Welcome

This is the blog of children's book author and elementary school teacher, Stacy Barnett Mozer. I blog about my own writing journey, the journey of other kidlit authors, my classroom, and talk about books. Thanks for stopping by. Your thoughts are always welcome (and encouraged).

Monday, September 23, 2019

#IMWAYR September 23, 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. 

Here's what I read this week:

Upper Middle Grade/YA


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. 

Monday, September 16, 2019

#IMWAYR September 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. 

Here's what I read this week:

Upper Middle Grade/YA



Persepolis is a great example of how graphic novels are not easy, simple reads. It is the memoir of Majrjane Satrapi who grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane does a great job of addressing very serious situations in a way that an older middle-grader through adult would understand and appreciate. I would love to pair this book with It Ain't So Awful, Falafel because both show how the changes in 1970s Iran affected one girl living in America and one living in Iran.



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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. 

Monday, September 9, 2019

#IMWAYR September 9, 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. 

Here's what I read this week:

Middle Grade


 Jeffery Magee might have had a normal life if his parents weren't killed in a freak accident. Instead he finds himself living on the street between two parts of a racially divided town, trying to figure why these two groups think of themselves as so different when they really have a lot in common. A modern classic that can still be enjoyed and discussed by today's kids.


This is the second graphic memoir from Shannon Hale and I loved the way she took the events of the first book and showed how even though she thought she had life and friendship figured out, as we age those same things get more complicated. Shannon also does a good job of sharing how anxiety was a challenge in her life. I wish I had this book when I was in middle school. Shannon's questions and thoughts resonated with me because I felt the same way when I was her age (and I'm pretty sure I am her age). Even though kids today have some differences such as technology and cell phones, the thoughtful questions she asks about love and life and friendship are still being asked by tweens and teens today.


Young Adult



When seventeen-year-old Zoe is caught in a snowstorm with her brother and their dogs, all she can think is she needs to find them shelter. The fact that the neighbor's house, which should be empty looks lived in doesn't occur to her until after a man living there kills her dog and threatens her life. But just when things seem hopeless, a mysterious, good looking stranger comes out of the ice to save the day. As Zoe finds out more about this stranger, who she names X, she finds out that there is much she doesn't know about her world, X, and her neighbors and how they connect to the "death" of her father. Told in multiple points of view, this story will have you on the edge of your seat. 


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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. 

Monday, September 2, 2019

#IMWAYR Summer 2019


Each week teachers and librarians join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading they’ve done  over the week from picture books to young adult novels. It’s been a long time since I’ve shared my reading so instead of sharing the books I’ve read this week, I’ll start the new school year as I do for my students, sharing all of my summer reads. Starting next week I hope to go back to one week at a time.


It’s Monday. What have you been reading?