Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 8/27/18

August 27, 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.

CONGRATULATIONS
John S.
for winning the It’s Show and Tell, Dexter giveaway!

Tuesday: Books for Ricki’s Fall 2018 Adolescents’ Literature Course

Wednesday: Picture Book Science Series: Physical Science for Kids by Andi Diehn

Thursday: Drawn Together by Minh Lê

Friday: Teaching Guide and Review!: Water in May by Ismée Amiel Williams

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

Kellee

I haven’t yet gotten a good balance of work and reading. I’m reading every day but not much because I fall asleep… I’m chugging along, and I know that time will get on my side again soon!

Ricki

I loved Little Man Little Man by James Baldwin. It is his one book written for young people, and I am so excited that it is being printed. The illustrations and the writing are both stunning. This book is a gift to the world.

I REREAD If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth. I love this book. After the brave women came forward about Sherman Alexie and I learned more about what he has done with Native authors, I decided to make the switch. This book was a naturally easy choice. My TAs told me they enjoyed reading it even more than True Diary, and I am really looking forward to hearing my students’ reactions tomorrow!

I reread Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh for the second time this week. I love this book—from the words to the illustrations to the accordion-style printing.

Kellee

LOVING both of these! I think I’ll be able to finish Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman this week (I have about 2 hours left in the audiobook), and I hope to make a dent in The House of Hades.

Ricki

I am still listening to The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed. When I first started it, I wasn’t sure if it would be a good audio book. But it kicked into high gear, and it is making for a wonderful listening experience.

Tuesday: Our Big Book Summer Challenge

Wednesday: Nonfiction Picture Book Round Up

Thursday: Little Man Little Man by James Baldwin

Friday: Fiction Picture Book Round Up

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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Teaching Guide and Review!: Water in May by Ismée Amiel Williams

August 24, 2018 by Kellee

Water in May
Author: Ismée Amiel Williams
Published September 12th, 2017 by Abrams Books

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Mari Pujols believes that the baby she’s carrying will finally mean she’ll have a family member who will love her deeply and won’t ever leave her—not like her mama, who took off when she was eight; or her papi, who’s in jail; or her abuela, who wants as little to do with her as possible. But when doctors discover a potentially fatal heart defect in the fetus, Mari faces choices she never could have imagined.

Surrounded by her loyal girl crew, her off-and-on boyfriend, and a dedicated doctor, Mari navigates a decision that could emotionally cripple the bravest of women. But both Mari and the broken-hearted baby inside her are fighters; and it doesn’t take long to discover that this sick baby has the strength to heal an entire family.

Inspired by true events, this gorgeous debut has been called “heartfelt, heartbreaking and—yes!—even a little heart-healing, too” by bestselling YA novelist Carolyn Mackler.

About the Author: Ismée Williams is a pediatric cardiologist who practiced at the Columbia University Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City for fifteen years. She currently sees patients at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. As the daughter of a Cuban immigrant, partially raised by her abuelos, her background helped her understand the many Maris she met along the way. Water in May is her first novel.

Praise:

“Full of spot-on cultural texture and packing an emotional punch, this is an unusual take on the teen-pregnancy problem novel… Williams presents her experience in a way that demands not pity but respect while also reminding readers of Mari’s heartbreaking youth and innocence at unexpected times…Fierce and tender—and absolutely worth reading.” — Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

“Mari is a deeply credible character, a girl who’s always spoiling for a fight, usually a physical one, but who’s turning that impulse into fighting for her baby. Williams, formerly a pediatric cardiologist at Columbia, brings vivid authenticity to the medical side of things, including the details of life with a baby in the NICU and the varying personalities of health care personnel.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This novel is realistic and compelling, heartfelt and heartbreaking all at the same time. The author’s experience as a pediatric cardiologist brings authenticity to her writing as much as does her experience of navigating cultural barriers. Young adult readers will connect with Mari’s feisty personality, strength, and vulnerability.” — VOYA Magazine

Review: Mari’s story is one that isn’t often told. Mari is someone most people would see on the streets and would try to ignore because getting to know her would be getting to know how hard life in America can be. But Mari is also someone who is stronger than many of us will ever be. Her story is one that will make readers think about assumptions OR will help readers see a mirror into struggles they may be having in life. Although I hope teens don’t see Mari’s story as an invitation for a teenage pregnancy, I believe the truth of her hardships show the tremendous change a baby brings to life and will show that Mari’s decisions are made out of desperation when there are other paths she could have taken. Some who read the book have said they don’t like Mari as a character, but I found that when Mari was frustrating, it was because she was acting like what she is: a fifteen-year-old girl trying to find her place in this crazy world.

