Monday Reading - New and Old!

         

    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!

Thanks to Candlewick Press
for my copy!

         A return to Norendy, where the Puppets of Spelhorst lived, and a new setting at the Hotel Bazaar where young Marta lives with her mother who works as a maid there. Each morning when her mother goes to work, Marta is left to her own days, counting up and down the stairs, watching a cat chasing a mouse (on a clock) and wondering about a painting with one wing in the ocean. However, all is not at all lost when a mysterious countess arrives, with a parrot. With magical stories and the loveliest of light, the tales move, from one to seven, helping Marta begin to have hope that her longlost father could, at last, be returning. Line art by Júlia Sardà enhances the imagination as each story is told; readers will want so much to hurry, to find out "What's Next!" I can imagine reading this, part by part, every day to a young class. It will become a favorite read aloud!

           I so enjoyed this book by Jilanne Hoffmann, the beauty of its presentation, the scientific information given in the picture book story, and more extensively explained in the back matter. The flap summarizes that the dust of the Sahel–a ribbon of land between the Sahara and the savanna– lifts with the harmattan wind each winter season. The dust from both mixes and travels thousands of miles westward, across the African continent and the Atlantic Ocean, to reunite with its unforgotten home deep in the Amazon basin. This is all new to me, and the story illustrated so beautifully by Eugenia Mello carried me along just like the dust is carried, landing at home! Told by the dust itself, readers will be mesmerized by the journey and, fortunately, will get to know more from the back matter, including NASA's observations, continental history, and an Author's Note. There, Hoffman relates that at publication, new research changes some of the earlier findings. It's terrific!

        It's a simple but arresting counting book by Tanya Tagaq, a Canadian Inuk, imagining a grand parade of polar bears, shown in both English and Inuktitut. The first is joined by another, and as they gather, they're sniffing, hunting, playing, dancing, and more. It will be much fun to read aloud, both enjoying the text and the art by Lee Pootoogook, a carver and printmaker. The ending offers a wonderful laugh.

      Buffy Silverman's books are a must when studying nature, along with using them as inspiration for writing. After a trip outdoors, readers can write prose or poetry and perhaps this book, or others from Buffy, can inspire some nature sketching, too!  This time, she offers poems to accompany some observed thrilling evening sounds while connecting the songs to musical instruments! For example, the second verse of one poem ends with "Oo-week, oo-week! Wood duck calls,/She flaps away/as darkness calls." The call is connected to an oboe. 

        The photos, credit given to numerous people, are marvelous to see, and may offer their own inspiration after reading and viewing! 

      There are two sections in the back matter filled with great information: "Meet the Musicians" and "Meet the Instruments".  Don't miss this book when studying the out-of-doors or just enjoying a taste of Buffy's "Starlight Symphony"!

        This is a re-read, but I wanted to share again to offer a new look at how all of us can help Stillwater and Koo "Save The World." My review on Goodreads is here! 

         Mo Yan is the first citizen of China to win the Novel Prize in Literature, which he won in 2012 for Red Sorghum. This picture book comes from his novella of the same name, a poignant story of the time this seven-year-old boy rises early to go with his grandfather, Yeye, to gather grass for drying and animal feed. It's quite a journey, showing such courage and resilience, eventually in a massive windstorm, the "GALE".  As you see from the cover, Zhu Chengliang's illustrations bring the story to life so that readers feel they are also right there with this pair. An excerpt from the novella at the end adds a bit more of their life story. It's a special book! 

Now reading: Sepetys' and Sheinken's The Bletchley Riddle!