Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 4/2/18

April 2, 2018 by Kellee

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.

Last Week’s Posts

Teaching Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday: Teaching My Son to Read (by Ricki) Part II

Wednesday: Blog Tour with Review and Educators’ Resource Guide!: Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold

Thursday: Guest Review: Miles Away From You by A. B. Rutledge

Friday: Moon by Alison Oliver

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

Last Week’s Journeys

Yay Spring Break! And thank you for understanding about last week! My Future Problem Solvers teams did AMAZINGLY! I have one 6th grade team and one 11th/12th grade team that qualified for internationals! I’m so proud of how brilliant they are!

Sunny by Jason Reynolds: Wow. I hope this isn’t the end of this series because each one is such a special treat. Sunny is quite different than the first although readers will find the format and story just as engaging.
Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold: See my review from last week 🙂
Bone’s Gift by Angie Smibert: I’ll be reviewing this next week!
Breakout by Kate Messner: This is a 500 page book that I couldn’t put down and read so quickly! It is so special. I loved the variety of formats within the narrative and the multiple and diverse points of view. It is so applicable for many ages and it brings up issues for conversation in a respectable yet clear way. And it is such a darn good story!
Two Naomis by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich: I can see why my students loved this story! It is filled with family, friend, and school drama that so many different kids can connect to. And we were so lucky to Google Hangout with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich on Friday (check out my Twitter Thread to see some pictures and my favorite quotes)!

With Trent’s books, I’m primarily focusing on either new books to Trent or me, books we haven’t read in a while, or books he’s obsessed with. Listing all of the books we read in the car or sitting in the living room would be crazy, but I feel guilty about it, so I wanted to just say something 🙂

8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde: Reading this book with my mom and Trent when we visited Baton Rouge during Spring Break is going to be one of those memories that stay with me forever. My mom and I took turns reading, and we read to Trent every day. It is such a heart-filling experience to be able to enjoy a book as a family!
With Easter upon us, we also read a bunch of fun Easter books that I pull out each year. Llama Llama was my favorite–I just think she has such an year for rhythms and rhymes.

Ricki

It’s been a crazy week for me. I’ve been planning an event to have the Get Lit players come to our university, and it sucked my time away. I did finish a few books!

I loved the nontraditional format of Thornhill by Pam Smy. It’s very similar in format to a Brian Selznick book, but it falls closer to the horror/mystery genre. It was a very engaging read and kept me intrigued. The integration of art and prose is wonderfully done—the prose is set in the 1980s, and the art is set in present day.

Your My Little Cuddle Bug by Nicola Edwards is a charming board book that reminded me of a Mem Fox text. It’s a warm and fuzzy type of book. 🙂

Who’s Hiding by Satoru Onishi is a fun, interactive book where kids try to determine which character is hiding, angry, etc. It is a fun take on the search-and-find books.

Hoot Hoot Pop-Up Fun is a pop-up book winner. As a mom of two young kids, I read a lot of pop-up books, and the pop-ups are very clever in this book. We spent a solid ten minutes on the wolf page making the wolf howl and howl.

We also read a book called Shake Dogs Shake Puppies by Carli Davidson. The book is about 400 pages of photographs of dogs and puppies shaking off water. My younger son spends a lot of time perusing this book–even though I think it was intended to be an adult coffee table book.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer E. Nielsen: I have 25 minutes left in the audiobook, and I cannot wait to finish it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stung by Bethany Wiggins: This is our next faculty book club choice, and so far I am liking it, but I already know that it is going to be a split discussion because a couple of teachers have told me they really didn’t like it. I look forward to having the conversation. If nothing else, I know that kids adore it. It won the Florida Sunshine State Young Reader Award for grade 6-8 in 2016.
DC Superhero Girls: Date with Disaster: Trent picked this book out at the book store, and he and I are reading it a chapter at a time. This is his first full graphic novel, and as long as I point at the word bubbles, he’s doing a great job following along!
I Love You, Michael Collins by Lauren Baratz-Logsted: After Stung I look forward to picking this one up to read and review.
Upside Down Magic: Dragon Overnight by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins: When I finish Shadow Throne, I am going to start the 4th Upside Down Magic book, and I am so excited! I love this series.

