Monday Reading - Add to your Lists!

  

         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! 

           I shared this new book by Irene Latham last week for Poetry Friday here. It's great!

        This week, I want to thank Candlewick Press for some of the special books they have shared with me in recent weeks. I'm headed for a family trip in a couple of weeks, taking off the rest of the month to prep for that plus lots to do at the bookstore. Hope everyone is doing great and you don't have too much challenge with the summer heat. We were 100 on Saturday and Sunday and will be a little cooler today. July - whew!

           Where else could one find a book set in what appears to be the far past, with nobles and a queen's forest, words spoken about dungeons and being thrown in the stocks, with chapters on occasion told from the point of view of a gargoyle? Where? In a remarkable book written for middle-grade readers! Gnat is the leader of a group he has gathered. He orders, helps, and takes care, yet appears rough, perhaps out of need. His group, the Crowns, fend for themselves in this city as in other places. This time they seem to have found a good place, a partially-built cathedral with space and room, with no citizens to bother them. On the partial roof lies the gargoyle, alone and across from a few others who gab and throw insults at it. But he doesn't care, only wishes for quiet. His life's goal is to protect and he has waited for tens of years to have the cathedral finished. 

           And then there is Duck, a young girl found as a baby floating in the nearby river by another of the Crowns, a protector of sorts, Ash. Gnat's new scheme is to get Duck to apprentice with Master Baker Griselde in order to steal a few pennies and give bread to her "family", the Crowns, on market day. It happens. The story follows Duck's journey of transformation and questioning where is her true home? It is a sophisticated look at what it means to love and care for others even when, yes, these children are homeless needing to figure out who they are. Although set long ago, I read the feelings and plans and arguments of the Crowns, thinking of those homeless kids of today, young ones with a parent, many teens in my city, and I imagine in yours, too. It is long and detailed and took me a while to read, yet Lindsay Eagar's new story will stick with me for a long time.

           How can I describe a 'wordless' picture book? A day at the beach, grabbing buckets, helping young siblings while building a sandcastle no matter the challenges. Children run by (and through), a woman's floppy hat blows from her head, right on the castle, but they keep at it. All the wonders of a seaside day lie on Qin Leng's pages as JonArno Lawson's day imagined unfolds. People are playing in the water, seagulls do their best to snatch some lunch, old and young lounge in chairs and if you pay close attention, you see them all moving closer, closer to the dunes. The tide is coming in! It is an awesome picture book, I imagine very nostalgic for those who have had their days by the sea.

#PoetryFriday - A Recent Kindness

  

  Poetry Friday is with Jan Godown Annino, who's hosting HERE at BookseedStudio. Thanks for hosting, Jan, lovely to see you here! And thanks for the post showing off a wonderful book inspiring your own poem.

I am thinking of these words from Maya Angelou:  “I’ve learned you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” 

             I've loved other books, other tales, other inspiration from Irene Latham before. A granddaughter visiting this week asked to read "that cat book" again, meaning The Cat Man of Aleppo. Then we searched about him on the web, finally discovering those who are helping pets to survive in different places in Ukraine. She will be eleven in a few weeks, knows all the news, and it felt good to show her how people all over the world are showing kindness, for animals and people! 

              Irene's most recent book is 12 Days of Kindness, follows the well-known song "Twelve Days of Christmas" with a myriad of children and adults showing varied ways we can be kind.

        Each part of the verse shows a new act of kindness; hugs and smiles, greetings and thank-you notes fill people's worlds and bring smiles from them, too. All kinds of people are there in the color-filled illustrations by Junghwa Park. There are family members, school workers, and recess buddies. Kindness wraps the day from the top to the sweetest ending I would hope for every child. The left side demonstrates the kindnesses as the right side fills up page by page as those "12 days" pass. 

         In these recent weeks, it feels as if a kindness given will lift friends, family members, and strangers, too. We all need it! I know this would be a book to share in my classroom if I were still teaching. Thanks, Irene, for your own kindness shared by writing this wonderful book.

 

It's Monday - Books to Enjoy, Books Needed

  

         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! 

       No matter how you are celebrating, wishing you a special Independence Day!

    First published in Slovenia by Mart Bartolj, following a path from a lost dog to kindnesses all along in a community. Someone gives an apple to a street musician and someone else sees that act, passes it on as each one sees a need, and figures out how to help. In brown tones, Bartolj highlights "every little kindness" with a touch of red, lightening someone's world. (I'm reminded of Zero Local: Next Stop: Kindness by Ethan and Vita Murrow.)

       Mr. Watson lives with Mr. Nelson and in their home, they have some dogs and cats, plus three chickens. Everything worked out just fine, mostly. They're in the house and Andrea Tsurumi's illustrations show some funny scenes. Those THREE chickens are everywhere, playing musical instruments, having pancakes with everyone for breakfast, the usual! Well, soon enough, "one, two, three" wasn't enough. Jarrett Dapier's story becomes outrageous, hilarious, hard to believe. Pretty soon, there are 456 chickens, EVERYWHERE. As Mr. Watson and Mr. Nelson try hard to be happy about it, they do realize it's just too much. They box them up for moving them to a new home. What happens then, you'll need to read and read it aloud to a group of young readers who will love it and laugh till they cry. What a story!

         Two boys, friends from age 12, grew up to try a few other things, but thank goodness they settled on ice cream – together! This is the story of Ben and Jerry, their ice cream empire, and how they came also to be social and environmental activists. Lisa Robinson decided the story is an important one to tell and she shares it with fun, helped by the entertaining illustrations by Stacy Innerst. Some of the pages have a riddle for more laughs. "What does a cat like to eat on a hot day? A mice cream cone!" There is an author's note, a timeline, and a source list at the end. Great book!

      Brave little owl, very young, but has always had the goal to become a knight. Even in the face of a terrifying challenge, using his wits as a brave knight helped. Christopher Denise brings the tale to life with fabulous full-page illustrations, and close-ups of swirling emotions as this Knight Owl does his best at facing his fear during what he's good at, taking the night watch. You'll find small hints as you read of owl traits versus those human knights, a quite clever and unique story that shows everyone has something good to offer in our world. 

What's Happening? I just ran out of time and could not finish The Patron Thief of Bread by Lindsay Eager. I am about halfway through and it is terrific!