It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Each week I share a reading photo of the week. Again, I have had a 2 week gap so I might have to share a few photos!
First, I always love to share our #classroombookaday Friday vote results (fewer voters this week as many children away ill)
I loved this photo of one of my students reading her book review to an adult visitor.
I also love this reading moment – picture walking a wordless book together.
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:
A nonfiction post about our Mock Sibert group on Goodreads
Two Celebration posts Last week’s The Moments and this week’s Proud!
A Sunday Reflection post thinking about relationships in the classrooms: 6 hours x 5 days x 10 months
My very first Slice of Life post: Should Be
Books I enjoyed: (2 weeks worth so just my favourites)
Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian and illustrated by Mike Curato
I think this picture book has shades of pure perfection within it. A spotlight on the ridiculous must be wedding planning that occurs when love should just prevail. And please note, this is love for love’s sake. Not love that fits in any cookie cutter mold. I adore this book. I see much raving in my future.
Be a Friend by Salina Yoon
Well, I am absolutely smitten. This book speaks of friendship and individuality and acceptance and patience. I am kind of in love.
I thought this in process picture drawn by my newly arrived from Saudi Arabia student was particularly meaningful after reading Salina’s Nerdy Book Club post
Many students drew and wrote about this title this week when we voted for our favourite picture book of the week.
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Well, well, well. A celebration of books, of voice, of change. Such a book.
Funny Bones:Posada and his Day of the Dead Calveras by Duncan Tonatiuh
The 2016 Sibert medal. An incredible biography of an artist who spoke to and of the people of Mexico.
Lickety-Split by Robert Heidbreder and illustrared by Dušan Petričić
Nonsense words can be ever so delightful.
What this Story needs is a Hush and a Shush by Emma J.Virján
These Pig in a Wig titles are must haves in a primary classroom. This one explores the necessity and challenges of bed time.
Sprout Helps Out by Rosie Winstead
Helping is not always a neat and tidy thing.
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
I read this aloud to my family and all of us were addicted. Absolutely engaging and fast paced. Highly recommended.
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
Wow. This book hits on so many themes: perseverance, coming of age, friendship, finding one’s place. All with a roller derby backdrop. Pretty spectacular.
More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera
So, hmmm. I did really like this book. 4 stars and lots of thinking worth of liking. But, I didn’t like the main character all that much. I liked him less and less and less as the book went on. That doesn’t make a book not great for me but it leaves me unsettled. However, I loved many of the other characters. A lot. A LOT, a lot. This book rotates around some serious depression and in such a long title, I found it exhausting. Again, not a reason to not like a book. But I would say the reading experience is more unhappy than not if truth be told. Also, there are some wild kind of plot lines here. It all works but it is a journey. So in the end, would I highly recommend this title? Not so sure. Glad to have had the experience. Glad to put it down.
Reading Progress updates:
2016 Chapter Book Challenge: 6/75 complete
Goodreads Challenge: 38/400 books read
#MustReadin2016: 5/30 complete
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 11/100 titles
Diverse Books in 2015: 6/50 books read
Up next? I am reading The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten
There's a Book for That 
More Happy than Not seems too sad and too YA for my middle school, so I think I will pass. I’m hoping that 2016 will not have as many depressing MG books, but that’s not looking like what’s being published. SIgh.
Definitely too YA!
I liked A Night Divided very much, enjoy reading that kind of story baed on real events. So glad to see your students loving Be A Friend, & love those pictures they drew. Thanks for sharing about More Happy Than Not, a hard-to-read story that might fit some, right? Have a great week, Carrie.
More Happy than Not is definitely an important read and touches on so much that needs to be explored. I think I just felt that the overwhelming “down” aspect took over sometimes. Even the other characters expressed frustration with the main character’s mood, decisions and ability to cope! I love these drawings too for Be a Friend. Such a sweet, lovely book.
We loved a night divided – Such an incredible story about a time in history that many students do not know much about. We are also big fans of The Book Itch – Another important story that needed to be told
A Night Divided was a fantastic read aloud with my family. We were all completely hooked! It prompted some great discussions.
