It's Monday!

          Visit Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.  Others join Sheila to share adult books at Book Journeys. 

        Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

I Crawl Through It - written by A.S. King  
          It's heartbreaking reality here, although the book is described as surrealistic fiction. Four teens live in various stages of struggling with school life-the pressures of constant testing, the anxiety of bomb threats-along with personal trauma and loss. One lies, one splits in two, one turns herself inside out, and the last builds an invisible helicopter for escaping. Unfortunately, these behaviors don't seem to help, things do not improve and toward the end, they figure out that facing the challenges is the only way to save themselves. No matter how surrealistic the scenes and action were, I continued to feel compassion for the deep hurt exhibited by these teens. It was sad to feel them so alone, yet the strong friendship among the four offered hope at the end. Strong language and strange scenes might prevent recommendation to early teens, but it depends always on the individual's maturity. Definitely would recommend to older teens and their parents and teachers. In this book, A.S. King offers a window to the inner lives of some teens, and whether we wish to or not. we need to know so we can help. Thanks to Net Galley!

If Everybody Did - written and illustrated by Jo Ann Stover

       Perhaps the moral of this book is to think before you act, because "If Everybody Did" IT, things would not turn out so well. For example, "If everybody made tracks," there is a sketch of a living area "filled" with muddy footprints. Stover has used black and white sketches for the story, and filled it with exaggerations to make her point. It's fun to view, and imagine. Luckily, she ends it positively, showing what would happen if only "one" did something. Clever idea for a read aloud, would be great fun to talk about this with a group of kids.

Flutter & Hum - Poems in Spanish and English, written and illustrated by Julie Paschkis

           Julie Paschkis' art itself is a joy, but this time she's added two more layers, poems about animals in both English and Spanish. Sometimes the English page stands alone, and the animal changes with the Spanish one, and often Julie chooses a double-page spread to show the animal. Julie's known for splashy color, but one of my favorite pages is about a crow, on a gray day, the page with crow silhouettes cawing. Julie's poem ends, however with "He hops,/stops,/and stares/at a yellow umbrella--/the only sun shining/today." This time, the splash sits on one corner of the page, a young girl with that bright, yellow umbrella. Each page swirls words, in English on one side, Spanish on the other, that connect to the animal within the art. For example, on "Dog", motion swirls around "His wagging tail/fans wild happiness/into the wide world", and words within the art are "bump, bounce, and abound". Clearly, a focused study of the animals made the poems and the pages come alive, non-fiction poetry to enjoy, and to use as one's own mentor text.

Oh My Pumpkin Pie and I See Fall - both by Charles Ghigna

             Easy readers that I purchased for my granddaughters, happy pictures with all kinds of kids celebrating the season. They loved them.

The Full Moon At The Napping House - written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood

             With beautifully dreamy illustrations and soothing repetition of what happens during the full moon in the napping house, it's hard not to read this book more than once, and I did. There are moments where you think you've missed something in the pictures, so you return to look again, and find still another part, like the cricket and the mouse on the windowsill. It's a most wonderful bedtime book, and thank goodness for 'full-moon songs'.

Duncan, The Story Dragon - written and illustrated by Amanda Driscoll

          Poor Duncan, he gets so excited about reading books that he can't control his fire, and burns the books before he gets to the end. He asks various animals to help, but they're too scared, until one little mouse is willing to try. Happy Ending!







Next: I'm reading  A House Divided by Jennifer Neilsen, and it's started wonderfully.