Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/9/17

January 9, 2017 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

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

Tuesday: Kellee’s Favorite Reads in 2016

Wednesday: Dining with Dinosaurs by Hannah Bonner

Thursday: Kellee and Ricki’s #mustreadin2017

Friday: Review and Giveaway!: Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer

Author Guest Post: “When an Academic Writes Fiction” by Tricia Clasen, Author of The Haunted House Project

So, what are you reading?

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

Wednesday: My husband, Jim, is running the Dopey Challenge (48.6 miles in 4 days!) at Walt Disney World’s Marathon Weekend, so I just know that I will not have a chance to write out my IMWAYR post on Sunday (we have dinner plans with his family), so I will catch you all up next week. Thank you for understanding 🙂

Happy reading this week!

Ricki

I finished Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia. Whew! I really enjoyed it! Reshma Kapoor knows she needs a hook to get her into Stanford, and her valedictorian status won’t be enough. She decides to write a book (this book). This book really nails the pressure that overachievers experience. Reshma is willing to do anything to maintain her valedictorian status. She is such an unlikeable character that I found her to be quite likable. I very much appreciated this book.

Henry and I read Eric Carle’s Opposites. I liked how this was a puffy board book because it felt nice. I also enjoyed how the flaps lifted the entire page upwards. Most opposite books have the two opposites juxtaposed on each page. This required Henry to guess what the opposite was before he could see it. Explaining the concept of opposites to a three-year-old is very difficult! We’ve read this book for two nights in a row, and I don’t know whether Henry is understanding the concept yet or whether he has the book memorized. I’ve been quizzing him about opposites during the day to try to figure it out!

This Week’s Expeditions

Ricki

I am halfway through Christopher Emdin’s For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too. This is my area of research, but I am still learning a lot. Emdin’s perspective is quite insightful, and he has me thinking and thinking. I highly recommend this book to teachers who teach in the hood–but also teachers who teach students of color. So…that is pretty much all teachers. 😉

I am listening to The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner and really enjoying it. I met Jeff at the ALAN Workshop and was really impressed by him, so I am happy to be diving into the book!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Ten Books We Are Looking Forward to in the First Half of 2017

Wednesday: Tales from the Arabian Nights by Donna Jo Napoli

Thursday: Teaching Guide for Barkus by Patricia MacLachlan

Friday: Teaching Guide for Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder

Sunday: Author Guest Post

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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Author Guest Post: “When an Academic Writes Fiction” by Tricia Clasen, Author of The Haunted House Project

January 8, 2017 by Kellee

When An Academic Write Fiction

I adore stories. I want to listen to them, watch them, write them, tell them, and live them. Publishing a novel, is truly a dream come true because I can’t wait to share one of my stories with the world. As a college professor of communication, however, I’ve also spent countless hours and pages (over)analyzing stories, themes, and characters.

So, what happens with someone who teaches gender and culture writes fiction? I felt some added pressure to think critically about the characters I was creating and what kind of potential impact they could have on the kids who would read about them. At the same time, I know it’s impossible to avoid all common tropes and stereotypes.

In addition to my forthcoming novel, I am also co-editor of a recently released Gendered Identities: Critical Re-readings of Gender in Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Routledge 2016), and one of my primary areas of study is communication and culture, which means I really should know better. I do know better, but what happens when theory meets practice?

When I teach popular culture in the media, I encourage students not only to analyze messages but also to attempt to create popular culture artifacts such as an advertisement. It forces students to consider what social constructions and stereotypes they rely on.

The goal isn’t necessarily to avoid all stereotypes because it’s not necessarily possible or realistic. My hope is that we become a little more active in the process of seeing how things like gender and culture are presented in our characters. In my case, at times, both my editor and I took a step back a few times to ask what was necessary to the story versus what might have been a description that only belonged in my head. I may have wanted to deal more overtly with some of the issues, but they weren’t central to this particular story which is focused on grief. Sometimes, it added an unnecessary layer to explore a cultural dimension.

That doesn’t mean books like The Haunted House Project aren’t important to discuss in relationship to those themes. Even when stories aren’t really about gender or culture, they are still telling kids what’s normal and what’s expected of them.

Here are a few things that writers, readers, teachers, and parents can think about:

Character Interests

Yes, many boys like to play sports, and many girls like make-up. But if that’s ALL we see, it can limit the possibility for kids to think outside of a rigid expectations. Having a range of characters with a variety of interests and activities can go a long way to alleviate this. It doesn’t mean that all girls in the story need to be math geniuses or that the boys should love to cook, but if kids can see options, it doesn’t pigeon-hole them.

