Monday Reading - Books for Your List, Again!

     Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and 

  

Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!

Thanks to everyone for sharing so many great books that I put on my list, read and enjoy!

It has been quite a week in our history, hasn't it? No matter how you feel, I hope everyone can find ways to work together for a better world, especially including help to lessen the challenges of the pandemic! Some of these following books include inspirational stories of people who have stepped forward to fill needs they see. We can do that, too!

From My Library!

           Badger loves certain things, especially rocks. He is single-minded and likes his life of "doing important rock work". He lives in a brownstone freely given to him by his Aunt Lula, because he didn't make much money and had no place to live. He spends much of his time in his "rock room". At least, that is what his days used to be until Skunk showed up. He had been offered a room and a home by Aunt Lula, unbeknownst to Badger. Well, Badger had received a few letters from her yet they went unread (important rock work). Skunk moves in and upends up a lot of "things" like noticing that a room full of boxes means they need to be flattened and the room made comfy, then it can become his bedroom with a moon straying into the window. He saved some of the boxes for the chickens. Chickens? Yes, chickens play a large part in this story, too, much to Badger's dismay. The story becomes a big adventure with Badger making decisions he will regret and decisions that please.  The introspection by him and by Skunk, also are important to consider. If you're in a pickle of a relationship, best to really look at your days and how you discover they could be! I love the way Amy Timberlake incorporates animal "ways": "But being a badger, he tip-clawed to the kitchen for a wary peek." You will grow to love these two characters and learn quite a lot about geology and chickens and maybe yourself! And, Jon Klassen adds his special muted and sentimental illustrations.  

         Thanks to Albert Whitman & Company for this copy! Karen Rostoker-Gruber adapts a Yiddish folktale, It Could Be Worse with a lesson learned by a farmer after asking advice from a wise woman in town. Oh my, his household is SO crowded. With eight children, what is he to do? This wise woman shares to invite all his ducks into his home, then other animals, including the horses! Oh my, again, he is never sure of that advice but follows it. Can you guess what happens? It may be wise words we all might take notice of in our lives: "be sure you are grateful for what you already have!" Karen Rostoker-Gruber's illustrations mimic old-time pictures, busy and colorful. What fun it would be to read this aloud to a group of young readers! 

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following three special picture books!

         Aw, a boy's older sister tells him all about winter, how to look for signs it is on its way like days getting shorter, leaves dropping, then cold! Although those things do happen, he finds many things to love like sledding, cozying with family on the sofa, and making snow angels. When they ice skate, it is so much fun. Winter does not become the sad season the sister describes. In a story of brief words where watercolor illustrations show those seasonal changes along with the brother's delight. despite his sister's gloomy forecast. It will be lots of fun reading aloud with a group talking about points of view of course!

         Until I read this beautiful story by Susan Goldman Rubin of Mary Seacole, a nurse who served on the front lines of the Crimean War, among many other ways she served, I had never heard of her. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1805, learned about nursing from her mother who prepared herbs to help sick people. She decided she wanted to help others with natural remedies, kindness, and good food. She first practiced on her dolls as a young girl! 

          It feels like Seacole is the unsung hero of the nursing world. In this book, we learn of her lifelong dedication to helping people recover from infectious diseases like cholera and from war wounds, especially those fighting in the Crimean War.  Richie Pope’s full-page, colorful illustrations allow young readers to imagine Seacole’s life. The story focuses on health care but also shows the classism, and racism that Seacole experienced. Her mother was Creole and her father was a Scottish officer, who died when she was 10. All her life she continued to experience racism, even from Florence Nightingale, who rejected Seacole's offer for nursing help. She became famous when a British war journalist noticed her work and began to write news stories about her. Her services were at last acknowledged and her finances saved by contributions made by the English people and the crown.  The text is accompanied by Richie Pope's gorgeous full-color illustrations, showing this intriguing history as Mary Seacole continues to work and grow older. "Mother Seacole" was known for wearing her "pearls", necklace and earrings no matter where she was helping others. Here is still another story of a woman who persisted! Source notes and a bibliography are included.

