Monday, May 30, 2016

It's Monday! What are you reading? 5-30-16


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 reviewed:
  
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin


I finished reading:

Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley
I am a big time Lucy Knisley fan. Her new memoir did not disappoint. She always manages to get me out of my reading slumps. My only gripe about it is that the lettering is way too small and I felt like I was squinting for most of the book. But Knisley's art puts me in mind of a grown-up version of Raina Telgemeier's -- what Raina's readers will grow up to read and love when they're older. I especially love when Knisley combines real photographs with her drawings. It helps give a different perspective and makes the narrative unique.


I finished reading with my ears:

George by Alex Gino
An important book to add to the canon of LGBT literature for kids.


Picture books that stood out in the pile:

Life and I: A Story about Death by Elisabeth Helland Larsen, illustrated by Marine Schneider 
A surprisingly gentle and poignant book about death as personified by a young girl. It is a beautiful metaphor for how death and life are not at odds with one another, but instead hold hands with each other. 


Mr. Particular: The World's Choosiest Champion by Jason Kirschner
Fans of Babymouse and Squish, the perpetual comic book underdogs, will enjoy this story of a young superhero who might be a little too finicky to be part of his friends' superhero squad.  

 
Poor Little Guy by  Elanna Allen
Don't mess with David, Goliath. You just might get your comeuppance.  


Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tanya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Sean Qualls\
This book would have benefited from an author's note at the end with some back matter about the people that were alluded to throughout the book, but there are quotes by the people in the end papers so I guess that will have to suffice. However, the writing was beautiful and inspiring and definitely worth sharing with students. It had the air if a commencement address to it. 


Still reading:

As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds  

My plans to finish this book last week were thwarted by Something New coming in at the library. This book has been slower going for me than Reynolds' other books and I'm not sure why. I think part of it is the third person narration doesn't feel right for this story. I tend to connect much better to first person narrators. 


Currently reading with my ears:

Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle
I downloaded this as part of the free summer Audiobook Sync program and am enjoying it so far. If you haven't heard of Audiobook Sync and you love listening to audiobooks, definitely check it out. 

8 comments:

  1. Great variety of books. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  2. Thanks for sharing about the new Lucy Knisley memoir, Beth. Looks fun. Giant Steps. . . & Poor Little Guy are new to me, will look for them. Have a good day!

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  3. Oooh, so many picture books! I hadn't heard of Poor Little Guy before, but it's now been added to my holds list at the library! :)

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  4. You've got several books that I'm looking forward to reading: Life and I: A Story About Death, Poor Little Guy, Giant Steps to Change the World, and As Brave As You are all on my ever-growing To Read list. Have a great week!

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  5. I just finished Something New this morning and also enjoyed it. I think I would have enjoyed it even more in my 20s or early 30s. I could definitely have used that lesson about how we make our own adulthood at that time! I also loved the use of photographs. I haven't started the new Jason Reynolds yet but it's in the queue.

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  6. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the new Lucy Knisley book. I'm really looking forward to it.

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  7. I really need to read some Lucy Knisley. I once had a book out of the library, but It got lost in the piles of books around her. When I am retired (soon) I will binge on her I think. Thanks for the reviews of these picture books. Now
    I also want to find and read Life and I: A Story about Death.

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  8. Ah! I downloaded Vivian Apple. I am glad to hear it is going well. I look forward to reading it! Thanks for your post on Monday. Sorry for my delayed response (food poisoning got me!).

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