#IMWAYR - Sharing Favorite Books

          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.  

         I finished this adult book last week. If you're interested, you can find my review here on Goodreads. In light of the NY Times article sharing that fewer and fewer know of the Holocaust, and some don't believe that it really happened, I continue to read of this time, will pass my knowledge on, will not forget!

         I managed to read other wonderful books best for children, too. Here are a few I want to share!

          This is a story that one must experience, as it tells in one passage, "how one thing can be lots of other things. All it takes is a little imagination." It's been a while when a book brought tears at the end, and this one, out May 1st, did. Livy, ten, has come back to visit her grandmother in Australia, has not been there for five years. She keeps thinking that there's something important she's forgotten from the earlier visit. And there is, a green-faced creature, a zombie?, is hiding in her bedroom closet, and neither one knows who he is or where he might be from. His name is Bob. It's up to him and Livy to figure out the mystery and along the way, other questions about life. Thanks to NetGalley, I had the pleasure of reading this a little early. Wrapped up beautifully using part of background stories in magical water creatures, Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass have written a story that will fascinate children and offer a satisfying smile, maybe tears too, at the end. 

             Illustrations by Nicholas Gannon show just enough scenes to aid the imagination.

               A lovely young girl examines the colors in her life, questioning the differences in the blue of the sky and the sea, yet when she lets water go through her hands, it's clear. Pages hold her imaginative wonderings in beautiful illustrations by Jillian Tamaki. It's a book to savor and talk about with children, connecting to the colors in their world, too.

         Wow! I see what so many are praising, this beautiful book and story where a young girl has an assignment to write a description from where she came. However, she left that place, an island, when she was a baby, and remembers nothing. She asks family, friends and neighbors about the island, discovers it is full of color: cars, houses, flowers and a rainbow of people! She finds that the "beaches are poetry", of dolphins and surfing whales. She discovers a lot! The ending is one that must be experienced. I loved every bit.

       I love sloths, so when I saw this title, I knew I had to read it. These two are great friends, but you know how sloths act, they hang around, seeming to do very little. This time, Ernesto decides to do something different, he sets off to see "all of the sky", not just the small piece that they see all the time. Peter is not interested but cannot persuade Ernesto to stay. What happens in the adventures of them both is told in a graphic novel format, one for young readers (and probably many others, too) to laugh at, to enjoy, and to discover what good friends do for each other, even when it's a little scary. How those simple creatures you see on the cover can show amazing changes in feelings is a big compliment to the creator and artist, Graham Annable. Fun new book!

        Philip C. Stead is a favorite, favorite author/illustrator and I have read and re-read his books. A recent favorite is Ideas Are All Around. Now I have a new book to love, All The Animals Where I Live. In this, Stead again takes us on a journey. He's moved from the city back to a house in the country and we're introduced to all the animals around, including Wednesday, his dog, who goes along, too. There are coyotes and stuffed bears, cranes and hummingbirds. There are favorite and sweet remembrances of his Grandma Jane who knitted a chicken quilt just for him. I love reading the small memories that make Stead's life so sweet, who reminds us to remember ours, too. 

        Finally, I want to share this new poetry book by a poet friend and his friend. You might remember Matt Forrest Esenwine's book that came out last year, the beautiful Flashlight Night! This time, Matt and Deborah Bruss have teamed up to share a birthday party with little-known dinosaurs, and those creatures are running amok, mostly because they were asked to do some things definitely not meant for them with their unique traits. A young girl and boy set out to plan this party and dinosaurs that were asked to be helpful (and fun to help with the party) prove the opposite. Disaster reigns on every page! 

      I admire that this is a "rhyming" picture book where Matt and Deborah have made the part of poetry that demands the correct number of syllables and accents look very easy,  Here's one example: "Don't dare ask a/Dip-lo-do-cus/if he would care/to dance./You could ask/Pach-y-ceph-a-lo-saur/--but no,/don't take/a chance." It will be easy to inspire young readers to discover other ways that they should NOT ask a dinosaur to do, after a little research and a lot of imagination! 

       The book warns about icing birthday cakes, playing hide-and-seek and blowing up the birthday balloons, so watch out, more ideas will come! Louie Chin, as you can see from the cover, fills the pages with outrageous, brightly-colored scenes and dinosaurs with beautifully enthusiastic expressions. They really want to help!

      Of course, this will be terrific to read aloud. Deborah and Matt have added a wonderful gift at the end, a glossary with a pronunciation guide and a small bit about each dinosaur in the story, telling just why that particular dinosaur should NOT be doing a certain task. It's a terrific new poetry book!

 Still Reading - an arc from Candlewick - The Tale of Angelina Brown by David Almond

Next - from my #MustRead list:   Playing By Heart - Carmela A. Martino and Scythe - Neal Shusterman