Happy Tuesday! I am linking up with Shooting Stars for a reading update and Joanne for Talking About It Tuesdays to show you the books I read this month.

Did you know that April is School Library Month? My reading this month shows that I am most definitely a school librarian. I’ve read a lot and you’ll see that most of what I’m reading is for work. If I must bring work home with me, reading books is the BEST kind of work! I am on a committee to select the books for our Battle of the Books. There are 20 books (10 novels and 10 graphic novels) that could be selected for our 10 Battle books. I am trying to read as many as I can by the middle of May. Many of these books have come from our public library. Even though it is School Library Month, I hope that everyone is celebrating their local public library, too! They do amazing things for our communities! ❤️❤️

The county I work for has a new policy regarding adding books to our collection. If there aren’t two professional reviews, I need to procure two reviews. The reviews can be from me, the media clerk in our school library, or other school librarians and clerks. Did you know that when a popular series gets to book 8 or 10 or 15 there aren’t many reviews? They figure that if you liked books 1-14, you’ll probably enjoy book 15. And that is usually true. In my case, I need to read all of those late series books that haven’t been reviewed to add them to our library. It makes for a lot of reading to get these favorite series books in the hands of my eager readers.

I usually share my books in the order I read them, but today I am going to share them by category. Here we go!

Take Two, Birdie Maxwell by Allison Winn Scotch ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

I loved it! This was a fun book about a movie star that was canceled and she finds an anonymous love letter at her childhood home. She teams up with her best friend’s brother who happens to be a journalist and goes on quite a few missions to figure out who wrote that letter. It was light and a great read!

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis
(out May 21st) ☀️☀️☀️☀️

This book was good! Millie is a receptionist who writes email drafts when people make her mad. It is her way of getting it off her chest without causing any drama at work. The company has a server glitch one night and all of the emails get sent. The drama that ensues is funny, uncomfortable, and endearing. This is another hit by Lia Louis and I recommend it for sure! Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

When in Rome by Sarah Adams ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

This is the first book I’ve read by Sarah Adams and it will not be the last! Amy shared Sarah Adams’ books on her blog last summer and I’ve had them on my list since them. It was a fun read about a famous singer, Amelia, who wants to get away from all the craziness before her world tour. She ends up in a small town and finds that she loves it there. Amelia is a fellow Audrey Hepburn fan, so I was in from the beginning!

Spy Ski School by Stuart Gibbs (audio)

Luke and I are working through the Spy School series and it has a tiny bit of suspense and a lot of laughs. We loved it!

Spy School Secret Service by Stuart Gibbs (audio)

Luke and I have been driving a lot! We finished Secret Service this month, too. This was a fun one because it takes place in Washington, DC and we knew all of the landmarks. We loved this one, too!

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Picture Book Nominees

I read all of these! They are good and my favorites are:
A New Day by Brad Meltzer
Acorn was a Little Wild by Jen Arena
Beneath by Cori Doerrfeld
I am a Tornado by Drew Beckmeyer
I Can’t Draw by Stephen W. Martin
I Want 100 Dogs by Stacy McAnulty
What Happened to You by James Catchpole
Yoshi and the Ocean by Lindsay Moore

BLack-Eyed Susan Book Award Graphic Novel Nominiees

I have three more to read and am hoping to finish them this week. So far, I’ve read these:
Batcat by Meggie Rahm
The Dog Knight by Jeremy Whitley
Enlighten Me by Minh Le
Killer Underwear Invasion by Elise Gravel
Paws: Gabby Gets It Together by Nathan Fairbairn
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke

I Survived Graphic Novels (The Nazi Invasion 1944, The American Revolution 1776, and The Great Chicago Fire 1872) by Lauren Tarshis

All three of these books are intense, but so good! They are historical fiction but present events that could be scary in a very appropriate way for elementary school readers. The students in my library are going to devour them!

Currently Reading: Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
(out April 30th – reading from NetGalley)

Currently Reading: Home Away From Home by Cynthia Lord

Currently Listening: Spy School Goes South by Stuart Gibbs

Up Next: Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Chapter Book Nominees

I am excited to read these. Gordon Korman is one of my favorite children’s book authors. We have a few of these books in my school library, but I haven’t gotten around to reading any of them yet.

If you are still here, you deserve an award! I have been reading and reading and reading! The only problem with reading all of these books for work is that my TBR list is growing faster than ever! I am only reading my adult books before I go to bed and it will be like that for the next month or so. Bookish problems like that are the best problems to have!

Without including the picture books, I read 15 books this month. That is a big month. Graphic novels tend to read a little faster than a novel, but I highly recommend taking your time and enjoying the illustrations. You can always checkout what I’ve been reading on my Books 2024 page. I have all of my yearly reading pages linked here if you want to see what I’ve been reading for the last 5 years. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!

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