It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 09/16/17

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.

Recent Posts

• #PB10for10: Inclusive picture books for the first weeks of school. A round up of my all-time favorites (and many of which I've already shared with this year's fifth graders).

• Fifth grader book recommendation: Number the Stars

• Best Book List: fantasy by fifth grader Ezra

• Probably every book I read in fifth grade that you should read too

Middle Grade

I decided to dedicate a white board in my room to our own #IMWAYR, and I love it! The kids enjoy seeing what others are reading, and it's been an easy way to initiate book conversations. My plan was for it to be a once-a-week thing, but they kept wanting to keep it current and changed Monday to whatever day of the week it was.

I've read several new books over the past month, most of which are now available. Click over to the full posts to read more!

Friend or Fiction is the third novel from Abby Cooper, and it debuts on October 8th, 2019. Click here to read my full review post.

Hena Khan's newest middle grade novel More to the Story debuted earlier this month. Click here for my full review post.

The Okay Witch is a new graphic novel by Emma Steinkellner debuting on September 3rd, 2019. Click here to read my full review post.

Happy Reading!

New Book Alert: Friend or Fiction

Friend or Fiction is the third novel from Abby Cooper, and it debuts on October 8th, 2019. Like her previous books, Sticks & Stones and Bubbles, Friend or Fiction is set in our modern world with one very specific element of magical realism thrown in. (I received a digital ARC of the book through Netgalley. All thoughts are my own.)

Jade has always felt adrift in her small town, and her dad's cancer diagnosis has only made things work. She (and her dad) takes solace in her creative writing about her imagined best friend, Zoe. So when a classmate's experiment brings real life Zoe out of the notebook and into her classroom, Jade couldn't be more thrilled. But is writing your own best friend the same as actually having one ... ?

I thorough enjoyed this amusing novel, and it has a lot to say about the realities of true friendship. I also particularly loved all the winks and nods about the writing process, especially some of the things Zoe doesn't know/have because Jade hadn't thought to include them in the writing. But you'll have to read it for yourself to find out more!

I think readers will really be drawn to the premise of this book ... and they might be surprised at how much it makes them think too!

New Book Alert: More to the Story

Happy book birthday to Hena Khan's newest middle grade novel: More to the Story! Inspired by Little Women, this modern-day story is narrated by seventh grader Jameela (Jam), the second oldest in a family of Muslim-American four sisters. She'd much rather be thinking about her next story for the middle school newspaper than dealing with the news of her dad's new job overseas. But the new school year brings even more challenges for Jameela and her whole family.

Readers already familiar with Little Women will enjoy recognizing the connections (big and small) to the original story - the sisters share names with matching first letters (Jameela / Jo for example). But I think even readers without any knowledge of Little Women will find a lot to connect to in this novel: from long-distance parents to navigating new friendships to learning to speak up for what you care about. This is a book I look forward to adding to my classroom library!

(I received a digital ARC of More to the Story via Net Galley. All thoughts are my own.)