It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Each week I share a reading photo of the week. This week, it was all about #MockCaldecott joy! Here are our winners! 3 honor ttiles and the medal went to The Bear Ate Your Sandwich!
Our #classroombookaday titles were gorgeous this week – all about the forest and animals in the woods Next week we will be reading a number of nonfiction titles about animals in winter. These books helped build our background knowledge and vocabulary.
Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. It’s the best way to discover what to read next.
On the blog:
Ready for a year of reading? I am with my Must Read novels of 2016
Would you like to make a list and join the community? Link up here: #MustReadin2016 So far there are 24 lists!
For my first Nonfiction Picture Book post of 2016, I shared some #MockSibert predictions
My Celebration post was all about our #MockCaldecott 2016 results
Books I enjoyed:
I am reading for the Cybils (nonfiction titles) and readjusting to being back at work (Anyone else finding this exhausting?) but I did manage to read some lovely books I would like to share.
Who’s that Knocking at My Door? by Reinhard Michl and Tilde Michels (1993)
A colleague lent this to me as she said it reminded her of Out of the Woods by Rebecca Bond – another interesting animal encounter with animals that typically aren’t near each other. This is a rhyming book and a work of fiction but if you can get your hands on it, it pairs wonderfully with Out of the Woods.
Beautiful Birds by Jean Roussen and E. Walker
A stunning, poetic ABC book by Flying Eye Books – a publisher I adore more and more. This title is simply stunning. A perfect gift for bird lovers.
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
I finally got my hands on a copy of this title and shared it with my family over dinner one evening. We talked for a long time about just the cover which I think is so striking. Such an important story about a family’s fight for their children’s equal education.
Tad and Dad by David Ezra Stein
A cheerful little title of parent/child attachment.
Her Mother’s Face by Roddy Doyle with illustrations by Freya Blackwood
Blackwood’s illustrations are the perfect complement to this story of trying to remember details of a mother who has passed away. Honest, real and important. Tells the story of a little girl who experiences sadness and grief as she grows from a child to an adult. While sad, it also offers hope and promise of healing.
Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters by Oliver Jeffers
Really? Really, how great is this?! An absolutely unique and amazing alphabet story book.
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L Holm and Matthew Holm
I listened to all of the podcasts about this (The Yarn) over the summer and was eagerly anticipating finally reading this graphic novel. It did not disappoint. This book captures not just a time period that is meaningful to me but many things that I feel are brave in a novel (graphic or otherwise): intergenerational relationships, tough family dynamics, strong emotions, life that isn’t all pretty (in this case substance abuse issues).
2016 Chapter Book Challenge: 2/75 complete
Goodreads Challenge: 12/400 books read
#MustReadin2016: 2/30 complete
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 2/100 titles
Diverse Books in 2015: 3/50 books read
Next up? I continue reading More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera (so captivating) and am reading A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen aloud to my family. We are all addicted!
There's a Book for That 
It is fun to still be able to see unique alphabet books. I really like Imaginary Fred so I will have to check that one out. I really wanted to follow Goodbye Stranger with either Sunny Side Up or Roller Girl, but I might not be able to squeeze either in this week. Great list of titles.
So many great graphics lately!
I just loved Separate Is Never Equal. I thought the topic was handled very well. I also really enjoyed Sunny Side Up. Happy Reading!!
Separate is Never Equal was so well done. Really liked it.
These are some great choices. I really enjoyed Sunny Side Up, Once Upon an Alphabet and Separate is Never Equal (so true), but will have to look for the other books you have listed. Thanks for sharing your week.
Isn’t Sunny Side Up fantastic? So impressed.
Will look for Her Mother’s Face & Tad and Dad, also Beautiful Birds, Carrie. Thanks for these new to me. I loved Once Upon An Alphabet, so clever. Have a great week!
Beautiful Birds is really striking. I hope you enjoy it! Would be lovely to share with your granddaughters.
Some beautiful books here today Carrie. I’ve just added Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation to my shopping cart. I keep meaning to read Sunny Side Up, but it is always checked out of the library.
