Monday, November 25, 2019

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.

Most recent blog posts: 

Last week in books: 
 
 
I haven't done a post for a few weeks. I have been extremely busy. I was teaching on online class, taking an online class, teaching every day and getting ready for an author visit. Everything has calmed down a bit. I finished my class which was super fun. Here was our reading list and my syllabus for a continuing ed class What's New in Children's Books through UW Madison. It was a really great experience for me and it seemed that many of the resources and titles were new to people so it was helpful to them.

Me with Author Art Coulson 

What I enjoyed in the past few weeks:
Middle Grade - All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman
Young Adult - Frankly in Love by David Yoon, Pet, A River of Royal Blood, and Aya: Life in Yop City (graphic novel)
Picture Books - The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Lorraine Hubbard illustrated by Oge Mora, Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry & Jessica Curry illustrated by Brittany Jackson

The Coming Week:

I'm still reading several books at a time because a few are for chapter or a section at a time book clubs - Waking Up White, Mindful of Race, & Starting a Movement. I just started The Other F Word today and it's really great. I need to work on some of my #MustReadin2019 books. I have 30 on my list and I still have 9 to go.

 

I have Everyday People checked out from the library right now so will likely start that soon. I wish you some great reading this week.

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 856/550
Diversity on the Shelf 2019 - 308/275
#MustReadin2019 - 21/30
Year of the Asian 2019 - 36/30

** Updated to add author photo

Monday, November 4, 2019

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.

Most recent blog post: 

Last week in books: 






I read about 30 books in the past week, but these are the ones that stood out for me. I was excited to finally sit down and read the second book in the Dactyl Hill series. Freedom Fire was just as action packed and enthralling as the first book. 

Here and Now is a book that reminds the reader to be present and would be a nice meditation. 

More to the Story is not a remake of Little Women, but it is inspired by it and for those who've read Little Women, there are similarities and little moments throughout that call back to the first book. It's a complete and lovely story about an American Muslim family and having that background isn't necessary. 

My Shoes and I is the story of a child and parent making the journey from El Salvador to the US.

If possible, I think I enjoyed The Crossover more as a graphic novel. 

Some Places More Than Others is about a family making new connections and attempting to repair some. The characters are feel so real and true. A large portion of the story takes place in New York City. This is another time when I was grateful to have finally visited NYC this past summer. So much of our media has it as a setting and the books come to life more now that I've been there. 

The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Boenhoffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler made me wonder what I am even doing with my life. Truly. He and so many others lived out their faith. This book had tons of graphics and interesting uses of fonts (that were sometimes hard for my old eyes), but it also just really made clear that this man believed that one must act on faith or it doesn't mean much.

Full Disclosure got me. I was so excited for Camryn Garrett's debut book. Simone is HIV-positive and is navigating her feelings about what that means for her future and honestly, what it means for her love life. I loved Simone and felt that the book could really help readers understand the myths and truths about HIV.

The Coming Week:
I'm not quite sure what I'll pick up this week, but wish you wonderful reading.

Reading Challenge Updates: 
Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 832/550
Diversity on the Shelf 2019 - 294/275
#MustReadin2019 - 21/30