Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/15/24

January 15, 2024 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

Tuesday: Kellee’s 2023 Reading Round Up: Statistics, Favorite Reads, #mustreadin2023 End-of-Year Check In, & 2024 Reading Goals

Sunday: Guest Author Post: “Ways to get Middle-Grade Students Excited About Reading” by Sherry Ellis, Author of Bubba and Squirt’s City of Bones

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

Kellee

Middle Grade

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George: I can see why this book was recommended to me! In this book, the castle is not only the setting but also a main character which is unlike any book I’ve ever read. I loved how the author truly made the castle a main character–it is so magical! That, along with the suspenseful story about Celie’s parent’s disappearance and the subsequent coup, makes this book a joy to read!
Curveball by Pablo Cartaya, Illustrated by Miguel Díaz Rivas: After Elena hurts her knee, she has to look at what she actually enjoys versus obligations and because of this reflection she finds herself having a truly unexpected summer. Through this fun story, lessons are learned about friendship and imagination and all done in a way that is a quick and fun read with colorful illustrations.
Tryouts by Sarah Sax: The second book in the Brinkley Yearbook series once again tells a story about figuring out your place. I loved that this book brought to light the sexism behind girls not being allowed to play baseball and does it while also sharing Al’s story of fitting in.
Meesh the Bad Demon: The Secret of the Fang by Michelle Lam: Book two of Meesh the Bad Demon starts right where the first left off and finds Meesh once again needing to help save the world. I am a huge fan of Lam’s whimsical illustrations and her fantastical world is a fun one to revisit.
We Are Big Time by Hena Khan, Illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui: This book was one of my favorite reads of 2023 (though it doesn’t come out until 2024). It was written after Hena Khan heard about an all-Muslim girls basketball team and interviewed some of the members. This true story inspired her to bring this book to life, and I am so glad! I loved the characters, the story, and the theme–it is such a well done book.
Puzzled: A Memoir About Growing Up with OCD by Pan Cooke: OCD is often used as a joke and is completely misunderstood. I am a big fan of this forthcoming graphic novel because it truly puts what OCD truly is into the spotlight. The figurative use of puzzles throughout is so clever as well–I think many readers will like both the story and learning about Pan’s life.
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans: This book had always been explained to me as a teen secret agent book, but it is so much more than that–it is about teen superhero secret agents! I was enthralled so quickly, and I read book 1, 2, & 3 of this series, and I think I will definitely read more of the series as each book ends on the worst cliffhanger!!

Young Adult

Flight 171 by Amy Christine Parker: This book was so different than what I thought! I assumed it was going to be a plane crash or hijack or something realistic, but OH MY GOODNESS it is about demons and death and lies and is full of suspense! I couldn’t put it down!
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes: I cannot imagine having to lying about myself all the time. Yamilet is living that lie and although she is sick of it, she doesn’t know how her truth fits into her life. This is the story of her figuring that out.
Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud: Simone has always had rules, but it is senior year, and she wants to finally be able to be her own person. Taking on this quest leads to a journey of self-realization filled with drama.
Queer Ducks (And Other Animals) by Eliot Schrefer: What a fascinating read! And I loved the format with a mix of informational nonfiction, interviews, and comic; it made the book even more fun to read. Just so well done!
They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman: Full of gossip, cattiness, suspense, and mystery! (Although, the more I read about prep schools in YA books, the more I wonder how much is embellished versus how much is truly different at prep schools than public schools.)

To learn more about any of these books, click on any title/image to go to the book’s Goodreads page or check out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

This is my week off–see you next week!

Kellee

Reading: They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman
Listening: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Tuesday: Educators’ Guide for Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

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: “Ways to Get Middle-Grade Students Excited About Reading” by Sherry Ellis, Author of Bubba and Squirt’s City of Bones

January 14, 2024January 14, 2024 by Kellee

“Ways to Get Middle-Grade Students Excited About Reading”

When kids are young, they are excited about books. Many even want to be authors when they grow up. I always chuckle during school visits when I ask the question, “Who wants to be an author when you grow up?” Inevitably, every hand goes up in the kindergarten and first grade groups. As the grade number goes up, the hand numbers go down. Middle-schoolers rarely have ambitions to become an author. Sometimes that also means they don’t enjoy reading. How can we get these kids excited about reading? Here are some tips teachers can use in their classrooms to get them motivated.

