I’m still on book cover sharing for the time being. But first… in school library news last week, I was surprised to find this article in my Facebook feed this week. The surprise came from the fact that the two Texas school districts mentioned are ones with which I have an intimate history. I attended Leander Independent School District as a student from 2nd grade into high school. Then years later I became a classroom teacher for the Keller Independent School District (and later completed my school librarian internship there). In any case, we are pretty much guaranteed that these two books will have a HUGE sales spike in coming weeks (since banning is one of the very best promotions)!
If this is your first visit to my blog, welcome! Today is Monday, and I regularly participate in a weekly #IMWAYR meme. 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’ll have to gush over these books in future Goodreads reviews over the December holidays. And at that time, I may come back here to copy/paste to coordinate. That said, if you aren’t yet familiar with these titles, please head over to Goodreads to read the publisher’s notes. It was an EXCELLENT week finishing these!
Just Finished
Currently Reading
Next Up
Updated #MustReadin2021 Chart
Reading Challenge Updates:
Goodreads Challenge: 234/365
#MustReadIn2021: 27/49
The Miller Memo 
Looks like you have made good progress on your challenge. I always fail miserably at the record keeping aspect. Hope you have a good reading week.
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It’s been a pretty rough year and I’m not sure if I’ll finish my “must read” challenge, but I’m giving it everything I can. lol Once we get to the holidays, though, it’s so hard to keep up. Thanks for visiting, Karen!
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Best wishes in the catching up, Shaye. I noted some of your books, loved Class Act!
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It seems that once we reach Thanksgiving, there’s no more catching up. I’ll need to work harder to get ahead of my goals next year. But I’m not giving up, yet. Heehee! Thanks for dropping by, Linda!
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Great progress in your #MustRead challenge. the Magic Fish and the Museum of Everything are both books I want to read.
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It will be very exciting if I can make it through my last 10 books on the list before 1/1/22 – fingers-crossed! Thanks for swinging by, Earl!
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I am impressed by your progress on your MustRead list. I think I’m going to add The Magic Fish to my MustRead list next year. I have a copy of it around here somewhere. Enjoy The Westing Game!
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I’m responding very late, but I’m now down to just two books left. With almost two weeks to go, I sure hope I make it! lol
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I have to get around to reading Class Act!
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I think I actually enjoyed New Kid more. There was an awful lot going on in Class Act — all of it was important. But I was thinking some middle graders might not catch it all the first time through (or if there wasn’t some guided discussion). In any case, both great books. Thanks for visiting, Lisa!
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That article you shared is pretty enraging, and unfortunately unsurprising—I like to think of the kidlit book world as this wonderful, accepting environment completely insulated from the world, but alas, it’s not, and the world gets totally bent out of shape about it. Then again, I suppose if you’re going to have any kind of large impact, the books need to be visible to the world—and to critics!
And I’m so glad you enjoyed reading all of these books—I haven’t seen much of The Magic Fish in the blogging circles, so I’m glad to see someone else enjoying it! And I’m glad you got a chance to cram Class Act in as well. Also, your #MustReadin2021 progress is so impressive! Thanks so much for the wonderful post, Shaye!
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I’m still baffled over what I’m witnessing happening in Texas school libraries. I taught in Keller ISD for my last three school years before becoming a librarian and I now see they were one of the first to be investigated. Yikes! And on my ‘must read’ list, I sure wish I hadn’t shoved these last books into such a short amount of time while things are so busy, busy, busy. But summer really threw me for a loop and I missed several weeks of normal reading. It meant not taking the time to take proper notes and write meaningful reviews for some of the books I truly enjoyed. I hope to do much better in 2022!
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Horrifying that book banning is still going on! Like you said, it should at least boost sales for both books! I keep hearing good things about The Magic Fish. I had The Westing Game in my stack (again) for the R.I.P. Challenge, but I never got to it (again). It’s been on my TBR shelves since my youngest son read it in middle school – he’s 23 now!
Wow, you’re doing great on your #MustRead2021 list!
I’m late again this week, but I hope you’ve been enjoying your books!
Sue
Book By Book
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It is such a funny thing about the boosted sales goes, Sue. I recently listened to an interview with Jason Reynolds about being on the banned books list, so I’ll have to dig out the quote. But it was something about not seeing ‘making the list’ as being a badge of honor (because of what it’s taking away from kids). That whole interview was quite meaningful, so I need to bookmark and share it. Thanks so much for visiting!
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I’ve got THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING, too. Looks intriguing. CLASS ACT is a definite read for me. I just finished Ben Philippe’s CHARM IS A VERB, which was excellent. Plus, there’s a firefighter MOM!
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Yeah, I thought the message of The Museum of Everything was pretty great! Unfortunately, the idea of being fascinated by the mundane is too often lost when we grow older and life gets hectic. Thanks for visiting, Linda!
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I finally found the time to read the article about censorship in Texas, and yes, I immediately added both banned books to my reading list.
I wish I could say that things are different up here in Canada but unfortunately, we battle against these same attitudes.
The public library in my city is staunchly anti-censorship, hosts a Freedom to Read Week and publishes a list of challenged and banned books complete with staff recommendations. They also host controversial speakers, which has earned them considerable flak from both the left and the right.
In other words, they support my right to disagree and form my own opinions.
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It’s my pleasure! I love your blog. You write great reviews and I find your “To Be Read” list very inspiring.
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