Appearance

We probably talk more about this than any other aspect of gender and culture. Across all genres of popular culture, we critique the overt emphasis on physical beauty for women and girls. It creates unrealistic standards that influence self-esteem. Boys face problematic portrayals as well. In movies and television, boys are expected to be tough, tall, and muscular. Young adult and children’s literature deviates a bit, likely because it’s a time when young men are still developing, but then descriptions focus on perfect hair and eyes, for example. In a world of budding romance and descriptive writing, it’s not surprising that appearance is used to explain attraction.

Language and communication

Generally, for boys, expression of emotions is limited to anger and frustration, and open and honest communication about feelings is practically taboo while girls are more “emotional” and may cry more often.

Girls tend to me more willing to talk about relationships and their feelings as well. That may reflect reality for many people, but it certainly offers opportunities for students to address what is okay in relationships between friends and family members.

If a book (yes, even my own) does rely too heavily on these kinds of boxes, perhaps, students can be trained to see it and to call it out in their reading.

Even if, or maybe especially when, the themes of the book don’t center on gender or culture, pose questions in readings guides and discussion that help students draw make implicit assumptions more explicit.

For example, questions surrounding The Haunted House Project might include:

Why do you think Andie’s sister worked as a waitress?
Isaiah is openly described as geeky. Are those characteristics consistent for both boys and girls? Are girl geeks different than boy geeks?
Engage students in an exercise where they are challenged to write a short story without using any gender stereotypes. They will probably fail, and that will open up a great opportunity to discuss why we rely on them and what positive purposes they can serve.
Challenge students to find problematic descriptions of characters that may limit the way they are visualized by readers.
Ask students how characters might communicate with each other differently if they switched genders or cultures.

In many ways, children’s literature is probably more open to bending and twisting cultural expectations than other storytelling genres. Worlds aren’t as set in stone as they might be for older audiences.

It’s the perfect time for kids to start digging into all the social norms that go unstated in books they read. Not only does can it give them better critical reading skills, they can better understand their own relationships as a result.

The Haunted House Project
Author: Tricia Clasen
Published October 11th, 2016 by Sky Pony Press

Summary: Since her mom died, Andie’s family has crumbled. Instead of working, her dad gambles away insurance money, while her sister, Paige, has put her future on hold in order to pick up extra waitressing shifts. Andie’s afraid of what will happen if people find out just how bad things are. She’s not sure how long she can hide the fact that there’s no food or money in the house…or adults, for that matter.

When her science partner suggests they study paranormal activity, Andie gets an idea. She wants a sign from her mom—anything to tell her it’s going to be okay. Maybe the rest of her family does too. So she starts a project of her own. Pretending to be her mother’s ghost, Andie sprays perfume, changes TV channels, and moves pictures. Haunting her house is Andie’s last hope to bring her family back into the land of the living.

For anyone who loved Counting by 7s, The Haunted House Project is a journey through loss and grief, but ultimately a story of hope and self-reliance. As much as Andie has been changed by her mother’s death, the changes she makes herself are the ones that are most important.

About the Author: Tricia Clasen is a professor of communication with specialties in public speaking and pop culture and a research focus on critiquing young adult fiction. Always a lover of a good story, she grew up spending her days reading and dreaming of being a writer. This is her debut novel. She and her husband live with their two girls in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Thank you for the insight!

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Review and Giveaway!: Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer

January 8, 2017January 6, 2017 by Kellee

Your Alien Returns
Author: Tammi Sauer
Illustrator: Goro Fujita
Published October 4th, 2016 by Sterling Children’s Books

Summary: When you least expect it, something special will get your attention.
Your alien will be back.
He will invite you over for a play date.

Come along on an out-of-this-world experience! In this heartwarming sequel to the critically acclaimed Your Alien, it’s the human boy’s turn to visit the extraterrestrial’s home planet—and to feel like an outsider. But with a little help from his very best friend in the whole universe, our young hero finds a way to fit in. Like the two irresistible characters, readers will have the ride of their lives.

About the Author: Tammi Sauer is the author of many Sterling books, including Your Alien, Mary Had a Little Glam, Chicken Dance, Bawk & Roll, and Cowboy Camp. She is an active blogger and highly involved in the children’s writer community. Tammi has worked as a teacher and library media specialist, but now writes full time and visits schools around the country. She lives in Edmond, OK. Follow Tammi on Twitter @SauerTammi or visit her website at http://www.tammisauer.com/.

About the Illustrator: Goro Fujita was born in Japan and now lives in San Jose, CA. He works as a book illustrator, animator, and art director on virtual-reality experiences. Visit him online at area-56.de.