Plan lessons around your favorite books and topics. If you’re excited about the book, that enthusiasm will show and may infect your students – in a good way!
Show students you’re reading, too. Post a picture of your current read on a board each week and encourage kids to ask about it.
Maintain a classroom library. I see this in classrooms for the little kids all the time, but not so much in classrooms for older kids. Fill it with a wide variety of popular novels – books that would appeal to both boys and girls. Consider including shorter stories and some with illustrations that may appeal to reluctant readers.
Encourage independent reading by providing time to read. Have students set individual goals and reward students for reaching them. Don’t attach a grade to it though. Students may get turned off by that.
Watch movies of the books after reading them and compare the differences.
Use audio books. Okay, so that’s not exactly reading, but it could get reluctant readers interested in books.
Implement classroom book clubs in which students get to choose what they want to read from a list of books and then get grouped with others who want to read the same thing. Give them some ideas for topics they can discuss that are related to the books. Encourage them to come up with their own.
After reading a book, have students participate in activities that help them flex their own creative muscles: imagine a different ending, write a letter to the main character referencing a specific scene, interview the villain, draw a map of the story’s setting, etc.
Introduce students to a popular new series. The cliff hangers might entice reluctant readers to keep reading.
Adopt an author. If students are excited about an author’s book, visit that author’s website and find out if that author can do a school visit or Skype visit. You can also see if that author has done any videos or webcasts that can be shown in the classroom.

With a little ingenuity, teachers can make reading fun, interesting, and engaging. And who knows? Maybe if a lot of teachers do this, the number of hands of middle-schoolers who want to be authors will go up!

Book #3 of the Bubba and Squirt series
Published January 16th, 2024 by Dancing Lemur Press

About the Book: Creepy Underground Catacombs!

Bubba and Squirt are back for another rousing quest as they travel through the mysterious vortex to Paris, France. It’s another wild adventure as they track down art thieves, encounter terrifying monsters, and discover the whereabouts of their missing father.

Will they make it out alive or join the rest of the skeletons in the City of Bones?

About the Author: Sherry Ellis is an award-winning author and professional musician who plays and teaches the violin, viola, and piano. When she is not writing or engaged in musical activities, she can be found doing household chores, hiking, or exploring the world. Ellis lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
https://www.sherryellis.org/
https://www.bubbaandsquirt.org/
https://www.facebook.com/sherryellisbooksandmusic
https://twitter.com/513sherrye

Sherry Ellis’ Bubba and Squirt’s Big Dig to China won the Reader’s Favorites Silver Medal for the Children’s Grades 4-6 category.

Thank you, Sherry, for sharing some good advice to get readers reading!

Kellee’s 2023 Reading Round Up: Statistics, Favorite Reads, #mustreadin2023 End-of-Year Check In, & 2024 Reading Goals

January 9, 2024 by Kellee

Here is my 2023 Reading Round Up!

And just for fun: here is Trent’s 2023 Year in Books!

Here are my five star reads from 2023!

I also did a 2023 Reading Bracket!

I introduced my #mustreadin2023 list last January–here is my end-of-year summary:

I am not sure if there is going to be a #mustreadin2024 challenge, but if there is, I am setting my goal to read the 29 2024 Project Lit books that I haven’t read (red checkmarks = I’ve already read).

Happy reading in 2024, friends!!!
To see all the books I’m reading, visit my READ Goodreads shelf and feel free to follow 📖💙

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/8/24

January 8, 2024 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

We were on winter break the last couple of weeks, and we are happy to be back!

Ricki

I read a lot of books over break, but I am going to focus on the most recent titles that I read!

I just read (for the second time) the new book by Neal Shusterman and Andrés Vera Martínez, Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust. It is a graphic fantasy that features five stories connected to the Holocaust. I was really hesitant to read this book at first—there were a lot of ways that I perceived it could go wrong. But it is very carefully conceived and very thought-provoking.

Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson is absolutely stunning. It tells a traditional story in a way that will captivate young people. I absolutely loved it.

Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea is a fantastically exciting adventure story that brought me so much joy. This is a great middle grade book for your collection!

Hope in the Valley is a quiet middle grade book that offers a careful treatment of themes of grief, friendship, and growing up. The writing is beautiful, and I loved thinking about how this book would work well for place-based learning.

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley is sure to capture the hearts of readers of all ages. I was glad to see that my library had multiple copies of this book because it is well-written and a powerful mystery that belongs in every classroom and library.

Jen Ferguson is one of my favorite authors. I was really taken by her first book, and this novel, Those Pink Mountain Nights did not disappoint! I love how her books are set in food shops (this one is in a pizza shop and the last was in an ice cream shop). Both this book and her last have a mystery component and offer very relatable characters. I’ll read anything that Jen Ferguson writes—she is extremely talented.

I adored Dawn Quigley’s latest installment in the Jo Jo Makoons series: Snow Day. Jo Jo is such an endearing character. My kids love reading these books, and I love reading the books with them! I’ve been gifting these books to elementary school teachers—they are perfect for classrooms!

Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, and Jamie Green are a fantastic authors-illustrator team. I love how they re-envision the Shakespeare stories in ways that are relatable to kids. I find the characters to be very charming, and the books beautifully balance fun and serious content matter.

Sherri Winston has my heart. After reading Shark Teeth, I was constantly recommending it to other teachers. I really appreciated the ways in which Winston incorporated mentors in the text, and the main character felt like a real girl to me. I was so sad when the book ended because I couldn’t hang out with her more! This is a middle grade book, but I think high school students would also really appreciate reading it.