Ricki

I’ll be REREADING Graceling by Kristin Cashore for my class. We are doing Sci Fi/Fantasy this week, and the houses are reading Graceling, Feed, and Unwind. I am excited to hear what they think about the three books.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: The Stress of Teaching and Advice for Remaining Positive

Wednesday: Sports Illustrated Kids: The Baseball Fanbook by Gary Gamling

Thursday: You’re My Little Cuddle Bug by Nicola Edwards

Friday: Secondhand Heroes series by Justin LaRocca Hansen

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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P.S. Please note that IMWAYR’s publishing time has changed, starting with this post, to 2AM ET!

Moon by Alison Oliver

March 31, 2018March 30, 2018 by Kellee

Moon
Author and Illustrator: Alison Oliver
Expected Publication April 17th, 2018 by Clarion Books

Summary: Like many children, Moon leads a busy life. School, homework, music lessons, sports, and the next day it begins again. She wonders if things could be different. Then, one night, she meets a wolf.

The wolf takes Moon deep into the dark, fantastical forest and there she learns to howl, how to hide, how to be still, and how to be wild. And in that, she learns what it’s like to be free.

Review: Just as Where the Wild Things Are made children think about controlling our inner wild things (anger), Moon has us look at the new pressures of childhood and the need to let kids unleash their inner wild thing (playfulness). I talk often about the pressure that kids with other parents and teachers about the pressure that kids have on them now. Computer programs and homework starting in kindergarten, multiple standardized testing starting in 3rd grade, high school classes starting in middle school, AP classes required for almost everyone, etc. etc. etc. It makes me so sad to see that a lot of the joys of childhood are being pushed away to make kids grow up earlier (but then we complain about kids growing up quicker…). Moon, the main character, represents so many of our kids, and her adventure shows how important it is to let our kids just be themselves to be happy and to remove some of the pressure. I loved this message, and I thought it was told in a beautiful and figurative way that will lead to wonderful discussions and lots of rereading.

And I couldn’t review this book properly without commenting on the beautiful illustrations. I particularly loved the palette changes to highlight time and place and the bits of humor in the illustrations. Just a wonderful combination of artwork and story.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Moon‘s theme and symbolism are what jump out to me first, and I see them being what is discussed the most when it comes to this book, and I could see it be extended from early elementary all the way to middle school just pushing the conversation to different levels the older students get.

Discussion Questions:

What do the wolves symbolize in Moon’s story?
How is your life similar to Moon’s at the beginning of the book?
How does Moon’s life change from beginning to end?
What lesson was the message the author was trying to spread from Moon?
Do you see any differences between Moon from the first couple of pages and the last couple of pages?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Yellow Kayak by Nina Laden, Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Recommended For:

Blog Tour with Review and Educators’ Resource Guide!: Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold

March 28, 2018 by Kellee

Bat and the Waiting Game
Author: Elana K. Arnold
Illustrator: Charles Santoso
Published March 27th, 2018 by Walden Pond Press

Summary: The second book in the irresistible and “quietly groundbreaking”* young middle grade series starring Bat, an unforgettable boy on the autism spectrum.

For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life is pretty great. He’s the caretaker of the best baby skunk in the world—even Janie, his older sister, is warming up to Thor.

When Janie gets a part in the school play and can’t watch Bat after school, it means some pretty big changes. Someone else has to take care of the skunk kit in the afternoons.

Janie is having sleepovers with her new friends. Bat just wants everything to go back to normal. He just has to make it to the night of Janie’s performance…

*Kirkus Reviews

Critical Praise:

“Delightful. This humorous follow-up is even stronger than its predecessor and will leave readers hoping for a third book featuring Bat and his family.” — School Library Journal

“A gentle tale of shared similarities rather than differences that divide and a fine read-aloud with a useful but not didactic message of acceptance.” — Kirkus Reviews

A winsome blend of humor and heart, vibrant characters, and laugh-out-loud dialogue. Arnold’s narrative also gracefully explores life through the eyes of a boy on the autism spectrum. The ever-lovable Bat is sure to resonate with readers of all ages. — Booklist Online

About the Author: Elana K. Arnold grew up in California, where she, like Bat, was lucky enough to have her own perfect pet — a gorgeous mare named Rainbow — and a family who let her read as many books as she wanted. She is the author of picture books, middle grade novels, and books for teens, including the National Book Award finalist title What Girls Are Made Of. Elana lives in Huntington Beach, California, with her husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. She calls the “Bat” series for Walden Pond Press “books of her heart.” You can find her online at www.elanakarnold.com.

