It's Monday! What are you reading? 1-10-22

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.

Books I read and loved last week:

Amos McGee Misses the Bus by Phillip and Erin Stead

Dare I say I loved this book more than A Sick Day for Amos McGee? Loving a sequel more than the original is no easy feat, but here's why I think this book touched my heart more than the first one. Like most readers, I found A Sick Day for Amos McGee to be a quiet, charming, and whimsical tale. And Amos McGee Misses the Bus is no different. But because I went into this book knowing what sweet and gentle characters Amos McGee and his animal friends are, I just picked up where I left off from the first book and I felt my heart melt and anxiety float away as I reunited with some beloved literary friends.

Off-Limits by Helen Yoon

When a young girl goes into her dad’s office that’s supposed to be off-limits, she only plans on taking a small piece of tape, but things soon go awry and before long, she’s playing with allllllllll the office supplies.

A delightful book that will make you smile the entire time, particularly the surprise ending.

Have You Ever Seen a Flower? by Shawn Harris

Vibrant illustrations and brilliant poetic writing

Keep Going by Austin Kleon

Whenever my brain is low on motivation and inspiration, I can always count on Austin Kleon to get my creative wheels turning. I especially love his message about resisting the urge to monetize the things we are good at. In Kleon's words: "We used to have hobbies; now we have "side hustles." As things continue to get worse in America, as the safety net gets torn up, and as steady jobs keep disappearing, the free-time activities that used to soothe us and take our minds off work and add meaning to our lives are now presented to us as potential income streams." I think I've internalized this advice before I even read it in this book. For the longest time I have contemplated writing a novel, but have never felt compelled to sit down and actually do the work. Given how much I love writing, this lack of motivation perplexed me. But after reading this book, I think I've realized that because I once tried to monetize something I loved by going to college to be a music teacher and when that turned into a complete disaster that left me never wanting to play the piano again (it took me over ten years for it not to be painful to sit at the piano anymore), I don't think I can take the pain of something else I love becoming a source of anguish for me. There's lots of other great advice in Keep Going, but that was the one thing that really stuck out to me. Currently reading:  I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys Currently reading with my ears: My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder Purchasing books from any of the above Bookshop affiliate links support independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale.