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!
Thursday: Sofia’s YA Book Nook: The Heart of Everything by Marc Levy
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Kellee
Books I’ve read since 1/12/26
Picture Books
As you can probably guess, as the administrative assistant for the 2026 Caldecott Committee, I read A LOT of 2025 picture books. To keep with the confidentiality of the process, I am only going to share 5 that I read–the 5 that WON THE CALDECOTT! Here is our award winner followed by the four honors. As you can guess, I highly recommend all of these picture books. I think our chair and my friend Jewel Davis said it best about all of these books:
“Fireworks is distinguished by the way it captures the rhythm of a summer day,” Caldecott committee chair Jewel Davis said. “It is a rare book that trusts the quiet, lived-in moments of childhood to be just as spectacular as the main event.”
“Across the medal and honor books, a quiet throughline of belonging emerged,” said Davis. “The illustrations in each title approach this idea differently, through mood, setting, texture, and visual structure, but together they reflect a year of picture books that are both joyful and meaningful. These titles affirm children’s emotional lives and their connections to the world around them in ways that feel grounded, expansive, and deeply respectful of young readers.”
- Medal Winner: Fireworks by Matthew Burgess, Illustrated by Catia Chien
- Honors:
Middle Grade
- Dog Man: Big Jim Believes by Dav Pilkey: Another funny and heartwarming edition of Dog Man. I love how Dav Pilkey never runs out of ideas and each book surprises me!
Young Adult
- Fatal Thrones: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by various: This book is told in chronological order through the point of view of each of Henry VIII’s wives with mini-chapters between each queen’s showing Henry’s point of view. I loved how the authors took their research and twisted it to tell the reader the history through the voices of women who did not get the chance to tell their story. And man, sometimes real history is more filled with drama and story than anything an author could make up.
- Queen’s Match by Katharine McGee: Another historical fiction novel that takes a time in history that was pretty wild and turned it into a can’t-put-down historical fiction book. This is the sequel to Queen’s Game and continues the story of the 3 women, all connected to Prince Eddy, and how their lives fall into place. I loved researching as I read to see what was true and what wasn’t. Filled with romance and drama!
- The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater: Dashka Slater’s other nonfiction book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Who Lives It Changed, showed me what a brilliant reporter and storyteller she is. I love that she tells a well rounded story, shows the humanity of all involved but also shows the consequences of mistakes, and writes it in a way that is interesting to read.
- Queen Bee by Amalie Howard: Revenge and romance set ihn 1800s England!!! Once I got passed one believable aspect in the book, I really enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down as I was totally invested in both the romance and the revenge plot!
- Blue Lock Vol 1 by Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Illustrated by Yosuke Nomura: So many of my students ask me about this manga, so I wanted to give it a try, and I CAN SEE WHY–dystopia + soccer + manga = a fanastic read.
Adult
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel: This was one of those audiobooks where I didn’t want to get out of my car because I wanted to keep listening to it. And I wanted to talk to everyone about it. It is an interesting look into human psychology around crime.
- Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises by Katie Benner & Eric L. Green: This story is heartbreaking to read as an educator. Anyone who takes advantage of people who are trying to give their children the best they can are the worst. (Hence why I cannot support charter or private schools in most situations.) A well done book but definitely made me angry for all of these families.
- The Pearl by John Steinbeck: Trente wanted to read The Pearl, so we listened to it together, and it is as tough a story. That ending was exactly what I remembered (from when I read it in 4th grade), and it is just as devastating. Definitely not a happy book but Steinbeck does know how to write.
And you can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.
Ricki
This is my week off; see you next week!
Kellee
- Rereading: Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis
- Reading: Sashimi by Dan Santat
- Listening: The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win WWII
Wednesday: Educators’ Guide for Dream by Barbara O’Connor
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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