Monday Reading

Back from the beach!  I had a great time, and have read some, not as many as I thought I would. There's too much fun going on being with family.
              Every Monday, it's a pleasure to link up with a group that reviews books they want to share with others. If you visit, you'll be sure to find a book or more that you know you'll want to read! 

          Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.   

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        How can I describe this book and still allow you readers to enjoy every page as a wonderful surprise, often leaving one holding one's breath, often reading with tears of both joy and sadness? It touched me, and feels so right and good for so many considering the tragic event in Orlando.  

          "Times are simpler when no one hates you because of your name and it doesn't occur to you to be ashamed of it." And they are not simple for these three teens, living their senior year in high school together. Growing into who they want to be instead of who they've been in their lives is what it's all about. You will love Dill, Lydia and Travis, and celebrate the story told by Jeff Zentner. The beautiful writing supports new ideas, and will help students who need them. I hope so. "Nothing makes you feel more naked than someone identifying a desire you never knew you possessed." 

         A boy and a girl go hunting, for all things wild. In spare poetic text, Megan Lloyd takes them on a journey to find wild things that can be seen, smelled, felt in many kinds of places. Sometimes one needs to look for the tiniest things, and sometimes “wild” is right there, bigger than you.  Sometimes, according to the text “Wild creeps and crawls and slithers.” and those children appear to only give a glance, and walk quietly by. The illustrations illuminate the text with added beauty for readers.

This is an awesome graphic novel showing Masha, a young girl who needs an adventure, and applies to be the fearsome Baba Yaga’s assistant. With family issues, Masha takes on even more challenges for Baba Yaga, whose background story is included in this tale, too. The graphics by Emily Carroll show well the characters’ feelings and fearsome magic in this newly-combined story  by Marika McCoola.

             I’ve taken my own children and grandchildren on long trips, and also my students. The common words are always “Are we there yet?” In fun comic-like illustrations, Santat shows the crazy experiences of a long trip, especially when one has a great imagination.  Through desperation, time slows down so much that the book goes backwards, and in to strange places, like the time of princesses and pirates. It will be THE book to take along on your next road trip.

           It’s always interesting to hear anyone, children included, talk about their names, and young Thunder Boy Jr. is no different. He wants a different name, not the same one his father carries. I have had students interview their parents to find the stories of how they got their names, and they have had terrific stories through the years.  For those of us who don’t know individual  tribes’ naming traditions, I saw this as a story that happens among all kinds of children and enjoyed it a lot. But there has been some controversy shared that the naming ideas don’t follow true Native American naming rites. See this post for more explanation by Debbie Reese.

            Beautiful sponge-paint illustrations show a young boy adventuring with a colony of penguins, a  constellation of stars, and other newly-created groups  like “a smack of jellyfish”. The language play is as fun to read as the illustrations are to see. This will make a marvelous read aloud for talking about play, and for writing about it, too.

Just Starting: I've never read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, and it's always been on my list. I found a copy at the bookstore where I volunteer, and so here I go!