#IMWAYR #MockCaldecott January 27, 2020

 

Each week I try to join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. This week I ran a #MockCaldecott in my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade reading classrooms. While none of our top choices ended up winning the Caldecott, we were excited to see some of the books win other awards during the Youth Media Award announcements today.

Here are the 20 books we reviewed. 

The students and I read and rated all 20 and then debated their choices. Here were our top two favorites:

Here are a couple reasons why my students liked this book:

We were disappointed this book didn't win the Caldecott, but were thrilled it won the Pura Belpre Award. Here are some reasons why my students loved this book:

Congratulations to the 2020 medal and honor winners! We were so happy to have the opportunity to read all of these amazing books and they are all winners to us!

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Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below. 

Cybils 2019 Finalists Announced!

I was so honored to be part of the group of bloggers reading Middle Grade Fiction for the Cybils Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Award. There were so many amazing books nominated I wish we could have chosen more. I highly suggest viewing the whole list and reading them for yourself but we had to narrow it down to seven finalists. Here they are!

For more information about these books, visit the middle grade fiction page on the Cybils site. 

To see the finalists in other categories go here. 

Winners will be announced on February 14. I can't wait to see which book the next committee chooses. They have a very difficult job ahead of them, but lots of great reading!

#IMWAYR #Readukkah December 16, 2019

 

Each week I try to join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. 

In addition to it being #IMWAYR, this week is also #Redukkah. #Reddukkah lasts from December 15 - December 22, was created by The Association of Jewish Libraries, The Book of Life/Jewish Kidlit Mavens, and The Jewish Council to promote awareness of any book of Jewish interest. To find about more join the Facebook Event.

Finally, it's my final week reviewing books as a first round Cybil judge for the middle grade fiction.

Here's what I read this week:

Middle Grade

When Shirli Berman gets the role of Goldie in the school production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof opposite her crush Ben, she decides to search through her Zayde's attack to see if he has any old clothes that would add authenticity to the play. When she comes across a poster of a klezmer band and a violin, she opens up a window into her Zayde's past that allows him to finally tell the story of his experience in the Holocaust. Set in 2002 with a backdrop of 911, Broken Strings is a story about family, forgiveness, acceptance, and moving forward.

Middle Grade Reposts for #Readukkah

It has been a year since Leah's life was forever changed. A year of feeling like a ghost with ghost parents with the door to her brother's room permanently closed. But when Leah meets Jasper, a new girl in town who never knew Leah's brother, Leah is able to find her way back to herself and to tell her story. But Leah isn't the only one with a story to tell. Jasper is experiencing problems too and has asked Leah to keep her secret. But some secrets are too big to keep and Leah has to decide whether to risk losing her one true friend in order to keep Jasper safe. This is a wonderful story about friendship and moving forward after loss.

Upper Middle Grade/YA Repost for #Readukkah

It is not often I find out something I didn't know about the Holocaust. I am normally a very quick reader, but The Librarian of Auchwitz is not a book to read quickly. The author goes backwards and forwards through time and makes references to the books the librarian is reading inorder to set the scene for the events in Block 31 in Auschwitz and the main character, Dita's role in saving the books and creating living books to enrich the lives of the children imprisoned in the family camp. It is an amazing read, especially when you realize that all the people and situations were based on true events. 

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Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below.