It's Monday - More Fun Reading

        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! 

       Well, we had the big snow from last Friday to today! In the Denver area, 20 inches plus, Boulder and further north got more. It is wet and heavy and a lot!

 

          Yes, finished, and I enjoyed it very much. You can read my response here on Goodreads.

            Nancy Bo Flood tells this story of a young girl with Cerebral Palsy who longs to dance. There seems to be no one who knows how it would look for her, wheelchair-bound, only able to move her head, arms, and fingers. Then Eva learns about a place with a class for ALL abilities. Julianna Swaney's endearing illustrations show ALL kinds of children, first doing what you can imagine, jumping rope, kicking soccer balls, hugging. Eva tries to imagine what it must be like to BE like them and in a swirling two-page spread, she is dancing! In the class, shy and nervous, Eva enters this new class and this time ALL kinds of children, including wheelchairs, cane, crutches, and those who do not have at least a recognizable challenge. I love the part when shy Eva is invited to join the others. Nancy writes: "Join us. We are many dancers, one circle. We each pass the touch." They partner up and they dance and they move and it is wonderful for us readers to see, to imagine.

          In the Author's Note, Nancy writes that "like every child, Eva was born with dreams, Let me try. With longings, Let me belong." There is a place like this, named Young Dance where dancers of seven to eighteen come to participate in dance. Find more about it here at youngdance.org. 

        Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following marvelous books!

         I loved this book so much that I made a collage of some parts of the drawings. First, the cover: the outside spread (without the cover) of people waiting, waiting, part of the inside cover - small things noticed, and two pages of what was sketched in different places. 

        Resisting the wish to not see what was going on in our world, artist George Butler, over the course of a decade created pen-and-ink and watercolor portraits in war zones, refugee camps, and on the move. There are brief explanations of where he is, some background of the place and the people, most always a focus and small sketch of one person. The twelve places include Myanmar, Kenya, Iraq, and Serbia. It's a poignant capture of these most recent years, but none of it is over as I hope everyone knows.

         Dear Tyrone has a dream, a secret dream. He's growing up into a special, big and strong, dinosaur. He wants to please his mother and father (wishing he would be a dentist or a lawyer), or his older brother Johnny who strongly believes Jerome will make a terrific football player. Well, he tries, but James Howe (of Bunnicula fame and so many other books since) shows a story of both determination and sadness when it does.not.work. Jerome is not going to be a football player. Happily, he does discover a special surprise, a way to make his dream come true. Randy Cecil's illustrations manage beautifully to show the movement and varied emotions of dinosaurs. Just wait until you meet Bronterina and see all those dancing at Madame Lucille's Outdoor Dance Academy for Girls and Boys and Dinosaurs and Cows! This book will be a great conversation with young readers about following one's dream, for everyone, including dinosaurs!

              

        This is the funniest rhyming story that every young child will want to memorize and read right along with those reading aloud. It may take repeats, and actually, I bet the adult reading will want to memorize it, too. It's a hide 'n seek game, remember? Pierre Collet-Derby uses clever comic-style illustrations to show off the dino for each number. They show off and they hide. But where is number ten? I loved this book, now need to read it aloud TO someone!

           Hmmm, it's a calm, intriguing story by Sam McBratney, whose book Guess How Much I Love You will always be loved. Sadly, he passed away in 2020. As you see from the title, young Mindi struggles with going to sleep because there is a goose that comes to her room whenever it pleases. Mindi's father and mother assure her that they could not find it, that it was not real. Nevertheless, she continues her fright of that big goose. At wit's end, her father decided to take the long trek to see the wise man named Austen who he knew had helped many in the village with his wise advice. Up he climbs into the hills and was told to bring Mindi up next time. With her meeting of a young goat which she got to name, it was a happy trip. When Austen later brought her the goat for herself to own, he wanted something in return. What happened then is something to ponder. How it happened will bring puzzled looks when read and a great deal of talk. Softly-colored illustrations by Linda Ólafsdóttir are just right for this sweet story.

Still Reading: The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph and When You Trap A Tiger by Tae Keller.