Blog Update & It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Hi everyone! I’m gotten some very good news regarding the results of the recent ALSC ballot–I’m not 100% sure what I can share yet — but the ALSC Election Results are public, and some of you have reached out with congratulations (thanks!) — so I wanted to give a blog update. (If this feels very vague, I’ll update the post once I’ve gotten the final go ahead to do so. But pending final approval, I’ll be a part of an upcoming ALSC award committee!)

Between the requirements of this new committee work, and a personal desire to slow down the pace of my blogging, you’ll notice some changes to the weekly Book Cart Queens blogging routine:

Book Review Tuesdays are going on hiatus.
It’s Monday What Are You Reading Posts will continue until July.
Expect some new Book Club in a Bag Kit posts really soon, and then a break in program-related posts for a while. While there will be new posts each week, the frequency of posts will slow down.
Starting in July, my posts will become more infrequent and not in any way book-related.

BUT–none of that means this blog is going to sleep. Michala will be dropping back in with some awesome teen kits, and a NEW blogger will be joining our team!

Sarah Simpson contributed some of her amazing flannel work a few months ago, and she is going to be joining us as a regular blogger featuring her own programs as well as her extensive knowledge of kids lit.

Welcome Sarah! I’m excited for some Book Cart Queens changes, while still sharing awesome content. More to come, but for now, on with the books!

We participate in the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (4/12/2021-4/18/2021).

Annamarie’s Reading

Board Books, Picture Books, and Readers:

Forest Baby by Laurie Elmquist (board book)
In My Mosque by M.O. Yuksel
Jayden’s Impossible Garden by Melina Mangal
A Kids Book About Empathy by Daron K. Roberts (nonfiction)
A Kids Book About Feminism by Emma Mcilroy (nonfiction)
A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory (nonfiction)

A Kids Book About Systemic Racism by Jordan Thierry (nonfiction)
A Kids Book About White Privilege by Ben Sand (nonfiction)
Octopants by Suzy Senior
Rex Wrecks It! by Ben Clanton
Watercress by Andrea Wang

Everything Else:

Delicates by Brenna Thummler (graphic novel)
The Every Body Book: The Lgbtq+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Rachel E. Simon (nonfiction)
The D.O.G. by Jonathan Eig (first chapter book)
Genie Meanie by Mahtab Narsimhan (first chapter book)
I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick (teen)
J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard
Lola Levine Is Not Mean! by Monica Brown (first chapter book)

No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen
Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney (teen) (graphic novel)
Planet Earth Is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
Secrets of Camp Whatever Vol. 1 by Chris Grine (graphic novel)
She Persisted: Claudette Colvin by Lesa Cline-Ransome (biography)
What We Don’t Talk About by Charlot Kristensen (teen) (graphic novel)

Rambling Thoughts: My big updates are at the top of this post, but I’ll also share that I gave up waiting for Baker & Taylor to ship things to my library, and instead I’m getting a lot of already-released books from other area libraries. Expect these posts to grow fairly long over the next few weeks as I continue to share some great titles with you all until July 1.

Reading by the Numbers:

25 Books Read This Week
- 18 Books with Main Characters of Diverse Backgrounds (72%)
- 16 Books by Authors of Diverse Backgrounds (64%)
- 15 Books by Own Voices Authors (60%)

Favorites of the Week: