Reading Teacher Writes

Sharing a love of literacy with fellow readers and writers

Tag Archives: Barbara Dee


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Slice of Life March Challenge: Day 12

Read Alouds Work!

I went to school today with hope for the future as I met with my reading group students. My goal was to work on a three-part assignment and start our read aloud, Unstuck, by Barbara Dee. This book published recently and I was so grateful that Ms. Dee wrote about a seventh-grader with a perfect, complicated story in her head, but couldn’t write it on paper. Writers Block.

The beginning of the story chronicled the main character, Lyla, talking to the reader (1st person POV – my students told ME) about a wonderful fantasy that she was going to write…but never wrote a thing on her paper. My students and I found it funny that the opening scenes were exactly like what happens in “real school” life. I love that my students are also in 7th grade and writing narratives for our third quarter ELA project – this is the perfect read aloud for them.

Write on!


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IMWAYR: A Busy Winter Week

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a weekly blog hop hosted by Kellee and Ricki of 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.

Head over to Unleashing Readers to join the link up and share your reads from this week!

I have many personal and professional projects this week, so I won’t have much time for reading. BUT…just in time for the new week…I received Barbara Dee’s upcoming novel, Unstuck. I’m opening it right after I write this post. Thank you, Barbara, for the book mail!

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?


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IMWAYR: Book Birthdays

The last couple of weeks have been amazing “book birthday” celebrations of excellent children’s and teen’s literature. I have my TBR list growing so fast, there’s no way I’ll get all the titles read by the end of 2021. Here’s the plan for THIS week:

NetGalley: I will finish The Vanderbeekers: Make A Wish for its book birthday tomorrow. Thank you for another great story, Karina Yan Glaser! Every time I finish a Vanderbeekers story, I long for a new one.

Libro.fm: I’m not going anywhere this week, but I hope to finish Chlorine Sky while driving to and from work. I love this one so far, but I haven’t really paid attention to it. I need to listen better (story of my life!).

Physical Books: This title got held over and will now be published in October instead of September, but I can’t wait to own a copy of Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee. Barbara is a master of middle school stories – I love everything she writes! This one is going to be a must-read for my middle school theater and art students. I know I’ll have multiple copies available in the library.

It’s Monday, What are YOU reading?

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.


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IMWAYR: Looking Forward To This Week’s Reading

After a long day, I had a grand opportunity to see Paula Chase, in conversation with Renee Watson, thanks to Brain Lair Books virtual events! Thank you, Kathy Burnette, for hosting a fabulous chat! There are many new books coming out this week, and I want to read them all! I’ll start with…

Turning Point by Paula Chase

My Life in the Fish Tank by Barbara Dee

Vanderbeekers: Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glaser

I also need to get back to my Net Galley reading. I was just approved to read This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano.

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a weekly blog hop with kidlit co-hosts Jennifer (at www.teachmentortexts.com) 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.


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IMWAYR: “Summertime Fun” Reads

I’m listening to books in an attempt to jump on the audiobooks bandwagon. I still love my paper and binding books, and I’m not really into the audio format…yet, but these books were fun:

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

The setting is Indiana, so I had to see what was up. This story is about Liz, who is a black teen in richy-small-town Campbell, Indiana. Liz dreams of attending the elite Pennington College next year, but first she has to do the impossible: win the scholarship money offered to the prom’s king and queen. Prom is for spoiled brats and catty girls, though! Not for Liz. Will she be able to pull it off and live her dream?

 

The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

Marva Sheridan is 18 and ready to vote for the first time. She’s spent time helping others to register, too, so when she runs into Duke Crenshaw (who is not registered), she skips school to help him. The Voting Booth is their day-in-a-book and it’s full of twists and turns: wrong precincts, a missing cat, and school and parent problems along the way. The message is serious — people need to be actively involved in their communities — but it’s fun to follow the two around and hope for a better world. (And…please VOTE in November!)

This week I’m reading…

My Life in the Fish Tank by Barbara Dee. I love Barbara’s middle school stories! She really knows the middle school dramatic friendships and writes fabulous families who need to heal, working together and helping each other. Mental health needs more attention, and taking care of yourself is NOT taboo!

30 People Who Changed the World, edited by Jean Reynolds. These essays are short and powerful, written by award-winning writers.

It’s Monday! What Are YOU Reading?

This meme is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Kathryn decided to give “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.