It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA

[To rehash the concept :: post what you read last week, what you're reading now, and what you plan to read this week. If you have a review of the book(s), great! If you have a picture of the book(s), wonderful! If you have a book giveaway, fantastic! If you just list the title(s) of the book(s), not a problem! Make it as simple or as complex as you need it to be. At least, that's the message I got. This version of the meme is hosted by Jen and Kellee of Teach Mentor Text, which, in turn, was inspired by Sheila over at Book Journey, who hosts the original It's Monday! What Are You Reading?]

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

Art & Max by David Wiesner

Artist Ted by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre

Birdie's First Day of School by Sujean Rim

Brush of the Gods by Lenore Look, illustrated by Meilo So

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

The Forget-Me-Not Summer by Leila Howland

If You Ever Want to Take an Alligator to School, Don't! by Elise Parsley

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush retold by Tomie dePaola

Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton

Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan

Magritte's Marvelous Hat by D. B. Johnson

Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni

Monkey: Not Ready for Kindergarten by Marc Brown

Morris the Artist by Lore Segal, illustrated by Boris Kulikov

Mousterpiece: A Mouse-sized Guide to Modern Art by Jane Breslin Zalben

Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman

A Painter: How We Work by Douglas Florian

The Peace Tree from Hiroshima: The Little Bonsai with a Big Story by Sandra Moore, illustrated by Kazumi Wilds

Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Boris Kulikov

Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, illustrated by Sydney Smith

Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

Train! by Judi Abbot

What a Wonderful World based on the song by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, as sung by Louis Armstrong, illustrated by Tim Hopgood

Wish by Matthew Cordell

WHAT I'M READING NOW:

WHAT I PLAN TO READ THIS WEEK:

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (publication date: January 2016)

The Grace of Kings (Book One of the Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

[The original It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey]

I think I first heard about this book on Shelf Awareness and put it on Hold at the library right away. Despite having learned Japanese history in Japanese school I remember very little, so the beginning section of this book was a great primer on the tumultuous and violent transition from feudal Japan to the Meiji Restoration (i.e., "modernization"). And who knew that three young girls got sucked up into the government's modernization frenzy and ended up spending a decade in the US? In 1871! A fascinating look at women's history and cultural understanding during a time of many changes. I found it particularly interesting because of my own background of being born in Japan but raised in the US.

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back by Janice P. Nimura

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA

I went a little overboard with reading The Sixth Gun this week. I stopped buying the volumes awhile ago so I was excited to find so many of them at the library. My son and I read these so I had to keep retrieving the next volume from his room. 

The Day the Crayons Came Home was as delightful as I thought it would be, and I chuckled several times out loud in the bookstore. What I liked about this volume--compared to the first book--is that the crayons are writing postcards, which means the text is shorter. I think, especially for some younger readers, this will be a draw (Ha! See what I did there?). 

And Circus Mirandus! There's a lot of hype surrounding this book, and it combines quite a few themes well, but I understand some of the criticism about character development. But despite that, and whether or not you like fantasy, you should read it because there's some beautifully written passages in it and Circus Mirandus is a magical place that everyone should visit, even if only in their minds and imaginations. And it's a safe bet that this book will be on lots of best-of lists this year. 

[To rehash the concept :: post what you read last week, what you're reading now, and what you plan to read this week. If you have a review of the book(s), great! If you have a picture of the book(s), wonderful! If you have a book giveaway, fantastic! If you just list the title(s) of the book(s), not a problem! Make it as simple or as complex as you need it to be. At least, that's the message I got. This version of the meme is hosted by Jen and Kellee of Teach Mentor Text, which, in turn, was inspired by Sheila over at Book Journey, who hosts the original It's Monday! What Are You Reading?]

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

The Sixth Gun, Book 4: A Town Called Penance written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt and Tyler Crook, colored by Bill Crabtree, and lettered by Douglas E. Sherwood

The Sixth Gun, Book 5: Winter Wolves written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt, colored by Bill Crabtree

The Sixth Gun, Book 6: Ghost Dance written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt, colored by Bill Crabtree, and lettered by Douglas E. Sherwood and Ed Brisson

The Sixth Gun, Book 7: Not the Bullet, But the Fall written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt and Tyler Crook, colored by Bill Crabtree, and lettered by Crank!

The Sixth Gun: Sons of the Gun written by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt, illustrated by Brian Churilla, colored by Bill Crabtree, and lettered by Douglas E. Sherwood

Tickle Monster by Édouard Manceau

Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman

WHAT I'M READING NOW:

The Forget-Me-Not Summer by Leila Howland

WHAT I PLAN TO READ THIS WEEK:

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (publication date: January 2016)

The Grace of Kings (Book One of the Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA

[To rehash the concept :: post what you read last week, what you're reading now, and what you plan to read this week. If you have a review of the book(s), great! If you have a picture of the book(s), wonderful! If you have a book giveaway, fantastic! If you just list the title(s) of the book(s), not a problem! Make it as simple or as complex as you need it to be. At least, that's the message I got. This version of the meme is hosted by Jen and Kellee of Teach Mentor Text, which, in turn, was inspired by Sheila over at Book Journey, who hosts the original It's Monday! What Are You Reading?]

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann, illustrated by Kerascoët, translated by Helge Dascher

Dirty Rats? by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Adam Gustavson

Lunde is a local DC author (and Maryland resident) and fellow Cornell alum!

Fairest, Volume 4: Of Men and Mice by Marc Andreyko, drawn by Shawn McManus, colored by Lee Loughridge, and lettered by Todd Klein (rated M for Mature)

The Fog Diver by Joel Ross

How to Read a Story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel

Ms. Marvel, Volume 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Elmo Bondoc and Takeshi Miyazawa

Southern Bastards, Volume 1: Here Was a Man by Jason Aaron, illustrated by Jason Latour (rated M for Mature)

Very Washington DC: A Celebration of the History and Culture of American's Capital City by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler

WHAT I'M READING NOW:

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

WHAT I PLAN TO READ THIS WEEK:

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (publication date: January 2016)

The Grace of Kings (Book One of the Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu