Unleashing Readers

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We Want to Reread

November 4, 2014 by Ricki

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Books We Want to Reread

We’d love to reread these books because they were incredible!

Ricki

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I could read this book a thousand times and never get tired of it. I last read it over a year ago, and I am antsy to read it again.

2. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

This is one of my favorite books. I haven’t read it in a few years, and I would love to get lost between the pages again.

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

This is one of my favorite classics. I have a beautiful, illustrated, vintage version that I would love to read.

4. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I haven’t read this book since I was very young. I bought a version and want to reread it again as an adult.

5. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Along the same lines, I’d love to reread this classic I enjoyed as a young girl

Kellee

1. The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

My favorite. I love to read it over and over and over.

2. Percy Jackson and the Olympians then The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Despite what The New Yorker says, I love Percy Jackson! I read all of the original series and then the first of the Heroes of Olympus series, but I haven’t read the rest! So, I’d love to reread them all and then continue the series.

3. Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix

I never read the final book in this series, so I would love to reread and finish.

4. Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz

Stormbreaker is one of my go-to book talk books because it is such a fun series, and I would truly enjoy living Alex’s adventures with him again.

5. The first book of so many series that I have not finished

I have so, so, so many series that I have started and not finished, and it has been too long to just jump into book 2 or 3. This means there are a lot of Book 1 of series that I need to reread.

Which books would you reread?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/3/14

July 27, 2015November 3, 2014 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. 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!

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee 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 to
TRACY B.
for winning a set of Maggie and Bramble series

Congratulations to
CRISTEN K.
for winning a copy of The Shadow Lattern

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Love To Be For Halloween

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

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This week was a great week! Halloween is so much more fun when you have a child!! Trent was one adorable dinosaur (and bee, pumpkin, and penguin over the last couple of weeks). Trent and I also read a fun Halloween themed book: Five Black Cats by Patricia Hegarty. It has great rhythm which made is so much fun to read.

I also was able to reading Mira’s Diary 2: Home Sweet Rome by Marissa Moss. I am a fan of these books because it teaches history while taking the reader on an amazing adventure. I have now started the 3rd one.

Ricki: I agree with Kellee. My little giraffe had an awesome Halloween, too! We read an awesome, new book by Oliver Jeffers called Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters. This book was great fun. I love Oliver Jeffers’ quirky sense of humor. I will post a full review soon! We also laughed with Bob Shea’s Don’t Play with your Food (Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie!). I highly recommend both of these picture books. I finished reading Mingshui Cai’s Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. This was a very interesting text that addressed many of the ongoing debates about multicultural literature. It made me think a lot—and thinking is a good thing!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: Like I said above, I am now reading the 3rd Mira’s Diary book which takes place in London. So far, so good! With Trent we are working our way through a Sesame Street box set of board books. So far we’ve read Zoe’s Gift and Grover’s Opposites and they are pretty cute books that serve a specific purpose. Will be good for teaching lessons later in Trent’s life.

Ricki: This week, I plan to read Goodnight Moon seven more times, based on my son’s demands. We will also read some great picture books. I let him pick, so I can’t predict those titles for you. I am in the middle of Suzanne Myers’ Stone Cove Island and really enjoying it. Lastly, I am reading Lynn Atkinson Smolen and Ruth A Oswald’s Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices. This should be my last, long PD text for the semester’s independent study. Then, I am off to start writing my literature review for my dissertation—ahh!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Top Ten Books We Want To Reread

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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Festival of the Bones / El Festival de las Calaveras: The Book for the Day of the Dead by Luis San Vicente

October 31, 2014 by Kellee

Festival of the Bones / El Festival de las Calaveras: The Book for the Day of the Dead
Author: Luis San Vincente
Translator: John William Byrd, Bobby Byrd
Published September 1st, 2002 by Cinco Puntos Press

Goodreads Summary: On Mexico’s Day of the Dead, the skeletons jump for sheer joy. And no wonder: they’ve been cooped up the whole year and now they’re ready to party. Watch the calaveras shake, rattle, and roll as they celebrate the biggest event of the graveyard’s social calendar!

About the Author: The works of Mexico City artist Luis San Vicente have been exhibited in Mexico, Venezuela, Europe, and the United States. He has won UNESCO’s prestigious NOMA Encouragement Concours Prize for Illustration, and UNESCO honored his work (1997, 1998, and 1999) in their prestigious Youth and Children’s Catalog of Illustrations.

My Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I first learned about the Day of the Dead when I lived in Texas. My father was the director Laguna Gloria, the art museum in Austin, and I saw some artwork from local Mexican-American artists that depicted the traditional skeleton seen in Day of the Dead art. My father then told me about the holiday and since then I have been quite intrigued with it. San Vicente’s story is a great introduction to the (kind of creepy) holiday, its history, and traditions. The text is in verse with a catchy rhythm and the illustrations are so lively AND it is bilingual. I loved seeing the text in Spanish and English. Then, the afterword further informs the readers about the holiday filling in any gaps left by the story.

Discussion Questions: What did you learn about Mexico’s Day of the Dead? How is it celebrated? What is its history? What food is eaten at the celebrations?