        These three authors and illustrators also collaborated on the wonderful book Granddaddy's Turn: A Journey to The Ballot Box. This time Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein tell the story of a young boy Michael's first train trip with his grandmother to visit cousins up north. The story of Michael as the train moves from state to state shows that he must begin travel in the "colored car" but as they enter another state, the signs are removed and he is free to move about. A white boy in the next car comes to introduce himself and ask if Michael wants to explore. It's a long journey and they have fun getting to know each other and moving from car to car, from the sleeper car to the dining car - having much fun. They settle in and play, get to know each other, but soon, Michael is hustled back to his car, no longer free. That's the life he was used to, but certainly only one example of injustices in the past. There is a nice thing done by the white boy who loves to draw, a gift to Michael of a train car filled with both black and white people! James Ransome's illustrations are always beautifully realistic portraits of people. This time, he portrays them on the train with peeks at the landscape moving by. 

         There is one page of backmatter, explaining the laws that created these Jim Crow laws, beginning in 1887 with the Interstate Commerce Act. It's a fine book that tells one more story of our dark history. 

From My Library!

           It's been a looong wait from my library and I expect most of you have read (seen) this incredible book by Minh Lê and Dan Santat. Young girl Iris ALWAYS gets to push the elevator button when going out with her parents but one time her young brother reaches out and beats her to it. She is not pleased! Later, she notices an elevator repairman who leaves an elevator cover plate in the trash and Iris retrieves it, later taping it over her lightswitch so she could press what she imagined was a "magic button". There are very few words but Iris's imagination soars into special places after she presses that button. Scene by scene the story becomes more exciting as Santat illustrates in a kind of graphic novel style with large frames. After some of Iris's anger about losing her "job", she keeps this new adventure secret for a while, then a new surprise happens. It's great!

        This, too, has been a long time coming from the library. Otavio Júnior, a writer who grew up in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, has created a loving tribute to his home. I researched and found the beautiful quilt-like illustrations by Vanita Starkoff are digitized acrylics so filled that readers can look and look and never see every bit. When the narrator, a boy, looks out his window, he sees moments of fun, people working and playing, sometimes dreaming. In such a tight-knit neighborhood, this boy celebrates it though he is sad.too when he can't go to school or play football! The story was first published in Brazil. I think it would be so much fun to read and look with young children, but also read with any age and have them share, or write and illustrate what they "see" out their windows.

        This is Angela Durke Kunke's debut picture book, written after seeing a video of José Alberto Gutiérrez's life and realization of his lifelong dream. He rode his trash truck all night, searching for treasure as he collected other's trash in his city of Bogotá, Colombia. In this book, Kunke using a parallel story with a second young fictional José who cannot wait for Saturdays to visit the magic of Gutiérrez's home, a library, free for anyone who wishes to explore and find, a book! Kunke's clever weaving of the story of both Josés moves from the beginning discovery of his first book, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and the places it took him to the second younger José who, this visit, chose The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Paola Escobar's illustrations beautifully add to this tapestry showing the setting of working-class neighborhoods as a young boy travels from home to school to this special library and an older man who travels his route searching for treasure!  The double-page spreads of the two books mentioned and R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island are wonders to see!

       Here's a taste found in the backmatter: There was no library in this barrio until the year 2000. Since then Gutiérrez has started a foundation that provides reading material to organizations, schools, and libraries across Colombia. He returned to finish his high school diploma in his fifties! A few pictures of him, text about the featured books, and online sources are included. It is a beautiful and inspiring book.

        Already a much-talked-about book and I am lucky to get it so soon! Jeffers often helps us see things in a different way. This time, with his rhyming words and imaginative art, he brings us to a dream-like plan (hope?) for how this man and his daughter will build their lives together. Important things that he includes are shelter, safety, a place to keep favorite things, and time for adventure: "We'll build a tower to watch the sky and other worlds that pass us by." It's a lovely dream of how readers might also imagine what and how they want to "be" in their lives.

Still reading: A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi. I'm not sure what I'll choose next.