It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #imwyr 7/25/16

On the blog:

A slice of life about my new imaginary BFF and parenting co-conspirator, fitness instructor Shaun T.

In reading:

rosalie lightning

Tom Hart’s graphic novel memoir, Rosalie Lightning, is not an easy read. How can it be when it’s about the death of his two-year-old daughter? But it is a profound and ultimately healing book about how we find meaning in tragedy, loss, and grief. It’s a book about how we go on when we think we can’t go on. This is one I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

false prince

Gentle readers, how happy do you think I am to have finished the two Gordon Korman series I have been reading aloud to my son (NINE Gordon Kormans in a row for read aloud. NINE. I love Gordon Korman, but NINE.) and start a new series? The answer is: very happy. I’ll confess that I was a bit meh on The False Prince when I read it myself two years ago, but it makes for a rip-roaring read-aloud. My son is so full of this storyline and these characters, and he was so pleased with himself when, before the big reveal, he guessed that Sage might just be the real prince after all. It’s so enjoyable to watch someone else discover all the pleasures of narrative.

hillary rodham clinton

How I love picture book biographies! Everything I love about biography and nothing I hate! (I wrote my dissertation on biography, and let me tell you, after four years spent reading and researching little else, I had many many things to hate.) Michelle Merkel’s Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls Are Born to Lead should be required reading for everyone this year. This is a difficult book to illustrate, but LeUyen Pham does a tremendous job.

what do you do with a problem

I love to read Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom’s first book, What Do You Do With an Idea?, in my college classes. I don’t see quite as much widespread application for my purposes with What Do You Do With a Problem?, but I think I liked it even more. The story is a little more coherent and cohesive, and of course Besom’s illustrations are superb. I do struggle a bit with the vague abstraction of these books, but I have to say that my college students always adore What Do You Do With an Idea?

Posted

July 25, 2016

#imwayr

Elisabeth Ellington

Tags:

IMWAYR, weekly reading

Comments

12 responses to “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #imwyr 7/25/16”

Stacy Mozer

July 25, 2016

My son and I both loved The False Prince.

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Tara Smith

July 25, 2016

Hooray for a book for kids about Hillary! I’ve heard great things about Yamada’s book – it sounds like a wonderful book to generate discussions through.

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Michele

July 25, 2016

To this day, because I frequently read endings (I know, I know… but it allows me to go to bed without staying up all night reading), that still was a twist I never saw coming. The twist came way before the ending so I had no idea.
I went back and read your Shaun T. parenting. That is awesome. I need a Shaun T. Maybe Missy Franklin would do it for my child…

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ALR

July 25, 2016

Thanks, Elisabeth, for inspiring me to join up!
https://therealityofeverythingsite.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/imwayr-72516/

We LOVE What Do You Do With a Problem? Have you read The Most Magnificent Thing?

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msoreadsbookstx

July 25, 2016

In this day of “growth mindset” we could all use the reminder that problems can certainly be overcome, right? Or that they often aren’t quite as big as we thought. Though some of the kiddos have some pretty big ones. 😦 I have an e-arc of Jennifer Nielsen’s new book that I want to get to before school starts back up. But then again I loved False Prince from the start. That’s why there are so many books. So we can all find something that we love! Nine. That is an awesome reading aloud mom moment!

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payanar100

July 26, 2016

Thanks for sharing about the Hillary Clinton biography. I will definitely look for it to use it in the classroom this fall. Rosalie Lightning sounds like an emotional read and an important one.

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Beth Shaum (@BethShaum)

July 26, 2016

I agree that What Do You Do with a Problem doesn’t have as much direct application as the first book does. It was a good book but definitely not as good as What Do You Do with an Idea.

Wow. You did your dissertation on biography? That had to be an intense subject matter to do a dissertation on.

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Kellee from Unleashing Readers (@kelleemoye)

July 26, 2016

Congrats on the new series 🙂
I loved the HRC picture book also!
So cool that you did your dissertation on biographies!

Happy reading this week 🙂

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Linda Baie

July 26, 2016

Hurrah for the new series. I enjoyed those books quite a bit, & can see that they would make great read alouds. Thanks also for Rosalie Lightning. I will note it, but just started another book about a child’s illness, will have to wait a while for it. I loved this second pic book by Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom, happy to see that you liked it, too.

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cweichel

July 26, 2016

I enjoyed The False Prince but the rest of the series not so much. (Of course I am not the target audience) I can see that it would make a great read aloud. The rest of the series just got way too violent for me. I enjoy reading biographies and love the picture book ones that are showing up these days. Way back a long long long time ago I also got into reading the diaries of Anais Nin. I think I read everything she had in print at that time. I could have sworn I read What do you do with a Problem, but maybe I’ve just read so many good reviews of it. I will have to remedy that.

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Carol Wilcox

July 27, 2016

Jennifer Nielsen came to my school and talked before she was famous. I have a special place in my heart, then, for FALSE PRINCE. I have had really good response recommending it to kids. I got the Hilary biography a while ago, but need to go back and dig it out now. And I will definitely add the other two to my TBR list. Thanks!

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Akilah

August 6, 2016

I love the HRC book. LOVE. Those illustrations! So much information packed in those pages! Yes.

Happy for you that you get a break from Korman, delighted that your son is loving the new book.

I put the idea book on hold. I looooove that you read picture books to your classes. I’m going to read to my classes this semester. 🙂

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