It's Monday - Have You Read These?

   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! 

          

      It's in my hand, arrived today, after my family left, sad to write. We had a wonderful late Christmas together, so I didn't get to finish a lot this week, but a few I want to recommend, including Two Truths and a FIB, a poetry anthology edited and compiled by Bridget Magee. You can watch the trailer HERE! I am proud to have some poems in this book along with others whose names you will recognize. Many thanks to Bridget for the idea, the opportunity, and all the work in the production! If you've ever played the game, you'll love this 'poetic' addition, perhaps play this kind of Two Truths and a FIB with your students if you teach. In it, you'll find 29 poets, 30 subjects, and 32 poetry forms. 

       I'll post a longer review another time when I've had time to read every little bit!

         I'm about halfway through, have loved the voice of Resilience, "Res", and am excited to discover what's next!

          Rafael López' illustrations of bright and colorful scenes showing diverse children all over the world, both sad then finding joy, beautifully show the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this brief book where those words give hope to young children when they are lonely, in need of a friend, and wondering if life will ever be happy. Where will they find joy? The advice is simple, to open one's eyes and look. Find it in "the soft snuggly feeling of being all wrapped up, cozy in your bed at night." Once you find joy, "your heart always has room for more". The message gives hope and adds the loving idea that when joy is found, it's a good thing to share it, too. The book will be a nice read-aloud, planting a seed for those feeling a little down, someone you may not even know who needs some hope. 

         A gender-affirming book with loving support by first sharing numerous and wonderful photographs of happy kids, young and old, with a brief quote, added from each. For instance, the opening page fills up with nine smiling children saying, "We are kids! Girls, boys, neither, both, or just not sure." Another page says "There are different ways to show and be who you are. It's up to you – how you feel, how you dress, how you act, how you play, learn, and love." It's supportive in varied ways throughout the book and the emphasis is respecting and affirming the children's opinions and feelings. It will be a terrific book to have for a classroom, although I realize there are now some places where this kind of support will be rejected or banned in a school. There is a wealth of information at the back, including a "letter from a Grown-up Trans Girl", pieces from the author and photographer, two pages of links to many helpful sources, and more! 

          I guess I've read numerous books illustrated by John Parra, loved the one about Frida Kahlo, Waiting for the Biblioburro, and Hey, Wall, among others. This is his debut as an author and illustrator, his own story! He grew up with his father who was a landscape contractor and started to help him at age seven. It became his part-time job at thirteen. The story is fictionalized, telling of a young boy named Juanito on his first day with his Papi and Papi's assistant, Javier. They work at various homes all day and while helping, Juanito also takes time to do some sketching. It even shows taking the day's end brush and cut grass collected to the dump, reminding me of going with my own dad to take our trash, a real adventure! It's an encapsulation of one day, those seeds that, after reading John Parra's letter at the back, offer a glimpse of the hard work done by those who do this work and some history of his father. It also shows the inspiration of one boy who sees the beauty of his father's work, loves helping plan the "art" of people's gardens, then goes on to choose his career in illustration and fine art. I enjoyed the book very much.

What's Next: I'll finish The Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga and choose among the "many" books in my stack.  

Happy Reading!