Monday, January 18, 2021

It's Monday! What are you reading?

#IMWAYR It's Monday! What are you reading? Sharing picture books, early readers, middle grade books, and young adult books for readers of all ages. Hosted by www.unleashingreaders.com and www.teachmentortexts.com. This text is centered over a background of bookshelves.
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 in Books:
Two cover images. Dream Builder and Swim, Mo, Swim!

Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon is an interesting picture book biography. Philip Freelon found reading difficult, but numbers, science, and drawing were strengths. One of his major accomplishments was the design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Swim, Mo, Swim! made me laugh. Each of these Mo books are a delight and are great for beginning readers. 

Cover image of The Other Half of Happy. There are lots of brightly colored flowers and designs, but there is also a guitar & manatee there.

The Other Half of Happy is a middle grade novel dealing with family and that feeling of not quite fitting in with people. She's biracial and is trying to find out how to be herself. I had it on my #MustReadin2021 list because it was a Pura Belpré honor that I had missed. 
Cover images of Husband Material and Meet Cute. Both are illustrated with bold colors.

I'm still reading a lot of rom-coms. Husband Material and Meet Cute were both entertaining. I'm not sure I'll remember them in a week, but they were enjoyable at the time. ;)

In addition, I read a lot of picture books with my students as we did our Mock elections. Here were their picks for winners and honors. 

First Grade - Geisel Award Winner = Sun Flower Lion, Honors - Swim, Mo, Swim!, Astrid & Apollo and the Happy New Year, and The Old Truck

Second Grade - Caldecott Winner = Honeybee, Honors - Lift, We Are Water Protectors, & Hike

Third Grade - Coretta Scott King = Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, Honor - Just Like Me, Black is a Rainbow Color & You Matter

Fourth Grade - Pura Belpré Winner = ¡Vamos! Let's Go Eat, Honor - A Journey Toward Hope

Fifth Grade - Sibert Winner = Honeybee, Honors - All the Way to the Top and How to Solve a Problem

The Coming Week: 
I have about 100 more pages in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying so may finish it this week. I am reading several books at the same time right now. I am listening to the middle grade book Root Magic from LibroFM. I just got a copy of Foreshadow, a YA anthology, from a book exchange through the 88 Cups of Tea Facebook group and am enjoying the stories. I am still working through an Audre Lorde collection too. I wish you a great week filled with reading. 

6 comments:

  1. I love seeing the 'winners' from each grade, Crystal. Thanks for sharing. And I've put The Other Half of Happy & Dream Builder on my list. Your description reminds me of a granddaughter with reading struggles but always creating something out of junk things & cardboard! I bet she would love that book!

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  2. Mock elections are such fun! Thanks for sharing those titles this week. I get rather frustrated when I read a book and wonder if I'll remember it in a week. I always worry that it's a sign of dementia (since that runs in my family) but I have to remember that by reading so many books each year, I can't possible keep all the storylines and characters in my head (unless they made a huge impact). Have a wonderful reading week, Crystal!

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  3. I'm especially intrigued the Dream Builder title. My older son wanted to be an architect at one point and my hubby also has a strong interest in that area. It's always fascinating reading about other artists processes.
    I have to intersperse my heavy reads with light ones I'll probably forget rather quickly too. :)

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  4. The Other Half of Happy sounds like a great MG novel! Dream Builder also sounds excellent, and I'm glad you enjoyed some lighthearted romances as well—it's nice to just read something fun sometimes! I love your students' votes on the book award winners—that is such a clever idea! Thanks for the great post!

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  5. Thanks for this list of books Crystal. I've added Swim, Mo, Swim! to my list of books for my grandkids. It sounds like these books for beginning readers are getting better and better!
    I've added The Other Half of Happy to my list.

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  6. I'm surprised I still haven't read Honeybee. Or maybe I have. It's hard remembering things these days.

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