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Category Archives: Middle grade

The 31 Days of December: Literary lunchbox

21 Dec

A fellow librarian colleague, Stacey Rattner, who I’ve mentioned in the past and I presented last month about how our reading lives as librarians affect our students’ reading lives. We asked questions to think-pair-share about and then coupled them with reading recommendations.

During one of these sections, we talked about having time/making time to read and Stacey shared that I read during my lunch period. Yes. Every day I read during my lunch period. Other than when my intern and I were eating together this fall or if I can’t take my lunch for some reason, you’ll find me with my feet on the opposite chair, eating my snack, and reading. And it was recently reinforced when I was listening to the audiobook Do Nothing: How to Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee that what I’m doing has work and personal benefits similar to this BBC article from 2019 that also references how brain breaks at work lead to happier employees and feelings of productivity. I didn’t start doing this because of these reinforcing studies, I did it because I knew it would help me detach for a brief time in the middle of the day and do something I loved. It resets me and I started sharing on my public Instagram my lunch time reading it, using the hashtag #literarylunchbox. They tend to be graphic novels or short nonfiction that I can either read in a period or over a few days.

Here are some of the titles I’ve read recently during my lunch period:

What do you do during your lunch break?

 
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Posted by on December 21, 2021 in Adult, Articles, Blogging, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

The 31 Days of December: When one thing leads to another

12 Dec

You can agree that once a word, an item, a phrase is introduced to you or you learn about a topic, it then seems to be everywhere– but it’s about what’s in your consciousness. And I’m always entertained when it happens in my reading. I’ve explained that I’m a mood reader– I always have a mountainous stack of books at home so that I have a range of options to pick from. So when there is no real strategy, it’s delightful to make connections between books. Here is that tale in three books yesterday:

Book 1: I’m taking my time reading John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed. It’s essentially a collection of short stories– his reviews. I’m entertained and enlightened by his stories, so I’m reading a few a day. The other day I read his review on the Lascaux Cave Paintings. I knew a little about what they were, but now I now more.

Book 2: Science Comics are cool. I’ll always pull one of them aside if I haven’t read it even if it’s not a topic I’m super interested in (though I don’t know if I’ve ever really felt that way about any of them thus far). One of the new ones that came into our library was Crows: Genius Birds by Kyla Vanderklugt. In the graphic novel between a dog and a crow, it’s mentioned that there’s a sketch of a crow in the Lascaux Cave. BINGO!

Book 3: Then ding, ding, ding! I wanted a quick transitional book in the afternoon, so I picked up Singer’s picture book illustrated by Fotheringham from a recent box delivered to my front door called A Raven Named Grip: How a Bird Inspired Two Famous Writers, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe. Crows and ravens– all part of the corvidae family.

From caves to crows… I love when one thing leads to another.

 
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Posted by on December 12, 2021 in Adult, Blogging, Childrens, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction

 

The 31 Days of December: Blinding me with science

04 Dec

Today is the second anniversary of my now-thirty nine year old cousin’s heart transplant. I blogged about it here. And I shared a book that I read pretty soon after that called The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery by Rob Dunn. I want to celebrate her two years with a new heart and having her on this planet still.

Plus give a little love to the nonfiction writers out there who blind us with science. I seek out nonfiction regularly for every type of audience from picture books like Tiny Stitches to middle grade like Breakthrough! to young adult like Jane Against the World to adult like Pump. Simply because I’m fascinated by science. I’m in awe of it, the developments over time, and the people who make it happen. I still get a little teary thinking about my LASIK surgery in October, correcting my fairly horrible eyesight (since fifth grade) in the matter of 15 minutes. I think about our school’s valedictorian last year who was going to become a surgineer– she didn’t want to *just* be a surgeon but she wanted to design the robots that aided in that surgery, the engineer too.

Cheers to STEM and the books that explain it to those who love reading about it.

 
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Posted by on December 4, 2021 in Adult, Blogging, Childrens, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Reflections, Young Adult

 

With all those books

15 Mar

Yesterday’s post was a celebration of reading at least a book a day for 365 straight days. I’ll continue though the rigidity will likely wane, but not today where I was able to finish an audiobook and read two additional books. It got me thinking, how many books did I read over 365 days? That answer was 852 which meant I averaged 2.3342 books per day. What were my favorites? See below. How to you find the time? Well, I have my ways. Therefore, a summary post was in order because I like a good listicle. Here are some mini-listicles about “my year of reading a book a day”.

