It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6.21.21

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

Meet Someone New!  Use these picture book biographies to introduce your readers to someone new!

Some new graphic novels and chapter books for readers who are starting to read independently.

Did you see the cover reveal for the first two books in the upcoming Make Way for Fenway series?  Check them out here.

Picture Books

We Wait for the Sun

written by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe

illustrated by Raissa Figueroa

A small moments story about young Dovey Johnson Roundtree and her grandmother, Rachel Bryant Graham.  The story is about a special memory that Roundtree has with her grandmother, a pre-dawn visit to a berry patch.  What may seem ordinary was actually a cherished memory by Roundtree.  The real information about Roundtree and her important contributions to the civil rights movement come in the backmatter.

Bracelets for Bina's Brothers

written by Rajani LaRocca

illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat

A story about young Bina who is making bracelets for her brothers in honor of the Indian celebration Raksha Bandhan, which honors sisters and brothers.  She makes individualized bracelets for each of her brothers.  Hidden inside the story is a math lesson about patterns.

An Equal Shot: How the Law Title IX Changed America

written by Helaine Becker

illustrated by Dob Phumiruk

This book gives a very basic introduction to what Title IX is.  

I know a lot of reviewers have praised its less is more approach, but I felt like too much was left unsaid.  Reading the extensive backmatter is a must for additional information.  To me it felt like the simplistic approach left so much unsaid as far as how far women still have to go for equality compared to their male counterparts.  The subtitle says "how... changed America".  Again, there wasn't much information included to show a real change.

So, a good intro, but I would definitely encourage anyone sharing this book to find more resources to add to young readers' knowledge and understanding.

I'm ON It!

by Andrea Tsurumi

The next in the "Elephant and Piggie Like Reading!" series, this book is a perfect concept book for prepositional words.  Definitely a fun one to use with young readers because it is teaching them understanding of the words in a fun and silly way.

Poetry

The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

by Amanda Gorman

This is the poem that was delivered by the poet at the Presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden this January.  A trim book that divides the poem into pages by its stanzas, its words printed on white pages without illustrations.  It does make the reader focus on the words and come up with their own images.  It made me more reflective of the message.  

This poem will be included in an anthology with other poems by Gorman this fall.

Middle Grade

Bea is for Blended

by Lindsey Stoddard

I love Stoddard's books and this one is another favorite.  Bea is a character that readers will relate to because she has so much going on in her life.  Even if you don't relate to her exact experiences, being pulled in a million directions, is a familiar feeling to almost everyone!  I love that she is a strong character who stands up to everyone - classmates and even an authority figure at school - when she knows what they are doing is wrong.

All You Knead is Love

by Tanya Guerrero

I did not know much about this one before I began it, and I quickly fell in love with it!  Alba was a wonderful character to watch her grow into her own identity and understand who she is.  Some tough moments as this is a story of a family recovering from abuse, but very well written.  Loved the Barcelona setting and now I'm ready to visit!  Recommended for grades 5 and up.

Young Adult

The Gilded Ones

by Namina Forna

Whatever you are doing stop and go find this book.  Especially if you like fantasy.  Or books about strong females.  Or amazing world building.  Or fantastic writing.  

I did not know much about this one before starting it but once I fell into it I couldn't stop reading.  There are books that almost seem like copies of others.  This one was so original, it really just blew me away.

That's all I'm going to say.  Now go find it.

Adult Novel

The Kindest Lie

by Nancy Johnson

This is a novel you have to sit with for awhile.  It explores class, racism, and chasing the American dream.  It also is about adoption and parenting.  Some of this part of the story made me think about both sides of adoption - being the birth parent who gives up the baby as well as the parent who raises the child.  This part of the story didn't always sit right with me and it's one I wish had been fleshed out a bit more.  I found it to be an interesting contrast having some chapters from the perspective of the Black woman who rose up from her poor town and other chapters from the perspective of a young white teen who is growing up in an unstable, poor home.

Quick read for summer! 

Currently Reading

Super Fake Love Song

by David Yoon

This was one of my May #mustread books, I'm a bit behind!

Getting this up late today.  Our daughter competed in the Paralympic Swimming Trials last week and we found out yesterday she was selected for the Tokyo team!  She'll be representing the United States in Tokyo later this summer!  Still recovering from the craziness!