgotten.

I talked about Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia here, though I might still do a more detailed review sometime. I really enjoyed it. Golden Boy was also fantastic. The story was so compelling. 

Overall it was a good week of reading.

The Coming Week: 

Currently Reading

I am listening to The 5th Wave on CD and just switched to the second point of view. My daughter overheard part of it and said, "Is this a zombie book? It sounds like a zombie book." It really does seem like one though it is a spaceship and alien kind of book. I am reading Tender at the Bone because I really love books about food and this one was given to me. I am loving Inheritance. My next book is very likely More Than This. I just picked it up from the library on Saturday and can't wait to start. It's on my Must Read shelf. I had 110 books on that shelf at the beginning of the year and now the number is sitting at 103. We'll see what kind of dent I can make in it this week. :)

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week

This was a wonderful week of reading. I finished a few more Nerdy nominees before voting. What the Heart Knows was fantastic. Sidman has created beautiful poems that do speak to the heart. They can even inspire a bit of poetry writing. I think I'll be reading this one many times in the future.

Knock Knock was not a nominee, but I wonder if it would have made the list had it been published earlier in the year. It may not have been read by very many people yet. It's a powerful book based on the poem Daniel Beaty performs below:

The Coming Week:

I am listening to Little Women which is a re-re-re-read or something like that. I have lost count over the years. I started re-reading The Hobbit since we had a Tolkien marathon on Sunday. We watched both Hobbits and the Lord of the Rings trilogy complete with hobbit food. I have a large stack of books for winter break, but don't know which ones I will get to. I started The Living and am loving it. What will you be reading? Have a fantastic week.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week

Nerdie Nominees

The non-fiction I read was excellent. My favorite books this week were the Animal Book, Parrots Over Puerto Rico, Something to Prove, The Boy on the Wooden Box, and Lincoln's Grave Robbers. I am almost ready to vote for the Nerdies, but I have one more book here at home (Out of the Easy) and three more on reserve at the library. Once I finish those, I will be voting. It will be tough though.

There wer also two books that I read that weren't on the list. Santiago Says was okay, but I would have liked a little more to the story. I really liked Friends. I have many friends that I lost contact with because of moving. It touched my heart.

The Coming Week

I am still listening to Rose Under Fire, but should be finishing that up this week. I have started Adventures in Blockworld: A Novel for the Young Minecraft Fans and Out of the Easy. I will also be reading Reality Boy, What the Heart Knows and The Show Must Go On for the Nerdies. If I have time with all of that, I will finish off with Matt de la Peña's The Living. I will be at the TIES convention in Minneapolis for two days this week, so this plan may be a little too optimistic, but I will give it a shot. What will you be reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week:

Jingle Dancer is a re-read for me, and I had a great time sharing it with second grade this week. I loved that students noticed the connections between Hmong New Year and Powwow. They even pointed out that their traditional clothing also jingles because of the coins that decorate their fancy clothes.

I read an ARC of Chitchat and will be reviewing it later this week. It's a fun look at the history, development and use of world languages.

The majority of my reading this week though has been in preparation for voting on the Nerdies. Here they are:

Words with Wings, Frog Song, and Flora and Ulysses were my top picks from these, but there were many that I loved.

The Coming Week:

Up next, I have Lincoln's Grave Robbers and many more fun books from the Nerdies list. I have six here in the house and 11 more are in transit according to my library account so I will have plenty to choose from this week. What will you be reading this week?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week

Picture Books

Deep in the Sahara was the definite winner of the three. I reviewed it on Saturday. It is a beautiful story of faith and community. Daisy Gets Lost was a fun companion to A Ball for Daisy. I also liked When Lions Roar because it would be a good way to discuss fear.

Middle Grade

Rump was a ton of fun. I seek out re-tellings and this one didn't disappoint. The Year of Billy Miller and Like Bug Juice on a Burger were great realistic books about the challenges of growing up. They were both fun. I think Billy Miller would be a great read aloud because the text would be challenging for a second grader, but the content is perfect for them. Bug Juice was a fun follow up to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. I will be writing up a review later this week. I am still not sure why it is in verse format. It read like straight prose, so I actually was confused initially. I thought maybe the author had just decided not to use paragraphing. I had forgotten that the first one was like that too. Gone Fishing was such fun. I loved the mix of many poetry styles and the interactions between the brother and sister. The poetry explanations in the back were great too.

Non-fiction

I enjoyed learning about the library in Egypt through Hands Around the Library. I liked the Minnesota Bug Hunt too. The pictures were great. Locomotive was the one that stood out though. The layout, text features, and beautiful illustrations really supported the facts and made it fantastically engaging. I know teachers will love using it to demonstrate author's craft.