Teachers Guide with Activities and Discussion Questions written by me:

Guide can also be accessed through Abrams Books’s Resource Page.

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Ismée Williams for finding me and allowing me to complete this guide!**

Drawn Together by Minh Lê

August 23, 2018 by Ricki

Drawn Together
Author: Minh Lê
Illustrator: Dan Santat
Published: June 5, 2018 by Disney-Hyperion

Summary: When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens-with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words.

With spare, direct text by Minh Lê and luminous illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, this stirring picture book about reaching across barriers will be cherished for years to come.

Ricki’s Review: This book is absolutely stunning. It will certainly be making my favorites list this year. It is a solid contender for the Caldecott this year. The story and illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Due to a language barrier, a boy and his grandfather have difficulty communicating with each other. Through drawing, they discover a deep, magical connection with each other. This book pulled at my heart. It is one that I will remember for a long time.

Kellee’s Review: This gorgeous book took my breath away. Actually. I read it at ALA Annual, and when I finished, I looked around to find someone to just feel with because the emotions were overflowing within me! The celebration of art and family and the feeling of being stuck between two worlds and not being to connect with a family member were all things that just touched me. It is a book that I had to own, I now will buy for so many people, and I cannot wait to share with my students and my son.

Teacher’s Tool For Navigation: Teachers might ask students to try to sit with a peer partner that they don’t know very well and try to connect with each other without speaking. Then, they might take a piece of paper and use drawing as a means to try to connect with their partner. This has the potential to spark conversations about language, relationship, and humanity.

Discussion Questions:

How does the story evolve? How do the characters evolve?;
What do the characters learn?;
What does the story teach us about language? Communication? Relationships? Bravery?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham, Harlem by Walter Dean Myers

Recommended For:

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Picture Book Science Series: Physical Science for Kids by Andi Diehn

August 22, 2018 by Kellee

Picture Book Science: Physical Science for Kids
Author: Andi Diehn
Illustrator: Shululu
Published March 1st, 2018 by Nomad Press

Series Summary: By combining children’s natural curiosity with prompts for keen observations and quick experiments, Physical Science for Kids provides a fun introduction for kids to the physical science that rules our world! Great for beginner readers or as a read aloud for younger children. Children are introduced to physical science through detailed illustrations paired with a nonfiction narrative that uses fun language to convey familiar examples of real-world connections.

Encourages the development of important skills, including observing, connecting, problem solving, and model testing.
Explores vocabulary, encouraging readers to make language arts connections and conclusions.
Visually stimulating, detailed illustrations make this an excellent choice as a read aloud for younger children.

Waves Summary: You can find waves just about everywhere you look! Take a tour of the world of waves in this fun, illustrated introduction to the concept of waves and energy and their presence in our world. This installment in Picture Book Science encourages readers to observe lots of different kinds of waves, including those found in water, wheat, a baseball stadium, and even invisible waves!

Forces Summary: Our world operates the way it does because of forces. Gravity, magnetism, pulling and pushing, and friction are some of the many forces that affect the way we move on Earth. They even affect the Earth itself-without gravity, the world would eventually fly apart! In Forces: Physical Science for Kids, readers observe different types of forces, including gravity, magnetism, pulling, pushing, and friction.

Energy Summary: When you feel like running, leaping, and singing, people might say you have a lot of energy. And you’re not the only one! Energy is the stuff that makes everything live and move. People, animals, plants-we all need energy to live! In Energy: Physical Science for Kids, readers discover different forms of energy, including heat, light, and chemical energy, that keep the world working and moving.

Matter Summary: Everything you can touch and hold is made up of matter-including you, your dog, and this book! Matter is stuff that you can weigh and that takes up space, which means pretty much everything in the world is made of matter! In Matter: Physical Science for Kids, readers discover the basic building block of most of the material they come in contact with every day, including themselves-matter!