Review: I definitely recommend checking out the first book, Your Alien, and our review of it because it really does point out a lot of what made me definitely have to review the second book, and the second book did not disappoint. The theme of friendship and perspective rings true in the sequel as well but what I love the most about the narrator and his alien is the true friendship they have! They are an example of being able to be friends, true friends, without changing who you really are. And I am so in awe of the illustrations. Goro Fujita brings the story to life in such a fun and colorful yet realistic way!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: As we mentioned in the first book’s review, the point of view of this text is so unique! Tammi Sauer uses 2nd person point of view to bring the reader literally into the story and makes them part of it. Usually in elementary school when point of view is taught, only 1st and 3rd person are taught, but Your Alien and Your Alien Returns would give teachers away to show what 2nd person is and how it can be utilized in narrative form.

Discussion Questions: What emotions did the boy go through from the beginning to the end of the book?; How did the alien help the boy feel better when he was feeling left out?; How does the author’s choice of 2nd person POV change how the story experience is?; If you were going to retell the story like the narrator does for his parents at the end, how would you tell it?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Loved: Your Alien by Tammi Sauer, Faraway Friends by Russ Cox, Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, Life on Mars by Jon Agee

Recommended For:

Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Thank you to Lauren at Sterling for providing a copy for review!**

Ricki and Kellee’s #MustReadIn2017

December 17, 2017January 5, 2017 by Kellee

#MustReadIn2017 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.”

These are our hopeful lists. Some are books we’ve been wanting to read for a long time, while others are books we just really want to read as of right now (January 2016), and lastly, some are books we really need to read because we’ve promised someone. We included young adult and middle grade books because they are what we are always trying to push ourselves to read more of, but as Carrie said, we will absolutely be reading many books not on this list! And don’t worry, we will still be reading the latest and greatest picture books to our boys.

Now without further adieu:

Ricki’s #mustreadin2017

1. 33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp

2. Blankets by Craig Thompson

3. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride

4. Dime by E.R. Frank

5. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…And the Rest of Y’all, Too by Christopher Emdin

6. Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr

7. Ghost by Jason Reynolds Completed 1/27/2017

8. The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle Completed 5/28/2017

9. Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley Completed 6/12/2017

10. Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

11. Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

12. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

13. March by John Lewis Completed 7/1/2017

14. The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

15. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

16. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

17. Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

18. Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan

19. The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock Completed 10/23/2017

20. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Completed: 5 out of 20

Kellee’s #mustreadin2017

~~1. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer~~ 5/8/2017

~~2. A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold~~ 2/25/17

3. The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

~~4. Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina~~ 11/8/17

5. Dime by E.R. Frank

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

~~7. Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley~~ 8/18/17

~~8. History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera~~ 10/9/17

~~9. The Hunted by Matt de la Peña~~ 4/22/17

10. Little Monsters by Kara Thomas 10/6/17

~~11. March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin~~ 6/20/17

~~12. Posted by John David Anderson~~ 4/14/17

~~13. Scythe by Neal Shusterman~~ 9/5/17

~~14. Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan~~ 9/30/17

~~15. Simon vs. the Homo Sapians Agenda by Becky Albertalli~~ 4/27/17

16. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

~~17. Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper~~ 10/18/17

~~18. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon~~ 5/7/17

~~19. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin~~ 5/26/17

20. The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson

Completed: 16 out of 20

We’d love to hear about your #mustreadin2017 list!

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Dining with Dinosaurs: A Tasty Guide to Mesozoic Munching by Hannah Bonner

January 4, 2017 by Kellee

Nonfiction Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Also, I’d like to thank Sarah Brannen for making such a beautiful piece of artwork for our weekly nonfiction link up. It is perfect for illustrating why nonfiction is so important!

Dining with Dinosaurs: A Tasty Guide to Mesozoic Munching
Author: Hannah Bonner
Published September 20th, 2016 by National Geographic Children’s Books

Summary: Sure you know T-Rex was the meat-eating king and brontosaurus munched on leaves, but what else was on the dino dining menu during the Mesozoic era?

Meet the ‘vores: carnivores, piscivores, herbivores, insectivores, “trashivores,” “sunivores,” and omnivores like us.

Readers will be surprised and inspired to learn about dino diets and they’ll get to explore how scientists can tell which dinosaurs ate what just from looking at fossils!

Journey through artist and author Hannah Bonner’s whimsical world to learn how the dinosaurs and their contemporaries bit, chewed, and soaked up their food.

