Reading Pleasures

              Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to discover books you'll love!        tweet #IMWAYR

            I finished the March Trilogy, another "MustReadIn2017". It made me wonder how John Lewis felt to relive so much sadness in one's life, yet then to celebrate the victories, too?   This final story from John Lewis takes us to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and we are still fighting against voter suppression. There are parallels to today, too many that are alarming. The trilogy is a must read for those who want to try to understand the challenges of those times, and those still faced today.









          I find it hard to imagine setting off with only a few things I can carry, in a terrible rainstorm so that my scent is masked. This is the story of a man and his daughter who set off to escape one stormy night. The thread that helps are the patchwork quilt squares that are symbols to help them survive, one about flying geese which means to follow because they're flying north, another that is called the "drunkard's path' that means to avoid a straight path, to walk in a zig-zag pattern, harder to be followed. Hannah's sister was sold, and soon after her mother died. She and her father made this journey together, walking miles and miles so they could make it to the crossroads (another patch) across Lake Erie and into Canada. The author credits Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard for allowing the use of these patch symbols from their book, Hidden In Plain View. Illustrations by Erin Susanne Bennett are folk art paintings that fill the pages with fear and happiness, lots of action.

      I'm late reading this, but thanks to Candlewick Press, I was happy to read this wonderful book out in the U.S. in March, but from Australia where it won several awards. I enjoyed every bit of this mysterious, edge-of-seat dystopian story. There is this village that has a history of being governed by the "Seven Mothers" who survived a terrible mountain landslide that blocked them all in. Severe winters and little sun make survival dependent on the heat given off by mica. But the only way mica is found is through the "line". This is seven girls, bound at birth, starved as they grow in order to become slim and small enough to wiggle into cracks of the mountain to gather the mica harvest. Strange, yes, but do the villagers believe? Yes! Told by Jena, a leader of the line, the story follows the harrowing tasks, the revered line who receive the most of the harvest, thus the utmost goal is to deliver a girl and one that is small. The action, then Jena's beginning questioning of her memories as a five-year-old mount the tension. This strong character guides us to a surprising and wonderful ending, but perhaps there will be more about this strange, locked in, community.

     If you've ever done a name exploration with a class, or read of immigrants having to change names, this book tells one story of a young girl who has moved to the U.S. and is now called "Mary". Her teacher says there is already a "Maria" in the class, so she now has to be "Mary". Not only does she explain her beautiful name, but she also gets in trouble when the teacher calls on her. She just doesn't respond to this new name! It's a brief story, meant for early grades, but I imagine it could be a quick read aloud for a name study, one that may encourage other stories. 

        This sweetest goodnight book will make a perfect book for a first or second birthday. Young Lala is putting off her bedtime by saying good night to the usual things like her cat, the fish her papa caught, the goat. She gets quite creative as she tries to gain a little more time before bed and also says good night to the chickens, the little ants, her dog. Finally, into bed, a surprise that I won't give away. The full-page illustrations show evening colors, first bright, slowly darkening. It's lovely!




#MustReadIn2017 - 11 of 26!

NEXT: I had the pleasure of winning Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder, and it's autographed! Thanks to Jen Vincent and Walden Pond Press! So many have praised it, I'm glad it's next!