Review: Bat is one of my favorite characters ever. He is a flawed character but is also so perfect as who he is! What I love about Bat, other than his amazingly sweet personality, his brilliance when it comes to skunks, and his coping skills, is that he teaches us to treasure the little things. Also, the way that Elana write Bat, his story will help middle grade readers think about their classmates who may not think or act the way that they think is normal. We are all normal for who we are! Bat’s story shows about the good in life and teaches us what good humans are like.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: In addition to an amazing read aloud opportunity, I can definitely see the text being part of lit circles. Bat himself is unique, but he and his story remind me of so many other characters who I love and I wish all students would read about: Auggie from Wonder; Melody from Out of my Mind; David from Rules; Candice from The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee; Rose from Rain, Reign; and Adam from How to Speak Dolphin. All of these texts are must reads! I picture all of these texts with their extraordinary characters being part of lit circles with a focus on disabilities/disorders and empathy. [From my review of A Boy Called Bat, 3/10/17]

Educators’ Resource Guide:

Flagged Passages: “Maybe, Bat though, there was something better in the world than cradling a sleepy, just-fed baby skunk in your arms. But at this moment, it didn’t seem likely.

Bat was sitting in his beanbag chair, having just put down the tiny, nearly empty bottle of formula. In Bat’s hand, licking his fine soft whiskers with a tiny pink tongue and then yawning widely to reveal two rows of new white teeth, was a six-week-old skunk kit named Thor.” (p. 1-2)

“When Israel first handed [a skunk kit sculpture] to Bat last Monday at school, it had taken Bat a moment to figure out what exactly he was holding…

Bat had rubbed his thumb down the smooth shiny back of the clay ump. It didn’t look much like a skunk kit, but its pleasant weight felt good in his hand. And when he had flipped it over to find the words ‘From Israel’ on the bottom, a warm good feeling spread through his chest and up his neck.

A friend had given him a gift. And even if it didn’t look much like the real baby skunk now nestled in his hands, it definitely deserved a place on his bookshelf,a long with his other important things.” (p. 4-5)

Read This If You Love: A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold, Any lit circle book listed under Teacher’s Tools

Recommended For:

Don’t miss out on the other blog tour stops!

3/12 For Those About to Mock, @abouttomock Sam Eddington

3/15 Mrs. Knott’s Book Nook @knott_michele Michele Knott

3/15 @iowaamber Amber Kuehler

3/16 The Hiding Spot @thehidingspot Sara Grochowski

3/18 Educate*Empower*Inspire…Teach @guerette79 Melissa Guerrette

3/19 Maria’s Melange @mariaselke Maria Selke

3/20 Nerdy Book Club post by Elana

3/20 Writers Rumpus @kirsticall Kirsti Call

3/22 Bluestocking Thinking @bluesockgirl Nicole Levesque

3/28 Unleashing Readers @unleashreaders Kellee Moye

**Thank you to Walden Pond Press for hosting the blog tour and providing a copy for review!!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 3/26/18

March 29, 2018March 26, 2018 by Kellee

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.

Last Week’s Posts

Teaching Tuesday: Most Talked About Books in our Classrooms Right Now

Wednesday: George the Hero Hound by Jeffrey Ebbler

Thursday: I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët

Friday: The Life and Times of Birdie Mae Hayes: The Gift by Jeri Anne Agee

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

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

This week is the Florida Future Problem Solvers State Competition, and I have twenty-five students competing! Fingers crossed for them! It started Sunday night, so I just ran out of time to do my IMWAYR post—my apologies!!! I’ll catch you all up next week.

Ricki

My sons and I read these three F&Gs: Dreaming of You by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Blue Grass Boy: The Story of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass Music by Barb Rosenstock, and Look Out! It’s a Dragon by Jenny Lambert. The first is a quiet book that imagines what animals might be dreaming. The second is a nonfiction picture book about Bill Monroe, who is largely considered the father of blue grass music. The third is about a dragon who wants to be considered a nice dragon, so he can live with the local animals.

I REREAD American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I am excited to share this one with students. It’s generated some great conversations with other classes in the past. I am curious what my current students will think about it.

It wasn’t a crazy reading week for me because I worked on submitting a manuscript for publication, but I am almost done with several books that I am looking forward to sharing.

