Growing Bookworms Newsletter: June 29: Summer Learning, #PictureBook Reviews + Finding Winnie
June 29, 2016
Today, I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter has refocused recently, and now contains content from my blog focused on growing joyful learners, including bookworms, mathematicians, and learners of all types. The newsletter is sent out every two to three weeks.
Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (three picture books and one middle grade) and one post about my daughter's latest literacy milestone (anticipating a sequel). I also have a post about my (play-based) plans for my daughter's summer learning. I close with two posts with links that I shared on Twitter and two more with quotes from and responses to articles about to the joy of learning. As you can see, I've been slowing getting my reviewing groove back. I have two reviews per week scheduled out for the next couple of months, which is a nice feeling.
Reading Update: In the past two weeks I read/listened to two chapter books, two middle grade titles, and five adult titles. I also abandoned one middle grade title about one third of the way through because I kept falling asleep. I remain in an odd YA funk, where nothing I look at or begin catches my attention enough to get me through it. Anyway, I read:
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Ellen Potter (Ill. Qin Leng): Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Illustrated Early Chapter Book. Completed June 15, 2016, print ARC. Review to come.
- Kirk Scroggs: Snoop Troop: It Came from Beneath the Playground. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Chapter Book/Graphic Novel. Completed June 16, 2016. Review to come.
- Aimee Carter: Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den. Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed June 21, 2016, print ARC. Review to come.
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Laura Martin: The Ark Plan: Edge of Extinction, Book 1. HarperCollins Children's Books. Middle Grade. Completed June 25, 2016. Review to come.
- C. J. Box: Nowhere to Run (Joe Pickett, Book 10). Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed June 18, 2016, on MP3. This was a particularly bleak installment to the series, but nevertheless left me wanting to listen to the next one right away.
- Sara Paretsky: Indemnity Only (V. I. Warshawski #1). Dell Books. Adult Mystery. Completed June 19, 2016, on both MP3 and Kindle (Whispersync). I enjoyed the experience of switching back and forth between the digital and audio versions of this modern classic, and will be moving on to try Book 2.
- C. J. Box: Cold Wind (Joe Pickett, Book 11). Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed June 23, 2016, on MP3. This had a nice, twisty plot, and kept me thinking.
- Laura Lippman: Wilde Lake. William Morrow. Adult Mystery. Completed June 26, 2016, on Kindle. This standalone by Lippman has an unusual narrative structure, but very deep characterization. I found it quite compelling, and am still thinking about it.
- Paul Doiron: The Precipice (Mike Bowditch #6). Minotaur Books. Adult Mystery. Completed June 28, 2016, on MP3. I'm enjoying reading these books close together, and basically watching Mike Bowditch grow up (albeit with some backsliding).
I'm currently listening to the second V. I. Warshawski novel by Sara Paretsky, Deadlock, and reading the fifth Ruth Galloway novel by Elly Griffiths, A Dying Fall.
I'm continuing to share all of my longer reads, as well as highlights from my picture book reads with my daughter, via the #BookADay hashtag on Twitter. I also enjoy looking at other people's #BookADay selections. Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. Wishing you all plenty of time for summer reading.
© 2016 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.