Locations for reading

  • Car (audiobooks, people!)
  • Wherever I have to wait– an office or a long line for example
  • Anywhere in the house from the kitchen table to standing by the stove waiting for my hot water to boil but also most definitely when I’m cleaning or cooking
  • The lunch table at work (I often post with the hashtag #literarylunchbox)

Twenty favorites (in no particular order)

  • Punching the Air by Zoboi
  • You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters by Murphy
  • Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation by Cooper
  • Witch Hat Atelier by Shirahama
  • Skyward by Henderson
  • The School of Essential Ingredients by Bauermeister
  • All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Soontornvat
  • The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe
  • My Life in Dog Years by Paulsen
  • The Midnight Library by Haig
  • That Way Madness Lies edited by Adler
  • Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Parker
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Baum
  • Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Tran
  • My Life in France by Child with Prud’Homme
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune
  • Fighting Words by Brubaker Bradley
  • Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Blumenthal
  • End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Swanson
  • Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise edited by Silverman
  • The Beauty in Breaking by Harper
  • Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Holiday
  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Brown
  • Chicken Every Sunday: My Life with Mothers Boarders by Taylor
  • Fangs by Andersen

But how did you do it?

  • Read (and by reading I mean eyes on a page or ears open) every day
  • Always have a stack of books in the house or in a queue online
  • Sometimes reading won out over straightening up the house, for sure
  • Encourage a household of readers (because it’s easier to read yourself when everyone else is doing it too)
  • Participating in events like the Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon and the #24in48 readathon

What genre or category do you favor? (but really this is like asking me to pick a favorite child)

  • Nonfiction
    • Food memoirs
    • Animals especially histories, discoveries, and celebrations of
  • Young Adult short story collections
  • Verse novel and graphic novel formats
  • Fiction
    • Historical
    • Realistic

Who were your cheerleaders? (whether they knew it or not)

  • Stacey Rattner, a school librarian colleague who I often co-present with at conferences with her own blog and the co-host of the pandemic-inspired Author Fan Faceoff with Steve Sheinkin
  • My kids, readers in their own right, who read at the table for almost every meal and so many other occasions and places too
  • Reading communities big and small

Was there a question that I missed? If there was, ask me in the comments.

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2021 in Blogging, Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Reflections, Short Story, Upcoming Releases, Verse, Young Adult

 

The February friendship tour

13 Feb

This time last year I was beginning my friendship tour. Seriously, that’s what I called it. And it seems prescient upon reflection. I spent my February break from school visiting each of my closest friends be it for tea, a meal, or a stop at the house to catch up. And I made sure I saw everyone on that mental list even if I had to track down the last of them after she returned from Spain in a supermarket. And it filled my cup in ways that are immeasurable.

I also made sure to take a picture with her too because all too often, I have my phone tucked away with good friends and don’t get pictures. When I think about my friendship tour now, I get goosebumps. I saw everyone and got the picture to prove it. 

I was hoping to include a review of a book on friendship with a post about the power of friendship and my favorite books that highlight the bond. Unfortunately the book was less focused on human friendship and more about animal friendship from an evolutionary standpoint so instead I’m going to share my six recently-read favorite titles featuring unique or strong friendships and spare you a review of the other book:

  • Go With the Flow by Schneemann and Williams 
  • Heavy Vinyl by Usdin and Vakueva 
  • The One and Only Bob by Applegate
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune
  • Pumpkin by Murphy (not yet published) 
  • In the Wild Light by Zentner (not yet published)

Who are your favorite friendships in books you’ve recently read? It’s important when recommending books to teens to talk about friendships, so a few years ago I created a bookshelf on my Goodreads account to capture this. 

Equally important is to keep in touch with those that you’ve formed friendships with whether you’ve been connected since middle school or met as coworkers and connected. Who are your closest friends? What do they give you? Whether you’re celebrating Galentine’s Day today, tomorrow on the 14th, or every day. Cheers to friendship in literature or in life. 

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2021 in Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Miscellaneous, Reflections, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

 

Outstanding book of the month for December 2020

31 Dec

The end of 2020 brings a lot of things including the last few days in which I’ve shared my top 10’s. But that doesn’t mean I’d skip an outstanding book of the month– because it’s just my favorite book of the month that doesn’t necessarily have to be published in that month (or year) for that matter.