This Week’s Expeditions

Ricki

Instead of being good and finishing one of the several books I have in progress, I cracked the cover of Thornhill by Pam Smy. This nontraditional book is capturing my attention. It’s very spooky. I think I am trying to recreate my experience of reading Mary’s Monster by Lita Judge. That book blew me away.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Teaching Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday: Teaching My Son to Read (by Ricki) Part II

Wednesday: Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold

Thursday: Guest Review: Miles Away From You by A. B. Rutledge

Friday: Moon by Alison Oliver

So, what are you reading?

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The Life and Times of Birdie Mae Hayes: The Gift by Jeri Anne Agee

March 23, 2018 by Kellee

The Life and Times of Birdie Mae Hayes: The Gift
Author: Jeri Anne Agee
Illustrator: Bryan Langdo
Published: January 2nd, 2018 by Sky Pony Press

Summary: Birdie Mae Hayes has pretty much the perfect life. Her best friend Sally lives just down the street, she’s becoming friends with the new boy in town, and Halloween is coming up. Her little brother Bubba drives her crazy sometimes, but whose doesn’t?

Except, lately, Birdie can’t stop feeling like something is about to happen. Then she starts seeing things happen–before they happen!

It turns out her Grandma Mae has the same ability. But Birdie doesn’t know if she’s ready to take on the responsibility of this “gift.” Still, with the right attitude and some practice, she could help a lot of people. One thing’s for sure: life is going to be real interesting from now on!

Review: Most children’s lit books at this level are realistic fiction in genre to help guide our elementary age kids with navigating the world. Birdie Mae Hayes’s story does that but also throws in some fantasy which I think is so much fun because that means this series will be great for fans of books like Cody from Tricia Springstubb and Marty from Kate Messner while also being something that fans of Phoebe and her Unicorn from Dana Simpson and Upside-Down Magic from Sarah Mlynowski, Emily Jenkins, and Lauren Myracle will enjoy also! I also enjoyed the well-rounded male and female characters giving most readers someone to connect with. Lastly, I love the small town feel! Every reader needs books that reflect them, and this one will be great for our small-town readers (and windows for our urban readers).

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Like many children’s books for this age (1st-4th grade), Birdie Mae is a perfect addition to a classroom/school library to give readers more options that fit what they need.

Discussion Questions:

Birdie Mae’s gift isn’t something that we could get; however, if you could see into the future, what events from your past may you have seen to help you change what happened?
The gift is selective in what it shows Birdie Mae. What do all the incidences that she sees have in common?
What makes Birdie’s hometown of Rainbow, Alabama different from your hometown? Similar?
What did Patrick do that others wouldn’t when it came to Doyle? What does his experience teach you?
Do you have a friend in your life like Sally?
What do we know about Birdie and Patrick’s dads that would make you think they could be friends? Enemies?

Flagged Passages: “My name is Birdie Mae Hayes, and I live in Rainbow, Alabama with my mama, daddy, and my little brother Bubba. I’m in third grade, and my best friend, Sally Rose Hope, lives right down the street from me. I know, I know, it sounds like a perfect life, except that my little brother Bubba drives me crazy and lately I can’t stop feeling like something is about to happen. Or maybe like I’m waiting for something. I don’t really know how to describe it.” (p. 1)

Read This If You Love: Cody series by Tricia Springstubb; My Life in Pictures by Deborah Zemke; Ellie Ultra by Gina Bellisario; Ellie Engineer by Jackson Pearce; Marty McGuire by Kate Messner; Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Emily Jenkins, & Lauren Myracle; Cecile Valentine by Julie Sternberg; Eleanor books by Julie Sternberg; The Trouble with Ants by Claudia Mills

Recommended For:

George the Hero Hound by Jeffrey Ebbeler

March 21, 2018 by Kellee

George the Hero Hound
Author: Jeffrey Ebbeler
Published March 20th, 2018 by Two Lions

Summary: George is a good ol’ hound dog. He helps Farmer Fritz with the chores and—most important of all—he keeps those sneaky cows out of the cornfield.

Then Farmer Fritz moves away, and a new family from the city moves in. The Gladstones have a lot to learn. George tries to help, but they don’t understand his job on the farm…until the day little Olive goes missing, and George shows everyone what it means to be a hero hound!

