It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6/27/16

Summer reading means being busy all week and this weekend was packed with birthday parties, barbeques and graduation parties. That being said, I did get to do some reading – and some great stories at that! I read The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald, who also wrote Under the Egg. I love art history and seriously considered minoring in it in college, so these stories are right up my alley.  The Gallery is a story of kidnapping, hostage, poison, art and so much more. It’s a historical fiction piece with well formed characters and a plot that made me want to find out what would happen next. A perfect story for those looking for intrigue, history and art.
I also got my hands on a copy of The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner who has been discussing children’s literature and censorship ever since she was uninvited to a school visit because of the content of her book. And now that I’ve gotten a chance to read it, I don’t see anything wrong in her story for the age group. Granted, there may be some children who aren’t ready for this type of story or who are not interested and that’s fine. But, this story deals with a difficult topic that many families are dealing with and I think it’s important for kids to see that they’re not alone, especially when something difficult is happening and as a child you don’t really have any control about what’s going on around you. If you haven’t seen this book yet, I think it’s one that should be available in schools and public libraries alike as substance abuse and addiction are topics that some kids, are sadly, well aware of.
And this weekend I just started reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill.  I received it as an ARC from the publisher and can’t wait to get back into the world. It’s filled with magic and fantasy and so many things, I can’t wait to finish it.
As for this week, I’ve got a couple things I want to get started reading:

• It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas
• A Tangle of Knots of Lisa Graff (reread)
• A Clatter of Jars by Lisa Graff

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. It’s the best way to discover what to read next.