It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 12.14.15

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

Last Week's Adventures

Authors that can vary their writing styles are amazing to me.  Be sure to check out Chris Barton's work.  His writing style is wonderful.  For a writeup on his work, check out this post.

Need some last minute holiday picture books?  Try these!

Last week was an amazing week in our household.  My daughter participated in her first Paralympic Can Am Open swim meet.  Please read about our experience and some amazing athletes in this post.

* I will be taking a blogging break next week, the week leading up to the Christmas holiday.  I will be spending time with family and friends and enjoying all of those moments that are part of the holiday season. The rest of this week I'll be listing my favorite books of 2015.  The week leading up to New Year's, I'll be listing the books I'm most looking forward to in 2016.  I hope you stop by and tell me your favorites or what you're looking forward to in the upcoming year.  Cheers! *

Middle Grade

I was very fortunate to get some ARCs of some wonderful upcoming 2016 books when I was at NCTE.  I am going to write up a separate post for each of the books and publish them a little bit before their actual publication dates.  I feel that when I am fortunate enough to have received an ARC of a book, it's worthy of its own blog post.  But in the meantime, be sure to put these 2016 releases on your TBR list.  They are must reads, although for very different reasons!


Masterminds: Criminal Destiny by Gordon Korman
5/5 stars
pubs Feb. 2
This book has it all:  mystery, suspense, adventure.


Pax by Sara Pennypacker
5/5 stars pubs Feb. 2
I think it's important to show readers how authors subtly weave multiple story lines together.  This is a perfect book to use for that.

Young Adult


All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
5/5 stars
I really really really hope this book sees recognition on January 11.
I also really really really hope that everyone reads this book.  Whether you're a young adult or not.  Whether you're a police officer, teacher, social worker, lawyer, stay at home parent, eye doctor, sanitation worker... You get the point.
This book is so relevant.  So important.  
You know those One Community One Book programs?
This should be the book for One World One Book.
Because everyone should read it and talk about it.

Currently Reading


The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price by Jennifer Maschari
I've heard great things about this book from my book friends.  Looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, I am stuck in North Dakota.  If you read my Saturday Celebration post you know I am here because of my daughter's Paralympic swim meet.  The weather here is horribly foggy and all flights have been cancelled.  We're hoping to get out tomorrow morning, although the fog advisory goes through mid-morning.  Not sure when I'm getting home at this point.  I will try to comment on blogs on Monday, but it will all depend on our travel!  Wish us luck!

Last week of school before Winter Break.  Looking forward to time with friends and family and books!