Monday - Many Books To Love

 

          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 read so many picture books this week, and completed one chapter book, much to love, and there are some favorites. I'm just going to share the reviews of some of what I believe are the best, not to miss. If you want to see other reviews of those listed at the end, you can find them on Goodreads. Some of you liked many of those I didn't share, but there were parts that I just didn't enjoy although they were well-written.

Enchanted Air - written by Margarita Engle

            A verse memoir of Margarita Engle’s first fourteen years, especially poignant because toward the end was the time that Cuba and the United States became enemies, thus Margarita and her family no longer had a way to be with their family in Cuba. Reading a story in poetry is such fun; the poems create a tone together that doesn’t happen in prose, or at least not in the same way. In this story, the reader knows the bittersweet almost immediately when there are words about Margarita’s mother, Cuban, far away from her home. Margarita’s father is an artist, and there isn’t always money to make the trip from California. While she yearns to see what has only been described to her in words, the life lived is not a bad one; it just seems that one part is missing. In kindergarten class, “the teacher scolds me: REAL TREES/ DON’T LOOK LIKE THAT.”  They wander around Mexico, “instead of flying/through the enchanted air/to Cuba.” But Margarita sees the television news: “Revolution. Violence. Gunfire. Danger.” and she understands. An early look at the child she was is a description of her love of books, and the beginnings of writing poetry: “I carry/my own poems, inside my mind,/where no one else/can reach the words.” Slowly we the reader begins to see this growing up Margarita, lonely for that other land, set apart from those around her. She does finally get to Cuba, one time, feels that part that’s missing fulfilled. There is much more to learn, but the return to California happens so soon.  Because of the conflict, visits to Cuba won’t happen for a long time, but the wider world does happen, in Europe especially.  It’s a lovely story of only fourteen years, the beginning of a life told in poetry, the background that was poetry. The final poem is titled Hope, beginning with “All I know about the future/is that it will be beautiful.”

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Jingle Dancer - written by Cynthia Leitich Smith and illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

          It’s often a surprise to read what seems like a simple story, and after reading the back matter, I realize there is much more in the story than I understood. Young girl Jenna daydreams of the day when she can jingle-dance like her Grandma Wolfe, but Grandma says there isn’t enough time before the Powwow to order the jingles. Jenna visits various relatives to see if she might borrow one line of jingles from their own dresses, and manages to do it. Each one has a reason to give: one isn’t strong enough anymore, another has a big case to prepare for law school, and still another will be making fry bread, too busy to dance. Jenna only needs one more, and asks Grandma Wolfe if she can spare just one row. She can, and they work hard every day to sew all those jingles onto Jenna’s dress. The backmatter shares more background of the jingles, the importance in Native American lives of the number four (four people’s jingles) and the pride of all when a child performs the “first dance”. The illustrations fill the page with beautiful scenes of the story.  This is Cynthia Leitich Smith’s first book, published a few years ago, but a good one to add to collections about different cultures.

Interstellar Cinderella - written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Meg Hunt               What a joy to read a new version of Cinderella, still living with her stepmother and stepsisters, but this time she has a new passion, fixing spacecraft. And this time, her fairy god robot rescues in a most helpful way, new tools and a spacesuit that makes Cinderella a pro, and she is. Written in clever rhyme, and illustrated in comic book fashion, it’s a “stellar” book with quite a satisfying end. 

Thank You and Good Night - written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell

          This is the sweetest story. Maggie, a little girl and her stuffed bunny Clement are having a pajama party. Jean, and elephant and Alan, a bear have arrived. And they have a wonderful time. They jump up and down on the bed, have a funny-face contest, and play hide and seek again and again. Moments and joy happen in this wonderful evening until it really is time for bed. Maggie reads all their favorite stories, and the best is at the end, sharing their thanks. The illustrations could fill a nursery, soft colors and happy faces bring a smile every time I turn the page. What a beautiful book, for young children and for new parents.

Lost. Found. - written by Marsha Diane Arnold and illustrated by Matthew Cordell

            I read this first with my granddaughter, and then we looked again and again. In simple sketches, with only two words, the story of a lost scarf shows beautifully what happens when everyone wants something without consideration for another. My granddaughter said: “I think this book is about people working better together. They figured out that was better.” She’s right.

