It’s Monday What are you Reading? 07/23/18

This post is linked up to other posts at unleashingreaders.com and teachmentortexts.com where you will find over 20 other posts focused on great kidlit. Thanks to Kellee, Rikki, and Jen for hosting.

Finished this week:

This is an amazing book that should be shared widely and discussed with kids. It deals with the subject of police involved shooting from a number of angles in a way that is very readable for middle grade kids. A window into the world of the victim, his family and the family of the shooter as well (this last part I did not anticipate but it was very thoughtful).

The second in the Embassy Row series, my daughter and I have agreed to go through this series in July. I recommended the first to her and then realized I hadn’t finished it. I sometimes have trouble with the voice of this character, but I really enjoy the plot. The fictional setting (a country in the center of the world with a lot of influence historically in world events), and the characters never knowing who they can trust reminds me of many movies and TV shows that I enjoy.

This was a really interesting graphic novel that takes place during a war in a fictional setting. Blue was a newsboy, who is actually a girl but pretending to be a boy allows her to do the job. The art is great and the plot centers around the rivalry of the two countries as well as the development of technology. It took me a little while to get into the plot but the last half was really good. I will likely seek the sequel for the library. I haven’t kid tested this one yet, but I think it is for upper elementary as the plot is more complex than what most of my grade four high volume graphic novel readers are used to.

 

This is more of the light, humorous and imaginative graphioc novel that my young intermediate readers flock to. Both of my children spotted me reading this a couple of weeks ago and I had to give it up to them. It brought out the best memories of their more imaginative play, and I think they have both read it multiple times. As soon as I started reading it again, my eight year old wanted to read it with me. It is a series of connected stories about a neighbourhood of kids that use boxes and other things to build costumes that turn them into characters in their imaginative play games. It basically chronicles their whole summer. I really enjoyed this book.

This is the sequel to Strangers and the second in a trilogy called The Reckoner. I obtained an e-ARC through NetGalley of this book which comes out on September 1. Its an Indigenous supernatural thriller that takes place in the northern First Nations community of Wounded Sky. The main character, Cole, has been through a series of family tragedies, and the community as a whole is rocked by a series of murders starting in book one. Cole needs to figure this whole thing out, and he is helped and frustrated by Choch, a trickster figure that flits in and out of his life as he sees fit.

Cole has  supportive group of friends that help him get in and out of dangerous situations. How to explain this series further? Its like X-Files but with an Indigenous setting and characters, some of it is based on Cree cultural stories, I think. I am still looking that up. It’s told with a lot of humor too. This installment really goes into the Monsters that Cole faces both externally and internally. He deals with anxiety and I loved the way David Robertson made this something that the readers also deals with. I can’t wait to read the third book in the Spring of 2019.

 

Next Up Books:

My family and I just started the Beyonders series together, and I am finishing Embassy Row before I hand the books over to my eleven year old. I might re-read The Mad Wolf’s Daughter with my eight year old because I really loved that book (I posted last week about it but not until Wednesday). I may also start The Door in the Alley series.

Hope you have a great reading week, thanks for stopping to view mine.