Monday Reading - Sharing More Great Books

     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! 

          

         I hope most of you have finished your school year, one that will certainly be remembered, and are starting summer with much-needed rest! 

           It was hard to wait for this dystopian verse novel by Irene Latham but I did, and then I couldn't put it down. In the future United States, young girl Klynt lives in what is called the Worselands with her father. Years before a terrible virus was carried by dogs, then to humans. Many people die, too, thus dogs were gathered and destroyed. Within that time, Klynt's mother took up the cause and left, determined to be where dogs could be saved and live! Klynt is ever reminded of that loss and that her mother is a hero but she is stuck bored, helping her father farm and passing the time with restoring what she calls her Museum of Fond Memories. 

        Irene allows all the feelings of sadness and resentment show as she lets Klynt tell this tale. In poem by poem, I begin to feel sad for her life, wondering, as I believe many middle-grade readers will, how I would survive. She is inventive and resourceful but being so far away with only her father and seeing a few neighbors once a month on ration day is hard. Irene adds to this future way of life with her own inventive words, creating the poetry of this dystopian world: to Kyynt, these Worselands are a "hum-nothing that stretches for miles". A "chug-chug" is a tractor, her father shows a "droopbottom" face, and "leafgiants" are (did you guess?) trees. Irene's inventive style in the use of these words along with the poem connections as the last word of one leads to the next creates a bountiful tale of a future like no other.

        Boring lives can change, especially for Klynt, for one day a visitor like no other shows up, a D-39 robodog. From that moment of discovery, life is a bit less boring, a bit more exciting, and then, a lot more dangerous! You, readers, don't want to miss this beautiful and creative story full of kindnesses no matter the hardships where Klynt gets to show she has learned some vitally important things while being bored. Surprises await!

             Thanks to Candlewick Press, Walker Books US for the ARC of this wonderful new middle-grade mystery. A gloomy mansion, Braithwaite Manor, set far away across the moors finds young Clara Starling, orphaned at birth by her mother, her and unknown to her father. Now she's in the hands of an Uncle, gloomy and stern, required only to see her once a day to inquire as to her schooling and health. Cold-mannered with not one loving feeling, Clara depends only on Cook and the Butler to help her grow plus a string of strange governesses who seem to last only a minute. Judith Eagle sets that tone as readers rush headlong into a mystery when a young boy, Peter, shows up. He's been sent by his Granny who's unwell but just before, Clara's uncle has declared the house is sold and they must leave. Fortunately, Clara is a fighter and sneaks back, figures she will make it on her own. She practically has anyway! Yes, the plot thickens, with the addition of Cook's children, a few kind adults, the mystery races away in its unraveling. I think readers will love the twists and turns that the mystery makes, with Clara and Peter leading the way with resolve.
         

            I am grateful to Candlewick Press for this new story by Kate DiCamillo from Deckawoo Drive! Chris Van Dusen gives a peek at how he 'sees' the story in the realistic illustrations and this time there's a peek at a kind side of Eugenia Lincoln. Franklin Endicott's tale concerns his notebook kept of worries. He realizes he has a 'worry' problem, thus puts the notebook under his bed. He thought it would help, but the action begins nightmares of some of those worries. Every night, frightening images appear, so much so that he rises, heats up some milk, and peeks out the window. To his surprise, Eugenia is there at her kitchen table. It begins a relationship that helps Franklin look at those worries in a different way, helped by Eugenia who takes him to get a key made. Returning home, a "third key" is also in the envelope, beginning a new adventure for Franklin that also involves some famous short stories and a kind, eccentric shop owner. For a short chapter book, Kate manages to include much to ponder. This new tale will be a lovely read-aloud and conversation for a group!

             I love Brian Floca's books and this is a new favorite, a beautiful reminder of all those we owe our gratitude to in these past Pandemic months. They certainly have "kept the cities going". Brian has not left anyone out; the grocery clerks, the medical workers, the drivers for transportation of all kinds are all there. It's a beautifully poignant book of what happened when most of the rest of us stayed home. The illustrations fill the spaces with details, streets and highways rather empty except for those workers, people leaning out windows ringing bells and shouting their thanks. It all happened. Do you remember?

       Bob Raczka looks at "the expected" and turns it into something readers may not guess will happen. In quick verses, this "Poet of Piney Woods" is lonely, approaches different animals with a poem that those animals receive differently than given. For example, here are lines when approaching a frog, this Poet (a wolf!): "Round pond. Wolf sneaks./Frog croaks, puffs cheeks./ Wolf smiles. Teeth flash./Frog sees Wolf. Splash!" Each animal approach flees in fright, though later, it's found to be, YES, a pear-eater only! It does all work out with a lot more poems and quite a bit of trust. Expressions and action in colorful double-page spreads by Kevin and Kristen Howdeshell in their debut picture book are just right for this new wolf tale. I love surprises and this has a great one!
 

        If you have a cat and a dog, Elisha Cooper will show you your life with them in this hilarious story of "cat & dog" and "yes & no". From morning wake-up to drowsy sleep-time, these two, often companions, are talked to by their owner and do exactly what they do, like all dogs and cats. It's a lot of fun to read through, look and look.

         Everyone, just everyone, knows Bruce is grumpy, so when he turns out to be a "party animal" friendly and inviting to everyone, they have a great time, until things aren't fun anymore. You know that Bruce lives at 13 Go Away Lane, just the name for someone who really wants to be alone. He's off to a fishing trip, alone, but then, wait, he's back, and with a smile on his face, so ready for fun. The family, Thistle, Rupert, and Nibbs, guessed he was just confused, but nothing turned out the way anyone thought it would, even with cousin Kevin. Ryan T. Higgins makes laugh-out-loud stories about Bruce, and this one may have gone off the deep end yet good came out of it after all. Another winner! 

          Time for some poetry, a lovely new book from Julie Larios and Julie Paschkis that celebrates street food all over the world. Larios' poems are sweet and if you don't know the food or drink she celebrates, pictures by Paschkis surround the poem with another picture centered on the children who do enjoy it. For example, a 'hurrah' for "Lemon slushies,/Licorice sweets,/and fish and chips on Thistle Street" hales from "Down Under - Launceston, Tasmania, Australia." One can find "Saffron tea/from a red clay cup–" in Mumbai, India, or (really) "Deep-friend scorpions on a stick!" from Beijing, China. There are extra paragraphs telling more about each food at the back. What I enjoyed most of all were the illustrations by Paschkis of the children enjoying the treats from all over the world. It's a lovely book, perhaps for one's own sampling of new kinds of treats?

What's Next:  I didn't have time for a review but read We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly, my #MustReadIn2021 for June, most of yesterday, and finished it. How could I stop? Why did I wait so long? I'll review soon! It is both heartbreaking and wonderful.

             Now starting - The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley!