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 Week's Posts
- #DiverseKidLit: books with multiracial characters. Share a link or find the latest diverse book recommendations here.
Middle School
Well, That Was Awkward (2017) by Rachel Vail. A modern Cyrano deBergerac but with 8th graders and texting. Super cute and pitch perfect for middle school, especially those who are eager for more "young adult" style books and relationships but without the language or sexual content of older YA books. [This book already got a student stamp of approval, as the student I handed it off to finished it that night and eagerly asked for more like it!]
The Boy in the Black Suit (2015) by Jason Reynolds. High school senior Matthew has just lost his mom and finds himself taking a job helping out at the funeral home. Another relationship-focused story but with minimal kissing. Some heavy issues (domestic violence, death) but in an appropriate-for-middle-school kind of way. Another one to add to my classroom library.
Young Adult
Eleanor & Park (2013) by Rainbow Rowell. Romance-centric realistic fiction novel about two high school outsiders (ish): Park is half-Korean and a quiet type, while Eleanor dresses wildly and tries to stay under the radar of her oft-drunk step-father. (Some kissing / making out, as well as a lot of strong language and threats of domestic abuse.) This one just really didn't draw me in and seemed to move fairly slow (until the end when suddenly everything happened rather fast).
Happy Reading!
I'm going to have to look at The Boy in the Black Suit again. SOOOO depressing, though. Ugh. I almost bought Eleanor and Park for my daughter (whose name is Eleanor), but I couldn't get into it, either.
ReplyDeleteThat's the truest sign of a great book, isn't it, when you hand it to a student, and they come back asking for more just like it! :)
ReplyDeleteI am definitely adding the first two books to my TBR so I can share with my 6th graders. Thanks for posting great reviews for middle school books!
ReplyDeleteI really need to go back and read all of Jason Reynold's books. I've read the 2016 pubbed, but need to get to the others!
ReplyDeleteAWKWARD looks good and I've only heard good things about it.
The Boy in the Black Suit and Eleanor & Park are both books that have been on my Kindle for some time and I still haven't read either one of them. I really need to get to them this summer. Thanks for reminding me about them!
ReplyDeleteWe have to read The Boy in the Black Suit - We are such big Jason Reynolds fans
ReplyDeleteThe Boy In the Black Suit is the first and still my favourite Jason Reynolds title. Eleanor and Park didn't really work for me. I'll look forward to Well, that was Akward.
ReplyDeleteI loved Eleanor and Park's story. There was just something about it.
ReplyDeleteThe other two I still need to read but they are both ones on my soon radar.
Happy reading this week :)