We Flagged:

“Giddyup! Giddyup!
Oh, they want to catch me.
To that ugly skeleton…
They want to marry me.

¡Arre! ¡Arre!
Oh, me quieren atrapar.
Para esa fea esqueleto …
Ellos quieren que se case conmigo.”

Recommended For:

Happy Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Eve, All Hallows’ Day and Day of the Dead!

**Thank you to Cinco Puntos Press for providing a copy for review**

The Worst Witch Series by Jill Murphy

November 9, 2014October 30, 2014 by Ricki

The Worst Witch Series

The Worst Witch #1

The Worst Witch Strikes Again #2

A Bad Spell for Worst Witch #3

The Worst Witch at Sea #4

The Worst Witch Saves the Day #5

The Worst Witch to the Rescue #6

By: Jill Murphy

Published by: Candlewick

Summary for Worst Witch #1: Mildred Hubble is a trainee witch at Miss Cackle’s Academy, and she’s making an awful mess of it. She’s always getting her spells wrong and she can’t even ride a broomstick without crashing it. Will she ever make a real witch?

Review: These books made me giggle. Mildred’s mistakes and misadventures as a witch are sure to entice young readers. I imagine beginning readers will fall in love with Mildred and her silly tales of woe. The illustrations make these excellent books for students who are just beginning to transition from picture books. Reading the books felt reminiscent of a Harry Potter series for younger readers, and they also reminded me of Amelia Bedelia. I adored these books and plan to read them to my son when he is older.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Students would have fun creating”To their own worst witch scenarios. What kinds of spells can they imagine that could go horribly wrong? I would love to read this series to young children around Halloween.

Discussion Questions: How does Mildred fail as a witch? Why do you think she is so unsuccessful?; How does Mildred show perseverance? Is she brave?

We Flagged: “To tell you the truth, Mildred was afraid of the dark, but don’t tell anyone. I mean, whoever heard of a witch who was scared of the dark” (p. 11)?

Read This If You Loved: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Amelia Bedelia series by Peggy Parish

Recommended For:

From Kellee’s (Huge) Library Pile Part One | Knock Knock by Daniel Beaty, What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada, Emily’s Blue Period by Cathleen Daly, This is a Moose by Richard T. Morris, My Teacher is a Monster by Peter Brown, & The Mermaid and the Shoe by K.G. Campbell

July 5, 2016October 29, 2014 by Kellee

Because of It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? posts, I find myself often with huge piles of picture books from the library that were highly recommended by fellow bloggers. I celebrate many of the nonfiction pictures books on Wednesdays, but I want to share some of the fiction picture books I have enjoyed. So, I decided to start series here on UR where I can pass on the love for these books sporadically as I read them. Here is a list of some great pictures books that I’ve read recently from my huge library pile (part 1!).

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me
Author: Daniel Beaty
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Published December 17th, 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Daniel Beaty’s def jam session brought to life with his beautiful words and some amazingly detailed and deep artwork. This is an important book as it deals with divorce/death/incarceration of a parent. This is one of those subjects that are not talked about in many picture books, but should be as millions of kids deal with it. Knock Knock is told from the point of view of a boy whose father doesn’t wake him up one morning and how he deals with the loss and continues to grow. Such a powerful book that will generate many conversations.

What Do You Do With An Idea?
Author: Kobi Yamada
Illustrator: Mae Besom
Published February 1st, 2014 by Compendium Inc.

What Do You Do With An Idea? is a book about the power of ideas and how you should nurture ideas and allow them to grow into whatever they are going to become. I love that it promotes creativity, imagination, and thinking as these are all things that are often pushed aside too often in the world of rushing and testing. This book would be a great companion to The Most Magnificent Thing and a read aloud of the two books would be a great basis for a unit.

Emily’s Blue Period
Author: Cathleen Daly
Illustrator: Lisa Brown
Published June 17th, 2014 by Roaring Brook Press

Emily’s Blue Period is actually a early chapter book that is about a much deeper topic than the cover/title makes it seem. Emily’s parents are divorced, and she is dealing with the emotions and frustration with her new separated life. These are feelings that so many children go through each year, and Cathleen Daly truly delves into this subject in a thoughtful and deep way. Additionally, I adore the inclusion of Picasso into the text as I felt it added an extra element to the text.

This Is A Moose
Author: Richard T. Morris
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld
Published May 6th, 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

This book actually made me laugh out loud. The poor duck director just wants to do a documentary on a moose, but the moose is definitely not cooperating. He wants more to life, and he is NOT acting like he should! And neither is the chipmunk. Or the giraffe (why is a giraffe there?!). Or anyone! What is a duck supposed to do?!?!
This book is going to be an amazing read aloud, and I am a huge fan of the end.

My Teacher Is A Monster
Author: Peter Brown
Published July 1st, 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

This book was very different than I thought it was going to be, and I am not going to give away what it is truly about because I want you to be able to discover it with you. Like always Peter Brown gives us a thoughtful, funny, well-done book that is going to be loved by kids.

