Monday, July 11, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 7/11/16


It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from picture books through YA by Jen of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers. You can visit either site for a round up of blogs sharing their weekly readings and thoughts or search Twitter for #IMWAYR.



Last Weeks' Posts

Just a heads up that I am happily ensconced at #nErDcampMI at the moment, so it may take me some time to get around to seeing and responding to all your awesome #IMWAYR posts this week!

Picture Books



Nobody Likes a Goblin (2016) by Ben Hatke. Turning fairytale conventions on their head, Ben Hatke shares a goblin's point of view on events, as a perfectly normal day is ruined by a band of roving adventurers. This cute and amusing picture book contains many visual references to other similar stories and ends with a message of friendship.


What Do You Do with a Problem? (2016) by Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom. A follow-up to What Do You Do with an Idea?, this time our narrator must come to terms with his problem, which has been following him everywhere and haunting his thoughts (visually and metaphorically-speaking). A simple story but one that could be used as a bridge to larger discussions with kids about how it could apply to their own lives and their own problems.


A Piece of Home (2016) by Jeri Watts and illustrated by Hyewon Yum. This newest addition on the theme of immigration is a first-person story narrated by Hee Jun as his family unexpectedly leaves Korea and moves to West Virginia in the United States. Hee Jun also shares the perspectives of his younger sister and his grandmother, as all three of them adjust to their new life in different ways. A fairly straight-forward story and not particularly memorable. (A review copy of the book was provided by the Candlewick Best in Class mailing. All thoughts are my own.)

Middle Grade



Unidentified Suburban Object (2016) by Mike Jung. Main character Chloe is quickly tiring of being the only Korean-American in her school and of the constant comparisons to a famous Korean-American violinist. Her parents have chosen to embrace assimilation and are slow to support her desires to connect to Korean culture. This book has some interesting insights into some of the issues facing second-generation kids, but there are also times where it feels like it brings up a lot of great ideas only to leave them hanging.

I can see why this book is getting such mixed reviews on GoodReads. While the first half reads like one kind of story, the second shifts gears considerably. At its heart, however, this is a story about belonging, about knowing who you are, and about how that may (or may not) line up with how other people see you. (H/T Dana Alison Levy during our Skype class visit earlier this year.)

Happy Reading!

12 comments:

  1. What Do You Do with a Problem? sounds like a picture book to launch great beginning of the year discussions - thanks for sharing!

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  2. I love Ben Hatke! I actually really liked A Piece of Home because it is such a true ELL story that so many students will connect with.
    I haven't read What do you do with a Problem? yet, but I loved the first one!

    Happy reading this week :)

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    1. I love Ben Hatke too. Our librarian keeps talking about trying to get him for an author visit, which would be tremendous!

      For me, A Piece of Home just didn't measure up to other similar books I like (The Name Jar, My Name is Sangoel, and others).

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  3. How fun to see Ben Hatke branching out into picture books! I love Zita the Spacegirl! I agree with your assessment of A Piece of Home. I wanted it to be so much better.

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    1. Thanks for the support, Mary Lee. There wasn't anything tangible wrong with it, I just feel like books like The Name Jar or Mango, Abuela, and Me have done it better.

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  4. Thanks, Katie. Have fun at nErDcamp! I just shared What Do You Do With A Problem? on Goodreads-loved it too. Will look for A Piece of Home!

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  5. I also enjoyed What Would You Do With a Problem? I love using the first book in my pre-service teacher class and simply adore how meaningful both books are. I am glad to see others enjoy it just as much as I do. :)

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    1. Love the idea of using this with pre-service teachers!

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  6. Can't wait to get my hands on Nobody Likes a Goblin, I love stories that flip convention on its head and tell stories from a new or unusual perspective.

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