The Bear Report - written and illustrated by Thyra Heder

           Gorgeous to see, wonderful story, have read this over and over. A young girl must write a report, chooses polar bears, writes her ‘three facts’--“They are big, they eat things, they are mean.” But wait, she’s visited by a polar bear lounging on the sofa, who says “We’re not all mean.” Thus begins an adventure with this ‘not-mean’ bear all through the Arctic, learning quite a lot, including saving the bear, too! At the end, back in the living room, a wide array of presentation parts are displayed. The pictures are wonder full-page spreads by Thyra Heder, and the text is just enough.

Little Red Gliding Hood - written by Tara Lazar and illustrated by Troy Cummings

           There is much to love in this fractured fairy tale. The first thing I love is that “the big bad wolf” is the “big bad wolf” no more. Little Red Gliding Hood is now an ice skater extraordinaire and the goal is to win an ice skating competition so she can have new skates. Her old ones just aren’t the best anymore.  The problem is that it’s a pairs competition and she has no partner. “The dish danced with the spoon, and Hansel spun Gretel like sugar.” The beautifully added bonus is that Little Red Gliding Hood’s community is filled with other familiar characters, like Grandma suggesting that she pair up with The Gingerbread Man. There’s a laugh on every page, especially with Cummings detailed, cartoon-like illustrations.

Elephant in the Dark, based on a poem by Rumi - re-told by Mina Javaherbin with pictures by Eugene Yelchin

           This is the tale where a man brings an elephant from India, and puts it in a barn for the night. Villagers are so curious, unwilling to wait till morning to see this new creature. One villager sneaks through a window and feels only part of an elephant, and then declares it’s a snake. Another declares it’s shaped like a tree. The lesson learned is that truth consists of many parts, and one shouldn’t judge by only one truth. The illustrations are gorgeous, color-filled in the style of Persian folk art.

The Grasshopper & The Ants - written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

         A lovely book to read this November, the day before snow is supposed to come, after a glorious autumn. There is a part of me that wants to be the grasshopper, to ignore all those scurrying at the story to “stock up” as if they’re going to be snowed in for days and days. But of course, Jerry Pinkney shows the ants responsible ways in all the seasons, and the detail of those happy ants working so hard is very good.  I savor the beauty of Pinkney’s watercolor pages full of this story, the ants performing many tasks before winter arrives show such seriousness, and the grasshopper playing happily along in his one-grasshopper band hits happy notes for his pleasure on every page. However, winter is coming, and it’s time for you to find this and read it because Pinkney offers a lovely and different ending from the original.

Strictly No Elephants - written by Lisa Mantchev and illustrated by Taeeun Yoo

          It’s Pet Club Day, and a young boy takes his good friend and pet, an elephant to participate. Sadly there is a sign on the door: Strictly No Elephants!  On the way home, he meets a girl with a pet skunk, but she knows “they” don’t want her and her pet to play either. Fortunately, a new group forms, one that allows anyone in. And this group paints a new sign: All Are Welcome. Conversations about inclusion can happen after reading this book to a young audience, perhaps four to nine years old. It’s a wise little story that shows differences are okay, in kids and in pets!  Yoo’s illustrations include all kinds of children too, of different cultures, those who wear glasses, girls and boys who dress in what must be their favorite way of dressing. I enjoyed it very much.

Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast - written by Josh Funk and illustrated by Brendan Kearney

         A race through the refrigerator to get that last drop of maple syrup turns into a romp and a rout by Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast with hilarious things happening as they do their best to get ahead.  Obstacles fill the pages as the race moves on like the broccoli forest and a chickpea avalanche, oh my! The rhyming couplets that tell the story romp along too, but sad to say, there is a surprise ending for these two competitors. For adults who don’t clean the refrigerator out so often this is also full of fun: “Searching for safety from raining legumes./Toast turned to hide but was blasted by fumes/of Brussels sprouts left from an old party platter./So quickly he climbed up a celery ladder.” Lots of laughing out loud at the rhymes and the illustrations gone wild.  

Beyond The Pond - written and illustrated by Joseph Kuefler

        

Out of The Blue - written and illustrated by Alison Jay

The Dog That Nino Didn’t Have -  written by Edward Van De Vendel and illustrated by Anton Van Hertbruggen

       

The Little Gardener - written and illustrated by Emily Hughes

      

Max and Marla - written and illustrated by Alexandra Bolger

         

Now reading: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins  - Time for an adult book, although this is keeping me up late! It's such a tense story!

Happy Reading Everyone!