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 and relaxing Thanksgiving with family and friends. I'm truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I'm also thankful for so many awesome books to read and a cozy place to enjoy them. Here's what I've been reading between stuffing my face, watching football, and napping:

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb

I purchased this book a few years ago, and somehow I only just now managed to read it. I'm sorry I waited so long, because this is a really important story that should be shared with middle grade kids. It's easy to take for granted the freedoms and rights that women and girls in America have to be able to go to school and get an education and be whatever we want to be and make our own decisions. It's inspiring to see this young lady not let fear or intimidation keep her from asserting her right to an education and speak out for all children to be able to learn and read and go to school.

Picture Books

Bear Is Awake!: An Alphabet Story by Hannah E Harrison 

I love the way the simple text and the lovely illustrations come together to tell a story about friendship and being good stewards of our natural world. There are many awesome ABC books, but this one does a great job of building a story succinctly. This could be a terrific mentor text for young writers looking for a unique way to share their own stories.

The Perfect Seat by Minh Lê, Gus Gordon (Illustrator)

This cute picture book shares the experience of a parent and child looking all around for the perfect spot to read a book together. All of the places they find are either too big, too small, too, old or too new. There’s lots of fun to have with this book - kids could establish criteria for their own perfect reading spot and draw a picture of it. It could also be used to talk about antonyms, as many of the potential reading spots have opposite attributes. It could also be used to discuss the usage of the adverb “too”.

Why? by Adam Rex, Claire Keane (Contributor)

In a world where, unfortunately, violent attacks at places like the shopping mall in this curious picture book are all too real and happening with alarming frequency, we ALL should ask WHY. A supervillain crashes into a busy shopping mall bent on destruction, when a little girl approaches to ask WHY. Each time the villain gives an answer, her response is another WHY. As the story progresses, the villain looks more deeply into his motives and the result is his turning away from his evil plans. This could start a good discussion about how we can work together to put an end to violence.

Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray 

Intergenerational relationships offer people the chance to discover the wonderful gifts both younger children and senior citizens can provide for each other. Miss Tizzy is a peculiar lady in her neighborhood that has so much love to share with others. She wears a purple hat with a white flower in it and green high-top sneakers. Her pink house sits in the middle of an overgrown garden and is a magnet for the neighborhood children. The book uses the days of the week to describe the wonderful times Miss Tizzy has baking cookies, playing dress-up, putting on puppet shows and parades, sharing artwork for those in the neighborhood who need a smile, and singing songs in the moonlight. But when Miss Tizzy becomes ill and bedridden, the children use the loving activities she's taught them to help make her feel better. This book is a great way to celebrate the relationships younger people can have with older people and the way people build friendships.

The Face at the Window by Regina Hanson, Linda Saport (Illustrations)

It's easy to fear and marginalize those that we don't understand. The children in Dora's Jamaican community make fun of Miss Nella because she has such strange and scary ways. Dora and her friends watch Miss Nella fighting invisible battles in her front yard and then retreat back inside her house. Dora tries to knock a mango off of Miss Nella's tree as part of a dare from her friends. But when she sees Miss Nella staring out the window at her, she becomes terrified that something awful will happen. This is a great story to start a conversation with young readers about mental illness and how we treat those that are different from us.