#Road2Reading Challenge: New and Recent Releases

While at the ALA Annual Conference, I took a number of pictures of books that were recent releases or upcoming releases. Unfortunately many of the pictures weren't clear enough to use in the post. Instead, I have copied the covers into this post with the book information. Hope you find lots of new titles to celebrate. 

Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; Illustrated by Alexander (Atheneum, May 8, 2018)

Marvel Super Hero Adventures Buggin' Out! by MacKenzie Cadenhead; Illustrated by Derek Laufman (Marvel Press, June 5, 2018)

Vampirina, Vampirina in the Fall by Disney Book Group (Disney Press, June 5, 2018)

What Will Fat Cat Sit On? (Giggle Gang) by Jan Thomas (HMH Books for Young Readers, June 19, 2018)

The Doghouse (Giggle Gang) by Jan Thomas (HMH Books for Young Readers, June 19, 2018)

Mr. Moneky Visits a School by Jeff Mack (Simon & Schuster, July 3, 2018)

Mr. Monkey Bakes a Cake by Jeff Mack (Simon & Schuster, July 3, 2018) 

Megabat by Anna Humphrey; Illustrated by Kass Reich (Tundra Books, August 7, 2018) 

Noodleheads Find Something Fishy by Tedd Arnold; Illustrated by Martha Hamilton (Holiday House, September 4, 2018) 

Houndsley and Catina and Cousin Wagner by James Howe, Illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (Candlewick, September 4, 2018)

Good Rosie! by Kate DiCamillo; Illustrated by Harry Bliss (Candlewick, September 4, 2018)

Incognito (Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker Book 2) by Shelley Johannes (Disney-Hyperion, September 18, 2018)

Fergus and Zeke at the Science Fair by Kate Messner; Illustrated by Heather Ross (Candlewick, September 18, 2018)

Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale; Illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Candlewick Press, September 25, 2018)

Look for these titles at your local indie bookstore or community library.

All journeys have a starting place.
This is a weekly place to find books and tools
that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey.
Join in the conversation at #road2reading.

Do you work with readers who are starting their journey on the road to reading?  Join Michele Knott from Mrs. Knott's Book Nook and myself every Thursday as we explore books and ideas to help readers have a successful start to independent picture book and chapter book reading. If you blog or have a Goodreads page, please link up with us!

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Recent and Upcoming Releases

While at the ALA Annual Conference, I took a number of pictures of books that were recent releases or upcoming releases. Unfortunately many of the pictures weren't clear enough to use in the post. I am always amazed at how I have missed titles in past months and glad to have an opportunity to put books on everyone's radar.  Hope you find lots of new titles to celebrate. 

Check out the previous posts: January | February | March | April

Here are a number of recent releases:

In the Past: From Trilobites to Dinosaurs to Mammoths in More Than 500 Million Years by David Elliott; Illustrated by Matthew Trueman (Candlewick Press, March 2018) 

Bat Citizens: Defending the Ninjas of the Night by Rob Laidlaw (Pajama Press, March 2018)

A House in the Sky And Other Uncommon Animal Homes by Steve Jenkins, Robbin Gourley (Charlesbridge Publishing, May 2018)

Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin by Michelle Cusolito; Illustrated by Nicole Wong (Charlesbridge Publishing, May 2018)

In-Between Things by Priscilla Tey (Candlewick Press, May 2018)

A Frog's Life by Irene Kelly; Illustrated by Margherita Borin (Holiday House, May 2018)

Step by Step by Loreen Leedy (Holiday House, May 2018)

Science Comics: Rockets: Defying Gravity by Anne Drozd; Illustrated by Jersey Drozd (First Second, June 2018)

Hawk Rising by Maria Gianferrari; Illustrated by Brian Floca (Roaring Brook Press, May 2018)

Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World by Christy Hale (Roaring Brook Press, May 2018)

Do Not Lick This Book by Idan Ben-Barak; Illustrated by Julian Frost (Roaring Brook Press, June 2018)

Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker; Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk (Henry Holt & Co, June 2018)

Look at Me! How to Attract Attention in the Animal World by Robin Page, Steve Jenkins (HMH Books for Young Readers, June 2018)

Saving Fiona: The Story of the World's Most Famous Baby Hippo by Thayne Maynard (HMH Books for Young Readers, June 2018)

Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock; Illustrated by Katherine Roy (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 2018)

Up & Down: The Adventures of John Jefferies, First American to Fly by Don Brown (Charlesbridge Publishing, June 2018)

Red Alert! Endangered Animals Around the World by Catherine Barr; Illustrated by Anne Barr (Charlesbridge Publishing, July 3, 2018)

And mark your calendar for these up coming releases:

Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented by Tanya Lee Stone; Illustrated by Steve Salerno (Henry Holt & Co, July 17, 2018)

Vivid: Poems & Notes About Color by Julie Paschkis (Henry Holt & Co., July 31, 2018)

The Orca Scientist (Scientist in the Field) by Kim Perez Valice; Photographs by Andy Comins (HMH Books for Young Readers, July 24, 2018)

How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine by Amy Guglielmo, Jacqueline Tourville; Illustrated by Giselle Potter (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, August 28, 2018)