About the Creators:

Andi Diehn is a writer, editor, and book critic with a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She has published dozens of articles, stories, and essays and spent many hours volunteering in her son’s classrooms. She lives in Enfield, New Hampshire, with her family.

Website: andidiehn.com
Facebook: facebook.com/andi.diehn
Twitter: twitter.com/lostinthree
Instagram: instagram.com/andiwritesbooks

Shululu (Hui Li) has always been driven by curiosity. She received a PhD in computational chemistry from the University of Chicago. Her research has been published in the world’s most influential science journals, including Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She is devoted to bringing joy and science to young readers through fun illustrations! She lives with her husband in New York, NY.

Website: shulululee.com
Twitter: twitter.com/shululustudio
Instagram: instagram.com/shulululee

Review: Young children have so many questions about the world and how everything works. Curiousity runs wild in their brains, but more than anything they just want to learn and absorb. This series is a must get for parents, classrooms, and libraries because it addresses many of the questions that kids have.

Each book begins with a poem that introduces the topic then is followed by lyrical text going through scientific information about the topic of the book. Mixed in with the text are “TRY THIS” sidebars with fun experiments for kids to take the text into the real world.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Each of the books has a classroom guide!! The guides have Essential Questions for Before, During, and After Reading; Key Vocabulary; and Common Core Connections:

Classroom Guide for Waves

Classroom Guide for Forces

Classroom Guide for Energy

Classroom Guide for Matter

Discussion Questions: Example questions from the classroom guides:

How do we know something exists if we cannot see it?
What would the world be like if there was no energy?
How are forces created?
How are magnets and gravity related to each other?
How is energy related to waves?
How do science activities help you learn about energy?
The word “matter” can mean lots of different things. Can you think of other words that are the same but have different meanings?
How might we weigh things that are too large to hold in our hands or put on a scale?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Sharing science with children

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Nomad Press for providing copies for review!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 8/20/18

August 20, 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.

Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday: Small Things to Build Community and Rapport in Your Classrooms

Wednesday: Book Tour with Review and Giveaway!: It’s Show and Tell, Dexter! by Lindsay Ward
Giveaway open until FRIDAY!

Thursday: It’s Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer

Friday: Blog Tour with Reviews and Teaching Tools: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell & Corinna Luyken

Sunday: Author Guest Post and Reading Guide!: “How a love of language and travel influenced The Magic of Melwick Orchard” by Rebecca Caprara

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

Kellee

I finished both Dumplin’ and The Mark of Athena this week! I LOVED Dumplin’, and I cannot wait to read Puddin’. I wish Will had existed when I was a kid. I also finished The Mark of Athena, and I am finally getting into the series, and the cliffhanger definitely makes me want to get to House of Hades as soon as I can!

Trent definitely has found some favorite books over these last couple of weeks. Some of them revolve around his love for stuffed animals. First, he is LOVING all of Salina Yoon’s books! Penguin and Bear always have to join us when we read about them or their friends. We’ve read many Penguin, Bear, and Duck books recently. Second, he is still loving Pete the Cat! Anything Pete the Cat. And finally, Nibbles is still a favorite as well. We read both of his books over and over. His other favorite reads right now are all Tinyville Town books. He loves all of the different characters, and he gets so excited when he notices that a character from one book is in another!

Ricki

Our classes start this week, so I’ve been planning, planning, planning. I feel like I am on a rollercoaster. I am the type of person who overplans for each day and then adjusts 90% of what I had planned when I meet the students. It is probably an exorbitant waste of time, but I can’t stop myself.

My neighbors brought us a box of old books that they no longer want. My son and I have been reading a lot of old favorites like Make Way for Ducklings. I very much abide by the mantra that you can never have too many books, and I am realizing that my kids’ rooms might look a bit nicer if they didn’t have stacks of books everywhere. Ah, well.

Kellee

Our first Faculty & Staff Book Club choice is Solo by Kwame Alexander, so I started it this weekend. I am also listening to Vincent and Theo, and I am in awe of the brilliance of Deborah Heiligman’s ability to weave such a fascinating nonfiction narrative.

