Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give Kathryn’s (at Book Date) “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” meme a kidlit focus, reviewing books in children’s literature (picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in the world of kidlit). If you enjoy this type of reading, join us every Monday!
Today will be my shortest IMWAYR post ever (with only three books and blurbs rather than reviews). My family took an unexpected trip up into the Black Hills. Getting back super late on Sunday evening means little time to blog. But at least I’m here, right?
Rebound
Crossover 0.5
Kwame Alexander
April 2, 2018
I was thrilled to read Rebound, this week. In fact, I think I might have enjoyed this prequel even more than Crossover! If you’ve already read Crossover, this is the story of Josh and JB’s father, Chuck/Charlie Bell. The rhythm and intensity of this book was so comfortable and easy to fall into, with some fun comics tossed in (in just a few spots). I didn’t want to put this one down and I was NOT ready for some of the reveal at the very end — just so heart-warming and beautiful. You don’t even have to have any interest in sports (in case that’s what is holding you back). Highly, HIGHLY recommend this one!
They All Saw A Cat
Brendan Wenzel
August 30, 2016
Loved this beautiful picture book about how our various viewpoints in life impact our perspective on the exact same thing. This would be a wonderful book to spur on discussions about diversity and acceptance (including self acceptance). This book was a 2017 Caldecott Honor Book, the NAIBA Book of the Year for Picture Book, and a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Picture Books.
Redwoods
Jason Chin
March 17, 2009
Last week, Lisa of Literacy on the Mind mentioned Redwoods being her favorite Jason Chin book. So I had to check it out! A young boy is reading this exact book (Redwoods) while learning all the details about these trees. It covers everything I could imagine a child (or adult) wanting to know about Redwoods. The artwork was absolutely stunning and I would love it in my collection for this fact, alone. There’s a brief Author’s Note at the end which explained Chin’s inspiration for researching and writing about redwoods. The only thing I felt was missing was a list of sources for further reading. Nevertheless, I learned a great deal about redwoods and would definitely recommend it for classroom or home use.
To Be Read:
I just barely started the following two books this week, so I would really like to finish them by next Monday. I’ve also ordered Front Desk by Kelly Yang. WOOHOO! But did I mention having a little less time? I’m definitely going to have to adjust my expectations based on the “out and about” activities of my children this time of year. So I PROBABLY won’t be reviewing 3+ novels a week for at least a couple months. 🙂
What are YOU reading?
The Miller Memo 
And when you finish The Wild Robot you’ll want to go straight into the sequel! Enjoy.
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I already have the sequel on-hand, so I’m definitely ready to get this party started! 😁 Thanks for coming by, Kristi!
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Glad you liked Redwoods! Rebound sounds fantastic! I haven’t read Crossover, but enjoyed Booked.
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I really did — so beautiful. Thank you for mentioning it last week, Lisa!
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I have Rebound to read now so I glad to hear you enjoyed it. I was kind of avoiding it since I’ve already read Crossover and know what happens. I hope you enjoy The Wild Robot as much as I did, but to tell the truth, I have had trouble getting into Aru Shah, so I will be looking forward to reading your thoughts when you are done.
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Oh the prequel really is worth reading, but I understand being hesitant when we already know what happens. Rebound is just about a year-in-the-life-of-Chuck. But it’s an important year and very much adds to the story. Thanks for stopping by, Alex!
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I just finished Rebound this morning. Was going to finish it last night with read aloud but then discovered that my son hasn’t read The Crossover. WHAT?! The only reason we hadn’t read that one LONG ago is because he said he read it at school. So…. epilogue postponed until we can get The Crossover read, but I had to finish it for myself! I do think it’s a smoother read than The Crossover, though I think the individual poems in The Crossover are much stronger as poems. I liked Redwoods a lot too. Basically everything Jason Chin works for me. Will be interested in your thoughts on The Wild Robot. A book that everyone loves but I really didn’t connect with. Not sure why it didn’t work for me! Many seem to be loving the sequel too.
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Oh my goodness, I bet that was a huge surprise on Crossover!! I think I’d wait, too. I’m only about 1/3 into The Wild Robit and it seems to be aimed at a much younger audience than what I was expecting. Due to the length, I was expecting middle grade reading and only saw the reading level was 8-11 after I was a few chapters in. Probably would be a great read aloud! Thanks for stopping by, Elisabeth!
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I need to get back to some of Kwame Alexander’s books. I’ve read Crossover, need to get Rebound & read Solo! Thanks for the reminder about Redwoods. I love Grand Canyon so will look for that one! Hope you find some reading time!
