Welcome to Litsy!

Sweet story, if a little bit of a stretch.

“Sometimes life calls on you even when you don‘t raise your hand.”

“It was an odd sensation to be thinking of someone and have her unexpectedly appear. Like thoughts come to life. It must be fate, Virgil thought. He didn‘t know if he believed in fate, but it made sense.”

This book is very interesting as it touches on a funny and touching neighborhood story about unexpected friendships. The book is told from the intertwining perspective of four kids. Overall, the book is relatable for young children as it highlights how it is important to embrace being yourself.

The book is from the characters' perspectives, the characters are not friends and do not go to the same school, but when a prank goes wrong by the big bully, the characters meet to solve the problem together.

4/5 ⭐️s
I really liked how the author showed how seemingly little things are actually really big things for kids (teasing, for example). The author's background is journalism, which I think really comes out in her fiction - it's straightforward and blunt, which is a neat vibe and really emphasizes the lessons the characters learn.

Great book!

CRF

👍🏻

Ashley

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️A sweet story of a bully and some picked on children. I thought the author did a good job of developing the characters and telling a good story.

If you‘re looking for a juvenile read that‘s easy and packed full of adorable characters that are pulled together by the universe: this book is for you. I am attempting to read newberry honor and award winning books every other book that I read. I‘m super pumped about reading this one. I loved it so much. Until the next one.

This lovely Newbery-winning book (2018) was a great choice for my #deweysreadathon stack.
My final stats: 12 hours, 872 pages (adding a graphic and children‘s helped with the page total 😁).
Hope all participants had a great time!
#deweys24hourreadathon

This RF, IR Newbery book tells of unexpected friendships. This book is told from four different points of view and discusses bravery, being different, and finding your inner hero! A shy Filipino boy named Virgil wants to meet a deaf girl named Valencia because he has a crush on her. Virgil consults will a twelve-year-old psychic named Kaori to help him.

Virgil: shy, quiet, scared. Valencia: misunderstood, stubborn. Kaori: fortune teller. Chet: bully. All four trying to find their voice in the world.

I've gone many days where I don't have a conversation at work now that everything is shut down. These audiobooks are my saving grace. It seems all of the books that I randomly grab depict people with disabilities and I'm loving it.

“Hello Universe” is a Newberry award winner! It tells the lives of four different kids who are meant to cross paths in unexpected ways. This book is a great RA or even IR for students! This RF book tells a story of how friendships are made and the idea that there is no such thing as a coincidence. http://www.erinentradakelly.com/books-6/ #UCFLAE3414SP20 UDL 3.2- Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships

This RF, John Newbery Medal honor book is a story about 4 young teens who are connected in a big way and the reader is on the edge waiting for the 4 kids to realize it. Just a few days into Summer break and these characters are about to shift their status quo forever. This book is perfect for a RA because there are many chapters that are cliffhangers so students will be excited to come back to school to finish reading the book. #ucflae3414sp20

Finished this today during my cleaning spree! I‘m really on the hunt for folktale or fairytale type books for this 4-6 grade book club but I really adored this book and may just go ahead and add it. If anyone is looking for a good audiobook for an upcoming road trip with kids, I recommend this one! My kids would have loved it a few years ago.

I loved this book from the very opening scene. The quirky characters caught me right away. Then when you realize how intricately Erin Entrada Kelly wove together the myriad of little tiny connections it is no wonder this book took the Newbery in 2018.

Cute. Cute. Cute. Great little story on friendship and adolescence. Perfect read.

This John Newberry Medal winner, Hello, Universe, is a comedic fictional story about middle school students making it through a horrible day. As Valencia and her new friends search for her secret admirer, Virgilio, the perspectives of the middle school students are hilariously narrated into separate chapters.

#ucflae3414f19

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly is a great novel to include in your elementary classroom library. Besides it being awarded the prestigious Newberry Award, it‘s a work of RF your students will certainly enjoy. The novel touches the journey of a lifetime a group of kids go on to find Virgil, a missing neighborhood kid, with some unexpected bumps along the way. It‘s a perfect novel for your students to read and discuss during their LCs.

And this is the #middlegrade stack I am still working my way through, hopefully by the end of the month (current read not included). #summersendreadathon #24b4monday

All of these are for #mgme #bbrc. I‘m saving new/old classics and the Percy Jackson series for later. I may need a middle grade break!

I‘ve put together my stack of books for the Middle Grade Made Easy part of the #BBRC challenge! I didn‘t go overboard at all. 😂😂 It was fun “shopping” Maya‘s shelves, all of these came highly recommended by her.

LoS is Maya‘s favorite series after HP but she‘s aging out, and she‘s been begging me to finish the series for years! (The first book will be a reread). #MGME

This adorable, middle-grade read was perfect for the beach (even on a stormy day!). Erin Entrada Kelly's Hello, Universe assembles a fabulous cast of diverse characters to work through shyness, parental expectations, bullying, and beliefs about science and spirituality.

