It's Monday! More Great Books to Share

              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!
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        I have been thinking of all the schools starting whether online or on-site, hoping all is going well. My granddaughters begin today.  My grandson, in his second year of college, has started with differing classes: online, hybrid, and in the classroom.

           When I share a book I've read, I often wonder how much to tell. When I love it, I want readers to experience every bit as "new", not remember what I wrote. Laura's and Saadia's collaboration on this story of two sixth-graders, Sara and Elizabeth, new to their middle school, both from families where parts of their families are immigrants is terrific. They've written alternating chapters letting the girls, who mirror similar experiences to those authors, tell the story. 

        It's complex to show the learning experience for the girls, their friends and other classmates, their families and some educators, too but it's all in this story! At the forefront are the girls and their struggles beginning school with old friends who are changing and leaving old friends from former schools. They are also part of families with older and younger brothers who are sometimes a pain to live with and with parents who are struggling with personal problems, too. Focusing on a cooking club that Sara's mother, a Pakistani immigrant who runs her own catering service, Sara and Elizabeth meet. Elizabeth's mother, a British immigrant, and a convert to her father's Judaism has lived in the US for years but still has not completed her citizenship. The moms will connect in another layer of the story. The cooking, and food shared from both cultures, weaves the story together. One recipe special to the story is given at the end!

         Family and school life feel very real to me as these two girls' stories are told.  Laura and Saadia don't hesitate in the stories to show that feelings of love can remain sturdy despite challenges within the family and that friendships take time, hard work and a willingness to listen to one another to make them work well. 

          I imagine this book can show many students a way to "be" when friendships feel so hard. Young middle school kids have a lot to ponder and learn as they grow up. This story will be a big help! It's a special book!

          Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following terrific books, all for younger readers!

             
         No, it really is NOT an alphabet book, but it is an ABC story about a bear who tries very hard to excuse something readers figure out quickly. He ate the cake! Eoin McLaughlin shares his journey from accusing the dog on the D page who whimpers "No!" that some big guy always watches what he does. That bear you see on the cover also accuses the pig, in front of the Queen (the Q page). Poor Pig is banished to page 27, Oh no! I can hear those reading this story shouting that they know who really did it, and it is laughable to watch Bear's expressions as he moves along through the neighborhood. The fun is made even more so by Marc Boutavant's bright and bold colorful illustrations. Hilarity rules in this tale.

         At this time without all children returning to school, Jancee Dunn tells a funny tale about stuffed animals escaping from children's backpacks and creating havoc in school, led by someone's sweet teddy bear. They play "Pizza Fling" in the cafeteria, blew bubbles through musical instruments in the band room, and invaded the teacher's lounge! Scott Nash shows well the Principal's consternation in bright and bold illustrations of the havoc that occurs. Readers will laugh at the antics and love the ending when the Teddy even wins over the Principal. It's a book for a nice laugh about an imagined day at school.

first published by Walker Books-Australia

            In watercolor, gouache and pencil, Gabriel Evans tells this story of two great pals. Endpapers show "snapshots" from the story of two great friends, Ollie and Augustus. Ollie, a wee boy, and Augustus, a large dog, have lots of fun together. They paint and bike ride, climb trees and collect sticks. The days are full of activities, but soon changing. Ollie is going to school! He is worried about Augustus being lonely so advertises for a dog to keep company with Augustus. With great humor, Evans shows that it doesn't work out so well. But we then get an inside look at what Augustus does all day without Ollie, a lot of fun. But, they're both happy to be together at the end of the day. I imagine lots o discussion could happy with this read-aloud, about trust that friendships last, that those going or waiting can still have a good time. Sweet story!

         It's a lovely story by Toni Yuly for those children in their first going to school, and I hope this will all come true over these next months. Mona starts talking to Milo to tell him that the very next day is the first day of school. Milo asks what she does at school and Mona tells him "Lots of things." All along the way and outside, she shares those things like "Learn about science. . ." while illustrations show plants filled with, well, science, this time spiders and webs, snails and bees, and more! Art is shown with a rainbow and music with Milo playing a makeshift drum with sticks. It's fun times at school, and the best is the ending when Mona says it's also fun playing with Milo! 

         Charlotte Voake's brief wording and illustrations fill the pages with a jungle setting and dinosaurs both big and small and tell this story with a wonderful surprise ending! It's a chase and a smile all along the tale. I love the endpapers, too!

NEXT: Next: Still reading Alpha Maniacs, by Paul Fleischman and Melissa Sweet! I'm not sure what's next. I have some titles from Netflix, some books (finally) from curbside pickup at my library, and some ARCs coming out soon. There are so many I want to read!