Month: November 2020

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 11/9/20

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. 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.

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!

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Tuesday: Educators Guide for Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams by Barb Rosenstock, Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley

Thursday: A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart by Zetta Elliott, Illustrated by Noa Denmon

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

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Kellee

What I read over the last two weeks:

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page  or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

Rather than share my reading for this week, I just want to remind readers to sign up to attend the virtual ALAN Workshop in a couple of weeks! There are over 70 young adult authors speaking and so many great books to be shared! Full program and registration info is here. We hope to see you there!

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Kellee

I’m actually reading a few different books–we’ll see what I finish!

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Tuesday: Educators’ Guide for AstroNuts Mission Two: The Water Planet by Jon Scieszka, Illustrated by Steven Weinberg

Thursday: Nonfiction History Books for Kids: The Extraordinary Lives Series by Kane Miller Books

Saturday:  Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Small Steps by Louis Sachar

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Role of Empathy in Literature and Our Lives” by Robin Farmer, Author of Malcolm and Me

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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!

 Signature andRickiSig

A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart by Zetta Elliot, Illustrated by Noa Denmon

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A Place Inside of Me
Author: Zetta Elliot
Illustrator: Noa Denmon
Published: July 21, 2020 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)

Summary: In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year.

There is a place inside of me
a space deep down inside of me
where all my feelings hide.

Summertime is filled with joy―skateboarding and playing basketball―until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.

In her stunning debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting―through grief and protests, healing and community―with washes of color as vibrant as his words.

Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers―children and adults alike―talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.

My Review: Whew. This is a powerful text that is accessible to all ages. I could imagine reading this to a class of elementary schoolers, and I could imagine reading it aloud to a group of adults. The book is a poem that reads in layers. It offers a surface-level understanding for beginning readers and also offers a rich conception and application for more mature readers. Following a police shooting, the narrator feels a wealth of very real emotions, and each spread navigates the emotions with beautifully woven language and powerful images. I believe that Zetta Elliot is one of the greatest authors of our time, and I felt this book in my gut. It is a must read.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might use this text to unpack the many levels of emotions that students experience with events. One way to use this book is to ask students to pick a recent event and write a poem about the varied emotions they felt (or feel) regarding the event.

Discussion Questions: 

  • How do the author and illustrator depict the emotions within the text?
  • What nuances do you see in the different emotions?
  • How can we use this text to enact change in our community?

Flagged Passage: 

 

Read This If You Love: I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson, You Matter by Christian Robinson, I Walk With Vanessa by Kerascoët

Recommended For: 

classroomlibrarybuttonsmall 

Educators’ Guide for Leave It to Abigail: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams by Barb Rosenstock, Illustrated by Elizabeth Haddeley

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Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams
Author: Barb Rosensock
Illustrator: Elizabeth Haddeley
Published: February 4th, 2020 by Little, Brown and Company

Summary: In this inspiring tribute, award-winning author Barb Rosenstock and New York Times bestselling artist Elizabeth Baddeley tell the true story of one of America’s greatest founding mothers: Abigail Adams.

Everyone knew Abigail was different.

Instead of keeping quiet, she blurted out questions. Instead of settling down with a wealthy minister, she married a poor country lawyer named John Adams. Instead of running from the Revolutionary War, she managed a farm and fed hungry soldiers. Instead of leaving the governing to men, she insisted they “Remember the Ladies.” Instead of fearing Europe’s kings and queens, she boldly crossed the sea to represent her new country. And when John become President of the United States, Abigail became First Lady, and a powerful advisor.

Leave it to Abigail–an extraordinary woman who surprised the world.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions: 

Please view and enjoy the official educators’ guide for Leave It to Abigail (created by me!):

You can also access the teaching guide here.

You can learn more about Fight of the Century here.

Barb Rosenstock also created two other resources for educators:
A Pinterest Board
A Text Set

Recommended For: 

readaloudbuttonsmall classroomlibrarybuttonsmall litcirclesbuttonsmall closereadinganalysisbuttonsmall

Kellee Signature

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 11/2/20

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Sharing Picture Books, Early Readers, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for All Ages!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. 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.

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!

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Tuesday: Blog Tour with Review and THREE BOOK Giveaway!: It’s Not Little Red Riding Hood by Josh Funk, Illustrated by Edwardian Taylor

Thursday: Don’t Judge Me by Lisa Schroeder

Saturday: Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow, Illustrated by Steven Salerno

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

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Kellee

This weekend was a three day weekend for my school district, and it was glorious! I had so much fun with my family that it is now bedtime on Sunday, and I haven’t done my IMWAYR post yet–oops! So I will update you all next week on my reading progress. Hope this week goes well for you and FINGERS CROSSED for Tuesday! 🙂

To learn more about any of these books, check out my 2020 Goodreads Challenge page  or my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I read and loved A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliot. She is one of my favorite authors, so I was really thrilled to read this one. I love how she writes books that are just so accessible for all ages.

And I finished my book revisions and turned in my book for peer review! Cross your fingers for me, please!

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Ricki

Right now I am hyper-focused on all of the fine details for the ALAN Workshop. It consumes my everyday, and with my main focus (always on teaching), I suspect I will not be reading anything for myself (beyond the books I reread each day for the kids).

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Tuesday: Educators Guide for Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams by Barb Rosenstock, Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley

Thursday: A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart by Zetta Elliott, Illustrated by Noa Denmon

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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!

 Signature andRickiSig