Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/8/18

January 13, 2018January 8, 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

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Tuesday: Ricki and Kellee’s #MustReadin2018 Lists

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

Happy New Year! I know I said I’d be back this week, but I forgot that Jim’s marathon weekend coincided with my Winter Break this year, so I am taking off one more week. (And the 8th is my first day back after break, so I have a feeling I am going to be exhausted!!) I will see you all next week 🙂

Ricki

Happy New Year! This year, I am determined to read more books. Last year was a bit crazy with my move to Colorado, and I read fewer books than I’ve read in the last decade. I am ready to get back in the grove.

We had a wonderful visit with family and friends back in Connecticut and Massachusetts. I’ll admit that I didn’t read a lot of YAL, but I did read a massive number of new picture books. We were able to hit up the library. 🙂 Below, I detail the books we really enjoyed.

The Wolf, The Duck, and The Mouse is another winning title by Mac Barnett. I am continually blown away by his work. He and Jon Klassen are a magical pairing. Blue vs. Yellow by Tom Sullivan is a great book to teach colors. It makes for a very fun read-aloud. Love, Triangle by Marcie Colleen is a very adorable story, and it teaches a great lesson. It’s very common for a new friend to come between two best friends, and I think this story will feel relevant to many children. I loved the almost wordless La La La by Kate DiCamillo. The illustrations were marvelous. Red & Lulu by Matt Tavares. Oh my goodness. I love, love, love reading this book aloud. Every time my son and I read it, we desperately turn the pages as we hope that Red will find Lulu. My son still insists that they need to put the Rockefeller tree back after it goes up, and he argues with the book every time we finish. Flashlight Night by Matt Forrest Esenwine is a very fun book. A friend called me to tell me that it was her son’s new favorite book, so I was excited to read it. It’s quite clever.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee

I am finally out of my slump! I cannot wait to share with you next week everything I’ve read!

Ricki

I am really enjoying We Are Okay by Nina LaCour. It’s very sad, so I am reading it in small segments.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Kellee’s Favorite Reads of 2017: Picture Books and Early Readers

Wednesday: Kellee’s Favorite Reads of 2017: Middle Grade and Young Adult

Thursday: Review and Giveaway!: Don’t Forget Dexter by Lindsay Ward

Friday: Ricki’s Top Ten (*ahem* Thirteen) Favorite Reads of 2017

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!

and

Ricki and Kellee’s #MustReadIn2018

January 8, 2019January 2, 2018 by Ricki

#MustReadIn2018 is hosted by Carrie Gelson at There Is A Book For That:

“For anyone out there with a To Be Read list that seems like it will never end, this challenge is for you! This is all about making your own personal list of books (5? 10? 20? 30? more?) that you commit to reading in 2016. Books can be published in any year, be from any genre, and be from any category (adult, YA, MG, Graphics, NF, etc.). As your TBR list grows, you promise you will get to the books on this list.”

You will find our hopeful 2018 must read lists below. Some are books that we keep telling ourselves that we will read (but never got around to reading), some are new books that we are really excited about, and some are books that we simply need to read because we promised someone that we would read them. We focused on MG and YA literature for our lists, but do not worry–we’ll still be reading picture books, too!

Now without further adieu:

Kellee’s #mustreadin2018

Okay, so I am being super ambitious this year. First, I have a few authors that I am going to try to read multiple books from because I either love their work, haven’t read anything by them, or am Skyping with them with my book club, so I just listed the author. Then, I made a list of books I really want to read either because my students love them or I just have wanted to read it for a while. Finally, I added a few copies of books that my students asked me to add to the list. All of this equaled a crazy list that I may not get through, but I love it!