Review: First, I have to talk about how much I just love George, his expressions, and his story. Just look at that cover! Don’t you want to just follow him around?! But you want to know what made the story for me? The extra story that was told through the illustrations. George’s story that is told through the text is a look at figuring out home when things change and dealing with a new situation, and George is definitely the hero in all of it; however, it is the hilarious stories told in the background that add just the extra HAs! to the story. Watch for the cows to make some Mission Impossible-esque moves and for the Gladstones to make some silly mistakes.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: What a great way to introduce storytelling through words and illustrations. When I did my Caldecott unit with my middle schoolers, so many of them didn’t know how to read a story without being told it in words. Use the illustrations in the background for a creative writing prompt to have students write an alternate text for each page using what is going on in the background of the told story.

George’s tale would also be a good text to use to introduce theme and the idea that a text can have more than one theme, depending on which character you are learning from.

Discussion Questions:

How is George a hero?
What do you think the cows’ master plans include?
How are the Gladstones different from Farmer Fritz?
What are clues that the Gladstones are from the city?
How does the author indicate dialogue versus narration?
What is a clue that would have told the Gladstones George’s name?

Flagged Passages: “George was a good old hound dog. Every day George was up, even before the chickens, to help old Farmer Fritz with the cores. That rust-bucket tractor was always falling apart. . . and those wily cows were always plotting to get out and feast on the cornfield.”

And some passages from after the Gladstone family moves in:

Read This If You Love: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman; My Dog is the Best by Laurie Ann Thompson; Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin; Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell; Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Two Lions for providing a copy for review!**

Teaching Tuesday: Most Talked About Books in our Classrooms Right Now

March 20, 2018March 20, 2018 by Kellee

Popular books change quickly in a classroom depending on what is being talked about. Here are the books that are being talked about in our classrooms as of right now:

Kellee

These are the books being talked about in my middle school (6th-8th grade) advanced reading classroom right now:

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

If you’ve been checking out our IMWAYR posts, you know that I was just introduced to this series, and I could hardly contain myself when I got to school because I knew that students would love this series, and it’d for some reason had slowed now in popularity. Luckily, one of my readers picked it up, shared how she agreed with me, and now it is traveling through my classroom.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I loved this book, but it wasn’t until students saw that it had won honors in the Newbery, Printz, and Coretta Scott King (and the tad bit of controversy surrounding it) then they started passing it around my classroom in 1st period that it truly became popular. Every student that reads the book freaks out about the end then wants to stay after class to talk to me about it and every student who has already read it wants to stay and talk about it too. That shows how powerful this book is.

Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

This series was read in our teacher book club which means that there were teachers other than me singing its praises as well. Then Neal Shusterman came to visit Orlando and a bunch of my students went to see him. Between these two aspects, and just how gosh darn good the series is, there are many kids suffering until September 2019 with me.

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

Hurt Go Happy was our class read aloud last year, so my students who didn’t have me last year but are in my 7th and 8th grade class were invited to read Hurt Go Happy in preparation for our class read aloud this year: Rescued by Eliot Schrefer. Because it is so intense and has so much to talk about, the students who have read Rorby’s book can’t stop talking about it.

Land of Stories by Chris Colfer

Since this series came out, it has been a hugely popular series, and it keeps getting new readers. I can’t wait to read it also to see what the big deal is.

Embassy Row series by Ally Carter

Very much like Land of Stories, this series just keeps getting new readers because every person that reads it has to talk about it and talks their friends into reading it.

Always: Rick Riordan, Raina Telgemeier, Marie Lu, Kazu Kibuishi

In the eyes of my students, they can do no wrong.

Ricki

These are the books my college students are raving about:

Refugee by Alan Gratz

This book has not made it back to my desk. Every time a student reads it, before that student turns it in, another asks to borrow it immediately. It is passing from hand to hand. I love this book, so I am thrilled it is so well-received. I think I’ll be adopting it as a required text next semester.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Angie’s book continues to be a hot item in my class. It is a required house book (read by a third of the class), but many of the other students have read it.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

A student in my class gave a wonderful book talk for this one. I haven’t read it yet, but I am aching to do so. He is a tough critic, and he raves about it.

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

I didn’t realize that so many of my students had read Scythe, so many requested this one. I dug it up from my bookshelves and brought it in, and it has been passed from student to student.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

My student devour Jason’s books. I booktalked this one last semester, but I haven’t needed to do so this semester. Everyone book talks it for me!

What are the popular books in your classroom right now?

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