It's Monday!! What Are You Reading?

This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey. The kid's version was started by Jen at Teach Mentor Text and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.

I actually feel pretty good about my reading life this week. I'm still in the process of reading my next middle grade book, Journey's End by Rachel Hawkins. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I'll post more about this book once I finish it. I am enjoying it though!

I was able to read 5 picture books from Penguin Young Books. These books were all very different from each other made it all the better!

The first book was Bedtime for Yeti by Vin Vogel. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I enjoyed this book. I can see that it would be a great bedtime story for kids. It is not one that I would usually pick up, but the yawning yeti on the front cover drew me in! I hadn't realized that this one is the second yeti book that Vin Vogel wrote. The first was called The Thing About Yetis and was published in 2015. I think I'm going to have to find this one to read too.


The second book was I am Jim Henson by Brad Meltzer. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This book is part of the Ordinary People Change the World series. Loved this book! Great introduction to Jim Henson for those who didn't grow up knowing who he was. I will admit I got teary-eyed at the end. I found myself thinking about what might have been if he had not passed away. The end papers in this book are great. It has Kermit's face on them! I think my favorite two lines came towards the end of the book "But the secret behind my best creations wasn't a strong had, or a catchy song, or even a funny voice. It was a simple idea: There's good in all of us" (Meltzer, 2017). I found this very meaningful especially with what is happening in our world today. I think we need to remember that there is good in all of us and we need to look harder to find it and bring it out. This book will be published tomorrow, January 10th.

The third book I read was This Book is Magic by Ashley Evanson. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. I enjoyed this book because of all the interaction that the reader can have with the book. It reminded me of Press Here by Herve Tullet. I think that this is a great book to read to kids. A small group would be ideal since many pages require the reader to touch the pages to make the magic happen. This book will be published on January 17th.

The fourth book that I read was Nope! by Drew Sheneman. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. This book was a lot of fun. I wasn't expecting an almost wordless picture book when I started. But it really doesn't need more than the word nope because the illustrations really tell the story. I read it straight through the first time and then had to go back a second time and really look at the illustrations. They really make the story since there is only one word throughout the book. I was amazed at the emotions that Sheneman could convey in a birds face! As I read about Drew Sheneman on the back flap, I was surprised to read that this is his first book for children. If this book is any indication, I hope he keeps writing for children! This book will be published on January 17th.

What has everyone else been reading? I'm always looking for suggestions of books that I might have missed!

Happy Reading!!

Stacey (@libraryjo92)