It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/11/24

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Tuesday: Educators’ Guide for The Partition Project by Saadia Faruqi

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Play is Good Trouble” by Brittney Morris, Author of The Jump

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

This week is my Future Problem Solvers State Competition which keeps me quite busy, so I won’t be able to post today; however, you can always see what books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

It is my week off–see you next week!

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Tuesday: There’s No Such Thing As Vegetables by Kyle Lukoff, Illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “An Extreme Measure for Extreme Research” by JoAnna Lapati, Author of Guts for Glory: The Story of Civil War Soldier Rosetta Wakeman

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

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Author Guest Post: “Play is Good Trouble” by Brittney Morris, Author of The Jump

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“Play is Good Trouble”

“Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble. Necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” — Representative John Lewis.

I’m the mother of a [not so little anymore] toddler, and a video game developer. Play is a core part of my daily life, and I fully believe it has the power to change the world. How? A few ways. Let me elaborate.

Play fosters empathy.

If I asked you to empathize with a hypothetical border agent in 1940’s Eastern Europe, you might look at me sideways and maybe conceptualize the scenario from the perspective of an onlooker in the 21st century. Now, imagine if I handed you a controller, and you stepped into a checkpoint booth in loyal service to [fictional] Arstotzka. Now imagine that a woman steps up to your booth and hands you an expired passport and a necklace as a bribe, begging to be let through with her husband who asked you to let her in only moments prior. Imagine she tells you she’s sick and may never see him again. She may even be carrying a baby. You get the idea.

Play invites people in.

Remember the last time you sat down to listen to a speech or a presentation or a lecture on a new subject, and maybe you zoned out for a bit, looked up, and realized the speaker is now so far into the material that you’re totally lost? That might have been me on day 1 of macroeconomics my junior year of college. In fact it definitely was. Now, maybe if we’d all sat in groups and played a game of Settlers of Catan, basic macroeconomic concepts might have jumped out at us in a tangible way: resource management, supply and demand, scarcity, monopoly, the benefits of trade, and even opportunity cost. Even folks who are brand new to economics who might be intimidated by an hour-long 37-slide presentation, might feel a little more welcomed into playing a game about it.

Play makes big problems feel tackle-able.

For this last point, I’d like to cite my own source. Enter, The Jump.

I was inspired to write The Jump after seeing a mini docu-series about the Cicada 3301 cryptology puzzle, which was a real-life worldwide scavenger hunt posted by an elusive group under mysterious circumstances. While the Cicada 3301 puzzle hosted individual adults, I realized how impactful it would be to see teams of diverse teens taking on such a puzzle. And so was born The Jump, featuring Jax, Yas, Han, and Spider, taking on an oil refinery threatening to take over their neighborhood.

I wanted to show why an unethical multinational conglomerate should be VERY afraid of our youth, and even moreso if they’re getting into good trouble. Even by playing a game.

Published March 7, 2023 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
(Paperback Release: February 27th, 2024)

About the Book: Influence is power. Power creates change. And change is exactly what Team Jericho needs.

Jax, Yas, Spider, and Han are the four cornerstones of Team Jericho, the best scavenger hunting team in all of Seattle. Each has their own specialty: Jax, the puzzler; Yas, the parkourist; Spider, the hacker; and Han, the cartographer. But now with an oil refinery being built right in their backyard, each also has their own problems. Their families are at risk of losing their jobs, their communities, and their homes.

So when The Order, a mysterious vigilante organization, hijacks the scavenger hunting forum and concocts a puzzle of its own, promising a reward of influence, Team Jericho sees it as the chance of a lifetime. If they win this game, they could change their families’ fates and save the city they love so much. But with an opposing team hot on their heels, it’s going to take more than street smarts to outwit their rivals.

