Monday Reading - Book Joy

              Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to discover books you'll love! Thanks to Jen, Kellee and Ricki who share so much from their own reading lives and support this meme, too.

         

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               More books to share! I've had my granddaughters all weekend while their parents had a great trip to celebrate their anniversary. But, I just could not finish Giant Pumpkin Suite by Melanie Heuiser Hill. It's very long, and I have loved reading it, will review when I can! This time next week I'll be at the Highlights Foundation for a poetry workshop with Georgia Heard and Rebecca Kai Dotlich. I am excited, will be reading lots of poetry this next week, and writing!

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        Winter is upon us, at least today here in Colorado and it's snowing and blowing. It's a great time to share this next book. If you are in an area with four seasons, you will appreciate that it can be 70 plus degrees one day, and then wake to 30 degrees and snowing. Kenard Pak has written and illustrated a poetic book about this very thing. The transformation page by page in his book is fabulous. The narrator says "hello" to a variety of things, like leaves and deer, setting sun and North Star, then lets each one tell what is happening in this seasonal change. As this happens, showing people, trees, towns and a broader scenery, Pak's paintings transform the scenes bit by bit, from autumn to winter! He's included wonderful towns and country scenes with lots of people and animals. It's just right for discussing the various changes in seasons with younger children.

        You know Kim Krans from her marvelous books ABC Dream and 123Dream. Now Kim is taking us on a beautiful journey starting with a cat’s question: “Whose moon is that?/asked a curious cat.” Page by beautiful page, several others answer poetically that the moon belongs to them, like a tree and a bird. But there is an answer by the moon itself at the end, and then, a surprise ending. With black and white pen and ink sketches surrounded by the colorful beauty of a night sky, Kim Krans has created another gorgeous story. One fun thing in the opening page shows a “This book belongs to ____________” label with ‘book’ crossed out and replaced by ‘moon’!

              I have one wire wastebasket that is rarely used. A granddaughter has named it the “lonely wastebasket” and she tries hard to give it attention whenever she visits. This time, Cary Fagan tells the story of a lonely cage, stashed in an attic with other discards, a guitar, an old suitcase, a lamp. It cannot keep still without a bird so launches itself out the window, and there begins a journey out of doors, searching for someone to enter his cage. He approaches numerous birds, but all reject it until. . . a songbird who’s been sent out into the world, and needs a home. It’s a perfect ending, enhanced by the brilliant colors of Banefsheh Erfanian’s illustrations.

        So much mixing, slicing and dicing fairy tales creates a scrumptious story that ends happily ever after for a boy named William who only wants to cook. After a few wrong twists of “too hot” and “too cold”, even “too dangerous,” William finds just what he needs to cook up a storm, and a storm it is when he makes bean soup with ham from Jack’s beans, baked apples with caramel drizzle before the witch can grab and poison one, and pumpkin pie, from that meant-to-be pumpkin coach we know so well. Penny Parker Klostermann and Ben Mantle of the  There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed A Knight collaboration have teamed up again to make the reader laugh aloud, shout “no” at William’s ideas and breathe sighs of relief when once more, happily ever after happens. There are silly lines like “baking for Gingerbread-On-The-Go” when those gingerbread men ran away or “Pot-o’-Wolf stew” where the menu is too dangerous, only made funnier by Ben Mantle’s colorful, exaggerated illustrations. Seeing wolf paws trying to push around the door will bring howls of laughter. This will be a fall-on-the-floor laughter fest when read aloud. It’s another fun book from Penny and Ben.

                  Wow! I just discovered another bear book, a wonderful tale about a bear who’s waiting, waiting for Goliath, his best friend who is smart and wise, and well, worth waiting for. Robin keeps the conversation going, but he too flies on when it gets too cold. Goliath is sweet, and excited when a bus full of characters arrives, but no one disembarks. Bear keeps waiting and finally falls asleep. When he wakes up, spring has arrived, and you’ll need to read this to discover the surprise. German-born Antje Damm is an architect and an acclaimed author/illustrator. Antje’s collage illustrations are perfect for this simple and fun tale. Young readers will adore it!

What's next besides poetry? A new book coming out this week, Monsterland by Michael Okon. And, I need to choose a book from my #MustReadIn2017 list! 

Happy Reading!