Linda Sue Park wanted to tell a different kind of story on the prairie than the one that’s been around for quite some time. And tell the story she does. Hanna’s journey from California after the death of her mother with her father to settle in a small Midwest town would be enough for most young girls, but Hanna is half Asian and settlers don’t look kindly on her heritage.

All she wants to do is get her diploma and then make dresses but townspeople are making it hard for her. Everywhere she turns is another micro or macroaggression. In Park’s capable hands a riveting story emerges that has a comfortable pace and a deep message about the experiences of all Americans past or present.

Hanna is a strong female lead who shares with readers the difficult experiences growing up in California and then the Plains.

So many had shared their love for the book, so I was happy to read it digitally during the month of December. I’ve got my last book of the year prepped in addition to my first of 2021. What about you?

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2020 in Blogging, Book of the Month, Cover Love, Fiction, Middle grade

 

Top 10 of 2020: Nonfiction edition

27 Dec

What did you think of yesterday’s young adult fiction list? Anything you agree or disagree with? Up today is nonfiction. I read widely in this genre so it’s not organized in any particular way from children’s through adult, simply my favorite 10 published in 2020 because there’s nothing more spectacular than learning from the people, places, and things that you read about.

  • All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team by Soontornvat
    • I know the outcome but I’m still in the cave with the boys and out of the cave with the rescuers every minute that Soontornvat writes this out.
  • Beauty Mark by Weatherford
    • Most younger readers won’t know Marilyn Monroe, but this verse novel biography is more about her ability to overcome immense adversity rather than about who she was as a celebrity.
  • The Beauty in Breaking by Harper
    • Tugging at every heart string you have, Harper details her life, her work in medicine, and her self care routines while fighting against racism in healthcare.
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You adapted by Reynolds
    • One word: listen. If you haven’t listened to Reynolds read the book, you haven’t really read the book. Then do what I did and read the book too. And then make sure everyone else does too.
  • All Boys Aren’t Blue by Johnson
    • Using essays to share his life’s story was the perfect choice for this new voice in literature about his upbringing as a queer Black man.
  • Lifting As We Climb by Dionne
    • When the whole story isn’t told, Dionne decides to tell it. The story which was important as election season ramped up, she goes back in time to talk about the Black women’s fight for the right to vote.
  • A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Cooper
    • You can’t get more inspirational and heartfelt than the story being told by one of the rowers on this first all-Black high school rowing team from Chicago. Sports story with heart.
  • Becoming a Good Creature by Montgomery
    • Creating a picture book from her adult biography in thirteen animals, the artwork compliments the storytelling and makes you appreciate what animals can teach us about being human.
  • Wisdom of the Humble Jellyfish: And Other Self-Care Rituals from Nature by Shah
    • This was a sleeper hit for me and a quick audiobook I listened to during a readathon this summer. Similar to Montgomery’s book, sometimes we have to look toward non-humans to help us be better humans.
  • You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Coe
    • A female biographer’s approach to telling George Washington’s story is equally fascinating to learn it from her perspective as it was to provide the best humor to learning about a founding father with one of the punniest title for a book.
 
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Posted by on December 27, 2020 in Adult, Blogging, Childrens, Cover Love, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

 

Grab bag of books

28 Sep

These last few weeks have far and away been the hardest of my school librarian career but one thing has remained steady and that’s the challenge I gave myself once COVID closed the doors to our school building and that was to read at least a book a day. Yes, I’m back in school, but we’re teaching our kids virtually which is a blog post for another day. And I’ve still been able to maintain a book a day so far. Here were some of the books I’ve read recently:

  • Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 6
    • Pre-order and purchased in print because I will own every book in this series
  • The Bird Way audiobook
    • I’m a nut for nonfiction animal books
  • Hello, Neighbor!
    • I’ve been diving into the world of Fred Rogers and this picture book by Matthew Cordell was delightful
  • Every Body Looking
    • Verse novels are more commonplace formats but Iloh chose this format wisely for this heavily biographical story
  • Flyy Girls, books one and two
    • A series by Woodfolk that are neatly-packed and easily accessible titles with realistic characters who work through their problems with the help of friends
  • Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan Fought for their Lives and Warned a Nation
    • It’s as riveting as it is upsetting to read
 
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Posted by on September 28, 2020 in Childrens, Fiction, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

 

Books with a side of food appreciation

04 Sep

The other day I was with a friend who has a deep love for good food as do I. She chose a perfect place to go and we shared plates and mmm-ed our way through the brunch. Not only do I love the act of eating good food, I love reading about food too– fiction, nonfiction, essays, you name it. Here is a roundup of some recently-read favorites in no specific order. 

