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!
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Byron Graves is Ojibwa, was born and raised on the Red Lake Reservation. There, like the main character, Tre, of Rez Ball, he played high school basketball. Here in his debut novel, he weaves a sophomore boy's life in and out of his dreams of playing on the Red Lake Warriors varsity team, then winning the first state championship ever by a reservation team, then, on to the NBA! His goals are made harder, sometimes he thinks unattainable because his father also was a Rez star, and his brother, a star last year, died in a car crash on winter roads. Now, Tre has to overcome those reputations, too! The story includes a longtime friend who is beginning a documentary of Tre's b-ball beginnings, a new girl at school who looks at things a bit differently, helpful and causing a collision with those friends at times. Complicating it all is the racism the team meets constantly from teams outside, something readers all need to realize has happened often all their past, and today as well. It's a special story focusing on one kid who tries really, really hard to do the right thing always. I loved this many-layered story!
FYI - This is a young adult novel that contains strong language and party drinking.
In addition, this was fun to read because it's basketball tournament season. I learned about some of the moves players use!
In the final anthology created by the late Lee Bennett Hopkins, he left readers with lots of love by finding a few poems he must have loved and asking some poets to write about certain animals/pets. Fourteen poets, including Lois Lowry, Charles Ghigna, and Rebecca Kai Dotlich, write about beloved pets, and one of the "almost pets" that was let go, a box turtle. Lita Judge brings more love to accompany the words in her sweet illustrations. Did you have one of the small furry pets, a hamster, a guinea pig, or a gerbil. They're here, too, along with dogs and rabbits and cats. The poems will bring laughter with the memories along with a bit of sadness when they remind of pets one had years ago. And, you may be inspired to bless your own, dear pets by writing a poem about them!
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Dulce's abuela is coming to visit from Peru! Hooray! And she's bringing maletas full of surprises, ones that Dulce cannot seem to get enough of, like "Candies in crinkly wrappers" and "blankets softer than cotton balls". Many memories are made during this time, like hearing stories and learning new recipes, but Abuela soon must prepare to leave. Dulce is so sad but figures out a way to fill a few of those maletas for her cousins back in Peru whom she wishes to meet, maybe soon? It's a lovely grandmother story with loads of happy details shown by illustrator Juana Medina. I liked that Spanish words are sprinkled throughout as Natalia Sylvester tells this family story of visits from far away.