It's Monday! Sharing Special 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! 

        

          What's happening with my reading? 

                 I have been so busy with a variety of things that I cannot seem to find enough time to really dig into The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. I like it so far, but I may put it aside to start another. I have loved Eliot Schrefer's books before, but part of this challenge is that this book is (so far) very like Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, which I enjoyed. I have Gary Paulsen's final book, How to Train Your Dad (though I've read another is coming next year) and Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club which I know some of you adored. I am also reading Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle, a little bit each day. And, there is a small pile of ARCs. Clearly, I have no lack of books! If you'd like, tell me what NOT to miss!

          Here are some picture books I really enjoyed this past week. One moves into history and young adult. All are worth a read!

         I picked up my granddaughters the other day and the youngest, ten, cried when I asked about her day. Things she told did seem hard to take, but everyone, kids, too, must manage stuff as well as they can, try to make changes, not always in themselves, but solving the problems with others, too. It's hard! This young boy starts his day sleeping late, missing his favorite toothpaste because his sister used it to make slime, then at school, forgot to wear his gym uniform, so can't play kickball. There's more and he's feeling a little 'scrunchy'. Aliya King Neil tells about going through such a day so well you want to reach out and give this boy a pat. Emotions shown in Charly Palmer's fabulous paintings bring the story to real life. We've all been there at school, right? Or work, or just life's day-to-day world. I imagine this will bring rich conversation when shared. 

           Perhaps it isn't an easy story to tell, but Kaija Langley makes it seem easy. Langston liked basketball but when his mother took him to see a performance by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, he is in awe. He asks his mother if she thinks he can dance like that, who answers, "You can do whatever you set your mind to doing." Langston begins, practices before his mirror, finally goes to his first ballet class. As they say, and the beautiful realistic illustrations by Keith Mallett show, the rest is history! Others don't think boys dance like that, but Langston does! It's a wonderfully inspiring story for anyone who wants to do something others might want to deny. (It reminds me of the older British movie Billy Elliot. If you haven't seen it, do!)

          Thanks to Candlewick Press for the next two advanced copies, both out in October.  

           I love these stories by Juana Medina, letting young Juana tell about her life in Bogotá, the challenges, the sorpresas, and the successes. I also love that writer Juana includes Spanish words in the text so smoothly that an English speaker can learn a new word, in another language! Young Juana's life with Lucas has been going along happily until those two things happen that make some changes Juana isn't quite sure about. First, she knows that her mother is pregnant and she is not sure about that new thing happening. Second, her mother has signed her up for skating camp. What!!! No friends are there and although Mami tells her she'll make new ones while she learns, it's a worry. More changes happen but with dear Lucas by her side, the love of her Mami and Luis, her stepfather, her abuelos, and her new friends, life turns out to be just right. Juana shares her worries but also how she will learn to figure out things. Juana Medina inserts those double-spread pages that center on one subject that are terrific. One is titled "Babies make everything complicado. EVERYTHING!"

           

          

        Amazing, highly interesting, full of joy and sorrow is this small work on only a very few of the thousands of photographs taken during the Great Depression. When President Franklin Roosevelt was elected, he knew he was presiding over a gravely important period of U.S. history. He also knew how important it was to document it. I won't relay all the details, but the President formed an agency to help farmers who were terrible hard hit by both the economy and the drought/dust bowl. The agency was named RA - Resettlement Administration. Within that, its new leader's idea included a Historical section, comprised of some of the most famous and talented photographers. Remember, many, even successful people, were out of a job. They included Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, and more. The story of this time with the country's division into four parts that were photographed and written about is wonderful. This book, created by Martin W. Sandler, comprises only a part of the thousands of photographs that tell the story of how people lived, in despair, and in joy, too. You can access the collection, thank goodness, online at the Library of Congress. There are source notes, profiles of included photographers, and an Afterword. It is also mentioned how other books have used these photographs while telling their stories about this period in history. This is for young adults and up!

 

Happy Reading!