Review: Although the cover looks a bit silly, this text is to be taken seriously. Hannah Bonner does a wonderful job examining what different dinosaurs ate, the science behind what and why they ate what they did, how paleontologists know what dinos ate, and where all these dinosaurs fit in the grand scheme of things. Told in a unique structure that alternates between Hannah and a microraptor narrating and comic strip interviews with scientists, the text is not only informative but very entertaining.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This is going to be the perfect text for a dinosaur unit in a classroom. It allows for so many different discussions including the different periods within the Mesozoic Era (and Cenozoic Era), connections between dinosaur diets and modern animals, types of scientists that study dinosaurs, different species of dinosaurs, and even text structure. Such a wide range of opportunities for classroom discussion (and even extension activities from the discussions). Additionally, the back matter of the text is filled to the brim with information and even an experiment.

Discussion Questions: What are some ways paleontologists can tell which dinosaurs ate what?; What modern animals fit into each of the ‘vore categories in the text?; Why did the author choose to include the comic strip interviews throughout the book?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Dinosaurs

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Karen at Media Masters Publicity for providing a copy for review!!**

Kellee’s Favorite Reads in 2016

January 28, 2017January 3, 2017 by Kellee

In 2016, I am so proud of myself that I read 291 books! My goal was 250, so I surpassed it–YAY! Last year I finished 288, but I was able to keep track of first reads of so many picture books that I have now read over and over again and wasn’t able to put as 2016 books because I wanted to keep their original date on Goodreads, so I am considering this year a much better reading year.

Today, I want to share with you 60 favorites (broken up into 5 categories) from the 291 that I read in 2016. If you haven’t read any of these, put them on your TBR now!!!!!
*These are books I read in 2016, not books that were published (only) in 2016
**In no particular order
***I included links to Unleashing Readers reviews if I wrote one

My 15 Favorite Fiction Picture Books I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Shy by Deborah Freedman
A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
Pirasaurs! by Josh Funk
A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts
Return by Aaron Becker
We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen
Dear Dragon by Josh Funk
Nibbles: The Book Monster by Emma Yarlett

My 10 Favorite Non-Fiction Books I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Antsy Ansel by Cindy Jenson-Elliott
Dorothea’s Eyes by Barb Rosenstock
Hillary Rodham Clinton by Michelle Markel

My 5 Favorite Graphic Novels I Read in 2016

My 20 Favorite Middle Grade Novels I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

My 10 Favorite Young Adult Novels I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Rescued by Eliot Schrefer
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

This year was a phenomenal reading year; I hope yours was too! Here’s to another year full of books and stories!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/2/17

January 2, 2017January 2, 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

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

Tuesday: Ricki’s Favorite Reads of 2016

Wednesday: Natumi Takes the Lead by Gerry Ellis

Friday: Kellee and Ricki’s #MustReadin2016 Final Update!

Sunday: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love breaks for three main reasons: 1) Family, 2) Sleep, & 3) READING TIME! This last week, I read some truly amazing books! I am working on reading a good number of titles for our Mock Newbery Club, so I have been reading some of the best 2016 middle grade books out there! This week I got to The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner, All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor, and The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz. All three are very much worth the read and definitely a discussion in our Mock Newbery Club, but Perry T. Cook is special, and I am so glad that I read it.

I also read a Caldecott favorite this week, and I can see why everyone is raving about it! They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel is an interesting look at perspective and imagination.

Oh! And I finally read a best book of last year, and it has become an instant favorite for me. Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt is a perfect book; I loved every second.

Lastly, I read a few titles for review, Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer, The Book of Heroines & The Book of Heroes from National Geographic, and Ellie Ultra by Gina Bellisario, and I look forward to sharing them all with you in the near future.

P.S. I AM SO EXCITED to share my favorite reads of 2016 tomorrow! I hope you check it out 🙂

Ricki

I am back in the groove! It took me a little while, post-baby, to get back on track with reading. I may falter a bit as I finish my dissertation, but I am reading several solid books that are keeping me up at night!

I loved The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and will be presenting it at a roundtable at NCTE (if the proposal is accepted). What a powerful book! It took me a little time to finish it because I was listening to it, but I am so glad I’ve read it and experienced this beautiful story.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee

I hope to finish a couple of more books tomorrow and Tuesday before the kids come back on Wednesday. The first book I’m going to read is another Mock Newbery Club book:

I also have two graphic novels I want to read and one novel for an upcoming blog tour:

After that, I hope to have a few ebooks that are on hold at the library for me become available, so I will let you know what I get to.

Ricki

I’ve been raving about Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia. I have about 100 pages left, and then I will share more, but (spoiler alert) GET IT!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Kellee’s Favorite Reads in 2016

Wednesday: Dining with Dinosaurs by Hannah Bonner

Thursday: Kellee and Ricki’s #mustreadin2017

Friday: Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer

Sunday: Author Guest Post

So, what are you reading?

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