About the Author: Brittney Morris is the bestselling author of SLAY, The Cost of Knowing, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Wings of Fury, and The Jump. She also writes video games and has contributed to projects such as The Lost Legends of Redwall, Subnautica: Below ZeroSpider-Man 2 for PS5, and Wolverine for PS5. Brittney is an NAACP Image Award nominee, an ALA Black Caucus Youth Literary Award winner, and an Ignite Award Finalist. She has an economics degree from Boston University and spends her spare time reading, playing video games, and not doing enough yoga. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Steven and their son Atlas.

Thank you, Brittney!
Adults often need to be reminded of the importance of play.

Educators’ Guide for The Partition Project by Saadia Faruqi

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The Partition Project
Author: Saadia Faruqi
Published: February 27th, 2024 by Quill Tree Books

Summary: When her grandmother comes off the airplane in Houston from Pakistan, Mahnoor knows that having Dadi move in is going to disrupt everything about her life. She doesn’t have time to be Dadi’s unofficial babysitter—her journalism teacher has announced that their big assignment will be to film a documentary, which feels more like storytelling than what Maha would call “journalism”.

As Dadi starts to settle into life in Houston and Maha scrambles for a subject for her documentary, the two of them start talking. About Dadi’s childhood in northern India—and about the Partition that forced her to leave her home and relocate to the newly created Pakistan. As details of Dadi’s life are revealed, Dadi’s personal story feels a lot more like the breaking news that Maha loves so much. And before she knows it, she has the subject of her documentary.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions: 

Please view and enjoy the educators’ guide I created for the author:

You can also access the educators’ guide here.

You can learn more about The Partition Project on Saadia Faruqi’s website.

Flagged Passage: View an excerpt HERE.

Recommended For: 

classroomlibrarybuttonsmall litcirclesbuttonsmall closereadinganalysisbuttonsmall

Kellee Signature

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/4/24

Share

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Tuesday: Trent’s Favorite Books He Read When He Was 9

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Be Kind to the Language” by Chris Lynch, Author of Walkin’ the Dog

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

It’s my week off! I will see you next week! To learn more about any of these books, click on any title/image to go to the book’s Goodreads page or check out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

If you haven’t read Solito by Javier Zamora, I can’t recommend it enough. I saw that this memoir received a lot of awards last year, and I hadn’t read it, so I suggested it for my book club. It is incredibly well-written. I cried a lot.

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Ricki

Reading for class SSR: Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

Reading for book club: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Reading with my 7yo: Tyrannosaurus Wrecks by Stuart Gibbs

Reading with my 10yo: Holes by Louis Sachar

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Tuesday: Educators’ Guide for The Partition Project by Saadia Faruqi

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Play is Good Trouble” by Brittney Morris, Author of The Jump

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

 Signature andRickiSig

Author Guest Post: “Be Kind to the Language” by Chris Lynch, Author of Walkin’ The Dog

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“Be Kind to the Language”

“Wee cliche.”

I have written those words in the margin of my students’ work so many times it is bordering on becoming a wee cliche itself (bordering on? I hear my students cough). To avoid that, I occasionally drop the “wee” part for variety. But the wee is in there for good reason; to call something cliche is among the most stinging critiques one can make of a writer. We are, after all, striving for originality at all times in our work, so to call cliche at somebody is tough stuff. That is one reason I added the wee in the first place—to soften the blow.

But there is another important reason, and that is the fact that I’m usually not flagging one of the big, whopping clichés like “It was a dark and stormy night,” known to writing students the world over. My vigilance is overwhelmingly applied to the small, apparently harmless, turns of phrase that pop up all over our writing without our even noticing. Yes, I include myself in this (boy, do I love editors and editing).

But they are not harmless, are they? As I am known to point out to my students as I attempt to talk them out of hating me: those very small over-common terms and phrases that infect our sentences are the equivalent of termites eating away at the foundations of our prose. They are insidious, and lethal. How many times do we read a piece and get to the end merely shrugging, thinking “That was okay, but it left no pleasant aftertaste”? Going back, you may well find that the language, the syntax, the rhythms (yes, there are cliches of pace and rhythm and theme) are so samey compared to what I have read before. If that is your own writing you are going over, look for all the easy choices, the phrases like broad daylight or a twinkle in his eye, that you almost certainly would not have fallen back on if you hadn’t already heard them a billion times in your life. As a dedicated mentor, I like to emphasize that having heard something a billion times is precisely why you do NOT want to repeat it. Even if it is not a literal repetition of something common, if you even feel like you have heard something before, then treat it as if you have. The joyful endgame here is that in almost every instance where I call out a wee cliche to my students, they come back at me with a fillip, a flipflop, a fandango that instantly stamps that sentence as theirs and nobody else’s.

Now, I am not a linguistic brute. I know these minor weakness of phrase are acceptable in everyday life. Social discourse is scarcely imaginable without them. But. Your creative writing is supposed to be your singularity. You get to lovingly labor over it and polish it until it fully represents you and your artful spirit. So, while you can say in conversation, it is what it is (if you MUST), once you have put it in writing you have expended five words to say exactly nothing. That is a fair description of what we aim to eliminate in a creative writing program.

And while we are at it, please stop using the word Dad as a pejorative? That hurts my feelings.

Publishing March 12th, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

About the Book: “Lynch is back and better, smarter, and funnier than ever.” —Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award Winner

A boy learns how to be a friend from man’s best friend in this funny and moving middle grade novel about humans being able to change and dogs changing us from acclaimed author Chris Lynch.

In a family of strong personalities with very strong points of view, Louis is what his mother lovingly calls “the inactivist,” someone who’d rather kick back than stand out. He only hopes he can stay under the radar when he starts high school in the fall, his first experience with public school after years of homeschooling.

But when a favor for a neighbor and his stinky canine companion unexpectedly turns into a bustling dog-walking business, Louis finds himself meeting an unprecedented number of new friends—both human and canine. Agatha, a quippy and cagey girl his age always seems to be telling two truths and a lie. Cyrus, a few years his senior, promises he’s going to show Louis how to be a better person, whether Louis wants him to or not. And then there are the dogs: misbehaving border terriers, the four (possible stolen) sausage dogs, the rest of Louis’s charges, and a mysterious white beast who appears at a certain spot at the edge of the woods.

Dogs and human alike all seem to have something they want to teach Louis, including his menacing older brother who keeps turning up everywhere. But is Louis ready to learn the lesson he needs most: how to stop being a lone wolf and be part of a pack?

About the Author: Chris Lynch is the award–winning author of several highly acclaimed young adult novels, including Printz Honor Book FreewillIcemanGypsy Davey, and Shadow Boxer—all ALA Best Books for Young Adults—as well as Killing Time in Crystal CityLittle Blue LiesPiecesKill SwitchAngry Young Man, and Inexcusable, which was a National Book Award finalist and the recipient of six starred reviews. Chris is the author of middle grade novel Walkin’ the Dog. He holds an MA from the writing program at Emerson College. He teaches in the creative writing MFA program at Lesley University. He lives in Boston and in Scotland.

Thank you, Chris, for these pointers to focus students’, and our, writing!

Trent’s Favorite Books He Read When He Was 9

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I read 199 books when I was 9. Here are my favorites!

Glitch by Sarah Graley

I love video games, and in this book they get stuck in the video game and have to fight monsters to get out. It is like Minecraft Dungeons, but a book. It is very cool!

Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat, Vol. 1-4 by Natsumi Hoshino

I love cats, as you’ll see by all the cat books on my favorites lists, and Plum Crazy is a book of funny little stories about a cat named Plum who is a very wild cat who has the zoomies. He also has a friend named Snowball who he plays with.

Yokai Cats Vol. 1-6 by Pandania

This book has mini little stories about different cats with different personalities and powers. For example, one cat can stretch its neck as long as it wants to and is always stretching his neck out to beg for food. I enjoy reading this series because it is very silly, and all the cats have humans that add to the story in a funny way.

Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2) by B.B. Alston

I liked being able to read another Amari story! Number 1 was on my 8 year old list. These books are very epic in some parts, sad in some parts, dramatic in some parts, and more. All of these feelings make me enjoy reading the stories. I am so excited for number 3!

