Monday Reading - Sharing New Books

              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.  Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!
          Share with the hashtag #IMWAYR

Thinking of all of you during this challenging time, hope you are doing well and finding joy in your lives every day. This continuing challenge is so hard for everyone. I'm trying to help where I can by supporting those who are virtually closed, still offering carry-out, etc. 


                 Thanks to Candlewick Press for all these beautiful books. I hope authors and illustrators receive a lot of attention for their books despite so many cancelations of book tours and book launch parties! I'm celebrating them here today!

          This fantasy created by Christina Soontornvat is rich in connections to our world, too, an adventure woven with two kids, one escaping from a child prison and one whose story was not known until the end. Both, like every child, strive to figure out exactly what are their dreams, what are the things most important to them. Pong, a boy of nine, takes his chance and escapes from Namwon by hiding in a trash barrel, hauled away down the river. He doesn't realize that his life is about to be haunted by his guilt at leaving his friend, Somkit, and changed because of a rescue by a wise monk, Father Cham. Nok, a girl whose family travels to the village where the monastery is has been to that same prison because her father is its warden. She strives to be the perfect daughter, has become a champion spire-fighter to show she is the perfect daughter. Thus begins an adventure that includes these three children, courageous in their journey growing up, and a host of other memorable characters, both good and evil. The fight for justice and equality and bringing light to those whose world is dark touches our lives today, too, perhaps more than ever because of our pandemic challenges. It's a wonderful book, one that will be special to read together as a family or with a class. 

        Michael Rosen interprets parts of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography through his own re-telling in a special picture book with luscious illustrations by Matt Tavares. Franklin's voracious appetite for learning underlies the story of Franklin as a boy who only dreams of "going to sea". His father continues to say 'no' and Franklin first apprenticed as a joiner, all day on the job sanding wooden pegs that will be used to "join" furniture. They were long, long days. His next 'job' with a shoemaker did not fare much better. Wanting to discover a good fit for his son who loved books made Franklin's father realize that these ideas were not going to work. Franklin did dutifully try, but his father realized that there was little to gain and sent him to his brother's print shop where his accomplishments began to shine. 

         During this early childhood story of Franklin, Rosen also includes parts of Franklin's adventures in swimming, He invented paddles that attached to the hands to make the swimming stroke help him go faster. and flew a kite on a windy day allowing it to pull him across the bay. The lessons, the experiences continued to add to his knowledge as he applied that learning to new problems, demonstrating the early wisdom of this very wise man in our history. Tavares uses text panels from antique books surrounded by Colonial-era nautical maps showing Franklin’s interest in books and the sea, creating this story for older readers who may not know some of Franklin's early childhood experiences. It's a fascinating book with both author's and illustrator's notes and a bibliography at the end.

             In an illustrated book that included all the diverse colors of the ocean, Lara Hawthorne has created a tale about a fish named Alba who when looking for a favorite creature to add to her collection, ends up caught in a bottle, but saved by a young girl named Kaia. Realizing that the ocean needs a clean-up, Kaie enlists all the neighbors to help, saving Alba and making the ocean cleaner, too! There are some extra brief paragraphs at the end that identify some of the creatures shown in the book. First out in the U.S. this year, it can be a book to use before Earth Day with young readers, showing some things that can help in ocean clean-up!

          Melanie Walsh follows a young girl through her "green day" while sharing a few, but important, tips for ideas to save energy and stay healthy, like hanging clothes out to dry instead of using a dryer and baking one's own muffins instead of eating those with preservatives that are often packaged. Pages are full up with brightly colored illustrations, the 'tips' and entertaining strings of words that explain a bit more about the tip. It's a great book for introducing new ideas to young readers about conservation.

                Just this year published in the U.S., Naomi Howarth has crafted gorgeous pictures and an amusing cumulative story that begins when Magnus, an Arctic seal awakens to a "long, low rumbling sound." The journey begins as he first wonders if it could be an iceberg cracking or the wind? He finds a friend, Hare, to help solve this mystery. As you might guess, they travel and gather others to help. The end is hilarious and satisfying, with a little extra, too! Howarth adds a brief paragraph about the Arctic and each animal that is included in the tale. 

         My final book to share is one that finally arrived from my favorite local Indie! It's taking a while to get books from them. They have so many orders, it's taking a while. So it's a wait, but isn't that great news! I'm so happy for them!

          Christine McDonnell tells a story of four babies arriving on an island, one on"the mail plane, the second two on the ferry, the fourth asleep on a pile of nets, smelling of mackerel." They all have notes that say things like "Please take care of my baby." No one knows what to do, but the librarian (in her book cart) takes them in, rearranges a storeroom (she lives above the library) and raises them, not without help, however. The fisherman teaches them to cast from the pier, the ferryman shows them charts of the sea, and from the harbormaster, they learn to recognize birds. Several fun moments occur when the mayor takes part or doesn't! He does let them spin in his office chair! They grow up doing all sorts of things, including being read to by the librarian, of course. There are endearing things to learn as the story unfolds, and beautiful illustrations by Jeannette Bradley help tell this loving story. For instance, the librarian names the babies in alphabetical order, Agatha, Bram, Charles, and Dorothy. Their last name, of course, is Book! When problems arrive in the form of questions from other children about how they all look different, their mother, that wise librarian says all families don't look alike, and that's okay. It's a fairytale with a focus on inclusion and community. 

What's Next: Planning to start Lauren Myracle's That Boy, a new book for young adults!