#IMWAYR July 25, 2022

 

 

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted each week by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts. If you are a person who loves kidlit, all you need to do to join is to blog about books you are reading on Monday, add your link to either of those two blogs, and post using the hashtag. I hope you will join in!

I did not get a chance to do as much reading this week, but I did finish a couple of new middle grades I'm excited to share. I'm trying so hard to ignore the calendar as the summer starts to tick down. At least I don't start until August 29 this year.

Middle Grade

Maggie is starting middle school and it feels like everyone she knows has a passion except her. When her friends become busy with their new clubs. Maggie decides to join as many as possible until something sticks. Maggie is a great character and I love the way she navigates getting to know herself and her interests. Illustrations add to the narrative in this graphic novel hybrid. I think even kids as young as third grade will love Maggie's story. 

I was so excited to get to read this novel on NetGalley. This second book in the Amari series kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was so action-packed it felt more like a movie than a book. If you don't know Amari, in the first book of the series, she found out there is a secret world with people who have abilities, but her ability, the power to use magic, is forbidden. Amari spent the first book proving that not all magicians are evil but here in the second book, she has to do it all over again. An excellent series for lovers of high-stakes fantasy. I wish the next one was already out!

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

#IMWAYR July 18, 2022

 

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted each week by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts. If you are a person who loves kidlit, all you need to do to join is to blog about books you are reading on Monday, add your link to either of those two blogs, and post using the hashtag. I hope you will join in!

Last week I was on vacation so I was able to do so much reading! In addition to the books I wanted to finish, I was able to add an extra. All the books I read this week are must have additions to upper elementary and middle school classrooms and libraries.

Middle Grade

Repairing the World is a story about how to move on from loss. When Daisy loses her best friend, she has to figure out how to overcome her grief in order to move forward. She finds help in the birth of her babysister, new friends, and a project about Tikun Olam, or Repairing the World, she is assigned at Hebrew School. This book is a Bridge to Terabithia for modern times. 

Duet is the story of a bird named Mirabelle who loves to sing. When she meets a talented eleven year old prodigy named Michael, she becomes his muse as he learns to master Chopin. Elise Broach is a master of writing stories where small creatures from nature form a relationship with a child. I love her book Masterpiece about a beetle who paints. In Duet, Mirabelle and Michael are inspired by each other.

Last year, the kids of Fisher Middle School learned how to take action fighting the school's dress code. Their action made such a difference that this year the school and district is under new leadership, one that encourages action and has created a pilot climate class to encourage kids to think big. Mary Kate was supposed to start this class with her best friend Lucy, but Lucy has not been feeling well and no one knows why. Not having her best friend in school pushes Mary Kate to meet new kids who help to open her eyes to serious problems in her town. When the kids try to help solve these problems, they find that while they have the encouragement of the school administration, the mayor is their biggest enemy and that when it comes to climate change, systemic racism can also factor into the conversation. This sequel to Dress Coded will make you want to go out and do a better job taking care of the world and opens your eyes in so many ways. I hope it finds its way to policy makers.

Ellie has always been a larger sized person. The fat shaming from family members and classmates has caused her to create a list of Fat Girl Rules to live by. But when her best friend moves to another state, even those Fat Girl Rules can't protect her from the attitude of others. Thankfully she finds people who are in her corner who help her find her strength. The only thing I can think to say about this book is wow. Every page touches your soul. It is a must read book for kids and adults.

Thirst actually comes out tomorrow (Happy Book Birthday) but I had the chance to read it early from Netgalley. It's the story of Minni, a girl who lives in the poorest area of Mumbai where it is very difficult to find clean water. Minni and those who surround her don't just thirst for water, they thirst for the tickets to find their way into a brighter future and greater opportunities. When Minni's mother becomes ill, Minni has to step up to help her family by balancing school, her mother's job, taking care of herself, and going to computer class on the weekends. This is an excellent book and I'm glad it's been selected for this year's Global Read Aloud. Even though they are very different stories, it reminded me of Front Desk by Kelly Yang. The two books would be a good pair to read and discuss together in an upper elementary or middle grade classroom or to suggest to a child that age.

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

#IMWAYR July 11, 2022

 

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted each week by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts. If you are a person who loves kidlit, all you need to do to join is to blog about books you are reading on Monday, add your link to either of those two blogs, and post using the hashtag. I hope you will join in!

This week I am on vacation in a spot that has no wifi ,so instead of posting what I have read, I am going to tell you what I will be reading while I am away.  I am ridiculously excited for this week's reading list. 

Young Adult

League of Liars will be the first book I will read because I started it before I left. When 17yo Cayder Broduck's mother is killed by magic, he decides the best way to get revenge is to become a prosecutor in order to punish those who would use magic in a world where magic is illegal. But before he can do that, he needs experience so he gets an internship with a defense attorney. As he gets to know his clients, Cayder learns that things aren't always what they seem. I'm was about a quarter of the way through this book when I left for vacation and it was an instant hook. Think John Grisham with magic.

Middle Grade

Check back next week to find out what I thought about these books! Happy Reading!

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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.

#IMWAYR July 4, 2022

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend. I just returned from a trip to Vermont where the weather was beautiful and the fireworks were extraordinary. Being away also gave me plenty of time to read and write. I am currently working on revising a story about a girl who is starting middle school so this week I reread a couple of my starting middle school favorites to see how they handled pacing.

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted each week by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts. If you are a person who loves kidlit, all you need to do to join is to blog about books you are reading on Monday, add your link to either of those two blogs, and post using the hashtag. I hope you will join in!

Now on to what I've been reading!

Middle Grade

When Shayla starts middle school, she wants everything to stay the same between herself and her two best friends. But it isn't easy to have a United Nations of friends when world events force different perspectives. When a police officer is found innocent of shooting a black man, even though there is video showing that man had his back to the officer, was unarmed, and couldn't be a threat, Shayla has to think about what it means to be a Black girl in this world. The book does an excellent job of explaining the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests that follow events like this. It is a well written story about the challenges of identity children face at this age. It was also, unfortunately, timely, because as I was reading it another of these incidents was in the news. 

Lucy would rather be working on graduate level math equations than starting middle school. After a lightning strike, her brain was wired to see math in a way that others might imagine a movie in their mind. Until this year, she has been homeschooled because her wicked smart math ability and OCD made it difficult to be understood and accepted by the other kids. But while Lucy has conquered high school math, she has yet to conquer middle school friendships so her Gran sends her "for her own good." Now she just has to survive for a year. This is one of my favorite all time books. Not only is Lucy a lovable character, there are dogs.

Young Adult

Technically this book might be adult, but it reads as a YA book to me. When Addie is forced to marry a man she doesn't love, she makes a deal with the devil for freedom. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details and Addie finds herself living a never ending life that only she will remember. In order to grant her freedom, the devil has made it so that once someone leaves Addie's presence, they forget her immediately. Until one day, one boy remembers her. Told from different points in Addie's never ending life, we see how she learns to leave her mark upon a world that would forget her face.

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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.