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.


The Past Week on the Blog:

Need a Little Comic Relief?

The Past Week in Books: 

#ClassroomBookaday

Pre-K: We Love Dinosaurs by Lucy Volpin (Yup - they do)
Kindergarten: Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: L'alfabet di Michif / Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet by Julie Flett
First and Second Grade:  A Day with Yayah by Nicola I. Campbell illustrated by Julie Flett and When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson illustrated by Julie Flett
Third Grade: Hungry Johnny by Cheryl Minnema illustrated by Wesley Ballinger
Fourth Grade: The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke illustrated by Van T. Rudd and Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson illustrated by David Shannon
Fifth Grade: The Turtle Ship by Helena Ku Rhee illustrated by Colleen Kong-Savage and The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

Dactyl Hill Squad is historical middle grade novel with a fantastical slant. It's in the time of the Civil War, but the dinosaurs never became extinct, so they are around. It's really fun and full of adventure. It's also got a great cast of diverse characters. I read it because Daniel José Older will be speaking in a nearby town tomorrow evening. Yay!

Blanca & Roja was fabulous as I expected since I love fairytale re-tellings and I also love Anna-Marie McLemore's books. We're having a group discussion about it over at Rich in Color later this week.

Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero illustrated by Zeke Peña was a really creative graphic biography that included some of her art.

This Side of Home by Renee Watson was a great realistic young adult novel that dealt with family, friendship, romance, race, and gentrification. Whew. It was good and was packed with things to think about.

The Coming Week: I've started reading one of the books on my #MustReadin2018 list - All That I Can Fix by Crystal Chan. I'm still reading Being the Change and started The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston.

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 625/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 188/300
#MustReadin2018 - 21/30

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.

The Past Week in Books: 

#ClassroomBookaday

Our GRA display. The giant collage was quite an undertaking, but was fun.

Kindergarten through second grade students are doing Global Read Aloud so we read Wild Berries by Julie Flett and then You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith. 

Third grade students read Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse and A Gift From Abuela.

Fourth grade students read Imagine.

Fifth grade students read More Than Anything Else.

At home I had quite a variety of books. The Paris Architect was for book club and it wasn't horrible, but also wasn't my favorite WWII novel. Lucky Luna was a cute middle grade novel. A Girl Like That was not easy to read. It starts with the death of two teens & deals with sexual assault and a variety of injustices to women and girls. When reading reviews, I did see that some people had issues with the Muslim representation with some legitimate concerns. I'm not sure I would recommend it to others. After that, I reached for The Epic Crush of Genie Lo believing that would be a fun book that would make me laugh and it was perfect. I love Monkey King stories and this one is a fantastic twisty and action packed adventure with a nice bit of romance too. The Place Between Breaths was my next read and it's a heavy one dealing with mental illness. The story is complex and difficult to follow, but it is structured that way intentionally. It's one to make you think. The author intended to make it hopeful, but I didn't find it very hopeful so I"m not sure what to think about it. I was happy to pick up Always and Forever Lara Jean after that one. I really enjoy hanging out with Lara Jean and her family so this one lifted my spirits. Given all that has happened in our country this week, I was looking for ways to find joy and this fit the bill.

The Coming Week: I learned that my hold request is in so I will pick up Photographic : the life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero. I'm super excited to read that one, but am not sure what else I'll get to. Have a great week!

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 618/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 182/300
#MustReadin2018 - 21/30

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.

The Past Week in Books: 

 

My #classroombookaday with all grades this week was Misunderstood Shark. When the book fair comes, I always pick a book from it and read that. We had already read My Heart Fills with Happiness so that was cool. Ame Dyckman had sent enough bookmarks and stickers for all or our students so they were excited to have those after reading too.

This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America was quite an interesting book to read. It was on my #MustReadin2018 list. It was good to hear her perspective. How I Resist is a fabulous collection. I loved it and found it great for YA and We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices was similar in some ways, but seemed aimed more for middle grade. Both are worth reading. For fun and laughs, China Rich Girlfriend fit the bill. It's again over the top and the food descriptions made me drool.

The Coming Week: I started reading The Paris Architect for my book club, but I'm not sure if I will finish it in time - eek! I have also started Being the Change and am enjoying it. I may also get to A Girl Like That (on my #MustReadin2018 list) and Lucky Luna. Have a great week!

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 551/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 167/300
#MustReadin2018 - 20/30

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.

