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 to share what you’ve been reading!

I hope everyone had a wonderful reading week! I know that I did and now I’m eagerly anticipating Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend, which will be released TOMORROW!! It felt like we’d never arrive at U.S. publication date (because Australians got it a month before we did!!), but here we are. I absolutely LOVE this series and hope the third book is as good as books #1 and #2 were!

We received our ballots in the mail and plan to drop them off in the courthouse dropbox later this week. So in addition to the novels I finished this week, it seemed appropriate to share a few of the election/president/vote children’s books I found in my local libraries. Hopefully you’ll find something of interest to add to your reading list. NOTE: I’m having to slightly alter the format to my posts because, with the forced WordPress re-model, my emailed posts are now coming out all wonky and my old format is just not working out. So this is me just trying to go with the flow and adjust.

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Dear Justyce
(Dear Martin, #2)
Nic Stone
September 29, 2020
Crown

Dear Martin was one of my absolutely favorite reads of 2018. At the time, so many people were comparing it to The Hate You Give and I remember thinking that, while I enjoyed both books, Dear Martin was my favorite. In any case, as soon as I learned there would be a sequel, I wanted to read it. In this story, after Quan is sent to prison for the shooting of a police officer, he begins writing letters to Justyce.

“We were all looking for the same things, man: support, protection, family…”

What I appreciated, so much, about this book was the exploration of what happens to your options when you come from a troubled home in a troubled neighborhood. It studies domestic violence and gangs from the inside and really challenges the reader to take another look at the lack of options and just how easy it is to get where Quan lands.

“We find the families we were desperate for and learn different ways of going about things.”

I won’t spoil the story, but I’m so grateful my library already had this book and I’m happy to recommend it!

You can add it to your Goodreads list HERE.
If you do not have a local bookstore, you may purchase it through IndieBound HERE.
You may also choose to purchase it through Amazon HERE.

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A Place at the Table
Saadia Faruqi
Laura Shovan
August 11, 2020
Clarion Books / HMH

I’m grateful for this book, told in alternating voices of two sixth grade girls — one who is Pakistani American and the other being Jewish. While they each have different levels of privilege, it’s clear that Sara and Elizabeth share some important struggles. For example, both their mothers are attempting to become American citizens. Still, it is difficult to be vulnerable and trust that someone else will have your back when you need them most.

Much of the story revolves around a South Asian cooking class where the girls become partners and enter a cooking contest. So don’t be surprised if your mouth waters uncontrollably as the descriptions of the foods they’re creating. YUM! Also part of the story are depression and financial struggles. Both are important experiences that bring life to each girl’s home life and must be boldly addressed.

Racism and stereotypes are common issues in today’s school, therefore I was glad to see it faced head-on in this story. We know many children are merely repeating the misinformation they’ve heard at home, but the ending to this book provided so much “feel good” joy and hope that these obstacles can be overcome in our society. I hope children’s libraries everywhere will be sure to stock this very meaningful #ownvoices story!

You can add it to your Goodreads list HERE.
If you do not have a local bookstore, you may purchase it through IndieBound HERE.
You may also choose to purchase it through Amazon HERE.

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The Voting Booth
Brandy Colbert
Robin Eller, narrator
Cary Hite, narrator
July 7, 2020
Disney-Hyperion
Dreamscape Media, LLC

My thanks to Libro.fm for providing me with this audiobook so that I could review it on my blog. I had such fun listening to this story, told in two voices, about Marva Sheridan and Duke Crenshaw. They wake up on election day ready to go out and do their duty — VOTE! But Duke Crenshaw runs into a problem, immediately, and might have given up altogether if he hadn’t met Marva that very day. Marva is very driven and has made it her purpose to get as many people to the voting booth as possible. In an effort to get Duke’s vote to count, they end up skipping school and facing a run-around on voting location. They also must spend a chunk of time searching for Marva’s beloved cat who got out of the house by accident.

I didn’t want to stop listening to this book and I actually learned a lot about voting. For example, I didn’t know that even if you aren’t registered on election day, in some places you can fill out a registration application on the spot and still vote. This was a fun and light-hearted ready!

You can add it to your Goodreads list HERE.
If you do not have a local bookstore, you may purchase it through IndieBound HERE.
You may also choose to purchase it through Amazon HERE.

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Election Day Books

This week I’ve had a large collection of local children’s books all about voting, the President, and Election Day. Instead of reviewing all these books in detail, I’ll just share a collage of what I picked up and links to each book on Goodreads, below:

Vote! by Eileen Christelow
Froggy for President! by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewiczi
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House by Susan E. Goodman and Elwood H. Smith
LaRue for Mayor: Letters from the Campaign by Mark Teague
Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter and Shane W. Evans
Amelia Bedelia’s First Vote by Herman Parish and Lynne Avril
I Could Do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda Arms White and Nancy Carpenter
Papa’s Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert and Colin Bootman
Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box by Michael S. Bandy, Eric Stein and James E. Ransome
Otto Runs For President by Rosemary Wells
What’s the Big Deal about Elections by Ruby Shamir
The Night Before Election Day by Natasha Wing and Amy Wummer
One Vote, Two Votes, I Vote, You Vote by Bonnie Worth, Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu
My Teacher for President by Kay Winters and Denise Brunkus
Susan B. Anthony by Alexandra Wallner
Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone and Rebecca Gibbon
So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George and David Small
If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier
Election!: A Kid’s Guide to Picking Our President by Dan Gutman
Votes of Confidence, 2nd Edition: A Young Person’s Guide to American Elections by Jeff Fleischer
I Can Be President (Barbie) by Christy Webster and Kellee Riley
The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents by Kate Messner and Adam Rex
The U.S. Presidency by Bill McAuliffe
How to Be President of the U.S.A. by Murray I. Suid
We Can Vote by Ann Bonwill
Susan B. Anthony: Fighter for Women’s Rights by Deborah Hopkinson, Amy Bates and Amy June Bates
Citizen Baby: My President by Megan E Bryant, Daniel Prosterman and Micah Player
Citizen Baby: My Vote by Megan E Bryant, Daniel Prosterman and Micah Player

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To Be Read:

I am currently enjoying The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay and I’ll continue reading through my election, vote, president books with the kids, this week. I also hope Hollowpox arrives by Tuesday so that I can dive in to book #3 of the Nevermoor series.

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Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge:  292/300

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What are YOU reading?