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.

The kids in the neighborhood where I live went back to school last week. As I walked through the neighborhood in the days leading up to the first day, you could see signs of growing excitement. I know from the wonderful pictures I've seen on Facebook, that so many of my friends and neighbors had a terrific start to the new school year. It seemed kind of odd to see the empty swimming pool in the park on my daily walk!

My friends in the school district where I taught will be starting back next week. And many more will be going back in the weeks to come. I hope everyone has a great start to the new school year. This week I've included a few books to share with kids that might be a little nervous about the first day. Here's what I've been reading this past week:

Middle Grade Fiction

The Magic Mirror: A Branches Book (Once Upon a Fairy Tale #1) by Anna Staniszewski, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrations)

This fun middle grade/early chapter book shows what can happen when sibling rivalry threatens to make a kingdom endure summer forever. The Enchanted Kingdom is experiencing a summer that just doesn't seem to quit. Kara and Zed intercept a piece of royal mail and find out that the Ice Princess' magic mirror is broken and she can't fix it. Without the mirror, she can't change the season back to winter. When they travel to her castle to help, they realize the mirror has a missing piece and the Ice Princess suspects that her sister, Princess Sola is responsible.

Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Sharks by Katie Tsang, Kevin Tsang, Nathan Reed (Illustrator)

Sam Wu is afraid of lots of things, but he is inspired by his favorite TV show, Space Blasters, to be as brave as he can be in any situation. A class trip to the aquarium introduces a new fear - sharks. When his frenemy, Ralph and his sister, Regina, invite Sam and his friend to their birthday beach party, there's a lot to do to get ready. Young readers will laugh at Sam and his antics to try to avoid dangerous situations.

Picture Books

Arithmechicks Add Up: A Math Story by Ann Marie Stephens 

This adorable picture book uses bright, colorful illustrations and a sweet story about playing together and inclusion to help young children practice counting and addition skills. Ten little chicks head to the playground and group together in a variety of ways to have a good time. Along the way they make a new friend to play with. This would definitely be fun to have on a primary grade bookshelf for kiddos to learn these skills independently. This could also be a terrific mentor text for kids that want to write their own math story problems.

Tallulah The Tooth Fairy CEO by Tamara Pizzoli, Federico Fabiani (Illustrator)

This fantastic update of the tooth fairy's story will inspire young readers to either polish up their resume to become part of the tooth fairy's organization or wiggle their loose teeth in order to encounter this savvy business woman. With sharp, colorful illustrations and a clever narrative about this enterprising woman's rise to power in the tooth collection business, this is sure to be a favorite bookshelf!

My First Day of School by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Starting school is an exciting time for young children, but it can also be kind of scary. This awesome picture book uses photographs of kindergarten kids engaged in typical classroom activities and simple, descriptive text to help young readers know what to expect on the first day of school. Sharing this book with kids prior to the big day may help alleviate some anxiety, especially if used in conjunction with visiting the school and teacher. This would also be great in a classroom collection of back-to-school books to help independent readers feel more comfortable. This could also be a great mentor text for young writers who want to describe their own first day of school.

Small World by Ishta Mercurio, Jen Corace (Illustrator)

Young readers will enjoy considering being both big and small at the same time. When Nanda is born, her world is a small as she, a little baby in her mother's arms. But as Nanda grows, so does the world around her, and so does her ability to see and appreciate all of the patterns around her. Eventually she becomes an astronaut and goes into outer space, where she gets to see how small the world looks from way up there. Gorgeous illustrations along with lyrical text make this a great book to share with young readers, especially at the beginning of the school year.

Nugget and Fang Go to School by Tammi Sauer, Michael Slack (Illustrations)

This cute picture book lets young readers know that everything will be fine on the first day of school since friends are all around to be encouraging. Fang, while being a big, scary-looking shark, is quite nervous about starting school. He's worried about all of the things that could go wrong. Little kids will giggle as they see some of the mishaps that Fang experiences, but at the end of the day his friends let him know that everything is all right. This would be a good way to start a conversation about how friends can help each other on the first day of school, and for the rest of the school year.

The Best Seat in Kindergarten by Katharine Kenah, Abby Carter (Illustrations)

Sam is a little nervous about his first day of kindergarten. But when he takes the opportunity to help others find interesting items to collect during a class nature walk, he realizes that he's going to love kindergarten because of all the new friends that he has made. This would be a great book to share with anyone who is starting kindergarten as a way to talk about how everyone is new to school and a little bit nervous about it. It also is a good way to have a conversation about ways that we can help our friends in our new classroom communities. This would be a good book to have in a classroom library, as the easy to read text and comforting illustrations will have kids coming back to it for independent reading.

Even Monsters Go to School by Lisa Wheeler, Chris Van Dusen (Illustrations)

This fun picture book helps young readers get over back-to-school anxiety with humorous illustrations and bouncy rhyming text that remind them that all of their favorite monsters go to school. Fans of monster movies and stories will recognize Bigfoot, Frankenstein, and the Loch Ness Monster and realize that all of them go to school and all of them are a little bit nervous about it. This could be a good book to share during the first days of school. It also might inspire young writers to imagine their favorite fictional characters going to school.

Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri 

I really like the way this graphic novel/picture book reframes the monster under the bed to be a good friend instead of something scary. Tiger's monster is her good friend and each night she brings the monster some dinner, they play games, and the monster scares away all of Tiger's nightmares. But when a nightmare comes along that's too big for Tiger to handle alone, she and Monster learn that teamwork is best. This is definitely a good one for the bookshelf!

Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes 

As someone who constantly worries, I can definitely relate to Wemberly. And starting school can be an especially stressful event. Wemberly worries about everything all the time. When it's time for her to start school for the first time, she's just beside herself despite all of her family's attempts to reassure her. When she gets to school, though, she meets another little girl with whom she has a lot in common. This would certainly be a good book to share with young readers who are nervous about the beginning of the school year, whether it's their first time or they've been at it for several years.