~~1. Laurie Halse Anderson~~
Vet Volunteers #1: Fight for Life 6/14/2018
Vet Volunteers #2: Homeless 6/19/18
Vet Volunteers #3: Trickster 6/19/18
Twisted 6/20/18
Vet Volunteers #4: Manatee Blues 7/7/18
Vet Volunteers #5: Say Goodbye 7/19/18
Vet Volunteers #6: Storm Rescue 7/27/18
Vet Volunteers #7: Teacher’s Pet 7/27/18
Vet Volunteers #8: Trapped 8/5/18

~~2. Joseph Bruchac~~
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story 7/21/18
“Choke” from Guys Read: Sports Pages 7/21/18

~~3. Eric Gansworth~~
“Don’t Pass Me By” from Fresh Ink 2/26/2018

~~4. Dan Gemeinhart~~
Some Kind of Courage 4/21/2018
Good Dog 4/28/2018

~~5. Alan Gratz~~
Prisoner B-3087 2/8/2018

~~6. Mitali Perkins~~
Open Mic edited by Mitali Perkins including her story “Three-Pointer” 3/17/2018
Tiger Boy 5/15/2018
Rickshaw Girl 5/13/2018

~~7. Gae Polisner~~
The Memory of Things 1/22/2018

~~8. Rick Riordan~~
Reread The Lost Hero 7/13/18
Son of Neptune 7/29/18
Mark of Athena 8/16/18
House of Hades 9/1/18

~~9. Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich~~
“Confessions of a Black Geek” from Open Mic 3/17/2018
Two Naomis 3/27/2018

~~10. Eliot Schrefer~~
The Deadly Sister 2/11/2018
Mez’s Magic 2/25/2018
Orphaned 7/6/18

~~11. Laurel Snyder~~
Swan 1/6/2018
The Longest Night 1/6/2018
Forever Garden 1/11/2018
Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to be Kosher 1/13/2018
Any Which Wall 1/13/2018
Seven Stories Up 1/14/2018
Bigger Than a Breadbox (reread) 1/15/2018
Good night, laila tov 1/16/2018
Orphan Island 1/17/2018

~~12. Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed 7/19/18~~

~~13. Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan 7/15/18~~

~~14. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy 8/12/18~~

~~15. The False Prince trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen~~
The False Prince 3/4/2018
The Runaway King 3/13/2018
The Shadow Throne 4/3/2018

16. First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez

17. Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter

18. Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

~~19. The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer~~
Started, but then my library loan expired. Will continue listening as soon as it is available.

20. Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

21. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson

22. Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

~~23. Rebels by Accident by Patricia Dunn~~
1/27/2018

~~24. ~~A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket~~~~
The Bad Beginning 2/14/2018

~~25. Serpent’s Secret by Sayantani Dasgupta~~
Decided to wait until more of the series is out.

~~26. Solo by Kwame Alexander~~
8/18/2018

27. The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore

~~28. ~~Stung series by Bethany Wiggins~~~~
Stung 4/1/2018
Cured 4/4/2018

29. The Testing trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau

~~30. Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman~~
1/5/2018

31. The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

~~32. What Girls are Made of by Elana K. Arnold~~
7/25/18

~~33.~~ ~~Young Elites trilogy by Marie Lu~~
Young Elites 9/27/18

Completed: 22 out of 33

Ricki’s #mustreadin2018

1. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

2. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

3. Blankets by Craig Thompson

4. Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough December 2018

5. C~~hildren of Blood and Bone~~ ~~by Tomi Adeyemi~~ August 2018

6. Dear Martin by Nic Stone

7. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes December 2018

8. Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender

9. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

10. A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi

11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

12. Piecing Me Together by Reneé Watson July 2018

13. Sometimes We Tell the Truth by Kim Zarins

14. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

15. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

16. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Completed: 4 out of 16

Have you read any of these titles? What’s on your #mustreadin2018 list?

and

#mustreadin2018 Spring Update

#mustreadin2018 Fall Update

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/1/18

January 2, 2018January 1, 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

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Thursday: #MustReadin2017 Final Update

Have a safe and wonderful New Year’s Day! Enjoy whatever more time you have off (we will!), and we’ll see you next Monday 🙂

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Ricki’s and Kellee’s #MustReadin2018 Lists

So, what are you reading?

and

Ricki and Kellee’s #MustReadIn2017 Final Update!

