Monday Reading - New Books to Enjoy

     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! I hope you are continuing to be well and manage these challenging days.

 

             I also read and enjoyed Saadia Faruqi's book written with Laura Shovan this year, A Place at The Table. Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this latest one. Saadia is from Karachi, Pakistan originally and while she writes here about two young girls, she also says in her author's note that this is a love letter to Karachi, too. This backdrop of the story gives a loving glimpse of this ancient city, now modern in some ways, still carrying its history, too. 

            It's a middle-grade novel first starting with disgusted eleven-year-old Mimi, not happy at all about spending her summer with grandparents she barely knows. She begins by starting a new journal writing to her father about the time there, the father who left her and her mother when she was five. The cook's daughter, the same age, is hoping for entry into a private school, not wishing at all to remain her father's assistant for the rest of her life. Her family is very poor, however, and she keeps this goal a secret, wondering if she will ever get the chance for better.

            At first, the girls are wary of each other. How in this world can a rich American girl ever have anything in common with a poor Pakistani? But they do find each other in ways you might not imagine, but will love the intertwining story, mixed in with both families' troubles and the change that happens when secrets are revealed. Learning how friendships work and how families can love no matter the circumstance means a great story for kids to read and connect with personally. I enjoyed it very much!

         Time to thank Josh Funk for his latest two books! 

          One more time Josh Funk has brought in his storyteller to give us readers a version of Little Red Riding Hood. Even the title says it's not, but everyone in the story tries hard to follow the original story. However, the wolf is sick (just like Grandma) so Captain Hook takes the wolf's place and tries hard to be scary and to follow the storyline. Even as Little Blue (yes, something happened to the red cape) tries to follow along, other things disrupt like that pirate says he did NOT agree to any people-eatin'! Like the previous ones, this is full of giggles and surprises from the story and from Edwardian Taylor's sneaky illustrations. I saw a few other recognizable story characters in the background like that bored rabbit waiting, waiting for the turtle plodding uphill. 

           I love reading this myself and to my grandchildren, am very glad I won it from Laura Mossa at Beagles and Books! Thanks again, Laura!

         Patience and Fortitude, ready for their nightly prowl, find that the beloved children's library they visit often, is gone! Off to find it, they first visit Times Square with lights blazing for Harry Potter, Frog and Toad, and Annie. Those are plays, no books. And in Funk's usual special poetic quatrains and Stevie Lewis's nighttime NYC illustrations, readers are taken on their own prowls searching. Central Park, the Highline Canal, and some of the local branch libraries are only a few places that are fun to see and visit, however, the lost books are not there! If you don't know the latest NYC library news, you'll learn about it now. The newly renovated library is now across the street and Patience and Fortitude at last found their beloved books. There is an added note at the back that explains all the sites visited for those who do not know New York City very well. The opening endcover by Lewis show the dismayed lions with only a few books, but the back ones are filled with Fortitude and Patience relaxing with their found books! Throughout the story, you will recognize some special favorites on various shelves. A new adventure that will be fun to add to other books about libraries.

                  Perfect to read aloud, wonderful for discussion and prediction, thanks to Candlewick Press for these next two books!

             With a few statements and a few questions, Mac Barnett shares a polar bear's story who wakes up and travels on to "what"? Shawn Harris's crafty cut paper collage and some ink illustrates the adventure. The collaboration becomes a wonderful readaloud for students' oohs and ahs as they view one page, offer guesses as to what's next. It's a beautiful and fun book for prediction

          Inspired by his son, Carson Ellis creates a poetic story that challenges expectations of what "should be" and what happens when it isn't. "Half a knock" at the "half door" makes one quite curious as to who is behind that door. With only brief text, the ink and gouache illustrations tell the story. How is it to live in a "half-life"? etc. I'd love to discuss this with a group of students. Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

           This is Ruby's story, by Ruby Bridges, pictures from the beginning when she entered the school as the first black child in an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. It's for everyone, children and adult, to either remember or re-acquaint themselves with this inspiring story of a very brave child. It is also a call to action today from her words and from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior. 

       Combining some real-life stories written about by Rachel Carson, Deborah Wiles creates a sense of wonder in her own fictional story starring Rachel and her son, Roger. With "wondrous" night-time illustrations by Daniel Miyares, we readers have the joy of this experience, too. Rachel calms Roger as they watch a storm from the window. "'I'm not afraid!' shouted Roger. CRAAAACK! The thunder answered." After the storm, they go down to the sea, hearing and seeing magic. At the end, turning off flashlights, the sea fills with a "luminous life." 

         I have experienced this on a trip with students years ago off the shores of Santa Barbara. It indeed is a magical and amazing thing to see. Wiles explains the background of this story, bioluminescence, and adds more resources for reading about Rachel Carson. Her work for the earth is something inspiring for all to learn. This book can be a terrific jumping-off point in a unit about Rachel Carson and taking care of the earth and its creatures.

NEXT: I've started Becoming Muhammed Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander. I've been slowly reading Kate Quinn's The Rose Code.