Ricki

I started The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed on audio. So far, I like it a lot!

Tuesday: Books for Ricki’s Fall 2018 Adolescents’ Literature Course

Wednesday: Picture Book Science Series: Physical Science for Kids by Andi Diehn

Thursday: Drawn Together by Minh Lê

Friday: Teaching Guide and Review!: Water in May by Ismée Amiel Williams

and

Author Guest Post and Reading Guide!: “How a love of language and travel influenced The Magic of Melwick Orchard” by Rebecca Caprara

August 19, 2018 by Kellee

“How a love of language and travel influenced The Magic of Melwick Orchard”

If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be?

Flight? Invisibility? Super strength?

I’d choose Omniglotism, also known as the ability to speak every language in the world. Imagine the places you could go, the books you could read, the people and cultures you could connect with if you had a power like that.

As you can probably tell, my love of language is connected with my interest in travel. When I was a child, I dreamed of exploring the wide world and I’ve been globetrotting ever since, visiting more than 50 countries to date. Whenever I travel, I carry a notebook. In it, I sketch things I see, jot story ideas, and gather vocabulary—often in different languages. These words are like candy: sweet, colorful, delightful morsels worth savoring.

Some of my favorites include Selamat Pagi, which means Good Morning in Malay and sounds as cheerful as birdsong.

In Italian, I adore the term Aspirapolvere, which translates to Dust Breather—an infinitely cooler name for the humble household vacuum cleaner.

I also love words for which there is no English equivalent, such as the Japanese Komorebi, which describes the dance between light and leaves as the sun shines through treetops. It’s like an entire poem compressed into a single, miraculous word.

When I began writing my debut middle grade novel, The Magic of Melwick Orchard, my fascination with language inevitably found its way onto the page, primarily through the voice of Junie. In the book, 6-year-old Junie mashes and mixes words together in a process I call Frankensteining—an idea inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel, my travel notebooks, and a design exercise I learned in architecture school which involves cutting and pasting building plans of the same scale to generate new structures.

This process produced some of Junie’s signature vocabulary, such as perfecterrific (perfect + terrific), worstible (worst-most-horrible), and squg (a squeezing hug full of love). Even the mysterious Melwick Orchard is a hybrid, combining part of my mother’s name, Melissa, with my father’s nickname, Wick.

Some of the most rewarding early feedback I’ve received from readers has been their connection to these invented words. One 9-year-old reader, inspired by Junie’s wordsmithing, described feeling nerve-cited (nervous + excited) about leaving for sleep-away camp for the first time. Teachers and librarians have also reached out with their plans to use the book in conjunction with creative writing and literacy exercises in the classroom. In response to this, we developed several extension and enrichment activities within the Melwick Orchard Reading & Discussion Guide devoted to wordplay. The Reading Guide is aligned with Common Core Standards and is available as a free download through my website (https://www.rebeccacaprara.com/educators).

If you would like to share your own linguistic creations or feedback about the book, I would love to hear from you. Readers can contact me at CapraraBooks@gmail.com or connect with through social media @RebeccaCaprara.

The Magic of Melwick Orchard releases September 1, 2018 with Carolrhoda Books. For every pre-ordered copy of the book, a donation will be made to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit organization raising funds for childhood cancer research.

Rebecca Caprara graduated from Cornell University and practiced architecture for several years, before shifting her focus from bricks to books. An avid globetrotter, she has lived in Italy, Singapore, and Canada. She is now growing roots in Massachusetts with her family.

The Magic of Melwick Orchard
Author: Rebecca Caprara
Coming September 1, 2018
Published by Carolrhoda/Lerner
ISBN-10: 1512466875 / ISBN-13: 978-1512466874
First edition: Hardcover; 376 pages
Middle Grade Fiction (Age Range: 8 – 14 Years)

About the Book: After more moves than they can count, Isabel and Junie’s family finally put down roots. People in town whisper strange stories about the abandoned orchard behind their new home, but the sisters are happy to have acres of land to explore and trees to swing beneath. For the first time in a while, life feels perfecterrific.

But then Junie is diagnosed with cancer and everything changes. Isa’s mom falls into a deep depression, and mounting medical bills force Isa’s dad to work longer and longer days. As for Isa… well, she’s slowly becoming invisible. No one seems to notice that her clothes are falling apart, her stomach is empty, and her heart is breaking.

In an act of frustration, Isa buries her out-grown sneakers in the orchard. The trees haven’t produced fruit in decades, but the next day something magical happens: a sapling sprouts the strangest, most magnificent buds Isa has ever seen. When they bloom to reveal an entire harvest of new shoes, Isa feels inspired. Can she use the magical tree to save her family?

Reading Guide:

Thank you, Rebecca, for the wordly perfect post!

Blog Tour with Reviews and Teaching Tools: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell & Corinna Luyken

August 17, 2018 by Kellee

Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse
Author: Marcy Campbell
Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Published August 14th, 2018 by Dial Books

Summary: A classic in the making, this heartwarming story about empathy and imagination is one that families will treasure for years to come.

Adrian Simcox tells anyone who will listen that he has a horse–the best and most beautiful horse anywhere.

But Chloe does NOT believe him. Adrian Simcox lives in a tiny house. Where would he keep a horse? He has holes in his shoes. How would he pay for a horse?

The more Adrian talks about his horse, the angrier Chloe gets. But when she calls him out at school and even complains about him to her mom, Chloe doesn’t get the vindication she craves. She gets something far more important.

Written with tenderness and poignancy and gorgeously illustrated, this book will show readers that kindness is always rewarding, understanding is sweeter than judgment, and friendship is the best gift one can give.

About the Creators:

Marcy Campbell lives in Ohio with her family and menagerie of rescued pets. Her writing for adults has been published widely in journals and magazines, including Salon. She grew up on a farm filled with cows, chickens, cats, and dogs, but she never had a horse. Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse is her debut picture book. You can visit her at www.marcycampbell.com.

Corinna Luyken grew up in different cities along the West Coast, and after studying at Middlebury College, she settled in Washington State, where she draws inspiration from nature, her family, and the human form. Her debut picture book, The Book of Mistakes, received four starred reviews and has been praised by Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Nerdy Book Club, and more.

Kellee’s Review: 43.1 million Americans (as of 2016) live below the poverty line. Adrian Simcox represents one of those kids while Chloe represents too many peers. But what made this book for me was Chloe’s transformation. It wasn’t Adrian who needed to change! Adrian is a wonderful kid that too many people judge based on his circumstances when really it is all about who he is, and I am so thankful for Chloe finding the truth out in the end. This book will make kids rethink how they judge others and really does emote empathy and kindness. And I couldn’t review this book without giving a shout out to the beautiful illustrations. They are ART.

Ricki’s Review: I loved this book so much that I bought a copy for my son’s preschool teacher. I love that it can be read from a multitude of angles, and it provides so much fodder for classroom conversations. The illustrations are magical, the story is magical—everything about this book is magical. My son’s preschool teacher told me that the kids asked her to read it four times in a row. Although I am not sure if they spent time discussing poverty, I do know that those children (at the very least) received implicit messages about the truth of poverty and the power of imagination. I suspect this book will receive some major awards. It is one of my favorites of the year.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Read this book aloud and talk about it with kids. Period. The illustrations can also definitely be visually analyzed. First, if you didn’t notice, there is a horse hiding in many of the illustrations. Second, so much of the story is told in the illustrations–don’t forget to analyze them!

Discussion Questions:

Why did Chloe judge Adrian without knowing him?
Why do you think Chloe cares so much about Adrian’s horse?
How did Chloe’s mom help her realize that she is not being compassionate?
How did the illustrator tell more of a story in the artwork?
Why do you believe the author wrote Adrian’s story?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët

Recommended For:

Don’t miss other stops on the blog tour:

August 6 – Lost in Storyland
August 7 – The Readathon
August 8 – Happily Ever Elephants
August 9 – Read. Learn. Repeat
August 10 – Kid Lit Frenzy
August 13 – Here Wee Read
August 14 – DoodleMom
August 15 – Eastern Sunset Reads
August 16 – Critter Lit
August 17 – Unleashing Readers

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**Thank you to Friya at Penguin Young Readers for setting up the blog tour!**