December 28, 2017 by Kellee

#MustReadIn2017 is hosted by Carrie Gelson at There Is A Book For That:

Our (hopeful) #mustreadin2017 Lists:

Ricki

I completed 5 out of 20. This is disappointing to me because I usually do much better to this. Moving to Colorado really put a damper on my reading. I still can’t find most of these books in the boxes that I packed back in July, and I don’t feel compelled to buy new copies. I did read a lot this year, but I didn’t focus strongly enough on this list. I won’t do as poorly next year. Bah!

The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Finished 10/23/17

I absolutely adore this book. It’s written so beautifully. I can’t wait to read Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s next book. Her writing is so different. She is wildly talented. It also doesn’t hurt that she is a fantastic person.

Kellee

I completed 16 out of 20!

I always have a slow start to my #mustread lists, but I pick it up as the year goes on, and this year was the best yet! 80% read!

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
Finished 11/8/17

Burn Baby Burn was such a good read! It is so much more than I thought it was going to be. It was a look at the effects of divorce, the challenges of having a mentally ill sibling, the struggles during the summer of Son of Sam and the NYC blackout, and mostly about growing up and figuring out what you want to be.

Everyone We’ve Been by Sarah Everett
Finished 9/15/17

I picked this because it reminded me a bit of More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, but it ended up being more different than the same. The only similarity was the manipulation of memory.

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
Finished 10/9/17

Whoa. What a roller coaster. The book switches between the past where Griffin and Theo were in love and the present where Theo has passed away and his current boyfriend, Jackson, comes to town for the funeral. Heartbreaking yet hopeful. You’ll only understand if you read.

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
Finished 10/6/17

Little Monsters was a mystery that I just couldn’t solve which is my favorite type! The ending was shocking and overall the story was so crazy and messed up!

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Finished 9/5/17

This may be one of my favorite books of all time. I cannot wait to read Thunderhead. If you haven’t read this, just trust me: READ IT!

Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Finished 9/30/17

I loved this look at how one thing cannot define a person. And although I loved Julia’s story, it was the secondary characters who made this story for me.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper
Finished 10/18/17

Draper is brilliant at everything she does. Stella lives in the segregated South but all had been primarily peaceful until one night the KKK shows itself in the darkness. Stella by Starlight is the story of Stella’s coming of age but also of her community’s fight in a place full of prejudice.

How did you do with your #mustreadin2017 list?

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 12/25/17

December 25, 2017 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

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Tuesday: Ten Books We Hope Santa Brings to our Boys

Wednesday: Review and Author Interview!: If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy & Greg Newbold

Thursday: Windows by Julia Denos

Friday: Children of Exile and Children of Refuge by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate!

Enjoy your time off with your families and friends and books 🙂

Merry Everything and a Happy Always to all!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Thursday: #MustReadin2017 Final Update

So, what are you reading?

and

Children of Exile (#1) & Children of Refuge (#2) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

December 22, 2017 by Kellee

Children of Exile
Published September 13th, 2016 by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers

Children of Refuge
Published September 12th, 2017 by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Children of Exile Summary: For the past twelve years, adults called “Freds” have raised Rosi, her younger brother Bobo, and the other children of their town, saying it is too dangerous for them to stay with their parents, but now they are all being sent back. Since Rosi is the oldest, all the younger kids are looking to her with questions she doesn’t have the answers to. She’d always trusted the Freds completely, but now she’s not so sure.

And their home is nothing like she’d expected, like nothing the Freds had prepared them for. Will Rosi and the other kids be able to adjust to their new reality?

Children of Refuge Summary: After Edwy is smuggled off to Refuge City to stay with his brother and sister, Rosi, Bobo, and Cana are stuck alone—and in danger—in Cursed Town in the thrilling follow-up to Children of Exile from New York Times bestselling author, Margaret Peterson Haddix.

It’s been barely a day since Edwy left Fredtown to be with his parents and, already, he is being sent away. He’s smuggled off to boarding school in Refuge City, where he will be with his brother and sister, who don’t even like him very much. The boarding school is nothing like the school that he knew, there’s no one around looking up to him now, and he’s still not allowed to ask questions!