The Coming Week:

I have started reading a digital ARC of Chitchat a book about language, but the ARC is acting funny. I will try to finish it, if it will open. Otherwise, I will be reading books from the Nerdy Award Finalists list as quickly as I can. There are about 40 that I haven't read. I've requested 15 books through the library and I will read them as they arrive. I have a few at school too. I am about to begin Mr. Lemoncello's Library today and then it will all depend on what I can get into my hands. What will you be reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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. 

The Past Week: 

Picture Books

I really loved How To. The illustrations were fantastic and the text is lovely. I also think it would be helpful when teachers are working on writing "how-to" texts with students. It isn't necessarily a model, but would be a good way to introduce or start discussion about telling or showing how to do something. Year of the Jungle is a bit of a memoir as Suzanne Collins tells the story of the year her father was away at war. The Very Inappropriate Word and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild both made me smile. They are definitely humorous.

Middle Grade

Fortunately, the Milk was quite amusing. I was a bit put off by some of the illustrations, but the story was cute. Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War is a novel in verse so I was inclined to like it from the start. I tend to like anything Helen Frost writes. She chose to write about a time in history when settlers and the Miami people were in conflict. It was well told and showed that in war, friendships can be tested. It was also a book about family and how family can go beyond being related by blood.

Young Adult

I read A Step From Heaven for the Printz challenge. I am so glad it won or I may have missed this fantastic book. This is a story of immigration, but it is also about family. The relationships were complex and they touched my heart. It got tears out of me. I read Jumped In for a review on Rich in Color. It is not a novel in verse, but it does feature a lot of poetry. I appreciated the characters and the well told story. There were a few tears here too.

Non-fiction

My students and I thought A Little Book of Sloth was fantastic. The photographs are adorable and the narrative was fun too. The Mighty Mars Rovers caught my attention especially since I watched the Curiosity landing in 2012.  The photos are amazing and seeing how excited the scientists and engineers got was pretty cool too.

The Coming Week:

I am reading a middle grade book Written in Stone and I may still finish Interworld. I just checked out a ton of books, but I am not sure which ones will I will get to this week. Have fun reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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.

The Past Week: 

Reviewed: The Raven Boys and Dream Thieves

Young Adult

Whew! Sold was a tough book to read. Child sex trafficking is not the easiest topic to deal with, but McCormick did a stellar job. Strangely enough, The Fire Horse Girl touched on trafficking too. Sold felt like it should be happening way in the past and sometimes I would forget that it was more recent. They would refer to the television and I would realize that this sort of thing is still happening. It's overwhelming to think about it. To think that there are other girls like Lakshmi out there right now crushes my heart.

The Fire Horse Girl had more action than I had anticipated, but that was a good thing. I enjoyed Jade Moon's ability to remain true to herself in spite of the expectations of everyone around her. I loved that she fought for herself and others.

Peanut was a title that came up several times during last month's #bookbootcamp so when I saw it available at the library I grabbed it. I have to say I cringed through a good chunk of it because the main character is pretending to have a peanut allergy to get attention and be "special" at her new school. Ack! I just kept waiting for it to all fall apart. It kept me interested, but frustrated too.

Picture Book

I loved  that I found this picture book folktale, Tougi the Toad Finds His Smile, at the Hmong ABC store in St. Paul. I have bought many books there, but this one was new. It's a fun folktale about a toad who wants to be the most powerful being around. The illustrations are fantastic. I am always excited to find more literature with Hmong culture. In the story there are a few people and they are wearing traditional clothing too. 

Middle Grade Non-fiction

I knew of many of the people that are profiled in Peace Warriors, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Dalai Lama. What I appreciate though is that there are two women included that I had not really known about before. I had heard the name Dorothy Day when I volunteered at a shelter, but did not know why a homeless shelter would have that name. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was a name that I had never heard at all. This is quite an inspirational book and really shows how one person really can make a huge difference in the world.

Middle Grade Fiction

I will write a more thorough review later, but I really enjoyed The Garden of My Imaan. Very quickly I realized that there was a glossary and I found out that imaan means belief.  I began reading and just didn't stop. Earlier this year I read Growing Up Muslim: Understanding the Beliefs and Practices of Islam, and this book helped remind me of the things I learned then. It would likely be helpful if a non-Muslim is reading this book to have the non-fiction book nearby as a resource if there are questions.

The Coming Week:

Since my digital copy will expire next week, I think I will finally get to The Boy on the Porch. I knew that I still had time, so I was always reading something else first. It is coming down to the wire. I was also supposed to read Spy School for #bookbootcamp since we are doing mysteries, but I don't think I will get it finished by tomorrow evening since I haven't even started. Ack! But wait, I just looked and it is available at the library that is in walking distance. Yay!

Have a wonderful week filled with reading! What are you reading?