Monday Reading - A few Favorites

              Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites. I have a second post today, highlighting a new middle-grade book, number three in a series. Please take a look here!

                          Thanks to Candlewick Press for these next two books.

         This book, out last summer, is a compilation from an exhibit that features postcards sent by more than 50 children's book illustrators from around the world to show solidarity with today's migrants. It is both inspiring and gorgeous to see the profoundly emotional art.

           From Satoko Watanabe in Japan: 

                                  A little bird flies in the sky.

                                  A little bird is damaged.

                                  A Little bird needs a place to rest.

            He shows a sweet-welcoming bear with a "little bird" perched on its nose.

            From Shaun Tan, Australia

                                   Where there is change

                                    there is hope.

                                    Where there is hope

                                     there is life.

             He shows a postcard with paper ripped from it that has turned into an origami bird.

              Brief bios of each artist are given at the back with one final poem, an acrostic using the word, "peregrine" by Robert McFarlane and Jackie Morris, UK. The art is a peregrine falcon.

           I'm guessing that children have no idea of the many intriguing wonders beneath us. Out in October, this book's journey shows those amazing sites all over the world in a "lift the flap" bonanza! For instance, on the double-page about prairie-dog towns, eight flaps lift to divulge secrets of this underground place, sometimes in poetry and sometimes in prose, readers learn what the "dogs" do, like females with their pups, who to beware of, who might take over the town, like ferrets. Sam Brewster takes us readers to the underground subway neighborhoods in Montreal, London, and Tokyo.  "Poland's glistening salt-rock mines,/carved with care throughout the years,/A maze of caves and passageways,/ statues, sculptures, chandeliers." can be found in a marvelous vertical double-page. Graphic art includes so many details that it's hard not to miss some. Then, it's time to look more carefully or return to read again and again. I imagine readers of all ages will adore this book and learning something new! 

             A family is woven together in these heart-stopping illustrations by Weshoyot Alvitree as Traci Sorell tells a story of what binds the family. In poetic style, Traci first shows us the mountain's base where grows a hickory tree. Beneath sits a cabin, and in that cabin, a wood stove gives warmth as a family watches a grandma's weaving, all close together while they wait, wait, for the one member missing. She is a pilot off to serve, like many others from the Cherokee Nation. Our own groups, whatever and wherever they may be, hold us up as we hope that they will soon be home safely. In an author's note, Traci tells a little more of those Native women who have served in wars "while receiving strong support from their families."

             I put this on hold weeks ago and finally it is out! Simple and fun wording for an alphabet book with Sergio Ruzzier's whimsical characters pleased me a bunch! Though it's meant for younger readers, my granddaughters, eight and ten, still enjoyed it! Smiles come on every page, like "Go like a road" for G, but the road is a snake! And "Look under the bed for poetry" for L. Of course, there's "Roar like a dandelion." for R. It is a happy book!

          There is more than one picture book out that tells us to slow down, to notice, to watch, to listen! This time, Holly McGhee allows a young girl's words of connection to show empathy in all things. She says: "Look.........to the shining sun./It is for you/and all of us–/it is for me." The connections include the stars, one's heart, roots. It would be a lovely book to read aloud and discuss our common connections. Lemaître's simple and sweet illustrations allow the first focus to be on the words. 

Currently: I'm reading an arc from Candlewick, a new book in the US: The Hippo at the End of the Hall, starting with some magical things already, like talking bees, with that hippo of course! I also have Margaret Simon's new book, Sunshine, A Blessen Novel and Barbara Dee's Maybe He Just Likes You. I'm excited to read both!