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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 4/6/20

By Kellee On April 6, 2020 · 4 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books […]

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. It offers opportunities to recommend books to 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.

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!

*Please note the new IMWAYR button! 🙂 Feel free to continue using the other one or change to this one.*

Updated Often: The Big List of Online Learning Resources for COVID-19 and Quarantine

Tuesday: In My Heart by Mackenzie Porter, Illustrated by Jenny Løvlie

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “A Man of My Word: How Wondrous Words and Wordplay Make Children’s Books Shine” by Artie Bennett, Author of The True Story of Zippy Chippy: The Little Horse That Couldn’t

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

Kellee

Seeing Red by Sarah Mlynowski: The Whatever After series is such comfort read for me. I love fairy tale retellings and the twist Mlynowski puts on them makes for so much fun.
The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson: Karen McManus and Serial fans, take note! You will want to read this true crime-like novel!
With Trent:
- More Mac Barnett and Oliver Jeffers! Trent CANNOT get enough of the two of them! We have THE BOY Anthology, and he has been taking it with him just to read out of it. And Mac Barnett is just so darn engaging. I am so thankful that they, and other authors, have stepped up to help us engage our kids during this global crisis.
- The second Chick or Brain book by Cece Bell just came out, and it is just as ridiculous as the first and with some new characters!
- For two of our book clubs, we finished Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar and Bad Guys: Furball Strikes Back. Honest moment: Sideways just did not hold up for me; it was one of my favorite books as a kid, but I just didn’t love it as an adult. Trent loved it though, so the engagement lives on. The Bad Guys series is just phenomenally clever and funny–we’re eating up that series!

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

The boys loved reading The Bad Guys, Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back. The books are great because they are very engaging with a lot of pictures. The boys love how they border on inappropriate, so they are engaged from the moment I start reading.

Kellee

Reading: City Spies by James Poni
Listening: Whatever After: Spill the Beans by Sarah Mlynowski
Reading with Trent: Books for our 3 different virtual book clubs

Ricki

I’ve been working late nights writing a book. I am excited to finish a couple of longer books with the boys. I am reading a young adult book that is popular but just isn’t grabbing me—I think because it is too depressing in a time period that is awfully depressing. It is slowing me down, and I am wanting to give myself permission to put it down. Is this happening to anyone else?

Tuesday: Review and Giveaway!: Tag Your Dreams: Poems of Play and Persistence by Jacqueline Jules, Illustrated by Iris Deppe

Thursday: It’s Okay To….

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Handling Conflict in Middle Grade Novels” by Ben Gartner, Author of The Eye of Ra

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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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/30/20

By Kellee On March 30, 2020 · 8 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is 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 the next “must-read” book!

Kellee and Jen, 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 support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Updated Often: Stuck Inside? Live Author Read-Alouds, Doodle Alongs, and Other Learning Options

Tuesday: Review and Giveaway! Rosie: Stronger Than Steel by Lindsay Ward

Thursday: The Memory Box: A Book About Grief and The Memory Book: A Grief Journal for Children and Families by Joanna Rowland, Illustrated by Thea Baker

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Discovering the World Through Literacy” by N.R. Bergeson, Author of The Magnificent Glass Globe series

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

Kellee

One of Us is Next by Karen McManus: JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST ONE! OH MY GOODNESS! KAREN MCMANUS!!!!!!!!
HiLo: All the Pieces Fit by Judd Winick: The HiLo series is some of my favorite graphic novels, and this one was pretty epic.
With Trent:
- So many story times with so many authors! Mac Barnett, Oliver Jeffers, Kate Messner, Josh Funk, and Greg Pizzoli are amazing, and we are loving watching then and others during this time. It is a plus of kindness in this dark time.
- We finished Bad Guys: Mission Unpluckable by Aaron Blabey and This is Not My Hat & We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen for book clubs. We’re reading Bad Guys with Ricki’s son Henry and the Hat Trilogy with my colleague’s daughter.

