Celebrating Earth Day and More - It's Monday!

           

Happy Earth Day!

        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 taken me weeks to read this book, not because it was a chore, but because I've been engrossed in so many other things, including reading other books. This one, unfortunately, ended up at the bottom of my 'to-do' list. I've finally finished the tale with admiration for the underlying warmth imbued in the story by Daniel Nayeri and the beautiful illustrations by Daniel Miyares which expanded our look at the story's unusual setting, along with giving a sense of what the characters looked like.

         The story, and the characters began to feel more real to me as I read chapter by chapter. I became more intrigued with the huckster, Samir's stories, what he really was up to. I began to wonder if Monkey, the young boy who tells the story and was rescued by Samir from being stoned to death by the monks who had previously taken him in, was really telling the truth. The varied, continuing threads, like the utter loving importance of the donkey, Rostam, Monkey's philosophical thoughts, and the importance of deepening interest in other characters made me know why the Newbery Committee chose this as an honor book. Though this isn't necessarily for every middle reader, some will cherish it for a new and intriguing book adventure.

Thanks to Candlewick Press for my copy!

          I know I shared several books last week for Earth Day, and now I have a few more for you to find and love! Love, The Earth by Frances Stickley is a letter in rhyme to a baby as he grows. She includes all the things that Earth will give him during his life. "I am the Earth./ All yours to share./ The mountains and the Arctic air./the trees, the breeze, the polar bear." are some of the examples that 'older' and kind Earth gives to everyone, including this young boy. But it also asks, "and try to lend/a helping hand." As you see below, on numerous pages, among all the other beautiful illustrations, Tim Hopgood shows the Earth's face. The book and the message is worth mighty applause! I adored it! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for my copy!

       Both Kûn and Solveig, thousands of miles apart, have a love of the Earth, one about the origins when the pterosaurs flew and the other loves the beauty of the Northern Lights. If you want a marvelous story of our wonder of a planet, this is how to begin. With brief text by Grahame Baker-Smith that actually includes so much explanation and fabulous illlustrations also by Baker-Smith, the book feels like an invitation to love many, many parts of Earth's history. The beginning and end covers wrap the story for all us readers, too! Some pages include the arrival of the first single-celled life; others show both the warmth and when "Earth was in the grip of an endless winter," and how that era did not stay. One double-page spread awes by explaining how this history is known. There's more and more, as slowly the connection of Kûn and Solveig is shown. I hope everyone can find and savor Grahame Baker-Smith's creation, about Earth's creation! It's marvelous!

 Thanks to Candlewick Press for my copy!

        Everything is flooded, leaving only NOA, the last of the seawall construction workers, a robot, and a zoo in peril. As many know from other books by Aaron Becker, he tells the story in the illustrations. It's a must-see of this ingenious robot who seems driven by a need to help, and help he does. Readers will want to pore over the details and smile at the ideas, and the surprise ending. The perspective of large and largest is intriguing. (See the cover!)

        Here's the opening page, a perfect page for celebrating Earth Day and an inspiration to do all we can!

        

Now reading - The Night War, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Happy Reading!