Monday, January 29, 2018

It's Monday! What are you reading? 1-29-18



It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.


I recently read and loved: 

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
A book that will ultimately spark a lot of great discussion about mortality and what it means to truly live. This would make a great book club title.


Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James
What took me so long to read this book? I expect it to be winning a couple shiny stickers at the ALA Youth Media Awards in a couple weeks. I could even see it being in Newbery contention. The text is THAT good.


Currently reading:

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
I am a major fangirl of the ladies of Pantsuit Politics and The Nuanced Life podcasts, and the other day I was listening to The Nuanced Life where Sarah just completely gushed about the KonMari method of organizing, so I knew I just had to give it a try. I'm a little over halfway through with the book and I have to say I've completely drunk the Kool-Aid. I have already made plans for my husband and I to spend our long President's Day weekend completely re-organizing our house.


Reading with my ears: 

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
This book is wonderful. I'm trying not to rush through it because I don't want it to be over. 

Monday, January 8, 2018

It's Monday! What are you reading? 1-8-18



It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Last week I finished reading:

Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Caseby Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Shadra Strickland


Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
A delightful new book from Brian Selznick that combines the visual beauty of a picture book with the ease and repetition of text of an early reader and the length of a chapter book. Not to mention an adorable gumshoe on the case of stolen jewels, pizza, clown noses, and spaceships.


Love by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Loren Long
This book is everything I hoped it would be. 


Bagel in Love by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Helen Dardik
Clever and cheeky food puns that won't make you groan.


Penguins Don't Wear Sweaters! by Marikka Tamura, illustrated by Daniel Rieley
Don't miss the backmatter that explains the premise of this story and why even the best human intentions can have harmful consequences.


My Pillow Keeps Moving by Laura Gehl, illustrated Christopher Weyant
Delightful and absurd


Still reading this week:

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Monday, January 1, 2018

It's Monday! What are you reading? 1-1-18



It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Happy New Year everyone! Though I have to admit, I am currently not a fan of 2018. A few minutes after midnight the stomach flu reared its ugly head. Luckily I was home. Unluckily we were having friends over, so I had to excuse myself upstairs and spend the rest of the party in quarantine. I'm posting this late in the day because I'm finally starting to feel human again. 

Here's what I've been reading the past few weeks. 

I finished reading:

Nourished: A Memoir of Food, Faith, and Enduring Love by Lia Huber
I haven’t read a food and travel memoir in a while and I really enjoyed this one. The faith part might turn some people off, but I appreciated that Huber’s faith journey is exactly that. She’s not evangelizing so much as sharing.


Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
After I finished reading this book, I promptly bought another copy and gifted it to my cousin's daughter who at 11, is already showing plenty of moxie of her own. 


Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, edited by Kelly Jensen
Not only is this a fantastic collection of feminist essays, poetry, and art with an engaging format, but it celebrates intersectionality and inclusiveness.


Rot: the Cutest in the World by Ben Clanton
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can’t wait to read this book aloud to my students. Some books just beg to be read aloud. This is one of them.


Currently reading with my ears and eyes:

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Shadra Strickland