Monday Reading! Lots of Great Books Here!

      

        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'm back from Costa Rica, trying to catch up with those books I read right before and after! It was a great trip, now missing the beach!

       Ariel Lawhon writes historical fiction. This book is her latest, a complex story of a real-life heroine who worked for and led the resistance in France. It's a riveting story of love and war and frightening scenes but she never stopped doing the hard things in order to win! The saddest scenes are of the goodbyes. The happiest ones are the hellos! From her start as a free-lance reporter, viewing a whipping of an older woman by a Nazi named Wolff, bringing her eventually to Marseilles and a bartender with quiet, secret work, to a man who calls her "ma fille qui rit" (my girl who laughs), and to a life she never imagined but accepted. Lawhon weaves the chapters back and forth in time, following Nancy Wake's four code names she went by. Yes, there was a real Nancy Wake, fighting to get the Nazis out of France. It's a special and spectacular story! 

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following three books!

      Cynthia Leitich Smith offers a great follow-up to Hearts Unbroken. Out last year, but now time to prepare for Halloween, readers are back in the town that is preparing their "Harvest House", a spooky experience for everyone. When Hughie finds that the fall school play is out because of budget cuts, he's glad to be a volunteer to create the 'show' with his friend, Sam, and others. That is, he's fine until he discovers that the plans include someone will play the "vengeful maiden", a folktale from their Crossroads. Hughie is a great kid, willing to create and find ways to tell the person in charge that there are better ways to scare than using Native American tropes. He leans on friends and family for help while he navigates those who threaten. As Halloween draws closer, Hughie and friends begin to investigate what's really happening at night at the Crossroads and Smith leads us into what indeed might be ghosts because of a real-life event years earlier. It was not easy to predict the ending, but I enjoyed the way the friends stuck together, questioning and helping, no matter how challenging, or frightening! 

          Clover Robin's collaged illustrations show the reality of these amazing swifts, told in brief text by Justin Anderson, wowing me on every page as I learned about them. From the back matter: "There are about one hundred different species around the world." Anderson tells of four on that page, but the book features the Common Swift. Don't miss this story of those swifts who, yearly, fly from Africa to Northern Europe (without stopping!) to find a mate or re-unite with their mates. There's more about how they manage, what happens over various areas, raising their chicks. I know that there are swifts, but had no idea they had these powers, had the adaptations to survive in the air for days and days, AND DAYS! 

         If you're interested, go to this site to learn all about these "swift" things: https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/  Anderson adds an index to his book, too.

        A friendly book that shares numerous kinds of farm scenes, telling all about farms and what can be found on them. The illustrations by Jesus Verona are colorful and realistic, focusing on the questions and information given by author Moira Butterfield. Some have a notebook-like insert on the right with added information, or a smaller piece in the corner that's a "Can you find?" activity. Thoughtfully added is the advice at the end to be thoughtful visitors if collecting and exploring, like going with an adult and taking care with animals, leaving no trash, etc. The end covers are filled up with nearly everything on a farm, a lovely scene! This will be a fun and informative read one-on-one or with a young class. 

                                      Thanks to MIT Press for this copy!

       As the jacket says: "It would take you 700 light-years or more to visit a Nebula", which are massive clouds of dus and gas floating far, far away. In the early days, scientists thought they were just clouds, but now with advanced technology, nebulae  have been identified as the universe's materials to form stars, planets, and even the elements in our bodies. We are stardust! Teresa Robeson lets them tell their tale while Diana Renzina's heavenly illustrations show what is known, thus far, about these faraway wonders! For studies of space, this is a great addition to our knowledge!

From my library or the used bookstore where I work!

         Imagine a library in the year 859, yes, 1,165 years ago! Hena Khan tells the amazing journey of the Al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez, Morocco, from its beginning when a young girl named Fatima al-Fihri used her inheritance to build a mosque and school for her community with a small corner for books! Regular people and scholars studied there and brought their knowledge there until a lull happened. Fewer people and scholars came, and the library fell to ruin. Years passed, but then another young woman, Aziza Chaouni,  saw its need and began a new journey to repair and rebuild. Khan's story is enhanced with Kabila Adani's full-color illustrations helping to show the building's beauty along with those important and regular visitors of this extraordinary place. There is a brief author's note, a glossary, and a bibliography at the back, including a great photo of Hena Khan in front of this special library. It feels important for us to know about this library's story!

       From the author of They All Saw A Cat, Brendan Wenzel writes this new adventure, Two Together, in brief rhymes that excite us readers as we move along with this dog and this cat, through scrub and woods, a swamp and grass, and more! They smell things and explore a cave, see a toad, and wake a bear! Yikes! Then, they run for home! The rhyme keeps us all going as we laugh at the landscape Brendan's illustrations create while dog and cat have their adventures as they start home. Reading aloud to a group of young readers will bring plenty of  'oohs and ahs' plus the fun of anticipating "What's next?"

       

         It's a story of Benedict Arnold who tried to betray the Americans and General Washington because he felt overlooked for his successes in battle. He connected to the newly recruited British spy, John André. Though the text is limited, there is quite a bit of detail about their communication and the actual mess they both got themselves into, leading to André's hanging and Arnold's rejection by Washington and his then life in Britain. O'Brien's illustrations show a historical feel, full of detail as the story becomes more exciting, yet also sad. Selene Castrovilla adds more at the end, plus timelines, places to visit in both New York and London, and a bibliography.

Happy Reading!