Slice of Life - #MustReadin2017 - Spring Update

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Lisa, Melanie, and Lanny

 for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

I'm a master procrastinator.  I was late to join the #mustreadin2017 group.  I missed reporting in for the Spring Update, but I'm happy to report that I've read 7 of the 12 titles I selected for 2017.  And isn't it still spring?   

The books I have finished are shown in red with additional comments also provided in red.  I'm not sure that I'll get to many of my remaining titles anytime soon (next update isn't until September) since my current focus is on Newbery possibilities for 2018.  I have some funds remaining from the grant I write each year to purchase books for our book club that must be spent by the end of this month.  Please leave any book titles you might recommend as Newbery possibilities (books published in 2017) in the comments.

1.  The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill - It won the Newbery, my book club loved it, and I just finished my book for my adult book club.  So it's next on the list!

Finished!  I loved every word, and I'm not a huge fantasy fan.  If you haven't read it yet, add it to your summer must read list.  

#s 2 - 5 are books from the March Book Madness Middle Grade New Classics list.  I love this list and out of sixteen titles, there are only four that I haven't read.  So these titles come right after #1 in order of priority:
2.  Booked by Kwame Alexander  Finished!  What a delight to finally read this novel-in-verse.
3.  El Deafo by Cece Bell  Finished! 
4.  A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielson  Finished!  One of my new favorites that also belongs on your summer reading list if you haven't read it yet. 
5.  Sisters by Raina Telgemeier  Finished!

I managed to finish all the March Book Madness titles before the end of March.  We were delighted when A Night Divided, first choice of our book club, won the middle grade brackets.  

#s 6 - 12 are not in any particular order:

6.  Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley and Jillian Tamaki - 
When I heard Gertie compared to Ramona Quimby, I knew this book belonged on my must read list. 

7.  When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin - This is a title that I considered when I was selecting titles for our Mock Newbery 2017.  And I read and loved so many dog stories in 2016!

8.  Beautiful Blue World by Suzanne La Fleur - When I fell in love with this cover, Lori at Island Books gave me the ARC.  My daughter read it first and highly recommended it  to me.  And I just saw that the sequel, Threads of Blue (also a beautiful cover in blue), comes out September 12th.  Finished!  I had forgotten that this book had a sequel until I finished it.  I fell in love with the cover, and now I'm in love with the story too!  And I can't wait for the sequel, Threads of Blue (available this fall). 

9.  Flying Lessons & Other Stories by Ellen Oh - I rarely read short stories, so this is a good stretch for me.  I think I will enjoy sharing stories from this book at our after school book club. 

10.  The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon - Daughter Sara is currently reading this, but I picked up her copy at the hospital and read a bit.  I can't wait to get back to it.  

11.  Garvey's Choice by Nikki Grimes -  I heard Nikki Grimes present at Poetry Camp this past fall.  She autographed my copy of Words with Wings.  Novels-in-verse are a favorite genre.  This novel uses the Japanese poetic form of tanka, a form similar to haiku that uses syllable counts and is five lines long.  Finished!  I'm amazed at the quantity and quality of books written by this well known author.   I loved Garvey and his journey to self-understanding.  I've also read Nikki Grimes' latest book, One Last Word:  Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance, an incredible collection that pairs poems from poets of the Harlem Renaissance with original poetry written by Nikki Grimes using the golden shovel method. 

12.  The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner -  I can't believe I still haven't read this book.  The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, also by Kate Messner, is one of my all-time favorite books.