Book Tastings- hook, chapter 1 reading, read aloud, circle time, picture books, YA Fiction, YA Books, classic books, relevant books

Episode 14: ”Starfish” by: Lisa Fipps

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first three verses of "Starfish" by: Lisa Fipps.
 
Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules—like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space—her swimming pool—where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life—by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Starfish.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Lisa Fipps. 
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 13: ”The Chocolate Touch” by: Patrick Skene Catling

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Chocolate Touch" by: Patrick Skene Catling.
 
Can you ever have too much of your favorite food? John Midas is about to find out….
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Chocolate Touch.
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 12: ”The Great Pet Heist” by: Emily Ecton

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Great Pet Heist" by: Emily Ecton.
 
Butterbean knew she wasn’t always a good dog. Still, she’d never considered herself a BAD dog—until the morning that her owner, Mrs. Food, fell in the hallway. Admittedly the tile was slipperier than usual, mostly because Butterbean had just thrown up on it.Now Butterbean and her fellow pets have to come up with a grand plan to support themselves in case Mrs. Food is unable to keep taking care of them. When they discover a mysterious man in their building who seems to have lots of loot, they plan a heist. Oscar the mynah bird is the brains of the operation. Walt the cat has the necessary slyness and slink. Marco and Polo are the reconnaissance rats. And Butterbean...well, no one would ever suspect a cute little wiener dog, right? Can these animal friends can pull off the heist of the century?
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Great Pet Heist.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Emily Ecton. 
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 11: ”The Great Peach Experiment: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie” by: Erin Soderberg Downing

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Great Peach Experiment: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie" by: Erin Soderberg Downing.
 
Sweet summer has taken a rotten turn . . .After a tough year, Lucy, Freddy, and Herb Peach are ready for vacation. Lucy wants to read all of the books on the summer reading list. Freddy wants to work on his art projects (when he isn't stuck in summer school). Herb wants to swim every day.Then their dad makes a big announcement: one of the inventions their mom came up with before she passed away has sold, and now they're millionaires!But Dad has bigger plans than blowing the cash on fun stuff or investing it. He's bought a used food truck. The Peaches are going to spend the summer traveling the country selling pies. It will be the Great Peach Experiment--a summer of bonding while living out one of Mom's dreams. Summer plans, sunk. And there's one more issue Dad's neglected: none of them knows how to bake. . . .
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Great Peach Experiment: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Erin Soderberg Downing
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 10: ” Linked” by: Gordon Korman

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "Linked" by: Gordon Korman.
 
Link, Michael, and Dana live in a quiet town. But it's woken up very quickly when someone sneaks into school and vandalizes it with a swastika.
Nobody can believe it. How could such a symbol of hate end up in the middle of their school? Who would do such a thing?
Because Michael was the first person to see it, he's the first suspect. Because Link is one of the most popular guys in school, everyone's looking to him to figure it out. And because Dana's the only Jewish girl in the whole town, everyone's treating her more like an outsider than ever.
The mystery deepens as more swastikas begin to appear. Some students decide to fight back and start a project to bring people together instead of dividing them further. The closer Link, Michael, and Dana get to the truth, the more there is to face-not just the crimes of the present, but the crimes of the past.
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Linked.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Gordon Korman.
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 9: ”The Lion of Mars” by: Jennifer L Holm

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Lion of Mars" by: Jennifer L Holm.
 
Bell is just like any other kid. He loves cats, eats all kinds of cake, and is curious about everything. Oh, and he lives on another planet! Living on Mars comes with a ton of rules. Like don’t go outside without a buddy. Always keep a glow stick in your pocket. And no contact with the kids in the other settlements. Ever. Then a virus breaks out among the grown-ups, and the children are the only ones who can help. Suddenly it's up to Bell - a regular kid in a very different world - to uncover the truth and save his family ... and possibly unite an entire planet.
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Lion of Mars.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Jennifer L Holm.
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 8: ”The Many Fortunes of Maya” by: Nicole D. Collier

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Many Fortunes of Maya" by: Nicole D. Collier.
 
Maya J. Jenkins is bursting with questions:
Will she get the MVP award at this year’s soccer banquet?
Who will win the big grill off between Daddy and Uncle J?
When will she pass the swim test and get a green bracelet?
For answers and a dose of good luck, 12-year-old Maya turns to her Wheel of Fortunes, a cardboard circle covered with the small slips of wisdom she’s collected from fortune cookies.
But can the fortunes answer her deep-down questions? The ones she’s too scared to ask out loud? Like, where did Mama’s smile go, the real one that lit up everything around her? When will Daddy move back home? And most of all, does she have enough courage to truly listen to the voice in her heart?
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: The Many Fortunes of Maya.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Nicole D Collier
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 7: ”The Blackbird Girls” by: Anne Blankman

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "The Blackbird Girls" by: Anne Blankman.
 
On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person. Oksana must face the lies her parents told her all her life. Valentina must keep her grandmother's secret, one that could put all their lives in danger. And both of them discover something they've wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend's life? Would you risk your own?Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Blackbird Girls.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Anne Blankman.
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 6: ”Before the Ever After” by: Jacqeline Woodson

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first three verses of "Before the Ever After" by: Jacqueline Woodson.
 
For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that--but it doesn't make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can't remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: Before the Ever After.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Jacqueline Woodson.
 
Enjoy,
Anne

Episode 5: ”A Place to Hang the Moon” by: Kate Albus

Hey there teachers, in the classroom and those at home, need someone to help you get the kids into reading? 
 
Join me in this week's episode while I read aloud the first chapter of "A Place to Hang the Moon" by: Kate Albus.
 
It is 1940 and William, 12, Edmund, 11, and Anna, 9, aren't terribly upset by the death of the not-so-grandmotherly grandmother who has taken care of them since their parents died.But the children do need a guardian, and in the dark days of World War II London, those are in short supply, especially if they hope to stay together. Could the mass wartime evacuation of children from London to the countryside be the answer?It's a preposterous plan, but off they go-- keeping their predicament a secret, and hoping to be placed in a temporary home that ends up lasting forever. Moving from one billet to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets and the hollowness of empty stomachs.But at least they find comfort in the village lending library-- a cozy shelter from the harshness of everyday life, filled with favorite stories and the quiet company of Nora Müller, the kind librarian. The children wonder if Nora could be the family they've been searching for. . . . But the shadow of the war, and the unknown whereaouts of Nora's German husband complicate matters.
 
If you enjoyed this first chapter please screenshot today's episode and share it on your IG stories and tag me @booktastingspodcast.
 
Want to keep reading?? Here is a click to buy the book: A Place to Hang the Moon.
 
Loved this book and interested in seeing what else this author has written follow this link to their website, Kate Albus.
 
Enjoy,
Anne