Monday Reading - Discover These Books!

 

      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! 

          Happy Fall! We had much cooler weather in Denver these past days and some needed rain, and, snow in the Rockies! Skiers rejoice! The usual ups and downs are on the way! 

Thanks to Max for the great
recommendation!

      Finally, I found this lovely book at my library. It was lots of fun to enter this new world where the main character, a young girl named Greta, who is learning blacksmithing from her mother, finds a wee dragon and with her mother's guidance, takes it back to its owner, thus entering a whole new world, for her and for us readers! Here, she meets Hesekiel, who looks a bit like a llama, and his wheelchair-bound assistant, Erik. They are grateful for Greta's return of the dragon, and then a third character appears, rather shy, and as it turns out, this young girl, Minette, is going to become a special friend to Greta. This new world of the Tea Dragon Society has a long history and the two Greta meets strive to keep this world continuing. The dragons, not those fire-eating ones you may be imagining, but small ones of various colors, grow unique kinds of leaves on their heads, which are harvested for special types of teas. It's quite a delicate process, and Greta, along with that black-smithing, wants to be a part. 

           The illustrations are appealing and lushly colored, so gorgeous, bringing the story to life with diverse characters and relationships just right for all ages of readers! 

            A lot of extra information about tea dragon societies is included at the back of the book, including history and daily life, along with eight beautiful descriptions and pictures of eight different tea dragons, like one for ginger tea and one for peppermint tea. It, too, is a delight to read and learn more about this new world!

                 Jules Feiffer never fails to give a story that makes readers laugh, long and loud! This really is a hoot as Mama Dog tries to teach her wonderful son, George, to bark. It is not the easy task she thought it would be! You must find it because I can't tell more without giving it all away! It will be a fantastic read-aloud!

 Thanks, Candlewick Press, for the following three books!

 

      Catherine Barr offers a recounting of certain animals all over the world whose habitats and traditional paths when moving are threatened. It's sad also because people are taking over, draining wetlands, polluting water, and building in the middle of certain animal byways. However, there are those who are making huge efforts to help. For example, they're showing elephants how to navigate created corridors for them so they can find safe spaces to get to their usual water holes, and "follow their ancestors' footsteps." They also keep both people and their own homes and work places safe. 

       Animals that are included in their plight and what is helping are elephants, hedgehogs, specific birds, gibbons, fish, bears, and cougars! One astounding number is that in China, on Hainan Island, the population of what they tell is the rarest gibbon, the Hainan one, is that out of what used to be two thousand, the population is now reduced to fewer than thirty-five. The geography of the examples cover all over the world, and there are others, a few of which are highlighted on a double page at the back. Christiane Engel shows well the challenges between people and animals in her illuminating and lovely illustrations of Catherine Barr's explanations.

          

         It's National Hispanic Heritage Month and I have two wonderful books to help celebrate, thanks again to Candlewick Press for the copies!

          Imagining "things" are going to be better than ever and then realizing that perhaps they have some hard parts, too, is part of growing up. Young Ana is so excited because her abuela is coming that night to live with them permanently. She thinks her dear abuela won't hurry her on the way to school and let her "stop and play" when she wishes, not like Señora Mimi does.

           It's a growing-up thing to begin to see other perspectives, and Meg Medina's story poignantly shows this. Brittany Cicchese's illustrations fill the pages with beautiful autumn scenes of Ana and Señora Mimi's time together.

         Nydia Armendia-Sánchez shares a warm and loving family story when the children ask their Mamá to tell them a story, evidently a known favorite! She begins telling about when their Papá grew up, learning from his parents, the children's abuelitas, and then learning, working, but finally following his dream, to travel to where, the story goes, "all the impossible was possible". The title phrase,"Not far from here" fits in numerous places! Although it's never spoken, he appears to go to America, where, "Not far from Here", she meets him. Small parts are told, like being called names when his English wasn't perfecto! Yet, there are others who were helpful and supportive. With mixed Spanish phrases (there is a glossary that helps translate) and continuing the family's story, Mamá reminds the children that all those in their comunidad (community) have much to offer in all kinds of ways, and she reminds them, for example, to speak up if they see others who are told unkind words. Devon Holzwarth's illustrations fill the pages both colorfully and with great emotion, in a swirling variety of scenes. 

          Both supportive and hateful words have been recently said about immigrants to America, those who are Hispanic and those from other places, too, in recent months. I wish everyone could read this special book, and realize many families also have a "story" to tell, from their ancestors to those taking risks today, and for making their sueños (dreams) come true. 

       

What's Next?  Still reading All The Colors of The Dark, by Chris Whitaker. Last week I wrote that it is hard to put down, but I've been so busy, I've had to! Hoping to find more reading time just for it this week!