Same thing here with Sunny Side Up – was finally at the library when a student brought it back and I nabbed it!
I want to read more of Flying Eye Books nonfiction books. I get excited for their releases.
I too love Flying Eye!
I hope you love More Happy than Not. I feel like I liked it more and more as I read; it’s definitely a novel that you have to read the whole thing before you appreciate quite how brilliant it is. I’m usually bored by alphabet books but I love Once Upon an Alphabet! So surprisingly unique. Also, your students have awesome taste in picture books, they chose pretty much my 4 favorites of the year!
So pleased you like our Caldecott choices! I am really enjoying Moe Happy Than Not Put it aside for a bit to catch up on nonfiction titles for Cybils judges. I am missing it.
I thought the illustrations of Separate is Never Equal looked familiar, and then I remembered that Tonatiuh also did Funny Bones, which I really enjoyed, so I will certainly need to pick this one up too. Thanks for sharing!
It is really great. My children were very interested in the topic.
I’m reading A Night Divided aloud to my 6th-grade class. Love the opportunity to talk about the aftermath of WWII and the Berlin Wall/cold war – a time period in history they really learn much about until high school. They are loving the book and beg me “just one more chapter!” every day. Highly recommend it!
It is fantastic. We are hoping to finish it this weekend. All of us very captured by the story.
I enjoyed our Twitter conversations today! What a day for book talking!
Great books on your list, as always! I’m grateful for the podcasts about Sunny Side Up, I always feel so fortunate getting that background info on books!
They (podcasts) were really great! I loved them too.
I have shared Separate is Never Equal with my classes for some time now – such an important book, which always leads to great discussions.
I can imagine. My class last year (Grade 3/4) would have been very interested in talking about this book.
Duncan Tonatiuh creates amazing books. Separate is Never Equal is amazing and as Tara mentioned, really leads to deep discussions. I read Sunny Side Up with a healthy dose of nostalgia, but also with tears. It’s a story that can really speak to children particularly if they are going through family difficulties.
So very true. Really quietly powerful – and in a graphic. Wow.
Sunny Side Up sounds right up my alley, and it’s hard to find a good ABC book, so yay for that. LOVE the pic!
Sunny Side Up – highly recommended!
I absolutely loved Sunny Side Up. And Once Upon an Alphabet too.
Both wonderful.
I pinned the Beautiful Birds title as it is perfect for our bird-themed bibliography. I don’t think our library has Sunny Side Up yet – and I really wanted to read that one. Her Mother’s Face also looks beautiful.
Beautiful Birds is well, really beautiful!
So many good books here! I am going to have to get Her Mother’s Face and time the reading of it just right with my son. Sounds like a title that will help him think, process, feel. I loved Sunny Side Up and I love the word you’ve chosen for it: brave.
Her Mother’s Face is emotional – it has a bit of a “fantasy” element in it. Read it first. I am needing to share a lot of books on bereavement with one of my students right now. They are so important.
You had another good week of reading! I love Beautiful Birds. Most anything from Flying Eye is gorgeous! I’m going to order Separate is Never Equal. Thanks for the rec.
Separate is Never Equal is fantastic!
You were right on Last Stop on Market Street! Yay! 🙂
Separate is Never Equal is one of my favorite NFPBs. It was so well done and interesting and important.
I’m glad you liked Sunny Side Up. I think it is so complex and well done!
I am a huge fan of Oliver Jeffers and the ABC book of his is just so brilliant!
Happy reading this week! 🙂
Yes, one of our Mock choices was correct! And what a wonderful choice! Sunny Side Up continues to grow on me. Have been thinking a lot about it.
Saw your list from this past week and had to comment. Like so many others, I think Separate Is Not Equal is a really important book. It does a great job of giving us a vision of this incident from a child’s eyes and resulting feelings. I, too, enjoyed Sunny Side Up. I could certainly relate to the 70s time-frame, and loved how the larger conflict in the story came to you bit by bit– like dawning of realization– instead of it hitting you over the head. It’s a book my 5th graders are loving, and I’m pleased each time I conference with one of them and they have “gotten” it. Determined to post my own list NEXT Monday (1/25)!