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

In Swim Team Bree moves to Florida and wants to take a math elective but it is full, so she has to take Swim 101, but she doesn’t know how to swim. Then Ms. Etta teaches Bree, including teaching her the history of Black people not being allowed to use pools in America. Ms. Etta is a great teacher and Bree learns how to swim. I like this book because it is interesting to follow Bree’s problems in life and how she solves them. I’ve read this book 4 times, and I liked it every single time.

Glitch by Laura Martin

This book takes place in the future where they are able to time travel. Students Regan and Elliot don’t like each other but are forced to be partners and decide to work together to help the school to not be destroyed by a butterfly which is a person who time traveled back in time and messes everything up. Glitch was very exciting because I liked following all of the action as they work to solve the school’s problem.

Better with Butter by Victoria Piontek

Better with Butter is about a goat who is found by a girl named Marvel. Marvel has anxiety, and Butter calms her down and becomes her therapy goat. I loved this book because I connected with Marvel because I have anxiety sometimes too. I also love goats.

Creepy Cat Vol. 1-4 by Cotton Valent

A girl named Flora lives in a haunted mansion and finds a cat who can multiply itself and has other powers. I liked Creepy Cat because it has a good plot that is creepy, just like the title says. And it has cats!

Avatar: The Last Airbender Graphic Novels (The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke & Shadow, North & South) by Gene Luen Yang

I love the show Avatar, so I was happy to find out there were books. The books take place after the show ends and continues the story. I love all of the weird animals in the Avatar stories and the plot is always exciting. (I am so excited to watch the new live action Avatar!)

Secondhand Dogs by Carolyn Crimi, Illustrated by Melissa Manwill

This book is about a group of dogs which has a new dog that comes in and ruins everything. While listening to the book, I kept rooting for the good dogs. I found the book to be really dramatic, and I think it is special because the dogs end up saving themselves.

Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi

Amulet is one of my favorite series I have ever read. It is about siblings who lose their mom and go on an adventure into a new world looking for her. During the adventure everything is chaotic and full of madness. While reading, I felt many emotions because the story was exciting and full of adventure.

Hooky Volume 3 by Míriam Bonastre Tur

Hooky 1 & 2 were on my list last year, and I love them and now #3 too which continues the story. I love them because they are full of adventure and thrilling. The illustrations were mind-blowing and the plot story was awesome.

Hazardous Tales series (One Dead Spy; Big Bad Ironclad; Treaties, Trenches, Mud & Blood; Underground Abductor; Lafayette; Major Impossible; Above the Trenches) by Nathan Hale

I like this series because they let you learn history in a fun way and a very good series. I found the hangman and the provost funny I LOLed while reading. Each of the books taught me different things. It’s impressive how Nathan Hale teaches you in a fun way. I look forward to reading the rest of them.

First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom by Mac Barnett, Illustrated by Shawn Harris

I’ve been a fan of the First Cat in Space since it started as a live cartoon. I am so excited for the third one to come out! I like these books because they are funny but also adventurous.

A Story of Seven Lives by Shirakawa Gin

I felt sad for most of this book because Nanao has a sad life, but I ended up liking this book because someone who doesn’t like cats likes cats at the end and Nanao’s life gets better.

Baby-Sitters Club #1-3 (Kristy’s Great Idea, The Truth About Stacey, Mary Anne Saves the Day) by Ann M. Martin, Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier

My mom’s favorite book series as a kid was the Baby-Sitters Club. There is even a show which is a little like the book but a little different. I was excited to finally read the graphic novels, and I really liked them because they are realistic and full of drama. (P.S. I am so mad they canceled the series! It is such a good show!)

