It's Monday - Choose a New Favorite Book

      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! 

       By the time most read this, the ALA 2021 Youth Media Awards will have been given. Congratulations to all the winners. There have been many marvelous books this year and it's been a tough year because of the Pandemic. It's hard to see how the committee can choose only one or a few more. Did your favorites earn some love?

         Yes, I finished it, then read the few pages Oppel left at the back. It's terrible I need to wait now until May for Thrive. I see others might have it from NetGalley or Edelweiss!

           I chose one sentence that shows how Oppel kept readers on the proverbial edge of their seats: "Something knocked against the boat. This time it wasn't a log." There are a few connections from the main characters' sympathy with the huge loss all over the world that brought me sailing back to our own world disaster, the Covid Pandemic. I enjoyed the connection, though this story holds many more ugly challenges than one virus and a few variants. I also like the idea that kids were shown making their own choices and fight for survival just like adults. It's a terrific "next" part of "The Overthrow".

          Thanks, Candlewick Press to these three picture books for younger children, about sleeping and learning (if you want to be an owl).

              Early evening time means bedtime for many animals, including the wee warthog, Alvie. But he doesn't want to go to bed; he leaves his mother and runs off to play. First running into the cheetahs to run a race. No thank you, they call, time for bed. After also asking elephants to Splish and Splash and meerkats to see who can dig the deepest hole, all refused, Albie goes off to play alone. It isn't as much fun, it's getting darker, and Albie, with a surprise to him, is getting sleepy! He's found by his mom who finds one last fun before bedtime, a mud bath. This turns into a surprise with all the others joining in. Aw, Albie's very tired now! With cutest pictures of friendly animals in the jungle, Sophie Ambrose writes and illustrates a wonderful bedtime story for anyone who needs "one more story" for their child. 

           With a new exploration of what really goes on at bedtime in the forest, Maddie Frost's Wakey Birds offers some imaginative fun. For instance, have you ever known about "Wakey Birds?" They are creatures who struggle to go to sleep but finally, finally, with "Soothing Shushers" and "Go-to-Sleep Leapers", they do. However, there is one "littlest Wakey Bird" who just cannot make it and decides she must "get a stick to wake the others up". With some excited other Wakey Birds (who wake up), unfortunately, they also wake up the Jungle Beast. Uh Oh! I imagine little ones will love what happens! Frost's pages fill with black spaces because every scene is in the dark. There's also a wonderful, vertical double-page spread of a tree with sleeping Wakey Birds. Night scenes create good bedtime stories!

          Perhaps this isn't a brand new idea, but learning about things from a non-fiction book that's creative and pretends readers are going to "Owl School" will be inviting to young readers who are studying owls, maybe even all kinds of birds! I find myself imagining students writing about "Crow" or "Chickadee" school! Jane Porter has given Professor Olaf Owl the teacher's voice who manages seventeen different "classes" about the ways of being an owl. There is a beginning 'checklist' of what owls much be able to do, like "move super-stealthily" and "see in the dark". The lessons show owls aren't all the same, however, so exceptions are included. For example, on the day about the ability to "disappear", different species of owls display varied appearances. The text is humorous and there's a message at the back that gives everyone the ability to join, but if not, Professor Olaf makes those who have gone through all the lessons an honorary member of "Team Owl". An index can be found at the back. Maddie Frost's cartoon-like illustrations are inviting, and show well the various traits of owls!

From the library!

 

        With Erin Hourigan's beautiful 'postcard' illustrations, Aimee M. Bissonette lets one family member share knowledge about winter animals as they hike to their cabin on a very snowy day. Learning what's underground (on land or lake), what's sleeping, and what are hunters or prey makes a book that will inspire more research. How do those birds sheltering in the trees find their food and keep warm? Who does sleep all winter and where? The end covers, too, are lovely snowy swirls with animals camouflaged. It's a nice book for introducing young readers to winter's wonders. 

        I love all the books by Chris Raschka and this is a new one to enjoy. A few words as each page lets the blue table tell the story. Nothing happens without things, and people! It's a book that catches the eye and one that leads readers to more, a Thanksgiving table. It could be a Thanksgiving book, but it could also inspire many to draw what's found on their own table, blue or not! Fun!

          Here is another book about the life of Gwendolyn Brooks. You may have read or remember the earlier A Song for Gwendolyn by Alice Faye Duncan and Zia Gordon. HERE is a great article about Brooks from BrainPickings.

                 This book is full of poetry, too, some in Suzanne Slade's words that tells the story, some of Gwenolyn's own. It begins at her birth, all the way through early struggles, her marriage, still challenged by money and keeping the electric bill paid, all the way to her surprising win of the Pulitzer prize and her continuing writing, writing. She showed that love of words all her life, a first poem published at age seven! The illustrations by Cozbi A. Cabrera seem poetic, too, following the text with varied pages, from landscapes of her Southside Chicago neighborhood to skyscapes as Geraldine's "words drifted into the world". There is an author's note, a timeline, and additional sources and acknowledgments. One last thing, Gwendolyn, from youth to adult, is everywhere on the pages, which I loved.

            

What's Next? I'm reading a non-fiction book with biographies of women who've chosen challenges in extreme sports. It publishes in early March, and I've also waiting for the Youth Media Award  announcements to see if I have one of the winning titles!