“It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. 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 the next “must-read” book!
Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I 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.”
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With the time change, I’m going to be happy if I get this done by 11:59 pm (of course I won’t know what time that actually is, but you get the point). I’m working on a list of great graphic novels reads so this will have to do for this week.
Waluk by Ana Miralles and Emilio Ruiz
It is an odd combination of beautiful artwork, a buddy story about a little cub befriended by an old bear, and a warning about polar ice caps melting.
I’ve read it three or four times and still, I just can’t make up my mind.
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Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandid (Book 5) by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
What can I say? One of the most dependable graphic novel series around. So much fun to read with a kid or alone. There are hints of 007 with Betty (Lunch Lady’s side-kick) inventing food related super gadgets like Taco Vision Glasses (they see in the dark but everyone has a taco head).
This particular edition has an especially crazy bad-guy (meant as a completely gender neutral term).
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If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth 
This book deserves a second or third read. Gansworth presents the music I grew up on – Queen, David Bowe, Wings, and more and weaves it into the lives of two pretty normal, if not completely different, teen boys. A more then elegant treatment of Native American rez life and military kids in conflict and cooperation.
I think this would be a great read either paired with or for readers who are not comfortable with the sex and violence in Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian.
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Booktoss 
I’ve never heard of Waluk. The cover looks interesting.
And JJK … always fun. We had him visit our school a couple years ago. Still can’t keep those books on the shelf. Waiting for a book order so that we’ll finally have Platypus!
So If I Ever Get Out of Here would be a good choice for middle schools, then? Sounds interesting.
According to the Booklist and Scholastic this is a grade 7 book. I’m never convinced by these kinds of levels. The book is centered on middle school experiences so I think it is a great middle school book!
Lunch Lady! We have very few of those titles in our libraries, I will definitely recommend them as soon as I get the chance. I have a feeling my 11 year old who’s just crazy about graphic novels would enjoy the Lunch Lady series.