Several people were raving about the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, so I read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I enjoyed the series and felt like they were really fun and engaging. I can see why they’ve developed a bit of a cult following.

Kellee

This is my week off, but I’ll be back next week with a reading roundup! You can learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Currently reading:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

Tuesday: Kellee’s 2023 Reading Round Up: Statistics, Favorite Reads, #mustreadin2023 End-of-Year Check In, & 2024 Reading Goals

Sunday: Guest Author Post: “Ways to get Middle-Grade Students Excited About Reading” by Sherry Ellis, Author of Bubba and Squirt’s City of Bones

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1/1/24

January 1, 2024 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 12/25/23

December 25, 2023 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Tuesday: New & Updated Gail Gibbons books: Galaxies, Galaxies! and The Planets

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

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New and Update Gail Gibbons Books: Galaxies, Galaxies! and The Planets

December 19, 2023 by Kellee

Galaxies, Galaxies! (Third Edition)
Author and Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Published December 12th, 2023 by Holiday House

Summary: Learn about the newest discoveries in the Milky Way and beyond in this updated edition from nonfiction master Gail Gibbons.

Planet Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy, the cloudy band of light that stretches clear across the night sky. How many galaxies are there in the universe? For years astronomers thought that the Milky Way was the universe. Now we know that there are billions of them. Gail Gibbons takes the reader on a journey light-years away.

This updated edition vetted by an expert introduces young readers to our own galaxy the Milky Way and beyond. Learn how ancient people invented the telescope and began studying the Milky Way to the modern technology astronomers use to study other galaxies.

Gail Gibbon’s easy-to-read text and clearly labeled illustrations welcomes young readers to learn how telescopes work, about the different types of galaxies, how many galaxies we know of today, and more.

The Planets (Fifth Edition)
Author and Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Published December 12th, 2023 by Holiday House

Summary: A new edition of a nonfiction favorite for more than 20 years from science writer Gail Gibbons, updated with the latest discoveries in space exploration.

From the burning surface of Venus to the freezing darkness of Neptune, Gail Gibbons takes children on a tour of our solar system—which are very different from each other in size, shape, orbit, and even weather.

Since its original publication in 1993, The Planets has been a home and classroom staple for introducing our solar system to the youngest readers. With her signature blend of clear, bright illustrations and accessible text, Gail Gibbons takes readers on a tour of our planetary neighbors, near and far.

This updated edition brings the latest scientific understanding of the planets of our solar system to young readers. The bodies in our solar system are named, described, and illustrated in clear, well-labeled spreads that give a strong sense of shape and scale to our skies. Each entry is full of intriguing details about their composition, behavior, and moons.

About the Author: Gail Gibbons has been described as having a face that holds wonder like a cup.” It is out of this natural curiosity for how things work and how things are made that she has based a successful career as an author and illustrator of children’s books. From life on a fishing island (Surrounded by Sea) to the history and makings of kites (Catch the Wind.’), she has taught children – and adults – about the inner workings of things and places in our environment.

As a child growing up in Chicago, Gail was always asking how does that work?” She created her first picture book at the age of four. It was four pages long and bound together with yarn. Recognizing Gail’s artistic talents, her kindergarten teacher alerted Gail’s parents to it, and Gail began taking art lessons. Soon thereafter she started writing her own stories. After high school graduation Gail attended the University of Illinois where she studied graphic design. Upon graduation she went to work for a small TV station doing graphic work and later moved to New York City where she worked on ” Take a Giant Step” the children’s show that was the forerunner to PBS’ “The Electric Company.” The children that participated in the show were the first to suggest that Gail should create children’s books. And that is exactly what she did.

Gail Gibbons’s books are particularly accurate because she goes right to the source when researching a topic. She has been on the seventeenth floor of a skyscraper in progress, has spoken with truck drivers about the workings of their rigs, has dismantled every clock in her home, and would have donned scuba diving gear to research a sunken ship had the sea waters not been too turbulent. Gail says “I had a lot of ‘whys’ when I was a child. I guess I still do.”

Gail Gibbons and her husband divide their time between a landlocked house in Vermont and a house surrounded by sea off the coast of Maine.

Review: These two texts are telescopes into outer space. They take the reader on a journey filled with extensive information about the planets within our solar system (in The Planets) and extensive space (Galaxies, Galaxies!). I am so glad that they updated these two texts because with discoveries changing all the time, it is important to have the most up to date scientific and technological information in nonfiction books for our young learners; it is obvious that Gail Gibbons and Holiday House both know this is a priority. Another asset of these books is that the text is definitely informative but told in a way that even our youngest learners will understand and learn and older learners will also grow in their knowledge. They are both great nonfiction texts for elementary school.

Tools for Navigation: These books will be wonderful additions to any lesson about planets, outer space, and galaxies. They are a great supplement for any teacher or parent wanting to teach about these topics.

Flagged Spreads:

The Planets

Galaxies, Galaxies!

Read This If You Love: Learning about space

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Holiday House for providing copies for review!**