It's Monday - Books I Loved

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

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for these first three books, recently published.


         I enjoyed Steve Light's Black Bird, Yellow Sun, and now here is another "flight of fancy" where two children run off to find their dad who's forgotten his lunch box. He works at a construction site, thus the reader meets the "Builders & Breakers", those two introduced at the beginning along with other parts as the story progresses into detailed and varied scenes from a construction site. Those two kids are there, searching, searching, and until the end, no luck. However, on the search, there are many things to see and some astound, especially in two vertical double-page spreads. The second one is when "Diggers dig down, down, down." showing how that excavation works with the help of workers and cranes, even showing hidden dinosaur bones. Many details invite slow poring over the pages.  There is an interesting letter from the author at the back explaining the need for both a builder and a breaker to achieve balance in construction. Endpapers are filled with examples of architectural drawings.

        For the youngest ones, but not a board book, and from Australia, out this past month from Candlewick in the US. Can you tell an animal by only seeing its behind? This is the game, a clever one with clear word clues paired with that so interesting tail! It even begins with the endpaper before the title page, a beautiful peacock's tail. John Carty's art is new to me, but his fifteen watercolored animals are realistic and gorgeous. The copyright page shares that the art is adapted from nineteenth-century artwork. I'm sure that it will be a popular guessing time for young readers and they may learn some new names in case they don't know them all.

an extraordinary gift for kids

         An idea from Jules Verne's Around The World In Eighty Days, there Phineas Foff makes his marvelous bet: that he can travel the circumference of the world in no more than eighty days. Perhaps you've read the book or perhaps you've seen the movie of years ago, but this time, kids can visit each double-page spread and take the challenge there. Most pages include hundreds of modes of travel, like hot air balloons, bicycles, and sailing ships. A few pages visit iconic places in the world, like the Eiffel Tower. On the pages, readers are asked to spot a certain thing or things. For example, on a page with buildings that show outside staircases, you're asked to choose the one building with staircases all the way to the roof. Aleksandra Artymowska fills each page with colorful intricate designs. There is one added challenge at the very back where answers are found. It's a terrific book that will bring lots of fun when taking on the challenges. 

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        This is a new book by a friend I met and worked with at Highlights, am glad to see her book out. It's a cute story about a huge conflict, between a bear and a ranger. Definitely, no one should feed bears in the wild, but this time, in an imaginative story, the bear doesn't like that he doesn't get treats and fights back. So does that ranger. Finally, in the end, they learn to compromise and share. The illustrations are bright, colorful and wild!

        Sometimes it's time to be noisy, but other times it is a very nice thing to be quiet, to watch and listen! Tomie dePaola takes this moment to show us in a brief and beautiful book about a walk with a grandfather, his grandchildren, and a dog.

          I had to wait a while for this beautiful book by Melanie Florence from my library. It is both heart-breaking and heart-warming. It begins with a little girl walking home from school with her grandfather, asking him how to say "grandfather" in Cree. This is the moment, one of the questions older adults hear and wish they didn't have to answer. This time, Grandfather tells of the time children were taken away and punished when they used their own language instead of English. Beautiful illustrations by Gabrielle Grimard show the happiness that comes when the girl brings a beginner's book to learn Cree for her grandfather, and both learn the words "Nimosôm" - grandfather and "Nôsisim" - granddaughter. The page showing those words flying, like blackbirds, out of the dictionary is gorgeous. 
             ADDED LATER! Please see Shaye's comment below and my answer. I did find the review she mentioned here. I know that I learned something from it, and wish I had an easy response other than I will be more careful when reviewing from my own viewpoint without experiences that underlay the book/story I've read.

       Finally finished, amazing story and research about the 1986 burning of the main Los Angeles library and so much more!

Reading: Finishing up one book that has lingered, and starting something new, haven't chosen yet!

Happy Reading!