Armchair BEA Day 5: Keeping it Real & Children's/YA Literature

Kellee:

What exactly does "keeping it real" mean? The meaning lays in keeping. How do you not only grow an audience, but how do you keep them coming back for more? If you have been around for years, how do you keep your material fresh? How do you continue to keep blogging fun? Blogging is fun for me because I am able to talk about two of the most important things in my life- books and teaching. This also easily lends itself to keeping things fresh because every day of teaching is a new adventure and amazing books are coming out every day. As for building an audience, I just try really hard to be as real as possible and just put truth in my reviews. I also work really hard in considering the best ways that each book I read could be utilized in the classroom. I want to help teachers out there and be someone that people go to if they need help. This has completely made me rethink how I read books. I hope all of this allows for my readers to want to come back for more.  

What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf?  If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more?  If you are not a reader of these books, think back to your childhood and share your favorites from your younger years. Books molded my childhood and shared all of these with my "Books I'm Thankful For" post this Thanksgiving. I think there isn't a set 5 books that kids NEED to have because it is so important to find the right books for the right kids. Although there are a set couple of books that I buy for parents when I go to baby showers: Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester, Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak, Jon Klassen's Hat books, Willems's Elephant and Piggie books, and the classic Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Though some other reads that I'll probably add to this list is Each Kindness by Woodson, Because Amelia Smiled by Stein, Peter H. Reynold's books, and Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.

Jen:

What exactly does "keeping it real" mean? The meaning lays in keeping. How do you not only grow an audience, but how do you keep them coming back for more? If you have been around for years, how do you keep your material fresh? How do you continue to keep blogging fun? Honestly, when it comes to blogging, I just share what I think and try to have fun doing it. As I've visited other blogs during Armchair BEA, it has been fun to see new book bloggers and read about how they just loved books so much that they wanted to devote a blog just to talking about books. That's why I started and I think why so many of us started really. Book bloggers seem to be powerfully passionate about books and I believe that if you are blogging about something you are passionate about, just be yourself, share your love, and that's what's important. That's how you keep it real. 

What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf?  If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more?  If you are not a reader of these books, think back to your childhood and share your favorites from your younger years. This is my kind of question! My plan is to give my sons one of my favorite books at the beginning of every school year. I wrote about which books I plan to give them over at the Nerdy Book Club blog. Check out my Book-School Year Tradition post to see which books made my list!

We are so sad that this week is almost over. We are having a blast! 

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