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It’s funny because so many of my teacher friends are talking about how they’ll have so much time to read now that it’s summer. I’m exactly opposite — summers are super busy. But once it gets too cold to run around outside gardening, swimming, biking, playing outdoor sports, and hiking, we then tend to huddle inside and get a ton of reading done throughout the week. Oh well, I’ll get done what I get done. Thanks for checking in, Linda! Hope you have a wonderful reading week!
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I love, love, love Jason Chin’s books! I love the way he creates informational books that manage to also be beautiful and exciting, too!
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Oh I completely agree, Jane! Years ago, my “go to” for most information children’s books was Gail Gibbons. They were pretty thorough and fun to read. And while she has an important place in the realm of children’s nonfiction, Chin’s books are truly works of art. Thanks for swinging by and have a wonderful week!
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I loved the illustrations in They All Saw a Cat. This past week I read Brendan Wenzel’s Hello Hello, and it has similar brightly colored artwork. I also loved The Wild Robot! I definitely need to get my hands on the sequel. Have a great week!
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The cat artwork was so fun! I saw your mention of Hello Hello on your blog and now I’m looking forward to reading that one! I already have the robot sequel, so hoping I can finish book #1 up and get to the second one by next week. Thanks so much for visiting, Jana!
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OMG – I didn’t know you lived near the Black Hills!! We have family there, and it’s one of our all-time favorite places to visit (and we have traveled all over the US). I see you are in/near Chadron, NE – I just wrote a travel article for Trailer Life on Carhenge in Alliance 🙂 Another favorite stop of ours.
I saw your note about your busy summer, but I hope you can find time to squeeze in at least 1 Big Book (400+ pages)!
Enjoy your books this week – and all your activities!
Sue
2018 Big Book Summer Challenge
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We feel pretty lucky to be in the middle of so many wonderful tourist locations! Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wounded Knee, Fort Robinson, etc. Carhenge is fun!! Would be such fun to meet up some time if you’re in the area. Elisabeth of Dirigible Plum lives out here, too! Thanks for stopping by, Sue!
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I love Kwame Alexander! Having read The Crossover, I am looking forward to getting my hands on both Rebound and Booked. (So many books, not enough time)
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Definitely so many books! I also just checked out Solo, too. Hope to start that one next week. I love his writing so much! Thanks for visiting, Jeanie!
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So much goodness in one post! I cannot wait to read Rebound! Alexander is so popular in my classroom! They All Saw a Cat, Redwoods, and Wild Robot are all favorites; I need to get to the second Robot book. I also hope to read Aru Shah soon.
Happy reading this week 🙂
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I love that so many kids are into his writing. It has such a beautiful beat and such touching words. I mentioned in the comments, earlier, that I’ve just checked out Solo, too. Can’t wait to start that one, as well. Thanks for swinging by, Kellee!
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Your books look tempting…and they are all new to me. Enjoy your week ahead…and thanks for visiting my blog.
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I enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to — you’ve quite a stack going on, Laurel! Wow. You have a great week, too, and thank YOU for stopping in.
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You’ve got some great reading ahead of you!!
Emily Arrow has a very cute video on her youtube channel that goes along with They All Saw a Cat.
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Ah, thanks so much for letting me know about Emily Arrow’s “They All Saw a Cat” song. So cute! For anyone else interested, here’s a link: https://youtu.be/zt_kCPXyHPc Thanks for visiting, Michele!
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They Saw a Cat was a read aloud hit with my second grade #classroombookaday class. I recently read Wenzel’s new release Hello Hello. And you will love The Wild Robot and Front Desk. They are both hard to put down. Have a great week!
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I can’t wait to read Hello Hello — just found out about that one this month. And Front Desk is supposed to come in today, so now I must quickly finish up what I’m currently reading. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful reactions. Thanks for stopping by, Laura!
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I can’t wait to read Front Desk as well.
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I know! I may or may not be counting down the minutes until 4:30pm MT (UPS package arrival deadline). But I really need to finish up my current novel. I’m pretty much a one-novel-at-a-time gal. Thanks for swinging by, Earl!
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Absolutely loved Crossover – but haven’t read any of Kwame’s later works – including this prequel. Glad to see that i would most likely looove it too! Aru Shah has been receiving a lot of love lately. I also enjoyed They All Saw A Cat – such a brilliant picturebook on the play on perspectives.
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I didn’t know if I would love Kwame Alexander’s work, initially, but he’s such a gifted storyteller — beautiful narrative voices within his free verse. I hope to start Solo by July since I checked it out earlier this month. I’m still just a little way into Aru Shah and hoping to jump back into that before this weekend. This summer is turning out to be quite busy. lol Thanks so much for stopping in, Myra!
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