Monday Reading - Where Books Are Found

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

       There are many ways to find books to read. Here are a few. One I've left out today, but am also grateful for is recommended books loaned by friends.




from the library

        I adore every book by Kevin Henkes and was happy when I learned about his new chapter book, and even happier that I was able to get it from my wonderful library!
        Amelia, just beginning the adolescent thoughts of "BORING", a seventh-grader dear to my heart because I taught middle-schoolers for a long time, know they're shaky about growing up, mostly wishing that life would be exciting all the time. This girl whose story spans only a week, her spring break, a week where she is sure that she's the only one staying home. Her widowed, quiet professor father does not like to travel, thus the dream of Florida flies right out the window. Poor Amelia, a theme she doesn't like much, but Henkes repeats, perhaps seriously, but sometimes reflecting the feelings of a twelve-year-old. This is repeated in kind sympathy by the neighbor Mrs. O'Brien, a woman who cares for Amelia while her father works. In fact, she cares for them both with love and support.
        Amelia also misses her best friend Natalie in France, feeling quite adrift, but the feeling doesn't stay. She creates ceramic animals, this time rabbits, in a nearby studio and there meets Casey, visiting while his parents are on a retreat to save their marriage. Casey is trying to convince them to stick together, but it isn't going well and Amelia understands. Her mother died when she was two and her father, while she knows he cares, is gone a lot and distant, too. When a game begins with Casey, the two have fun creating stories about those who pass by a window. Amelia's thoughts explode when Casey sees a woman and imagines she could be Amelia's mother because of similarities. How Amelia responds, internally and outwardly makes much of the tale, showing her growth and yearning for something, anything to happen. The title echoes the emotions shown in the Emily Dickinson poem from which it came.
        It's a quiet book, certainly one showing Amelia yearning and wondering about life as she imagines it could (should?) be. I especially loved that this "tween" still used a beloved stuffed lamb, Dr. Cotton, to talk to: "She went on to tell him about Casey and Lindy, the remembered moments making their way into the catalog of her life."

           Kwame Alexander's poem about reading is lovely: "Next, dig your thumb at the bottom of each juicy section/and Pop the words out". Melissa Sweet's illustrations illuminate: see that toaster 'popping words'. Both make for slow reading, just the way to read poetry and to savor art. You have to get the book itself. I won't try to describe this special celebration of reading further. Might be a marvelous one for the first days of school? Early on, look for a quote by Nikki Grimes.








from winning a book

         Of course, "Home is a Window" and oh, Chris Sasaki shows joyous glimpses through a young girl's windows, accompanying Stephanie Parsley Ledyard's text. This young girl shares all that she knows about her home, "a table with something good and the people gathered there", "one more hide-and-seek before bath," and "what feels the same each day." Soon, however, readers realize that this is a goodbye and a move to "new". In the journey, she tells "Home is the shirt that smells like your old room." The story shows that no matter the change, everything about home will go with you and offers comfort to those who have worries about leaving the home they know. 



from donations at the used bookstore where I work


            It's the first of a series of five, a sci-fi book first published in Australia in 2009. It's not the best book I've read when there's an evil plot to save only a few while killing all the rest of the population. But I was intrigued to begin this story with three teens who happen to be in families of the 'chosen' discover what's happening and have 100 days to save everyone. I can see why young readers would love it, with four books waiting. It may be meant for YA, but will also be a good intro for middle-grade readers, too!









from Candlewick Press

        This Saturday is the day! It's the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. There have been many books published recently about the events before and surrounding this journey. This is a fun book that talks about a moon visit in more imaginative ways. Anna, a little girl, with great enthusiasm, and her crocodile friend, with helpful and supportive ideas, are ready for their day. The girl says "Let's go to the moon!" and the crocodile responds "It will be almost impossible" while giving the reasons.  "I like that, said Anna. "Let's go!" What happens on the trip and the return is lots of fun, like the game on the way that the one who can 'catch' all the sandwich parts floating around is the one who gets to eat it! Illustrations are simply done, focusing on the joyous collaboration between the two. The created spaceship is awesome!

         For lovers of cats, for young people who wish they had a cat to cuddle, as this little girl wishes, "a big furry fluff ball", this is the book! She decides to lay a trail with those things she knows cats love--"bowls of milk, tiny balls that jingled, soft cushions." After wondering what else, she learns a few tricks from her Granny and Granny's cat, Hector. Catnip and boxes fill in all the other things in her room, but sadly, NO CAT! until–something warm and soft wakes her. Oh, my, wait until you see what Hector brought. He is the "Pawed Piper", causing loads of smiles and cuddles until. . . Well, the endpapers offer a hint. Chinlun Lee has filled them with lots of "cat missing" posters. Before that, however, her illustrations of the crowd of cats in the little girl's room is for every cat lover to adore. Beautiful and fat and skinny and mini cats fill up the room. The story holds a lot of furry whimsy, not quite realistic, but it made me smile all the way through. It will make a wonderful read-aloud!

Now Reading: A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kodohata. I'm halfway through and having a tough time putting it down!