Monday, June 1, 2020

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 on the blog: 

Last week in reading: 


Felix Ever After is a lovely book - cover is amazing to start. We'll be posting our discussion about it on Wednesday at Rich in Color. It's a contemporary YA with a trans main character and it's not so much about being trans, but more a coming of age story. Felix is looking for direction and getting to know himself more. (on my #MustReadin2020 list)

I read Peanuts with a book group at my elementary school that chose that title. I didn't hate it, but honestly Peanuts doesn't age so well. The topics and vocabulary require a lot of context and explanation. It was okay though. 

Dragon Hoops is fantastic.  I love Gene Luen Yang's work and this is no exception. It's a mix of nonfiction about basketball with a little memoir. I'm not a big basketball fan, but Yang was able to pull me in and care for the people involved. And there are interesting asides. Who would expect to learn about Sikhism and the not so popular aspects of Gandhi in a basketball book? I sure didn't, but I appreciated that. (on my #MustReadin2020 list)

This is a short list this week, but between the pandemic and the need to respond to the murder of George Floyd, this has been a busy and stressful week for many. We've had some protests here in town, but it's difficult to focus on much of anything else for extended periods of time. Here are some great lists to share with others if they're asking for ways to learn about anti-racist work or how to talk about racism.

For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies
A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota - a collection of essays
Audiobook list - How to Be an Antiracist
This List is Anti-Racist (via Brain Lair Books)
Anti-racism resources for white people
Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life via Teen Vogue

The Coming Week:

I'm reading quite a few books at the same time, so it's slow progress. I've read quite a bit of Their Eyes Were Watching God and will likely finish that one this week. Zora Neale Hurston was such an amazing writer.

Reading Challenge Updates: 

4 comments:

  1. I have the great Brain-Lair list, have read some, will read more. I'm looking forward to Felix & Dragon Hoops. So much is being written now, but wishing it was a few years ago. I had a trans student - okay at school, but had a harder time out in the world. Hoping good change can happen, Crystal.

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  2. It has been a hard week to focus on ordinary things (like reading blog posts) I've spent too much time responding to racist facebook posts, but I just couldn't be silent.

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  3. I just did a culling of my home library and several peanuts books will soon find a goodwill location. But the other two look really good.

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  4. Zora Neale Hurston is one of my husband's all-time favorite authors, so I really enjoyed reading and discussing Their Eyes Were Watching God with him. I saw the movie before I read the book, so now I need to go back and watch it again to see how I feel about it, now. And thank you for sharing links to these great lists, Crystal!

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