I really really love your thoughts on More Happy Than Not. I think I had a similar response to Ask the Passengers this week. I could appreciate that it was so well written, but I never really liked Astrid (though I thought she was totally authentic) and spent most of the book wanting to talk some sense into her! Plus there were SO many characters acting SO horribly, that I spent most of the book very frustrated; yet, I could still see how brilliant it was. It’s strange to read a book like that, where you value what the author is doing but just don’t connect with protagonist and find the actually reading experience mildly unpleasant! (unabashedly ADORE Roller Girl though. Such a fun read).
Roller Girl is pretty much fantastic! I am glad you understood my rambling thoughts on More Happy Than Not – I so appreciated this title but I could never really settle into the story because I was always somewhat irritated. But still, I admire much of what the writer shared with us.
Now that you have read Roller Girl, let’s get together and go to a roller derby. Bring Bea. They are so much fun!!
I ended up loving More Happy than Not. It was a book that left me contemplating what it means to be happy. It isn’t really a happy book, but I think it is realistic in many ways. Ultimately I think life is about being more happy than not, especially when you live in poverty and have to deal with what Aaron Soto does.
Roller Girl! I immediately passed this title on to Miss B! I agree that this title is definitely realistic. I didn’t need it to be happier, I just had to acknowledge how heavy a read I found it to be.
Worm Loves Worm made me so happy – I was lucky enough to get an ARC of it and I just knew I’d be seeing it on a lot of book blogs. I wonder if it will raise a stink at all? Having been a part of several weddings, I can safely say that this story will likely appeal to anyone who has ever tried to do something a bit different with their wedding, regardless of who they were marrying!
So agreed! I love it too. It makes many a statement about love, society and overwhelming, unnecessary pressures.
Such great books this week! I’ve been meaning to get to More Happy Than Not but just can’t get it to the top of my TBR pile. And I really want to read The Book Itch but my library doesn’t have it.
Those TBR piles, they really do have minds of their own!
Be a Friend is one of my favorites from the year, which has just begun, really. But, I’ve bought 6 copies of it now! If I’ve needed to give a gift, that’s been top of my list.
It’s the perfect gift book!
I’ve read Roller Girl, but all of the rest are must read TBRs for me!
Happy reading this week 🙂
P.S. I love the smiling boy in the back of your pair reading photo!
I know – he is a little surprise!
I read Be a Friend and Worm Loves Worm, too! They’re both fun books with terrific messages. The Book Itch looks awesome. I need to get that for sure! Have a terrific week!
Funny how our reading this week was so intertwined!
My book club is thinking of reading More Happy Than Not – it looks like there would be a lot of fodder for discussion here. It was actually banned, I think, in one of the international schools here in Singapore because of its themes – all the more reason to read it, I think. 🙂
All the more reason indeed! It is an important book to read.
I am looking forward to reading Be a Friend! I will need to order Pig in a Wig to share with primary readers. Thanks for your recommendations!
A pleasure! Be a Friend is truly delightful – enjoy!
I still don’t have Be a Friend, but after hearing the author on the LGB Podcast, I am eager to get my copy. I think my latest book shipment arrives soon. I understand about More Happy Than Not. It is not an easy book to read though I pretty much loved it. I definitely need to get the Pig in a Wig books.
Salina Yoon is pretty fantastic. I loved her Nerdy Book Club post.
Thanks for the reminder about the Pig in a Wig series. I need to order a couple to booktalk. The majority of my students this semester in Children’s Lit want to teach K-2 so I’m brushing up on early reader titles. I am reading More Happy Than Not right now and struggling a bit. This often happens to me with YA, so I feel like a big part of it is just that: I’d rather be in the world of middle-grade. It’s more comfortable. I just ordered Worm Loves Worm a couple of days ago–hoping it arrives today! Roller Girl was on my top 10 of the year in 2015–really loved it. I wish I had multiple copies because everyone in my classroom wants to read it right now!
Worm LOVES Worm is so utterly fantastic! The Pig in the Wig series is ideal K- 2! Enjoy