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

The kids and I have been in a reading frenzy. We’ve enjoyed a lot of picture books this week, and we read the first two books in the Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey. These books are delightfully funny!

I adored In My Heart by Mackenzie Porter. This is a great book for working moms.

Kellee

Reading: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Listening: Whatever After: Seeing Red by Sarah Mlynowski
Reading with Trent: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Ricki

We’ve got ten more pages in the first illustrated Harry Potter book!

Tuesday: In My Heart by Mackenzie Porter, Illustrated by Jenny Løvlie

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/23/20

By Kellee On March 23, 2020 · 5 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Monday (though updated daily!): Stuck Inside? Live Author Read-Alouds and Other Learning Options

Thursday: That’s A Job?: I Like Animals…What Jobs are There? by Steve Martin, Illustrated by Roberto Blefari

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Learning STEM Through Stories” by S. Kitanovic, Author of Esie Explores Beneficial Bacteria

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

Kellee

I hope you all are doing well during this time of self quarantine. Sending warm well wishes, safety, health, and sanity to everyone! <3

Violent Ends is a collaborative book by 18 authors edited by Shaun David Hutchinson. I came across it because Neal Shusterman wrote one of the chapters in the book and he mentioned it at his school visit. The book is about a school shooting and each chapter is a different insight into the event. Wow–it is powerful, sad, scary……. wow.
Time Shifters by Chris Grine is a graphic novel that was recommended to me by my student mentee. It is a book he talks about often, and it is never available at the library. When I saw it at the end of the day before Spring Break, I grabbed it. It is a adventure including time travel, bug monsters, ghosts–just all sorts of oddness and fun!
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang was not what I was expecting, and it is hard to explain, but it is wonderful. It is an inside look at the creation of the book all in narrative form in the book. But trust me when I say to read it.
A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer is a prequel to the Land of Stories series, and it was just as magical as the series. I look forward to book 2, and I just love listening to “Kurt” read the books to me.
With Trent
- A new Sandra Boynton! I love Sandra Boynton, and although this is a board book, we dove right in because we actually know the “Your Nose” song off of the Sandra Boynton music CD (Blue Moo) we have. If you don’t know these, they are great companions to many of Boynton’s books.
- Mac Barnett and Oliver Jeffers fill our recently read shelf because of their virtual book clubs. They have both been a PLEASURE to watch. They have all become instant favorites–it is something about the interaction of the book club and the personal feeling with the author reading to us that has just sucked Trent in! His favorites probably have been Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett, but it is truly hard to choose!
- We did watch 2 Shark Story Hours also: Hark a Shark and Manfish. It is nice to get the shark info and a great story!
- Trent and Henry are both in a book club reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School but we wanted to have them practice in a smaller setting, so they met up once this week to discuss half of Bad Guys: Episode One by Aaron Blabey, and it was one of the most amazing and cute things I’ve ever been witness to. They were so engaged! We finished book one and have a few chapters of book two to read for this week’s Trent and Henry meeting.
- Jon Klassen read I Want My Hat Back on one of Mac Barnett’s Mac Book Club Shows, so Trent wanted to read it again, and now we’re in another book club with one of my colleague’s friends to discuss the Klassen Hat Trilogy!

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Kellee

Reading: One of Us is Next by Karen McManus, HiLo: All the Pieces Fit by Judd Winick
Listening: Whatever After: Seeing Red by Sarah Mlynowski
Reading with Trent: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable by Aaron Blabey

Tuesday: Review and Giveaway! Rosie: Stronger Than Steel by Lindsay Ward

Thursday: The Memory Box: A Book About Grief and The Memory Book: A Grief Journal for Children and Families by Joanna Rowland, Illustrated by Thea Baker

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Discovering the World Through Literacy” by N.R. Bergeson, Author of The Magnificent Glass Globe series

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/16/20

By Kellee On March 16, 2020 · 2 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Tuesday: Eat the Cake by M.H. Clark, Illustrated by Jana Glatt

