It's Monday - Happy New Year

     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 2022 everyone! 

      

 I do have this post of books recently read and reviewed but may share less because of the heavy reading for the Cybils Round Two poetry finalists. If you haven't seen notice of all the finalists, go here! We in the poetry group have some lovely reading (and conversations) ahead! 

          I will work to publish my #MustReadin2022 this week. Leigh Anne Eck is gathering the posts here at A Day in the Life!

Reviewed this HERE

    for Poetry Friday

          Enter a world of magic with courageous Poppy Fulbright fighting her own fight during World War II. It's 1944 and Poppy's family's bookshop, Rhyme and Reason, welcomes customers from the future and the past. It, and other bookshops like it, use their magic to keep the light, always wary of what the dark could do to them and the world. You'll love the way the bookshop changes with its emotions. Poppy's love of this bookshop means she wants to be the one to inherit it from her father, yet the sentiment is that it will go to her older brother, Al. When a dear friend, especially Al's, is killed in the war, Al listens more and more to the dark and it becomes Poppy's battle to save Al and her beloved bookshop. It's a new world created by Mindy Thompson where the main characters are shown as both strong and vulnerable to emotional ties and other characters show up as great support, too. Poppy will need them all! I did not imagine so many twists and turns, especially at the end. It's a fantastic world to imagine living in!

       Marked for young readers, it feels like every age will enjoy this beautifully inviting book by Margarita Engle with gorgeous illustrations by Raúl Colón. The story focuses on the varied immigrants, including the sad history of those who took land from Native Americans already here and those who came enslaved without choice. Many challenges faced immigrants in the past and do today. They often feel unequal and set apart from the rest of society but at the same time miss their former homes while needing to learn a new language and new ways in a new culture.    

       However, Margarita also shares the love immigrants have for this new country. Surrounding the challenges and the good parts, the Statue of Liberty shines her light for all, the beacon of hope, being "part of the Statue of Liberty's promise." Conversation and questions can happen page by page. Included are the varied ways immigrants bring expertise to America, from doctors to artists, farmers to scientists. Reading the author's and illustrator's notes shows their own immigrant family history. It feels like another invitation to talk with students who can share theirs, too. I enjoyed every part!

       I adore bear books. This is a new favorite, with fantastic illustrations by Dena Seiferling (wait until you see the bear's expressions) and a story about how to be a good friend by Cary Fagan. Bear finds a ukelele in the forest and now proclaims he's a musician and wants to sing a song. Dear Mouse crosses his legs and puts his paws in his lap. "I'm all ears," he said. Bear gets ready but along comes Crow, discovers a tambourine, immediately takes the stage with his own song. Oh, the joy! But as Bear starts again, along comes Snake who finds a drum. That's how it goes and with Mouse trying hard to tell everyone it's Bear's turn, but no one listens. How it turns out okay has much to do with little Mouse, a true friend. Kindness matters! The ending gives a big smile! There are double-page spreads showing a lot of happiness!

         This is my most recent book, loved it so much that I ordered it. Next, when time, a must-read will be the adult version. Nicole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson

 write from joyful beginnings, then why "born on the water" to their surviving, then freedom. They do show heartbreak and horror, but also strength and determination, a will to remember from the before. Theirs is a response to a fictional young girl who is asked to write about her ancestors, is ashamed that she can only count back three generations. Her Grandmother replies with this story. It's one to celebrate, to share with many others. Nikkolas Smith shares that he uses different techniques according to the page's mood and his illustrations bring more emotion to each. Added information is in the author's and illustrator's notes. 

 

            Set during the Lunar New Year, Mei Zihan lets a father speak with both love and sorrow of his daughter who's moved to another country, no longer joining in the special celebration of this new year. She's not there to help with the coming "lavish feast" where there must be "egg dumplings, tofu skin rolls, and spinach in a casserole." He wonders what she will be cooking for her husband on this special night. From missing her for the new year to understanding that she has grown up, is married, and happy, create those feelings every parent must feel when children are grown and wish to be apart, to carve new paths. The imagined feelings of the grown child are included, too. It's complex and beautifully told in this story. For those many forced separations these recent years. those feelings connect, too. In black-lined watercolor, Qin Leng shows the love and memories in scene after scene of father and daughter, together and alone. It's an endearing book that many will love with a few tears.

           Colleen Rowan Kosinski lets this home tell its tale of a family's love as it grows, all the joy happening as the 'soft pitter-patter turned into loud clomps" as children grew up. Then, one day they left and the house cried until, once again, though this house tried to defeat them, a new family came. Reading how the house becomes "A Home Again" with Valeria Docampo's detailed beautiful illustrations will bring happy memories to everyone, especially those who've moved and made a house their home!

What's Happening: Reading new poetry for Round Two Cybil's Poetry Judging and finishing Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.