It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey as a way to share what you have read and/or reviewed in the past week. It's also a terrific way to find out what other people are reading.

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers have given this meme a children's literature focus: picture books, middle grade novels, etc. They "encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting the other bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful weekend and Father's Day. I saw lots of fathers and grandfathers enjoying themselves at the Columbus Zoo and at our favorite Sunday brunch buffet! The beginning of the week was pretty stormy and wet, but by the weekend it was sunny and hot. Either way, I spent a lot of time inside with the air conditioner running and a pile of books to read. Here's what I read last week:

Middle Grade Fiction

Everything I Know About You by Barbara Dee 

I had the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this middle grade novel from NetGalley in exchange for a review. This is a drama-filled, engaging read that will certainly be popular among middle school kids. Fresh and timely, this realistic fiction book takes readers on a middle school field trip to Washington, D.C.

Seventh-grade Tally and her friends, Sonnet and Spider, pile onto the bus along with a group of popular girls whom Tally has dubbed “CloneGirls” and some boys that had bullied Spider the previous year. Making this trip even more stressful, they are going to have to share hotel rooms with these very groups of kids with whom they don’t get along. During the class’ stay at the hotel, Tally has been assigned to room with Ava, her arch enemy. But as the days go by, Tally begins to realize that Ava’s life is far from perfect and she has seriously unhealthy eating habits. Tally becomes very worried about Ava’s emaciated-looking physique and wants to tell someone about it. But Ava takes a picture of Tally in an embarrassing situation and threatens to send it out to everyone in the class. Middle grade readers will be glued to the book to find out what Tally will do about this and all of the other friendship drama unfolding around her.

The characters in this book are very realistic voices of kids in this age group. As kids grow up and start going in different directions from the friends they’ve had through the years, it can be very stressful. This book captures that in a way that tweens will recognize and appreciate. The author leaves readers with some great lessons about how we become “good roomies” even at the risk of losing a budding friendship, how sometimes the way we label people limits the ways we can build relationships and better understandings of those around us, and how important it is for us to learn to appreciate ourselves and our bodies. I would definitely recommend this book for middle school kids, grades 5 and up.

Picture Books

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain by Cheryl Bardoe, Barbara McClintock (Contributor) 

This fascinating picture book biography will definitely inspire young readers to appreciate mathematics and the daunting obstacles faced by women who wished to pursue mathematics as a career many years ago. Sophie Germain grew up during the French Revolution, a time when women weren't permitted to engage in academic pursuits. Despite the difficulties, she persisted to become a pioneering mathematician involved in the study of vibrations and how they affected structures such as buildings and bridges. Beautiful illustrations show numbers flowing across the pages and reflect the concepts of waves, patterns, and vibrations. There are more detailed endnotes discussing how this book was written and illustrated. This would be a nice nonfiction resource to add to a home or classroom library.

Saturday Is Swimming Day by Hyewon Yum 

When I was a little kid, swimming lessons were very scary for me. I was afraid to put my face in the water and I never truly believed I would float if the swimming teacher took her hands away. It wasn't until I was in fourth grade and some after school lessons at the YMCA that I finally learned how to swim. Young readers will be able to relate to the little girl in this awesome picture book. On Saturdays, she attends swimming lessons and she starts out with a stomachache each time, but the very patient teacher figures out a way to ease the little girl's fears until she is finally able to float on her own. The artwork, rendered in watercolor and colored pencil, used soft and welcoming tones to tell this story of overcoming one's fears.

Drawn Together by Minh Le, Dan Santat (Contributor) 

This awesome picture book has a terrific message for young readers - that there is more that we have in common than there are differences, even though you might have to look a little harder for it. With spare text and beautiful illustrations, readers see a boy being dropped off at his grandfather's house. It becomes clear that there is language and cultural barriers along with a generation gap. But when the boy starts drawing and grandfather gets out his sketch book, that's when the magic starts to occur and the distance between these two gets smaller and smaller. 

Mabel and Sam at Home by Linda Urban, Hadley Hooper (Illustrations) 

Moving to a new home is never easy. For adults it means a lot of work packing, moving, organizing, cleaning, etc. For kids it can be hard to get used to a new house, new rooms, new noises, etc. Mabel and her little brother, Sam, make the best of the move by using their imaginations to become sailors, museum tour guides, and astronauts exploring new worlds. This would be a great book to share with young readers who have recently experienced a move or are about to move.