Sunday: Author Guest Post and Giveaway!: “Something Old, Something New: Five Classics Reimagined as Middle-Grade Books” by Erin Yun, Author of Pippa Park Raises Her Game

Published Late Sunday Night (Due to the Urgency of Educational Needs): Stuck Inside? Live Author Read-Alouds and Other Online Learning Options

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

Kellee

After meeting Cyndy Etler at ALAN this last year, I wanted to read everything she’d written, and this week I jumped in by reading The Dead Inside which was the first memoir she wrote. It looks at her abuse-filled childhood including her stay at Straight, Inc., a brainwashing, cult-like rehab for teens. This book brought about a spiral of internet reading for me as well, and WOW what a terrible thing that existed (and was supported) here in the U.S. I’m so glad that Cyndy made it through and is now working with teens the right way!
I also read I’m Not Dying With You Tonight which is another book I’d wanted to read since ALAN. I loved meeting Kimberly and Gilly, and I was intrigued by the story that they told. This book deserves all the fans that it has because I could not put it down! I loved all the no-holds-barred truth in it.
Just Like Mama by Alice Faye Duncan is a beautiful book and all elementary teachers and librarians need to have it in their collection because it shows a positive fostering relationship which is very rarely shown in picture books. And with Duncan’s lyrical writing and Charlene Pinkney Barlow’s beautiful artwork, this is not only a good but very much needed book. And I love the note at the end from the author: “As a schoolteacher working in an urban environment with all of its complications, I have witnessed great success stories, I know countless grandmothers, aunts, big sisters who did not retreat – who valiantly cared for children not their own…I wrote Just Like a Mama to celebrate fictive kin, adoptive parents and guardians who have chosen to love and care for a child when they have no obligation to do so.” Just a beautiful book all around.
With Trent:
- We are now on our last Princess in Black book after finishing #5 and #6 this week. I love the little lessons among the fun in each book.
- See Fred Run and Itchy Book were both read to me by Trent this week!
- The other books were all library picks by Trent!

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I am devoting my energy to preparing a post for read-alouds for those of us stuck inside!

Kellee

Reading: Unbound by Neal Shusterman
Listening: A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer
Reading with Trent: The Princess in Black and the Bathtime Battle by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Monday 9am ET: Stuck Inside? Live Author Read-Alouds and Other Learning Options

Thursday: That’s A Job?: I Like Animals…What Jobs are There? by Steve Martin, Illustrated by Roberto Blefari

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Learning STEM Through Stories” by S. Kitanovic, Author of Esie Explores Beneficial Bacteria

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/9/20

By Kellee On March 9, 2020 · 4 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Tuesday: Old Rock (is Not Boring) by Deb Pilutti

Thursday: Bob Ross: My First Book of Colors by Robb Pearlman, Illustrated by Bob Ross

Sunday: Authors Guest Post!: “Books That Build Empathy” by Debut MG and YA Authors of 2020

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

Kellee

NEAL SHUSTERMAN CAME TO MY SCHOOL THIS WEEK, and it was amazing! Check out my school’s FB post to see more pictures 🙂 (Also, he read from 2 upcoming books, and WOW! I cannot wait!)

I finished listening to A Match Made in Mehendi and I am in love with Simi’s story! Her friends and family are amazing! I highly recommend this well-crafted and well-written early YA romance!
I finally read Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks, and YAY for Deja representing real girls! And Josiah is just exactly what I hope all men will realize is the best way to be!
I also read a Free Comic Book Day Owly & Friends comic for fun! I just needed some Owly in my life this week.
With Trent:
- More Fly Guy this week! He is now able to pretty much read any Fly Guy book himself, and I love to have him read to me!
- With Princess in Black, we’ve moved to the ones I haven’t read, so I love seeing her new adventures too!
- It was Read Across America week, and his teacher celebrated in the traditional way, and Trent says his favorite Dr. Seuss book was Horton Hears a Who, so he checked it out from his school library for us to read at home too.
- Trent receives Powell’s Boox (book box) monthly from his g’rents, and this month we received In a Jar by Deborah Marcero and Twig by Aura Parker. He liked both of them, but Twig has already been read multiple times and seems to be a new favorite.

