It's Monday...

It's Monday, and I am on a summer get-away along with the rest of the 5-family in the next state over. 

I hope that as you read this I am floating around a lazy river nary a care in the world.

Visit Teach Mentor Texts to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

I read the Black and White ARC version of Bluffton; I can't wait to read this amazing nonfiction graphic novel again in full color.

• Follow Matt Phelan on Twitter: @MattPhelanDraws
• Visit Matt Phelan's Webpage for great info about Bluffton behind the scenes (including an awesome #fivespotting photo of a Vaudeville ticket booth), and Matt's recent Nerdy Book Club post.

I loved the strong & feisty Lizzy who struggles to keep her world right-side-up during the Great Depression.

• Follow author Laura Golden on Twitter: @LauraPGolden
• Love this post on Laura's blog about what actors she would like to have play her characters were her book to be made into a movie.

This would be a great title to use with writers' workshops or when talking with students about elements of a story.

• Follow Joan Holub on Twitter: @JoanHolub
• Amazing interview with Melissa Sweet via Seven Impossible things before Breakfast 

I loved the fact that this story was the length of a single small town parade; through the flashbacks and side stories the reader keeps coming back to young Ruby standing inside a chalk circle inside a square.

• Follow Linda Urban on Twitter: @LindaUrbanBooks
• Nerdy Book Club post about Center of Everything by Kate Messner 
• Fabulous review via @FuseEight

Make room for another darling (nearly wordless) picture book by Lita Judge.

• Follow Lita Judge on Twitter: @LitaJudge

Classic, quirky Prelutsky poetry paired with amazing shadow box illustrations by Carin Berger is a winning combination.

• Follow Carin Berger on Twitter: @CarinBerger
• Browse inside Stardines on the HarperCollins' site

#fivespotting in Stardines: 

Be sure to check out this amazing picture book biography about the Japanese-American Baseball player, Kenichi Zenimura, who built a baseball field inside the internment camp where he was held during World War II.

• Follow Marissa Moss on Twitter: @MarissaWriter
• Browse the illustrations from Barbed Wire Baseball on illustrator Yuko Shimizu's site

Barbed Wire Baseball focuses on Zenimura building the ball field; the video below highlights a landmark game played on the field.

The 5sters and I are working our way through the Spiderwick series as "read-together" books.
Loads of great action in book 4!

• Follow Holly Black on Twitter: @HollyBlack
• Follw Tony DiTerlizzi on Twitter: @TonyDiTerlizzi

The Bud chose Rump for our next Read-Together book.

And I just picked up a load of new picture books from my local public library.