This quick nonfiction book is just a little different in that it’s not really about celebrating food, but instead broadening the horizons of what can be used as food because of the changing climate. Specifically how insects are good protein sources and some weeds are actually great on a sandwich. Right before Thanksgiving I was treated to an insect quesadilla by our AP Environmental teacher who does “Bugsgiving” before the break for students to try alternative protein sources in food. I had recently recommended he read Messner’s Chirp and he sent me down that delightful treat. Food.

I’ve already blogged about this book and Danyal’s love of cooking even when it means his parents disapproval is heartwarming and fierce. Cooking and/or baking is many things to many people: let it be a career or let it be a hobby, but no one should tell you not to pursue a passion you have and this YA book sends that message. 

While not really centered on food, Mila moving to the farm in order to tutor and find respite does have more than one foray into the appreciation of farm-fresh food and flowers which helps her heal. The family sells flowers and food at the farmer’s market each week and the farmhouse table in which all of the adopted kids, “employees”, and adults sit for meals is cozy and heartfelt in how sharing both the ritual of making food and breaking bread is a healing balm. 

I never knew I needed a tea pet to keep me company while sipping tea until I read Teatime Around the World. It shares rituals and cultural ways to prepare tea around the world with brightly colored scenes and sparing narrative. I learned more about my lifeblood: tea and new ways to prepare and enjoy it.

What happens when there’s a friendly (not so friendly) food competition in school as a way to get back at your ex? That’s half of the story of The Secret Recipe for Moving On. Ellie has just had a hard breakup with her boyfriend who has moved on, but she needs a reason to do just that and putting her energy into the misfit group she’s assigned in Home Ec is just the recipe. 

Two girls come together in a shared mission to get their mothers together and create the best dish to enter into a competition even when their initial meeting was tepid at best. Sarah and Elizabeth are from two different cultures and if they place their trust in each other, the best kind of dish can emerge. It’s about friendship and food with the most romantic and delightful title. 

This is only a handful. I love how food seeps into many stories be it picture books or ones for adult audiences. Do you have a recent favorite that references food?

 
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Posted by on September 4, 2020 in Childrens, Cover Love, Fiction, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Dewey’s 24-hour readathon: Part II

26 Apr

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It’s so hard to say goodbye. Parting is such sweet sorrow. It’s not goodbye but see ya later. However you say it, the readathon is over for now. I’ll patiently await October and then if there’s a reverse readathon in the summer- I’m there. In the meantime, I’m celebrating my successes for the readathon and hope you’ll share yours if you participated too.

Here were my stats:

Time spent reading:

22 hours 38 minutes 02 seconds

Books read:

Junk Boy by Abbott (Digital)

Grown by Jackson (Digital)

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Krosoczka (Digital)

The Season of Styx Malone by Magoon (Audiobook)

Ginger Kid by Hofstetter (Print)

Fifty Animals that Changed the Course of History by Chaline (Print)

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates (Young Readers Edition) by Kilmeade & Yaeger (Print)

The Cool Bean by John (Digital)

My Neighbor Seki by Morishige (Print)

Chicken Every Sunday by Taylor (Print)

Part of Girls of Paper and Fire by Ngan (Print)

Almost all of American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Callahan (Audiobook)

Snacks and food consumed:

Saturday kickoff breakfast: overnight oats and tea,

Snacks: homemade chai tea biscotti, Sour Patch Kids, copious amounts of tea, Stewart’s Shops’ limited release peanut butter cookie ice cream,

Saturday dinner: Pulled pork and cabbage slaw tacos, Amaretto and cranberry

Sunday celebratory breakfast: chocolate milk, biscotti, and tea

Locations for reading:

Couch

Kitchen table

On the patio

On a bike trail

By the fire outside

Bathtub

 

Thank you to all who put it together time after time. There will be a change in lineup for next time as Heather and Andi will both step back while Gaby and Kate take the reins. Au revoir and welcome all in the same breath.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2020 in Adult, Blogging, Childrens, Events, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Upcoming Releases, Verse, Young Adult

 
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