It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 2/12/24

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!

Tuesday: Educators’ Guide for The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo

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

Kellee

Middle Grade

   

• Iveliz Explains is All by Andrea Beatriz Arango: A beautifully written book about Iveliz learning how to stand up for how she feels and the help she needs. Written in verse, the book gets to the heart of advocacy.
• Drawing Deena by Hena Khan: I reviewed this a couple of weeks ago!
• Anzu and the Realm of Darkness by Mai K. Nguyen: This new fantastical graphic novel reminds me of a Miyazaki film–full of magic, adventure, and a bit of weirdness. It was a wonderful read, and I cannot wait to share it with my students!
• Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson: I look forward to reviewing this next week.
• The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett: This book. WOW! It is about the end of the world. The apocalypse. But unlike any book I’ve ever read and any you have either. Just read it.

• Nightshade and Nightshade Revenge by Anthony Horowitz: These are the last two Alex Rider books that have come out (#13 & #14). This series is about a teen spy (now 16 though was 14 when the series started) and each book takes you on such an adventure! These last two are no exception–I couldn’t put them down! (I am worried that #14 is the last one though…….. 😢)

Young Adult

 

• The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson: Oh man. This book is genius. Jackson did a fantastic job of revamping Stephen King’s Carrie, but she “ramps up the horror and tackles America’s history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel.” I can definitely see why it got the praise it did and is on the Florida Teen Reads list.
• Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon: This book made me laugh, made my heart sing, made me cry, and made me not want to stop reading. I couldn’t ask for any more in a romance book. Nicola Yoon knows what she is doing.
• The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky: What happens when a prank club gets pranked themselves? This book is full of chaos and twists and turns throughout. I did not see the end coming at all!
• You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron: Whoa! This was definitely more horror than I was prepared for and had quite an odd twist that I didn’t see coming. I still am not sure how I feel about it, but I know that it was way more twisted than I saw coming!
• They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman: This thriller is more than meets the eye. It seems to be about a serial killer who has returned, but it is about so much more. The teens are quite complex and the extra element of the sister rivals with anger issues makes it so the mystery isn’t resolved until the end of the book.

Picture Books

• Rumi: Poet of Joy and Love by Rashin Kheiriyeh: This picture book is a narrative biography of Persian poet Rumi that definitely honors his story and his words. His wisdom and timelessness radiate off the page and are beautifully decorated with Rashin Kheiriyeh’s art that adds to the enchantment.
• The Artivist by Nikkolas Smith: I saw Nikkolas Smith speak at our Florida Library Conference in November, and he shared this book with us, and I knew I had to read it because it combined what I think are two of the most important things in the world: Art and Activism, and this book is a call to action for both.
• Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman, Illustrated by Christian Robinson: Amanda Gorman’s poetry has a flow and rhythm that just makes it so special. Combine that with her beautiful messages of community, togetherness, kindness, and how wonderful this world could be, and reading her work just moves the reader. Then you mix in Christian Robinson’s artwork, which is some of my favorite, and you have a book that is a call to action and a piece of art.
• My Block Looks Like by Janelle Harper, Illustrated by Frank Morrison: What a wonderful love letter to the character’s block, and with Frank Morrison’s artwork, the book is one that will be fun to read aloud and one that kids will love to read independently. Also, I used to teach a short story (or an excerpt), I believe it was by Walter Dean Myers, that was about listening to your neighborhood, and this picture book reminds me so much of that. I used that story to teach imagery, and I can see this book fitting into that exact same lesson. Kids can hear what the protagonist’s block is like: picture it, hear it, imagine it. Then they can write their own.
• The Magical Snowflake by Bernette Ford, Illustrated by Erin K. Robinson: What a perfect winter picture book! It captures the love that kids have when snow arrives and all the magic that comes with it. In addition to all of the feels the story and beautiful illustrations bring, the writing is magical also–filled with imagery and figurative language all that bring the book to life.

Classic

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: I own an original copy of The Old Man and the Sea that was printed in LIFE magazine, and Trent asked me what it was, so we decided to listen to it together.

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

See you next week!

Kellee

• Reading: Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
• Listening: Finally Seen by Kelly Yang

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Coping with Creative Arts” by Rebecca Weber, Author of The Painter’s Butterfly

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!

  and