It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/20/16

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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.

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CONGRATULATIONS
Stefani T.
for winning a copy of Can You Canoe? by the Okee Dokee Bros!

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Last Week’s Posts

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

top ten tuesday first step nibbles ms bixby Secret of Sinbad's Cave

Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2016

Wednesday: The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial by Susan E. Goodman

Thursday: Nibbles: The Book Monster by Emma Yarlet

Friday: Teacher Appreciation Book Tour with Review, Excerpt, Video, and Giveaway!: Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
Giveaway open until Thursday!

Sunday: Author Guest Post!: “A Magical Location” by Byrdie Walker Bain, Author of The Secret of Sinbad’s Cave

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 Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee

Before I start talking about books, I wanted to talk about Orlando. Orlando is my home and has been for 16 years. What happened here over the last week+ is terrible. More than terrible; it is horrific. And too close to home. One of the young men who passed away went to my middle school my first and second year of teaching (though I didn’t know him), and another was a boyfriend of a friend’s friend. Too close to home. But please know that this does not define Orlando. The Pulse attack happening here actually shocked me because we are such a diverse place that overall is open-minded and loving. This does not represent who we are. I also want to thank any of you that prayed or sent healing thoughts or wrote a message or helped in any way. We are wounded, and everyone’s positivity after the massacre shows me that there is hope. And I want to take this time to send my love and thoughts out to anyone who was affected by any of the events that happened over those terrible five days.

dear dragon my friend maggie knowing book water princess uncorker daniel finds a poem

hoot and peep full house little card beatrice 9781454916086_jkt.indd dadblamed

100 things awesome 8 animal atlas

This week, I primarily focused on getting through my picture book and nonfiction TBR pile! I read 12 picture books and 3 nonfiction texts, all that I will be reviewing at some point on the blog. All worth putting on your TBR.

neptune project

My teacher friends and I also decided to have two book club meetings during the summer (YAY!), and we are focusing on reading the Sunshine State Young Reader Award (SSYRA) titles, so we choose to read The Neptune Project as our first summer read. It was such a unique dystopian title, and I cannot wait to read the sequel!

Ricki

I couldn’t put it better than Kellee. The Orlando attacks are horrifying, disgusting, and saddening. I have spent a lot of time emotionally thinking about this awful tragedy. I can’t quite express my feelings because I am still in such disbelief.

100 things awesome 8

This week, I read two great National Geographic books. My son is obsessed with the NG texts because the photographs are eye-appealing and the facts are fun and interesting. As an adult, I also love reading and learning from them, too!

this dark endeavor

I finished listening to Kenneth Oppel’s This Dark Endeavor. What a neat, neat book! The second half really captured my attention, and I had difficulty leaving my car! I found myself listening to it while I played with my son on the floor. I only do this with audio books that I really, really enjoy!

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This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee

worst class trip

In addition to the summer book club choices, I am focusing on trying to read all 15 of the SSYRA list and some books from my #mustread2016 list. I started Dave Barry’s The Worst Class Trip Ever, and so far it is quite funny. I look forward to finishing it then I am  not sure what I will pull from my bag of books.

Ricki 

the memory of things

I have about 50 pages left of Gae Polisner’s A Memory of Things, and I am excited to share more of my thoughts about it. I want to see how it ends first. It could take so many different directions!

Human Rights in Children's Literature

I was asked to review Jonathan Todre and Sarah Higinbotham’s Human Rights in Children’s Literature for an academic journal. I am very much looking forward to this text and think I will learn a lot. It discusses law, and I am interested to see how these ideas apply to education.

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Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday 100 things Grimm's Fairy Tales 13320856_1616227128694556_1928424870826155314_o

Tuesday: Reasons to Read

Wednesday: National Geographic’s 100 Things to Know Before you Grow Up

Thursday: Grimm’s Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, Audio Book Collection by Listening Library

Friday: Future Problem Solving International Conference Update

Sunday: Author Guest Post!

 So, what are you reading?

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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18 thoughts on “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/20/16”

  1. I have not written much because I’m so sad for the tragedy in Orlando, and especially sad for those of you who live there. Denver has lived through more than one of these killings and it feels terrible, I know. Hugs to you at this sad time, Kellee, and Ricki too. Thanks for keeping on with these wonderful things called books!

    Reply
  2. Kellee, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately this past week with everything that happened in Orlando. I just can’t wrap my mind around it. When tragedies like this happen, I try to do more listening, reading, and observing rather than just spouting off my beliefs and opinions, but know that I’ve been thinking about everyone in Orlando.

    Glad you enjoyed This Dark Endeavor. It’s such a great story and as someone who’s never read Frankenstein before, that book actually intrigued me to want to read it someday.

    Reply
  3. Kellee, you have a few books I’m looking forward to reading – The Water Princess and The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles. We have a copy of Josh’s new book too!
    Ricki, can’t wait to hear your thoughts once you finish Gae’s new book. It really is a treat! The writing is phenomenal!

    Reply
  4. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings about the mass shooting in Orlando. I guess I had forgotten that you were from there. I think you, and all teachers, know how important it is to keep doing what we do (even though it is very difficult in the face of hatred). Through education, books, and the relationships we build, hopefully we can change the direction for young people. Hope you and your family/friends find comfort and encouragement in the books you read & the love you have for each other!

    Reply
    • It is definitely something my students and I will be discussing when school returns. We’re going to use it as a building block for our precepts to talk about empathy, love, hope, etc.

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  5. Oh, my gosh, Kellee, I completely forgot that you live in Orlando! It was a horrible tragedy for our whole country (and world) but must be especially difficult so close to home. Glad you have your summer book group to look forward to!

    Ricki – my boys always loved the NG books, too (and the awesome kid videos!). And the Kenneth Oppel book sounds great – we have always liked his books.

    Hope you both enjoy your books this week –

    Sue

    2016 Big Book Summer Challenge

    Reply
  6. Kellee I too have been reeling from the deaths in Orlando. I’m so sorry your community has had to face such a tragedy. I have difficulty understanding how a person can do such horrifying things to others. It’s also hard to process how some of the people in the country responded. There were amazing outpourings of love and support, but there were also responses that left a lot to be desired. There are people who seemed to ignore or who wanted to ignore who the victims were. I could go on, but will stop with this – we need more love and compassion in our world and the books we provide can maybe help with that.

    So many picture books Kellee! I’m interested in The Water Princess for sure and have read a few of the others. I still have to get my copy of The Memory of Things later. It’s one for Teachers Write. That’s cool Ricki about Human Rights in Children’s Lit. That’s one I think I’d enjoy reading too.

    Reply
    • I agree that some responses were despicable. I actually unfollowed people on FB because of that. But so much of it has been positive. Overwhelmingly positive.

      The Water Princess is a must read. Great companion to A Long Walk to Water and others.

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  7. First off, I am so so sorry about the shooting in Orlando. Crazy people do crazy things. I am the kind of person who says sending love and prayers isn’t enough. I hope you won’t be offended if I say that I hope this kind of weaponry is soon restricted. I am sending love and my heart aches for all of you.
    Thank the Gods for books. It looks like both of you have had wonderful reading weeks.

    Reply

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