Monday Reading - Books To Find!

       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! 

          

 A #MustReadin2021 book           

           Everyone wonders why they put off books so long and I guess the answer is other books piled on top! I both enjoyed and am saddened by the challenges this fourteen-year-old faced as a half-Asian girl in 1880's Dakota territory. Linda Sue Park writes in her author's note that she has lived this life, that this story is autobiographical and most of the incidents her fictional Hanna faces happened to her. Linda grew up reading and loving the Little House books, wanted so much to be like Laura although she was distressed by some of the racism shown in the books. Hanna's story shows those incidents and what I loved most was reading her thinking, and how she handled different attacks. The story endears you to Hanna whose mother was Chinese and father is white, meeting at a boarding house in California. They owned a dry goods/tailoring shop and Hanna was taught to sew at a very early age by her mother. Sadly, her mother dies when Hanna is nine. She and her father are off to a new home in the Dakotas, and a new shop. Going to school, opening the shop bring more interactions with the townspeople, most of whom are not welcoming to the girl with slanted eyes. It's not an easy read, knowing that attacks on Asians in the US continue here nearly a century and a half later. But it's an important one.

               Keeping a family as a family remains a challenge after the Peach family's mother dies of cancer. In an author's note, Erin Soderberg Downing tells how much her own three children add to this story. Isn't that wonderful, too? The Peach family is struggling, mostly held tightly by twelve-year-old Lucy. Their father hides in his work, so Lucy keeps younger brothers Freddy, ten, and Herb, eight, going with good food, warm hugs, and words, reading aloud at night. When a windfall of a lot of money comes from the mother's invention, the father buys a food truck with the idea of a summer month of fun being a family again. What!!!! The kids are not so excited but with plans and goals, each one jumps on board with hope, to be that peachy family, again! What I loved most was what I call a celebration by Soderberg of each of the kids' personalities. Each one is different, each one needs support in who they are, not who others expect them to be. Slowly, readers will grow to love every character, especially understand that this really is a "peach" of a family with the good and the bad, like all of us, too. It is a special story, much needed in these past so challenging months.

 If you've studied the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", you will love this re-telling. With magical illustrations, it can introduce the laughter and surprise that comes from mishaps when love potions do not end up the way they're meant. Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy!

           I enjoy Sam Usher's books every time I have one, and this new one will become a favorite read-aloud, I'm sure. With a sweet surprise at the end, anyone would smile and clap. A boy looks out a window and notices a bird who seems sick. He and Grandpa bring it in, give it some water, and notice he's better, so they put it back outside. "That's that." they thought. Well, there is more and more, a repeating story that comes out as perfect as the imagination can take it. 

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy!

           A laugh-out-loud story with Bugs on his overnight at Camp Win-Kee-Noo. This comical story is a comic for young readers who will connect with Bugs, his Mom troubles (not just his mom), his daydreaming problems (instead of following directions), and his strong belief in Bigfoot that doesn't turn out the way he hoped. It's a comic full of silliness (and perhaps a bit of truth) all the way through.

            Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy!

          Barb Rosenstock has a history with telling stories about artists and I like the way she brings readers into this one, starting our own morning with Monet as he rises at 3:30am, preparing for his day painting on the water, painting the water, the light, as is written, "Painting the river's colors, and the air around the colors. Monet wipes his brow; it is not easy to paint air." Monet's studio is a boat and he has a helper who covers the canvases, bringing them out as the light changes and Monet works with another painting, according to the light. This luscious book illustrated by Mary Grandpré who also illustrated others by Barb Rosenstock, like The Noisy Paint Box, earning a Caldecott Honor, will inspire everyone to research more about Monet and perhaps his cohorts from the Impressionist movement. There is added information at the back. 

         Any book that is a story about a grandmother and a grandchild is one I will love and this is one of those, a heartfelt story written by Brooke Smith who explains at the end she saw that certain words from nature, like 'minnows' and 'mint' and 'monarch' had been struck from The Oxford Junior Dictionary as being less relevant for children today. Thus, this Grandma Mimi and her granddaughter goes on a journey to find and become "keepers" of the list. Heartbreaking to read about, but these two, with gorgeous illustrations by Madeline Kloepper, lead us on a journey to keep those words. There is a wonderful "envelope" at the end that invites us readers to keep our own "wild words". What a special book, for you at home or you at school!

          I wrote a poem about a tree this past week for Poetry Friday and found another blogger who shared his favorite books about trees, not only for children but for adults, too. One of those is the new book by Lita Judge, The Wisdom of Trees that I shared last month. And now, this marvelous book is out by Maria Gianferrari about being a tree, knowledge of trees, yes, but also about being a human! With diverse children and adults, Felicita Sala illustrates many science-based concepts that Maria connects to humans. For example, "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun." As the pages move along, included are double-page spreads showing the tree, one showing it 'down' in order to demonstrate the heartwood and rings. Every imaginable part is covered, included the diversity, like humans, too. A fold-out feels like a mural masterpiece. I wish it could be painted on a wall somewhere. I'd love to quote the ending, but more than that, I want you the readers to experience it yourselves. 

           Lots of backmatter completes the book with an author's note, how to help save trees, how to help forests in the community, a detailed 'map' of a tree's parts, further reading and websites. Felicita Sala offers another extra, leaves painted and identified on the endcovers. It is a gorgeous book, another to add to your collection.  

What's Next: I have several ARCs and also need to choose another #MustRead book. I have so many I want to read, it's really hard to choose! Happy Reading everyone!