IMWAYR is a weekly blog hop with kid lit co-hosts Jennifer from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers. The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It’s a great way to share what you’re reading and get recommendations from others. We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs each week.

Happy Labor Day! I hope you got a chance to relax today. I just returned from the National Book Festival with some new books and a renewed sense of JOY for reading. There are SO MANY new books out in the world, and a huge “book birthday” date tomorrow, so I’m already overwhelmed, but the new few weeks should be excellent reading weeks.

I finished Worser and Coming Up Short. They are both titles that will fly off the library shelves in the coming weeks. I read They Call Her Fregona by David Bowles on the airplane ride home. Then I revisited They Call Me Güero today. Mr. Bowles created a perfect set, and I recommend reading them together.

I added to my picture book collection over the weekend, too. The King of Kindergarten was already a hit, and now The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes and Vanessa Brantley-Newton joined the team. I love these two books together, too. It’s so nice to celebrate school, reading, and having fun at the same time.

I was lucky enough to stand in a line with a young girl who had received Fly by Brittany J. Thurman and Anna Cunha and wanted me to read it to her. (Her mom said I didn’t have to, but of course, I wanted to!) What a delightful book! I read it aloud to the people standing around us, and we all talked about how nice it is to enjoy books together.

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?