Alone and confused, Edwy seeks out other children brought back from Fredtown and soon discovers that Rosi and the others—still stuck in the Cursed Town—might be in danger. Can Edwy find his way back to his friends before it’s too late?

Review: One thing you can always guarantee when you read a Haddix book is that it will suck you in and will be super unique! The Children of Exile series did not disappoint. I will admit, it is really hard to review either of the books without spoiling. The summaries above both did a really great job, but everything that happens after that suspense-building summary happens would spoil something for you. But I will promise you these things:

You will be on the edge of your seat and not be able to figure out what is going on for 90% of the first book.
You will be disgusted by the treatment of the children once they are returned to their parents.
You will want to help Edwy and his friends so badly throughout the entire second book.
You will have to stop reading when the reveal happens in the first book just to process it. Then you’ll reread. Then you’ll text someone who has read it.
You will want to know more than book 2 tells you, so we’ll all be waiting impatiently for #3.
You will realize that these books are actually a bit older and darker than they first seem.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Like other Haddix books, you will find the best home for these books in the hands of kids. They are going to be talking about these books after they read them!

Discussion Questions: Discussion questions are available on Haddix’s website.

Flagged Passages: “‘Remember to be good little children!’

Good little children, good little children, good little children…

I saw children crying and clinging to their Fred-parents’ legs. I saw men yanking babies from their Fred-parents’ arms. I turned my back to my own Fred-mama and Fred-daddy — maybe to grab them as hard as I could — but the crowd surged just then, pushing Bobo and me up the stairs. I couldn’t see my Fred-parents anymore. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell them a proper good-bye.” (Children of Exile, Chapter 3)

“I’d been counting on being able to run fast enough no one caught up.

‘Good,’ an oily voice whispered in my ear. ‘Now you understand that screaming is useless.’

‘No, I was just–‘ Before I could add deciding what to scream next, a thick hand slid over my mouth. It smelled of onions and sweat and mud and, I don’t know, maybe puke as well.” (Children of Exile, Prologue)

Read This If You Love: Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman, Masterminds by Gordon Korman, Spillzone by Scott Westerfeld

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Casey at Media Masters for providing copies for review!**

Windows by Julia Denos

December 21, 2017 by Ricki

Windows
Author: Julia Denos; Illustrator: E. B. Goodale
Published: October 17, 2017 by Candlewick

Goodreads Summary: Walking his dog at dusk, one boy catches glimpses of the lives around him in this lovely ode to autumn evenings, exploring your neighborhood, and coming home.

Before your city goes to sleep, you might head out for a walk, your dog at your side as you go out the door and into the almost-night. Anything can happen on such a walk: you might pass a cat, or a friend, or even an early raccoon. And as you go down your street and around the corner, the windows around you light up one by one until you are walking through a maze of paper lanterns, each one granting you a brief, glowing snapshot of your neighbors as families come together and folks settle in for the night. With a setting that feels both specific and universal and a story full of homages to The Snowy Day, Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale have created a singular book — at once about the idea of home and the magic of curiosity, but also about how a sense of safety and belonging is something to which every child is entitled.

My Review: This quiet book captured my heart. My husband used to live in Somerville, and this text beautifully captures the beauty of the city—and the beauty of many cities. I love the way that the author and illustrator reveal that peaking into windows allows us to view a slice of someone else’s world. We don’t see their entire world, but we see the sliver that they allow us to see. This book reminds us to pause and look around us. I am saving this book to give to my son for his birthday because I know he will love it. It’s a book that any person of any age will appreciate.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might start by asking students to draw a window and the people inside of it. Then, students could move to writing about that family. Perhaps, the window reflects the beauty of those individuals’ world, or perhaps, it doesn’t show the truth. I love the possibilities that this book allows for teachers.

Discussion Questions: What would a window to your house look like? How might each room appear a bit different?; What do we see through the windows of others? What might we miss?

We Flagged:

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

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Candlewick for providing a copy for review!**