Smile Series (Smile, Sisters, Guts) by Raina Telgemeier

This book is about Raina Telgemeier’s life. Smile is about when she got braces. Sisters is about how when she was little, she wanted a sister but when she started getting older, she felt like her sister was annoying but still loved her. Guts is about how Raina learns her stomach pains are because of anxiety. I like this series because it’s entertaining, and I felt like I NEEDED to read it. I couldn’t put it down.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I read Coraline because I was going to see Neil Gaiman at the Dr. Phillips Center (He was so good! Though it was odd to hear the voice of the audiobook in real life). This was one of the weirdest books I have ever read, but I really liked this book and I felt like I couldn’t put it down. I liked it so much, I also read the graphic novel and watched the movie.


Honorable Mentions

If I listed and mini-reviewed all of the books I loved, it would take forever! So here are some other favorites:

Past “Trent’s Favorite Books” Posts

Kellee and Trent’s Favorite Picture Books: First 3 Months

Trent and Kellee’s Favorite Picture Books: 3 to 6 Months

Trent and Kellee’s Favorite Picture Books: 6 to 9 Months

Trent and Kellee’s Favorite Books: 9 to 12 Months

A First Year Full of Books: Trent’s Journey Through Books
**Check this one out if you haven’t–it is one of my favorite posts ever!**

Trent’s Favorite Books: 1 to 2 Years Old

Ten of Trent’s Favorite Books as of His 3rd Birthday

Ten(ish) of Trent’s Favorite Books as of His 4th Birthday

Trent’s Favorite Reads as of His 5th Birthday

Trent’s Favorite Reads as of His 6th Birthday

Trent’s Favorite Reads as a 6 Year Old

Trent’s Favorite Books He Read When He was 7

Trent’s Favorite Books He Read When He was 8

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 2/26/24

Share

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

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Tuesday: Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Importance of Muslim Characters in Children’s Books: Fostering Inclusivity and Combating Misconceptions” by Rahma Rodaah, Author of Dear Muslim Child

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

Middle Grade

  • Finally Seen by Kelly Yang: Lina’s story of joining her family in the United States is reflective of the journey of so many who come to America, enter our schools, and work to balance the differences in life. Lina’s voice and story was a pleasure to read, and I loved following her journey to find her voice and show that she is worth being listened to and seen!

Young Adult

  • The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson: I could not put this book down once I started reading it. I read it in one day and talked to so many people about it. I am blown away by Jackson’s ability to make sure all parts of the story are tied together because this is a wild story–so suspenseful and full of family secrets, lies, and crime!
  • Found Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards: This was a scary book, which is so interesting because you know right away who the killer is, but that doesn’t matter when you don’t know who is going to die or who is going to survive and how they’re going to get out, and the setting of an abandoned mall was a perfect backdrop to the thrills.

Picture Books

  • No Cats in the Library by Lauren Emmons: Trent goes to Angel Paws at our local library which gives him the opportunity to read to therapy dogs, so this picture book pulled at our heart strings because the experience of reading to animals is truly wonderful. I’m so glad that the librarian in Emmons’s book changes their mind and allows the cat to make a difference with the kids who need it. And through this story about reading aloud, Emmons created a fun read aloud with such cute illustrations.
  • This Little Kitty in the Garden by Karen Obuhanych: This rhyming picture book begs to be read aloud and will definitely be the inspiration for starting gardens for many a young reader because the cats are adorable and the lessons about gardening are intriguing.
  • Don’t Trust Cats (Life Lessons from Chip the Dog) by Dev Petty, Illustrated by Mike Boldt: I haven’t yet found a Petty book that I didn’t enjoy. Chip the Dog may not be the smartest, but he is a fun story teller and always makes me laugh out loud. I am a huge fan of the formatting of this book, and the silly illustrations are the perfect bow on the package.
  • I Cannot Draw a Bicycle by Charise Mericle Harper: This series of books (companion to I Cannot Draw a Horse) are just so silly yet clever and readers will love all of the character’s drawings and even doing their own drawings!

To learn more about any of these books, click on any title/image to go to the book’s Goodreads page or check out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

This is my week off–I’ll see you next week!

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Kellee

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Tuesday: Trent’s Favorite Books He Read When He Was 9

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Be Kind to the Language” by Chris Lynch, Author of Walkin’ the Dog

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

 Signature andRickiSig