The Mermaid and the Shoe
Author: K.G. Campbell
Published April 1st, 2014 by Kids Can Press

I adored K.G. Campbell’s illustrations in Flora and Ulysses, and he did not disappoint with The Mermaid and the Shoe. This book is about discovery and being different. Minnow is not like her sisters (all whom are perfect), and she just hasn’t figured out what she excels at yet; however, through some adventures, she finds out what she truly is good at. Minnow is a great role model for kids. She doesn’t let comments or other people’s judgments from being who she is.

What picture books should I add to my pile next?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Want To Be For Halloween

October 28, 2014 by Ricki

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Want To Be For Halloween

These characters would be a blast to be for Halloween!

Ricki

1. The Giving Tree from The Giving Tree

Throughout the night, I could get shorter and shorter.

2. The Giver from The Giver

I can rock a pretty sweet beard.

3. Lyra from The Golden Compass

Henry could be my daemon.

4. Fire from Fire

Can you imagine how cool my hair would be?

5. The Girl on the Cover of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

She is just really neat. Maybe I could figure out a way to levitate?

Kellee

I love the idea of family costumes, so these are the ones that I think would be the most fun to dress up as a family:

1. Cat and the Hat and Thing 1 & 2

I know it is kind of cliche, but they are a fun trio!

2. Elephant and Piggie

This is only a duo, so we’d have to figure out which parent wouldn’t dress up (or we could be the Pigeon!), but I would love to represent some Mo Willems!

3. Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Owl, or Roo

We are big Pooh fans here in the Moye house, so I know we’d all love to dress up as Pooh characters.

4. Harry Potter, Hermoine, and Ron

And my husband has red hair already!

5. Crayons from The Day the Crayons Quit

Love this book, love crayons, and would be fun to dress as them. I wonder which crayon will be Trent’s favorite!

Who would you love to dress up as?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/27/14

July 27, 2015October 27, 2014 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.

Congratulations
ANNE S.
for winning the set of hardcover copies of the Double Vision series!

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Top Series We Want To Start

Wednesday: Nonfiction Graphic Novels List

Thursday: Bramble and Maggie blog tour with a Q&A with author Jessie Haas

Friday: Author guest post from Teresa Flavin, author of The Shadow Lantern

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

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I had a wonderful reading week. I finished This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki and An Army of Frogs: Frogs versus Scorpions by Trevor Pryce and Joel Naftali. I really wanted to love This One Summer. I love coming-of-age stories, and I love graphic novels (and I love so many of First Second Books’ books); however, I just felt like this one was missing something. I did like it, but I wanted to love it. The artwork was fabulous though! And the blue really added a special tone to it. Well done, but I just didn’t connect to it the way I wanted to. In the world of anthropomorphic books, Trevor Pryce’s and Joel Naftali’s Army of Frogs is definitely holding its own. This action-packed adventure about Darel, a not-so-ordinary frog, and the war he finds himself in the middle of is going to be a huge hit for fans of Warriors, Seekers, Guardians of Ga’hoole, Wolves of the Beyond, Silverwing, and Redwall. What does make this series stand out even more, though, is the AMAZING illustrations! You should read it for the story, but you HAVE to read it for the illustrations.

Additionally, I did read a ton of picture books that I got from the library after IMWAYR friends praised them. Reading all of these picture books has prompted a start to a new “series” that I’ll have randomly–“From My (Huge) Library Pile.” Since so many of them are so good, I want to be able to share them with you. My first “From My (Huge) Library Pile” post will be this week, and I already have 2 others planned.

Trent and I mostly did rereads this week; however, we did read Books Always Everywhere by Jane Blatt (recommended by Alyson) which is a wonderful book about different types of books in all different places. I specifically liked that there were babies in the illustrations showing books in babies’ lives.

Ricki: I finished Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration. I couldn’t stop highlighting! I always type up all of my highlights (because I am a little bit obsessive), and I will be doing a lot of typing. She just gets it. I think any reader of this blog would love the book. Rosenblatt is the reader response guru. She validates what I believe about teaching reading.

Henry’s grandparents and aunt bought him several adorable puppet books, like this one. We were all laughing hysterically this week as Henry kept grabbing the puppets. I also loved The Magic of Maxwell and His Tail by Maureen Stoler Kanefield. It has a fantastic moral and teaches children to make the most of their unique qualities. I rarely review picture books, but I will definitely be reviewing this one in the upcoming weeks. I want to read it a few more times first. 🙂

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I started Mira’s Diary: Home Sweet Rome this weekend, and I am so happy to be back in Mira’s world. I adored the first one, so I am very much looking forward to reading the 2nd and 3rd book of the series. I also have some graphic novel e-galleys from First Second Books that I plan on reading soon. Additionally, I am still rereading my Walden books in preparation for ALAN.

Ricki: For professional development, I am reading Mingshui Cai’s Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. I am also planning to read Suzanne Myers’ Stone Cove Island, a YA book that will be released next month. Of course, Henry and I will find some new picture books to read. It depends on his mood. (Don’t tell anyone, but I am planning his first birthday party, which will be Goodnight Moon-themed! I’ve been working on the decorations all weekend. I figure that my blog readers won’t tell the guests.)

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who We Would Love To Be For Halloween

So, what are you reading?

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