Books Loved in July - It's Monday!

 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'm back from my break, but read quite a few books to share with you & one pic from the beach from my vacation! It was wonderful and all too quickly passed!

           During my vacation, I finished The Forest of Vanishing Stars. This is another wonderfully poignant story from Kristin Harmel about those who took risks and did all possible to escape the terror of the Nazis. This time, it's about one character who knows survival in the forests, who takes a lonely journey growing up but finds family while aiding and teaching others how to survive. 

My review for Harmel's The Book of Lost Names is here on Goodreads.

I try hard not to read others' words about books until I've read them, though I do make my TBR lists from recommendations. I didn't know I would be reading about Gary Paulsen's boyhood in Gone to the Woods and I didn't know that I would become teary from his telling. I've read and often re-read his books, by myself and with my own children, and with students. A very favorite part is the intro to The Winter Room, "Tuning". Now I understand why I loved it so, imagining why it is so critical from Paulsen's point-of-view. It came from a poignant part of his growing up, a connection with a librarian who started him reading, a "Librarian with a smile" who gave him a blank notebook and two yellow, "like gold", pencils. There are terrible things in his childhood with terrible parents, yet the people showing kindnesses, even within the horror of alcoholism and hunger, stood out for him. Paulsen is a writer extraordinaire who has written still another beautiful book. This time, the tale is true.

            Some Picture books that I enjoyed!

         I sneaked a read of this book before I gave it to a granddaughter for her birthday. Lover of all monkeys, she adored it, as I do. A book with Melissa Stewart writing and Steve Jenkins illustrating is one to look forward to. With my granddaughter’s love and her birthday coming, I was thrilled to see this book coming out. In rhyming couplets, Melissa tells the tale of those fourteen monkeys, all sharing habitat in the Peruvian rain forest. Each one is accompanied by brief text with additional information and Jenkins’ realistic and full-color illustrations show off the monkeys in their habitat. Also, there is a rainforest tree infographic with each species that shows the height in the forest where each lives. The text is just enough to whet the appetite for more, which can be found in the back matter. Illustrations add information as Jenkins shows the actions of the monkeys on every page. For instance, Melissa writes of one species: “Squirrel monkeys peep and purr,/as they stroke their babies’ fur.” while Steve shows a parent holding a baby.  It’s a terrific new book! 

 

Jealousy can make one want something different, and Barnaby, a lovely blue budgie, experiences both as his owner brings home another bird, one I imagine she thinks will make a good companion. Barnaby is having none of that and flies off to the outer world, wonders about those drab brown birds pecking away until, looking closer, he realizes they are not dull at all, "but flocked with gold and bands of rust." He has enjoyed them but continued to search for that other home. Andrea Curtis tells a tale of those who wander and finally figure out home might be okay after all. With her poetic words and Kass Reich's lovely illustrations, it would be nice to read and discuss individual thoughts of home with a group.

I've enjoyed some of Zora Neale Hurston's books but had never read the background of her early life until she finally finished her education. Alicia D. Williams shows her to be a friendly and lively girl, then woman, who stayed too long listening to Joe Clarke's stories when she's sent to the general store to buy a little sugar. She discovers she likes to make up her own stories, too. In joyful, full-color illustrations by Jacqueline Alcantara, Williams keeps the story of Zora going with the story of Zora's mother's words for her to "jump at de sun". She never stopped jumping! Through hard times, she kept collecting stories from all over the south, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. In the author's note, Williams shares that Zora never made much money, was buried in an unmarked grave until Alice Walker found it and honored her with a tombstone that reads: "'A Genius of the South', Novelist, Folklorist Anthropologist" It's a lovely book honoring this special author whose books are still being published.

It's hard not to love a book that tells where a poem comes from. For me, it's a wonderful book that takes a walk through a city when not only can I focus on the main characters, this time Kiyoshi and his wise poet grandfather, Eto, but see all those in the buildings' windows. There are cats and dogs, a parent and child, a bird peeking in, a flower pot. Kiyoshi watches his grandfather create a poem with pen and ink, then asks about poems. They take a walk, stop by a grocery where Eto smells the oranges, then writes "Hill of orange suns./Cat leaps. Oranges tumble./The cat licks his paw." while Kiyoshi, puzzled, asks: "Does that mean poems come from seeing things?" Their walk continues in thoughtful ways, with a heartwarming end. Beautiful brief words by Mark Karlins illuminated by Nicole Wong make a wonderful book. Perhaps readers will wish to take their own walks to find a poem or two?

In a story rhyme, Jo Ellen Bogart lets a young girl tell about her blue house beside the sea. From sunshine to stormy days, seeing puffins and humpbacks, watching bees among the flowers, the girl imagines others in blue houses watching across their sea. With a celebration made beautiful by Carme Lemniscates's illustrations and a note by Bogart about the importance of our earth's oceans, this would be a lovely read-aloud for young children, hoping to inspire them with the beauty of the ocean.         Because I just returned from a week on an ocean shore, I can vouch for its fabulous beauty!

There are memorable books with "jar" in the title. Remember "The Name Jar", Juna's Jar" and "In A Jar"? Here is another, written & illustrated by Vera Brosgol. A young girl goes blueberry picking with her grandmother, loving the eating and the gathering. She is very upset when she realizes the quite delicious berries will soon be gone, the special day, too. Grandma shows her that she can keep some in a jar (as jam) which also becomes the day's memory. Freda decides collecting jars makes great sense. She collects cookies and her friend who's moving, a rainbow, the full moon, lovely music from a neighbor. She needs a lot of jars! For readers, imagining those jars comes from the delightful illustrations. I wonder if you had a jar, what would you like to collect? There's lots of whimsical fun in Vera Brosgol's new book!

          Another note: I have discovered a mystery series by a Denver author, mostly set in Denver, definitely for adults but I wanted to share that there are five & I'm on number three - vacation reads! It's the Bookman series by John Dunning. They're easy reading and fun if you want a break from your usual choices!

What's Next: I'll finish the latest Bookman mystery, then start the ARC of Willodeen by Katherine Applegate.