It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. 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!
Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee 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.
Last Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Ten Books We’ve Recently Added to Our To-Be-Read Lists
Thursday: #MustReadin2015 Spring Update
Sunday: Author Guest Post by Sue Duff, Author of Fade to Black and Mask and Mirrors
**Click on any picture/link to view the post**
Last Week’s Journeys
Kellee: I have had a pile of picture books from the library to read for weeks, so I decided that this week would be when I read them. ALL of them were wonderful. Not a bad one in the bunch! You’ll see below that I am going to review nine of them this week because I was so happy with the diversity I found in these picture books, and I’ll blog about many of the others in the weeks to come. The picture books I read were:
- Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman
- Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay
- H.O.R.S.E: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers
- Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
- Firebird by Misty Copeland
- Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong
- Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
- By Mouse and Frog by Deborah Freeman
- The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
- The Sky Painter: Louise Fuertes, Bird Artist by Margarita Engle
- Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell
- Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya
- Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales
- Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown
- Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman
I also finished two novels this week. First, I read Hunt for the Bamboo Rat by Graham Salisbury which is an interesting look at World War II from a Japanese-American from Hawaii working for the army in the Phillipines. It is a WWII story like none other that I have read. It was also my first Graham Salisbury work, and I know I need to read more as he sure know how to craft a story. I also finished the early chapter book Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Tricia Springstubb. Ever since Tricia did a guest post here and on Nerdy Book Club, I knew I wanted to read her work, and I am so happy that I was able to read Cody. Readers of Mercy Watson, Junie B. Jones, Bramble and Maggie, and other stories of rambunctious young ladies are going to find a friend within these pages.
Ricki: Henry and I spent some quality time in the library. I picked up several books to read to him, but two stood out most. King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan tells the story of Basant, a holiday to celebrate the arrival of spring, and is set in Pakistan. I loved the beautiful kites and appreciated that the author didn’t make the character’s disability the main focus of the story. If I still taught high school, I would definitely use this book while I taught The Kite Runner. We also enjoyed Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony. I’ve seen this one pop up on many blogs, and I finally found a copy. I thought it was charming and will definitely be using it to discuss manners with my son. 🙂
This Week’s Expeditions
Kellee: I am almost done with Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle. I adore these books, and the audiobooks make them even better. I do hope that there is going to be a third. I also plan on reading Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern and Fake Snakes and Weird Wizards (Here’s Hank #4) by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver.
Ricki: I am embarrassed at how far behind I have gotten in my reading. In four weeks, when school ends, I can’t wait to dive in. I know I say this every week. Anyways, I have been reading several books about discourse analysis. I didn’t post them here because I don’t want to bore you. I am fascinated by the ways we use discourse in subtle ways to reveal thinks like our figured worlds. Don’t worry, I will read some awesome YAL or picture books next week to fill the gaps. Some of you are saying, “Thank goodness I have Kellee because I can’t comment on this Ricki lady’s stuff.”
Upcoming Week’s Posts
Tuesday: Characters We’d Like To Check In With
Wednesday: From My (Huge) Library Pile Part Five: We Need Diverse Books (Nonfiction)
Thursday: Blog Tour and Author Guest Post!: Won Ton & Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
Friday: From My (Huge) Library Pile Part Six: We Need Diverse Books (Fiction)
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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Lots of people seem to have read Won Ton and Chopstick. I should check it out! King for a Day sounds good too. Have a great reading week, you two!
I love the accessibility of haikus in Won Ton 🙂
Thanks, Earl! Both were very fun. 🙂
Lota, lota great books in the pictures coming up. It’s back to work for me, too, less time to read, but it’s been fun! Hope you both have a great week!
Going back to work is always bitter sweet 🙁 Hope you have a good week!
Ah, we should see if they will pay us to read. 🙂
Look at all of the baseball books! The only reason I know that today is opening day was because I looked it up for Gutman’s Willie & Me, but you were on top of it all last week!
Those biographies were just wonderful, and it was a coincidence that I posted them at the beginning of baseball season; however, it worked out great. Baseball season is my favorite season, so I love celebrating it.
Wow! What a list of picture books! I’m glad you enjoyed them all. And discourse analysis is not boring! I’d love to know which ones you are reading. I’m sure they are different from when I read completing my master’s (long ago), but I’d still like to know.
There wasn’t a bad one in the bunch!
I am reading a lot of Gee right now (which is likely what you read). I’ve also read about 30 different articles that use discourse analysis to try to get a sense of what is out there.
Ricki, you crack me up! No, I’m not going to talk discourse with you, but I understand your business. I give you credit, you’re doing something I admire! I’ll be looking forward to your YA updates whenever you get to them 🙂
Kellee, holy awesome picture book reading! And there are some new ones in that pile that haven’t been released yet, super jealous! I read some eh PBs this week, didn’t include them on my blog. Sometimes that happens. I’m looking forward to reading Cody too, I love getting new earlier chapter books for my students. And I have Nate on my #mustread list. I hope to get back to him soon!
Happy Monday!
I do the same thing. I’d rather not highlight a book than say I didn’t like it. Always makes me feel bad to say something not nice about a book.
You are going to LOVE Nate. You should listen to the audiobook–it is phenomenal! You’ll also like Cody as she is quite spunky 🙂
I promise they are on their way back in. 🙂
Ooh! Lots of great books you’re reviewing this week. Viva Frida totally won over my heart and I loved the hip hop swagger of Little Roja Riding Hood. And Firebird made me cry on page 1 so yeah, that book totally won me over.
I totally agree! Viva Frida wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but what it ended up being was quite powerful. Roja was a great twist on the fairy tale. I love dance and Firebird (the song), so the book automatically had a special place in my heart. I can definitely see why it’d make you cry.
So many of my favorites up there on your picture book list Kellee. I love, love, love, Separate is Never Equal, Viva Frida, Josephine and Little Melba. H.O.R.S.E., Beekle and Firebird are also some of my favorites. I can’t believe I still haven’t gotten my hands on Wolfie. I am an Ame Dyckman fan so I know it will make me smile.
Ricki, I really enjoyed King for a Day also & made that same connection with Kite Runner. I hope you get to fit in more reading time soon. 🙂
I love how you listed all of my favorites from the week 🙂 Though, like I said, not a single one was bad. It was a great pile of books!
Me too, Crystal. 🙂 🙂
Some great picture books Kellee! Lots of amazing nonfiction! And hey, that Ricki lady, you may not be currently reading a lot but I must say that as I go in to record novels I’ve read or books to add to my TO Read list, I keep seeing your reviews. So you have been reading a lot at some point. It will come back to that time to read lots. 🙂
I was so excited to get my hands on these great and important NF PBs. I cannot wait to share them on Wednesday 🙂
Carrie, I am usually a crazy reader, so it pains me that it is at a trickle. Overall, I am working to do things for the greater good for reading, which makes it a bit more okay in my brain. I know I will be back in action soon. Summer is about four weeks away. 🙂
That is some impressive list of picture books! The only one I’ve read is Beekle. I like to get and read them before I invest in them for our school library. Thanks so much for this list. I’m looking forward to reading Cody and the Fountain of Happiness. We can’t have too many of these role models for younger readers.
I thought Beekle was very endearing. 🙂