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.

It's officially the first day of fall. Last week, during my daily walks, I was starting to see signs of changing colors in the trees. Then after a day of rain on Saturday, I noticed a big pile of leaves had fallen in the backyard. We still have a ways to go, and the weather still feels like summer. In the meantime, here's what I've been reading this past week:

Young Adult Fiction

Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles

I had the opportunity to read a NetGalley digital ARC of this young adult novel in in exchange for a review. I was attracted to the book because I really enjoyed Tami Charles’ debut novel, Like Vanessa, which was set in 1983 and told the story of an adolescent girl who has many challenges but is inspired by Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America. Like the first story, this story is set in 1984 and has one of my favorite shows from that time period, Fame, as a backdrop.

The main character of this book, Beatriz Mendez, dreams of becoming a dancer. Her favorite TV show is Fame and there are upcoming auditions to become an extra on the program. But there are many obstacles to achieving her dreams: her involvement in drug dealing and gang activity, her academic difficulties stemming from her criminal activities, and family issues arising from the murder of her brother.

Teenagers today will be able to relate to the character’s struggle to break free from the grip of crime, poverty, and violence and lead a normal life of school and dancing. Much of the dialogue in the book is written in Spanish, but the author uses context to help readers understand what is being said. It might help if teen readers check out a few old episodes of Fame, in order to appreciate the style of dancing and the characters referred to in the story.

Picture Books

Just Because by Mac Barnett, Isabelle Arsenault (Illustrations)

Young children have so many questions, they never seem to run out, especially at bedtime. The little girl in this fun picture book has one question after another. Children are naturally curious, but readers will begin to suspect that this little girl is stalling a bit. The dad has answers for each of these questions, but readers will be pretty sure that these answers are a bit of stretch. This would be a fun book to share with kids as a way to talk about critical thinking and evaluating the reliability of information we read (just because it's written doesn't make it true). This could also be a good jumping off point for researching the true answers to these questions or inspiration for generating one's own questions to answer.

The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali, Hatem Aly (Illustrator)

The first day of wearing a hijab is an important day for young Muslim women, a defining moment in their faith and in growing up. Sometimes that can be difficult when there are those who are unkind towards that which they don't understand or deem to be different. In this awesome picture book, Asiya is starting sixth grade with a beautiful blue hijab and her little sister, Faizah, is so proud. But when Faizah hears hurtful things being said and sees some of the other kids at school laughing at Asiya, she has to remember what her family has taught her about being strong. "Some people won't understand your hijab, Mama had said. But if you understand who you are, one day they will too." This would be a good book to share with young readers as part of a broader discussion about how to understand and respect all people when we live in community.

Grace Goes to Washington by Kelly DiPucchio, LeUyen Pham (Illustrations)

Coming into a presidential election year, there is plenty going on in the news that young readers might be interested in learning more about. This cool picture book takes readers into Grace's school where her class is studying the branches of government in preparation for their field trip to Washington, D.C. At the same time, the student council of the school is having a hard time deciding what to do with the proceeds of their bake sale fundraising event. Readers will gain an understanding of the decision-making process in a democracy and will be inspired to find ways to get involved in their own schools and communities.

Hungry Jim by Laurel Snyder, Chuck Groenink (illustrator)

Those that ever wake up feeling not quite themselves, but quite wild and crazy, will definitely be able to see themselves in this clever picture book. Jim wakes up to discover that he's a lion and he is very, very hungry. So hungry that he goes downstairs and eats his mother and everyone else that he encounters in his neighborhood. Thankfully, as he thinks it all over, he decides to put everyone back where they belong and go about his day. In a note at the end of the story, the authors dedicate the book to the memory of Maurice Sendak. If you look closely at the artwork in Jim's bedroom, you can see another nod to Sendak's award-winning book, Where The Wild Things Are. This would be a fun book to share with young readers and also young writers who are looking for ways to describe their own wild days.

Oscar the Octopus: A Book About the Months of the Year by Matthew Van Fleet 

With snappy rhyming text and interactive pages that invite young readers to unfold flaps to discover new sea creatures and explore interesting textures with fingertips, this awesome picture book would be terrific to share with little children. Each month, Oscar catches a new animal: January the sea was covered in ice, when Oscar caught something orange and striped - fold down the flap to meet a lionfish. Not only would this be a fun way to learn the months of the year, but a terrific way to talk about writing descriptive words: February was freezing, with snow, sleet, and hail, when Oscar caught something with green, pebbly scales - young readers can touch the sea turtles leathery tail.

Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey 

Piranhas are ferocious fish known for their strong appetite for meat. All except for one little guy who is determined to get the rest of his piranha friends to try eating fruit instead. With cute rhyming text and humorous illustrations, young readers will have fun finding out if he can win them over to eating a fruit platter with him or not.

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza 

This sweet picture book tells the story of a little bird that is looking for a Mother. Little Choco doesn't have a mother, and when he starts looking around for one, he can't find anyone that looks like him. Eventually he meets Mrs. Bear, who doesn't look at all like him. But he comes to realize that her family is just right for him. This story would be a good one to share to illustrate the point that not all families have biological connections, some families are created through choice. This could be a good way to start a discussion about adoption, but it also is a good way to talk about how we are intended to live in community with all people, not just the ones who look like us.