It's Monday - Books to Find!

    

    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! 

        As another review says: Meet Odder, the Queen of Play. Based on the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers, Katherine Applegate tells the story in free verse of a feisty, curious, and ever-moving sea otter. There is fun when Odder plays with his friend Kairi, sadness when one day his mother doesn't return from looking for food, and there is terror when Odder and Kairi are attacked by a hungry great white shark.

         It's interesting to read of Odder's rescue to see how the people there teach otter pups in order to return them to the wild, and then those aquarium scientists figure out that they can teach rescued adults who can no longer be returned to the wild to raise other rescued pups. Applegate includes many true things in this fictional tale, for us to learn more about otters and how humans can help and to learn the need to protect otters along with other endangered species in the world. There's lots of back matter with information for further learning. In addition, there are sketches by Charles Santoso scattered throughout the book. 

       Amazing fact from one page: Otters have 

                                                     "the warmest fur on earth–

                                                     up to a million hairs per square inch.

                                                     But it's the air bubbles

                                                     otters add that keep them

                                                     perfectly, impossibly

                                                     warm and dry."

      I enjoyed this book and liked hearing about the importance of otters, a keystone species. Young readers who love animals will find it both informative and adventurous. 

      I want to add that I kayaked with students on one trip to California and had the pleasure of observing otters in their habitat. We studied other sea creatures at the aquarium, too.  

 

         I am reminded of this Dickinson quote when I read about a young girl's marvelous adventure with a book: "There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away." It is newly out and a marvelous picture book by Kate Messner and Grace Lin, with gorgeous and imaginative illustrations by Grace Lin as she adjusts the palette depending on the place. This young girl, weary of winter cold, says, "I wish I were someplace that wasn't so frozen and gray!" A book nearby flopped open; the invitation from those colorful birds (on the cover) to a place "alive with colors" was discovered as she begins reading. The girl stepped right in! Stepping into a book brings adventures to many places and this book by Lin and Messner differs only in that it is both an adventure and an example of what books really do! I was lucky to get the book from my library just as it came out. It'll be a special one to read with young readers and discuss their adventures, too! 

       In this follow-up to All Because You Matter, Tami Charles writes the story as a celebration of Black people's impact throughout history, highlighting people like Dr. King and Marian Anderson, foods, and places. Bryan Collier's beautiful illustrations creatively embed the history they want to emphasize while also celebrating a young girl's possibilities as she travels throughout. "You are brilliant, extraordinary, far-beyond-ordinary, the very best of who we are." He uses row houses as a timeline of the lives lived and celebrated. It's a glorious and poetic telling with some explanation at the back and notes from both Charles and Collier.

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

         If you want to know about puffins, all three kinds, where they go for mating, what they like to eat, and other information, this book by Martin Jenkins offers that info and more. There's also a bit about other ocean birds too. Ocean scenes by Jenni Desmond, like gorgeous double-page spreads, illustrate what Martin tells. For example, there are amusing pages about returning to their chosen island to breed, reunite (hopefully) with their mate, and to find the burrow from the previous year. It doesn't always go well! It's a great book with added information in the backmatter. 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

       No matter how carefully cared for, musical instruments do break for a variety of reasons. Amy Ignatow tells the story of the instruments in the Philadelphia School System in a page-by-page, full-of-sounds way, from saxophones to violins. The back matter tells about Robert Blackson, the artistic director of Temple Academy, who visited a shutdown school and found dozens of abandoned, broken pianos. He vowed to put on a concert with only broken school instruments in order to raise the money to fix them. Music teachers collected the instruments, David Lang, composer, wrote the symphony, and over four hundred musicians, from big orchestras to small bands volunteered to play in it. The success saved the music program and the organization (the book title) has continued. There is more told at the back plus the illustrations by Gwen Millward take the music to the pages in color and sound! Can you guess which instrument sounds like "tika tika tika tik tik tik" or "Waaaaaahhh waaaaah"? It's an inspiring story!

 What's Next: I have the graphic novel of James Howe's Bunnicula, an old favorite.

Happy Reading!