The Past Week on the Blog:

Interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith
Review of Hearts Unbroken

The Past Week in Books: 

I finished There There by Tommy Orange. It was an interesting novel about urban Natives in the Oakland area. They had intertwining stories that all led to one powwow. I definitely think it's worth a read. I started How I Resist today and am really appreciating the variety of voices. 

I did read a few picture books, but life was very busy this week as I was one of the presenters at the Zolotow award ceremony in Madison this weekend. It was so cool to hand the award to Bao Phi for his book A Different Pond. It was also very nerve-wracking to speak in front of so many people with an audience containing authors and editors along with teachers, librarians, and others. The Zolotow Symposium was the following day so it was an excellent weekend. Here are some highlights:

Zolotow Lecture - Benjamin Alire-Sáenz

Erin Entrada Kelly

Gaia Cornwall

Bao Phi

It was an amazing time and I'm thankful to the CCBC for hosting and providing such great events.

The Coming Week: I'll finish How I Resist and will get to read a few more from a pile I have checked out.

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 527800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 158/300
#MustReadin2018 - 19/30

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.

The Past Week on the Blog:

Where To? (A post about YA books involving travel)

The Past Week in Books: 

 #Classroombookaday books

Kindergarten - Second Grade:  My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith illustrated by Julie Flett (for Global Read Aloud)
Kindergarten - Tougi the Toad Finds His Smile by Gaonou Thao illustrated by Sally Johnson

Third grade -  The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet by Carmen Agra Deedy illustrated by Eugen Yelchin

Fourth grade - The Raven and the Loon by Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley illustrated by Kim Smith
Fifth grade - The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

 

I finished reading Bruja Born (sequel to Labyrinth Lost) by Zoraida Córdova in preparation for seeing her at a local library. She had a wonderful presentation and was great with the young people. 

I really enjoy watching Trevor Noah and finally got his book Born a Crime. I'd been on the waiting list for quite a while. It was funny and eye-opening about some aspects of South Africa.

I was happy to discover some names that were new to me in Brazen. This is an interesting collection of women. I'm not sure that I always liked the way the stories were presented, but I was happy to meet new people that haven't had as much said about them as some others in the world.

The Coming Week: I just started reading There There by Tommy Orange. It's certainly intriguing so far. I have quite a few books on my shelf this week, but will be most likely to read How I Resist and This Will Be My Undoing.

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 513/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 156/300
#MustReadin2018 - 19/30

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.

The Past Week on the Blog:

Our Library Twitter Account

 Banned Books Week

The Past Week in Books: 

 #Classroombookaday books

 

Kindergarten - The Great and Mighty Nikko! by Xavier Garza & Marta Big & Small by Jen Arena illustrated by Angela Dominguez
First grade - Nine in One Grr Grr! by Blia Xiong illustrated by Nancy Hom

Second grade - Walter the Baker by Eric Carle

Third grade - The Snow Lion by Jim Helmore and Richard Jones

Fourth grade - I am a Story by Dan Yaccarino
Fifth grade - Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real by Marc Tyler Nobleman illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

I didn't finish anything else except a pile of 2018 picture books - and I finished watching the drama Mr. Sunshine. If you were watching too, you can imagine my feelings right now.

 

The Coming Week: 

One of the reasons I didn't finish any books is that I am simultaneously reading four of them. Eek! I'm enjoying three of them immensely and keep switching back and forth between them. The other is more work, but it still good. It's just better in small amounts to think about. I will likely finish all of these pictured and a few more. Happy reading!

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 505/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 152/300
#MustReadin2018 - 19/30

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.

The Past Week on the Blog:

An Interview with Patrick Flores-Scott

The Past Week in Books: 

 #Classroombookaday books

Kinders - Hello Hello by Brendan Wenzel
First grade - I am a Cat by Galia Bernstein & Uno, dos, tres by Pat Mora

Second Third & Fifth grade - Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Fourth grade - Neymar by Mina Javaherbin

I read an excellent adult memoir, The Song Poet, by the author of The Latehomecomer. She's the author that came to a nearby university earlier this month. Her writing is beautiful. She had me crying again.

The other three books were much more lighthearted and I thoroughly enjoyed them. You Know Me Well and My So Called Bollywood Life (on my #MustReadin2018 list) were both sort of romantic comedies. Drum Roll, Please was a great middle grade summer music camp story.

 

The Coming Week: I'm reading Bruja Born in preparation for Zoraida Córdova's author visit in a neighboring town next week. I also have ten more books checked out from the library, but I'm not sure which ones I'll get to next. Happy reading!!

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2018 - 495/800
Diversity on the Shelf 2018 - 151/300
#MustReadin2018 - 19/30