Monday, July 12, 2021

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Square that says #IMWAYR 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 see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here

Recent Blogpost:
Books Read Last Week: 
Cover images of the books listed below the image.


My clear favorite this week was the middle grade novel Amina's Song which was a sequel to Amina's Voice. It's a beautiful story of family and how Amina sorts through having family on two different continents. I also really appreciated the way that she tries to change the perception that her peers have of Pakistan and the people who live there. It's truly a wonderful story and I hope it is read by many people. 

Another favorite this week was the picture book I Dream of Popo which again is showing love between family members who are living very far away from each other. It's based on the author's own relationship with her grandmother after her family moved to the U.S. when she was young. You can feel the love expressed in the pages. 

The two adult romances were for a book club I participated in that had the author as a guest. We were reading the second book in a series so I read both #1 and #2. I found the first one to be a lot of fun, but the second one seemed to have been rushed to publication. The story was also fun, but it could have benefitted from one more rounds of edits. 

Josie Dances, The Powwow Thief, and Swift Fox All Along all featured Indigenous families. Josie Dances stood out to me as it shows the family members all contributing to the creation of Josie's regalia for her to wear when she dances at the powwow. It's sweet. The mystery is an interesting combination of brief chapter book, picture book and graphic novel. It has a few elements of each format. 

Sadiq wants to stitch tells of a young boy who wants to sew, but his mother says that in their community, men take care of the sheep, they don't sew. He loves sewing though and tries to find a way to make that happen for himself. 

Amira's Picture Day centers around Eid and a young girl who is missing school for the holiday, but will also miss class pictures and while the holiday is exciting, it's hard to miss something that is also important to her. 

The drag queen book is a re-wording of the song The Wheels on the Bus. It shows different activities or aspects of drag queens with the format of the song. They are dancing their way through San Francisco and there are bright bold colors. The illustrations are the most interesting part of the book to me.

The Coming Week: I have family coming to visit this week, so I'm not sure what I'll pick up or if I'll get to many books. I wish you some awesome reading!

Monday, July 5, 2021

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Square that says #IMWAYR 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 see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here

Recent Blogpost:

Books Read Last Week: 
Three book covers. Not Here to Be Liked has a young woman leaning on a desk. Over her shoulder is a young man at a desk who is glancing back at her. Polo Cowboy has a young woman with a polo mallet and a young man wearing a cowboy hat. The Forest of Stolen Girls as the title in red and illustration in black and white. It has many leaves and two young women facing away from each other and mostly hidden by the leaves.

I really enjoyed the ARC of Not Here to Be Liked. I read this young adult novel so I could prepare interview questions for the author so that is something to look forward to. It's a romance, but also has a lot to say about feminism and gender discrimination. Look for it in September. 

The Forest of Stolen Girls is a historical mystery set on Jeju Island in Korea. Girls have been going missing and a detective who was investigating has also disappeared. One of his daughters makes the journey to see if she can find out where her father has gone. It's intriguing throughout and the suspense made me push through fairly quickly. 

Polo Cowboy is the middle grade sequel to Ghetto Cowboy or as they have retitled it for the Netflix movie, Concrete Cowboy. I read the first book quite a few years ago, but luckily the publisher sent a copy of the first one with the ARC so I could remind myself of what happened before. This is a great story about friendship, and maybe a little more. It's also about family, love, loss, and of course polo. I didn't know much about the sport, but that knowledge isn't necessary for understanding the plot. Look for this one in October.

I've slowed down significantly on my reading. I have been doing a lot outside. I've been busy in the school garden, kayaking, hiking, riding my bicycle, and visiting with friends. I've also started studying Spanish. It feels like my summers are way busier than the school year sometimes. 

The Coming Week: Alta California is still in progress. I didn't get to Arsenic and Adobo, but maybe this week it will happen. 

Have a great week!