Niblet & Ralph by Zachariah OHora 

This fun picture book will have readers looking twice at their own pets. Ralph and Niblet, two cats who look very similar and live in the same apartment building, are great friends. But no two friends are exactly alike. One day they decide to pay each other a visit. By mistake, Ralph winds up in Niblet's apartment while Niblet is over at Ralph's apartment. When their owners come home, each can tell right away that something isn't right. Young pet owners will certainly be able to relate to the confusion and the worry of each child trying to find their own cat.

Off & Away by Cale Atkinson

This is a cute picture book with a nice message about overcoming one's fears. The little girl's dad is responsible for delivering all of the messages-in-bottles to the correct recipients. She never accompanies him because she's afraid of all of the creatures and unseen dangers lurking beneath the surface of the ocean. But when her father becomes ill and has to rest, it's up to her to deliver all of the messages. Young readers will enjoy finding out how she gathers up her courage so she won't let her father down.

Vernon Is on His Way: Small Stories by Philip C. Stead 

This trio of short, sweet stories featuring Vernon, Skunk, and Porcupine remind me of the Frog and Toad series of books by Arnold Lobel. The stories feature very simple ideas like waiting for a friend to wake from a nap, learning how to fish, and missing a friend. This would be a great book to share with an emerging reader getting ready for longer chapter books. 

Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin Kheiriyeh 

This fascinating picture book lets readers take a peek into another culture and see that there are many more things that we all have in common than things that make people different. Rashin's family has recently moved to Brooklyn, New York from Iran. She is super excited about her family's first trip to the Coney Island Beach. On the way, she remembers her family's beach experiences in Iran. In Iran, the beaches for men and women were separate. But, she enjoyed playing with her best friend and eating saffron ice cream. When she and her family arrive at Coney Island, she is overwhelmed by the differences at first, but then she realizes there are still friends she can make and fun she can have. This would be an awesome book to share with kids as a way to discuss how we can make everyone feel welcome in our neighborhoods and how different cultures aren't really so very different from each other.

A House That Once Was by Julie Fogliano, Lane Smith (Illustrator) 

With lyrical language and beautiful illustrations, this book has readers imagining all of the possibilities for what once occupied an old, abandoned house in the woods. As the children climb in through the window and have a look around, they look at everything left behind and think about who might have lived there once and how they spent their time. The artwork was created "using two different techniques: The 'present day' illustrations were made with India ink, drawn on vellum with a crow quill pen, then pressed while wet onto watercolor paper creating a blotted line effect. The colors were painted in oil over gesso then scanned and added digitally under the ink-line. The 'imagined' scenes were painted in oil paint on hot press board and scanned along with paper collage elements that were combined digitally."

While this story certainly does tickle the imagination, I worry a little bit about young readers coming away with the idea that it's all right to just enter abandoned homes to look around. Grown-ups sharing this book with children should really emphasize that this story is meant as an example of beautiful descriptions and imagining the lives of other people; but it is never safe to enter and explore any abandoned homes or buildings.

Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, Josée Bisaillon (Illustrator) 

In many cultures, education is a special gift not to be taken for granted. For many hard work to pay for education is the way to a better life for the next generation. The little girl in this story loves her mother and wants to stay with her and help her with the hard work on the coffee plantation. But her mother is determined to continue working to pay to send her daughter away to school. The story, with its poetic text and beautiful collage illustrations, will tug at heartstrings. Sharing this book would provide an opportunity to talk about other cultures and the hard work a good education requires. 

The Zoo Box by Ariel Cohn, Aron Nels Steinke (Illustrations) 

Countless times I have visited the zoo and the thought has occurred to me that it would be really weird if things were reversed and the animals were studying us. This fun graphic novel uses easy-to-read text and fun illustrations to tell the story of a brother and sister who find themselves in a topsy turvy world where the zoo has humans on display. Left alone for the evening, Erika and Patrick are playing in the attic and find a mysterious box. Ignoring the DO NOT OPEN label, they take off the lid and unleash a zoo full of wild animals that lead them to a crazy world. Definitely a fun read for elementary age kids.