This adorable, middle-grade read was perfect for the beach (even on a stormy day!). Erin Entrada Kelly's Hello, Universe assembles a fabulous cast of diverse characters to work through shyness, parental expectations, bullying, and beliefs about science and spirituality.

This is a really heartwarming story about three unlikely kids who become friends. I read it for my book club as a Newberry Award winner. Definitely recommended. #readwomen #diversebooks #librarybook

If you didn't have bad things. You wouldn't have good things. They would all just be things.

Contemporary realistic fiction. This is a book I definitely want to continue reading. It‘s fun and rich and perfect for older elementary students/ middle school students. It hits that age group just of 4th to 7th grade perfectly and I think would be a really good read for most of those kids.

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, 2017. This book is a wonderful mix of style. It has chapters from the characters perspective and chapters from an outsider perspective. It‘s fun and really rounds out the richness and honesty of the book. It really shows how the universe brings people together.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was surprisingly good! This is more of a 3.5 though, there was just something missing.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars. This book was poignant in a quiet, moving way. I love the diversity of the characters; it was natural and not in-your-face. The plot is intriguing as it takes place over the course of one day and you already know that the ending results in a new friendship, but you still want to read to discover how that happens.

"His face is scrunched up, like he's sniffing something offensive. He's got beady eyes and round cheeks and they're all shoved up together. Meanness always shows on people's faces. Sometimes you have to look hard for it. Sometimes it's just a part of a person's features. That's how it is with this Chet."

I've been on a MG streak this week, for work-related reasons. This one surprised me! It's a sweet tale about unimaginable circumstances that bring a group of strangers together, as if destiny was meaning for them to be united. The characters were diverse without the feeling that the author was ticking any boxes. Funny and adventurous, but real and honest at the same time. Plus, the cover illustration is gorgeous! Would recommend 👍

The entire state of SD is stocking up on milk and eggs and other groceries for a huge storm rolling in tonight, but my kids' priority was getting to the library for a few days worth of reading material. We may be stuck inside under the predicted 12+ inches of snow for the next few days, but we'll be prepared!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly.. It‘s #middlegrademarch so I‘m taking advantage and reading some muddled grade novels that have been on my shelves 😊
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A really cute quick read. This one has deaf representation that in my opinion was well done. I loved the characters and the adventure that they go through ❤️

This Prime Reading thing on Amazon is great. I‘ve been wanting to read this for so long.

This is a lovely story about friendship, fate, and our own path to bravery. Told in intertwining story arcs the reader gets to see everything tighten together into a full picture at the end.

A quick middle grade read. I liked the alternating narrators in this. I also especially liked the diversity of the characters and that their diverseness wasn‘t the plot of the book.

Cute story that will appeal to children who feel like outsiders among their school peers. It centers around four characters—who alternate narrator duties—whose lives intertwine one fateful day. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

On New Year‘s Day I like to read a book from beginning to end. This year, I chose Hello, Universe. Cheating a little as it‘s a middle-grade novel, but I loved its message. In particular, I liked these questions/words to never ask or say to yourself: What‘s the point?, There‘s no chance., and It‘s too late. Wise words for any age.

I love the focus on friendship, diversity, and inclusion in this novel. The plot is fairly straightforward (since it‘s targeted at a younger audience) but the language is not dumbed down at all. The narrators were excellent; would definitely recommend the audiobook.

Last Friday, a 4th grader brought this book with him to my office. He explained that he had finished reading it earlier in the day and was sad it was over. I think he was just carrying it with him wherever because he wasn‘t ready to let it go!

😌😊😌

This week he‘s mentioned it to me at least once a day. It‘s quite possible that‘s the highest praise I‘ve ever heard a book receive.

A shy boy who doesn‘t fit in goes missing. A psychic, her sister, and her new client go looking for him. The feelings of being an outsider are described well but there were so many unlikely situations....A cool use of myth...

Another great author presentation this weekend! ❤️📚❤️
#NatBookFest #NatBookFest2018
#NationalBookFestival #NationalBookFestival2018

Finally picked up this #newberywinner in audio this weekend, and between the gym, dog walks, and yard work, finished it already. I found the story to be fine, if a little slow at first, but the characters are delightful, and I was happy to spend the time with them. Excellent audio performances. Also a much more hopeful book than my previous read of Kelly‘s, Land of Forgotten Girls. #kidlit #middlegrade

Great story with diverse and rich characters. Plot twist add adventure and humor. I loved it.

This Newbury award winning RF novel will have your students on the edge of their seats waiting to discover the event that makes four young kids‘ lives cross paths. As you complete your RA, this resource includes some HOT questions that you can use to start a discussion amongst your students https://b0f646cfbd7462424f7a-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.co... . This book aligns with ESOL Strategy