Howard and the Mummy: Howard Carter and the Search for King Tut's Tomb by Tracy Fern; Illustrated by Boris Kulikov (Margaret Ferguson Books / Farrar Strauss Giroux, August 7, 2018)

The Sinking of the Vasa: A Shipwreck of Titantic Proportions by Russell Freedman; Illustrated by William Low (Henry Holt & Co., August 14, 2018)

Spring After Spring: How Rachel Carson Inspired the Environmental Movement by Stephanie Roth Sisson (Roaring Brook Press, August 14, 2018)

Just Like Us: Plants by Bridget Heos; Illustrated by David Clark (HMH Books for Young Readers, August 21, 2018)

Just Like Us! Fish by Bridget Heos;  Illustrated by David Clark (HMH Books for Young Readers, August 21, 2018)

Look for all of these titles in your local indie bookstore or community library. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews....

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - July 2, 2018

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.  Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and  Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kid lit focus. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kid lit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

A lot has been happening the past couple of weeks, so think of this as an extra huge round up post. This past Saturday, I attended the SoCal Launch Party for Everything Else in the Universe hosted by Tracy Holczer. 

Don't you just love the Dragonfly sandals Tracy found to match her book? 

If you missed her interview a few weeks back, check it out here. 

Here's what jumped out of the stack...

All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff by Meghan McCarthy (Simon & Schuster, February 2018) 

What Can a Citizen Do? by Dave Eggers, Illustrated by Shawn Harris (Chronicle Books, September 11, 2018)

We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands by Rafael Lopez (Scholastic Books, October 9, 2018) 

Pearl by Molly Idle (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, October 9, 2018)

Surprise by Caroline Hadilaksono (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books, September 25, 2018) 

King Alice by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel & Friends, September 25, 2018) 

Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller (Henry Holt & Co, October 2, 2018) 

Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, April 10, 2018)

Books I am currently reading...

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, August 28, 2018) 

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Scholastic Books/Graphix, September 25, 2018) 

In case you missed it...

ALA Part 1  and Part 2

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon

Ocean Meets the Sky Interview with The Fan Brothers

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Hawk Rising 

So, what are you reading? 

Celebrating the Past Week: ALA Annual Conference Part II

I got back on Tuesday night from New Orleans where the American Library Association (ALA) held their Annual Conference. It was a busy week and I am finally getting caught up with my blog posts. Here is a bit of a round-up post. 

What a great wall to find when you entered the Convention Center! Markers were available for everyone to write in their own equation or sayings! #ReadingHopeChange

One of the things I love about Annual is the opportunity to meet wonderful authors and illustrators and to get books signed. The above picture was from a Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Picture Book Event. Below was a signing with Yuyi Morales at the Holiday House booth. She was signing her new book Dreamers. 

I was not great at taking pictures at all of the book events or book signings, but I did get to see Travis Jonkers at his first signing for his first book, The Very Last Castle (Abrams, ) 

I wasn't great at getting pictures with all of the wonderful authors and illustrators and librarians and educators that I spent time with but always glad to run into my friends at Creston Books. 

Spending time with Marcia Goldman, Marissa Moss and Kathryn Otoshi. 

I am always appreciative of the various opportunities to listen to authors and illustrators share their creative process. 

Don't you just love picture books. So many good ones out this year. 

Of, course one of the highlights is the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy Banquet. 

I was honored to sit with the good folks from Pajama Press. Their book Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green won a Schneider Family Book Award. I loved sitting with Shari and getting to know her better. 

After a wonderful evening of celebrating books, Mary Ann Scheuer (Great Kid Books) capped off the night with a trip to a New Orleans' favorite. 

We learned that if you go to Café Du Monde at 11 p.m. you can likely get a table inside. Loved the Beignets. 

Though I love all of the various celebrations, I especially enjoyed the ALA Awards and the Schneider Family Book Awards Luncheon. I had the honor of accompanying author/illustrator, Allen Say to pick up his award. 

Annual may be over but we can look forward to ALA Midwinter in Seattle in January 2019. 

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: ALA Annual Conference 2018 Part I

Last Thursday, I landed in New Orleans to attend the American Library Association's Annual Conference. And just late last night, I started to put this post together. This will be short and quick but I will do a longer post about the upcoming nonfiction titles that I am excited about. 

Kicking off ALA...

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and students musicians set the tone for the opening session of ALA. 

If you are wondering where you heard of Troy Andrews, well, he wrote about his life in the book Trombone Shorty. The book won a Caldecott and CSK Awards in 2016 and an Odyssey Award in 2018. 

Michelle Obama opened up the conference to a packed out room. 

Carla Hayden (Library of Congress) interviewed the former First Lady. It was wonderful to listen to both of these amazing women. 

Once I finish editing photos and pulling together book covers, I will finish the post. I leave you with a couple of photos from my last moments in New Orleans. 

In 2017, FREEDOM IN CONGO SQUARE by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award Nominee for Illustrator Honor. Today, I wrapped up my trip to New Orleans by taking in a few of the local sites including the actual Congo Square that Weatherford writes about. 

A sign telling the story of Congo Square. 

A monument to the slaves and free Blacks who would gather at Congo Square. 

Artwork by Sarah S. Brannen ©2018

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews...