Monday Reading - It's All About Learning

         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 Candlewick Press for these next two books!

             Frederick Joseph speaks directly to us readers of how it is being a Black kid by sharing race-related stories from his own life growing up, explaining the hurt and why he handled those things then but might change his behavior now. The chapters include his voice but also brief interviews of the chapter's topic with one or more artists or activists like Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give or April Reign, creator of #OscarsSoWhite. It will be a book to share with everyone, adults, students if you're a teacher, or your children, aiding conversations about microaggressions, tragic results of a situation ending so wrong, a way to "be".  All along the way Joseph also gives ideas for things to Google and learn about, including songs and various people's names and important events. Backmatter includes an encyclopedia of racism with added details of relevant historical events and terminology. Also, there are lists of people to know, books to read, and a "Black Friend Playlist". 

          I marked one passage that feels like the way Joseph uses his book as a thread of knowledge for everyone to know and understand what being a friend means: "To have someone judge you by getting to know you is a powerful and life-changing thing when you've never been treated that way."

           This is Helen Yoon's first picture book and it will fill you with chuckles as you watch this "wolf under cover" try so hard to have a good "sheepie" meal. His imagination is unlimited in the dishes he looks forward to. There is a crowd of sheep in the dining hall and this sneaky wolf manages to enter. He tries all sorts of tactics with a "master plan" like being helpful (washing dishes for the group) and being a team player (shuffleboard). Unfortunately, it doesn't exactly work out for the goal, but better than the sneaky wolf ever could imagine. Yoon's cartoon illustrations are so detailed and fun, you must take time to look at them all. The expressions and those "bubble dreams" are terrific. A different kind of wolf and sheep story that just might make readers think twice about what or who is considered a meal, an enemy.

         Finally! I feel as if I'm the last person to read this wondrous, Newbery winner! Lily and her family have moved in with her sick grandmother, her Halmoni. They used to live with her; she used to tell Lily and sister Sam fairy stories, beloved ones to Lily. As they see the illness is bad, Lily knows she doesn't know all the stories and wants to know more, especially because a magical tiger out of them has arrived, but only Lily can see it. She seeks more information and wants to make an agreement with that tiger to help Halmoni get better. Mixed in with who Lily really thinks she is but others think differently, it also becomes a growing-up story. With Sam's and new friend Ricky's help, she tries so, so hard to make the challenges work, especially when it becomes a time to say goodbye. Tae Keller's way of showing the complex layers of "all" the characters made the story poignant for the "story" of every single one. Perhaps that is the loving takeaway from this special book. Each of us has a story to share if only we can find the courage to tell it, to "trap the tiger". 

          Jen Bryant writes beautifully inspiring stories and this is a new one, crafted with inspiration, too, by Cannaday Chapman in mixed media, including cut paper. August grew up with only his mother around, the only mention of his father is that he was not there. Early, early in August's life, he began to read. When his mother caught him reading, she took him to the library for his first library card. Within his story, that book reading became his life and the words he heard everywhere from working men sitting outside a cafe to those he served as he waited on them when he was older. Jen shows his frustrations at schools -- the attacks because he was black, the accusations of plagiarism because he was black, among other problems. He finally dropped out but as the title reads, "Feed Your Mind" became his life. In one part of the book, Jen describes his process of creating a play, in part, "Now he has a cast of black characters, spread across his floor, asking August to be sure they will be seen–and heard."  The journey to the name August Wilson (his real name was Frederick August Kittel, Jr.) fascinates as August makes his way through words and poems, then plays. I've only read Fences but now I really look forward to seeing Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and discovering other plays. Like August, feeding the mind! 

          

                 Madeline Kloepper has created a picture book for everyone to enjoy with an intriguing question first posed by the pine marten who watches every action of a human who lives in a "log nest" in the woods. This pine marten describes the human "putting colors on a board using a furry stick". As animals join the watching, they guess at all the ways her 'art' that appears to be on a board could be used. It's fun to read what they say and the, a wonderful surprise what they do! Kloepper's illustrations of gouache and pencil bring the nature scenes in a lovely way, so much it made me want to be in that cabin making art and watching the animals outside!

         I imagine every teacher can use at least part of this special book by Tanya Lloyd Kyi that includes explanations about discrimination, racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia and offers concrete suggestions for how to make change. There are extensive source notes for each part and some suggestions for how to approach the topics. I enjoyed the way it was arranged and the added cartoon-like drawings by Drew Shannon that helped break up the text into possible ways to organize for conversations. Everyone will learn from this book!

What's Next: I'm starting an ARC I have of a book titled Oddity by Eli Brown and Karin Rytter, just out this past week, history mixed with magic! And I hope to get to Starfish by Lisa Fipps, managing to grab a copy when available from my library!