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I have spent approximately 100 hours arranging all of the pitches for the ALAN Workshop program. I am excited to say that I am ready to pitch back to the publishers (following NCTE session acceptances and following approval from the program consultants). This means I have not been reading as much…as in at all. It feels a bit ironic, no? But I DID read Eat the Cake, which is a very fun text (review to come tomorrow), and I DID read to my boys each night. We are almost finished with the first Harry Potter!

Kellee

Reading: I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
Reading (a story here and there): Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales by Neal Shusterman
Listening: A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer
Reading with Trent (between other books): The Princess in Black and the Mysterious Playdate by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Tuesday: Eat the Cake by M.H. Clark, Illustrated by Jana Glatt

Sunday: Author Guest Post and Giveaway!: “Something Old, Something New: Five Classics Reimagined as Middle-Grade Books” by Erin Yun, Author of Pippa Park Raises Her Game

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/2/20

By Kellee On March 2, 2020 · 4 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Tuesday: Remove the Stigma! Brain Health

Thursday: Room on our Rock by Katie & Jol Temple, Illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton

Sunday: Excerpt and Giveaway!: Sabina in the Eye I’d the Storm by Bella Kullgowwka Zucker
**Giveaway open until Saturday!**

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

Kellee

This month was a whirlwind! It felt like January was the longest month of the entire school year and February was a blink! Here’s what I’ve read since I last posted:

We read even more Fly Guy books–we’re pretty close to reading them all!
We also tried a Brownie and Pearl book by Cynthia Rylant. They are a cute pair!
Trent read National Geographic Kids: Race Day to me–it is amazing how reading just HAPPENED with him!
I finally finished the Heroes of Olympus series! I actually think I may have liked this book the best out of the entire series. I also then read the cross over books with Percy/Annabeth and Sadie/Carter–they were awesome!
Trent chose Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman, Illustrated by Jay Fleck from his Scholastic book fair, and we love it!
New Kid by Jerry Craft is everything I wanted it to be and more. I can definitely see why it won the Newbery AND is winning the hearts of kids and educators!
Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton took the Belles story and elevated it to the next level. Although you are completely satisfied at the end of Belles, Everlasting Rose shows what happens next.
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds is not like anything else he’s written. I love that it is a narrative AND short stories depending on how you want to use it.
One Year of Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks is everything I wanted from a new book by her. It is just a bit quirky, kick butt, smart, and all awesome.
The newest Wayside School book, written 40 years after the first one, was just perfect if you loved the Wayside books in the past. The nostalgia while reading was intense, and I also think that it doesn’t lose its magic with age!
Wilder Girls by Rory Power was intense! A dystopic look at what could happen under a quarantine for an unknown illness that causes fantastical consequences!
Old Rock and Bob Ross will both be blogged about this week 🙂

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

Influenza has reared its ugly head in my house. 🙁

Kellee

First, I must share some awesomely exciting news: NEAL SHUSTERMAN COMES TO MY SCHOOL ON THURSDAY!!!! I’ve been planning this visit for over a year, and I cannot wait! I’ll blog about it soon 🙂

Reading: Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes
Also reading: Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales by Neal Shusterman
Reading with Trent: Princess in Black Takes a Vacation by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Listening: A Match Made In Mehendi by Nandini Bajpal

Tuesday: Old Rock (is Not Boring) by Deb Pilutti

Thursday: Bob Ross: My First Book of Colors by Robb Pearlman, Illustrated by Bob Ross

Sunday: Authors Guest Post!: “Books That Build Empathy” by Debut MG and YA Authors of 2020

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 2/24/20

By Kellee On February 24, 2020 · 2 Comments · In IMWAYR

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.