Weekly, the folks at Teach Mentor Texts, Jen and Kellee, host the meme “It’s Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA” It’s a chance to recap what I’ve read in the last week and a peek at what I’ll be reading in the week ahead. Check out Jen and Kellee’s site to join in, or see the links of other readers to find out where their reading adventures have taken them. Click on the cover images for the synopsis of each book.
My Reading Adventures from the past week . . .
Some great picture books:
If you’re a fan of the Pigeon, Mo Willems won’t disappoint. (Hyperion/2012)
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Molly Lou Melon is quirky, spunky, and brave. Great and funny lesson on being true to yourself. So excited to learn there’s a new Molly Lou coming out this year. (Putnam/2001)
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Inventive illustrations with cut-outs make this an amazing color book for younger kids, but adults should take a look, too. Worthy of a re-read as you’ll want to look at all the clever details again. On many award watcher’s short list for the 2013 Caldecott. (Roaring Press Books/2012)
A beginning chapter book for Fancy Nancy fans:
If you’ve got a 6-9 year old looking to take a break from fairy beginning chapter books, Nancy saves the day. All the things to love from the easy-reader books including great vocabulary and lots of pictures. (HarperCollins/2012)
From a favorite graphic novel series:
Do you know Babymouse? If not, check her out. I read five Babymouse books this week, and Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon and Babymouse: The Musical were my favorites. Witty, great vocabulary. And boys should check out the series, even if it is pink. Great for grade 2 and up. (Random House/2010 and 2009)
Two outstanding biographical picture books for children:
Celebrate Girls! The story of the role-busting, tenacious Daisy Gordon Low’s founding of the Girl Scouts is terrific, even if you or your kids aren’t scouts. Great for Kindergarten and up. (Scholastic/2012)
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A terrific autobiography on the teenage years of the great illustrator/writer, Allen Say, as he follows his dream to become an illustrator in Japan. Longer format is probably better suited for grades 4 and up. (Scholastic/2011)
Finished this for the Newbery Challenge:
1929 Medal winner. A story set in 15th century Krakow, Poland. It took a long time for me to get into this, but it greatly exceed my expectations. Look for my recap of the 1920 Newbery Medal books soon.
Upcoming Reading Adventures:
Continuing these chapter books . . .
Our “whole” family read aloud. I really love the honest reflections we hear during Via’s part in the book.
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This hold came in from the library:
Young adult book. Post high school, reflective road trip with two best friends. Great characters so far.
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Another stack of Caldecott books:
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Happy Reading!
Not For Lunch 
I’ve heard The Disenchantments is good, it’s on my way-too-long list of books to read!
Hi Megan! As a mom of a 10yo and 8yo, my reading world has been a lot of middle grade books, so I’m trying to get a bit more YA in the mix and this kept popping up in lots of places. Great so far!
Love the Pigeon!
I got my son (9 yo) hooked on Amulet and Lunch Lady…Babymouse is next!!
I’ve seen so many people talk about Girl Scouts on Twitter, so I need to get my hands on that. You will love Wonder! About to start that with 9 yo.
Oooo, I am sure jealousy ensues when duckling gets a cookie, looks good. Molly Lou Melon and Green are both so excellent, I love these books!
Impressive!
Every week there seems to be a book that is “stalking” my posts and Duckling is that book this week- I didn’t even know there was a Duckling- must get! I also still need to read Molly Lou Melon. And both of your bio books this week are great reads- just a whole bunch of great books listed.
Happy reading this week! 🙂
Glad you’re getting a chance to read Wonder with you 9yo, Jennifer. So many great opportunities to “stop and discuss”–What would you do?
Kellee–you MUST get Duckling. Pigeon better watch his back! 🙂
Wow, so many books I love on this post! Babymouse is probably my very favorite children’s literature character. Babymouse the musical is my favorite too! I loved Drawing from Memory and all of Shana Corey’s books. I’m reading Wonder now too and really enjoying it. The Disenchantments is fantastic. One of my favorite YA novels I’ve read this year. So quirky and fun.
I bought Wonder a while ago after reading about it in Not For Lunch, but had a stack of other books to read first. GG, who is 10 and a half, has no interest in reading it. She’s into Amelia’s Notebooks right now, a couple of grades below her reading level, but whatever keeps her reading instead of playing plants vs. zombies. Anyway, I LOVED Wonder and started re-reading it the day after I finished it. Now I’ve passed it on to our 4th and 5th grade teachers at school. I realize from reading your blog that I am stuck in the past, thinking of kid lit the way it was in the 70s when I was a 10 year old just devouring all the Anne of Green Gables series, Little House on the Prairie, Narnia Chronicles etc. Wonder made me realize that I need to start reading whatever kids and YA are reading these days.
So nice of you to “stop by” and comment, Cynthia! I’m so glad you picked up Wonder, and that you’ve passing it on to others. It has so many great messages to share with young people. Sorry that GG wasn’t up for reading it, but maybe at some point she will be, and knowing you, you Wonder-talk all the great teachable moments to GG anyway! 🙂 Like you, I’ve got nostalgia for the classics that you mentioned, but it’s been so fun to discover contemporary lit for kids, too. We’ll have to check out Amelia’s Notebooks–don’t know that series. At this point, you’re right, keep ’em happy with their own selections for reading. What genre does she typically like? Realistic fiction? Historical fiction? Fantasy? Keep reading and keep in touch!