Monday Reading - Something for Everyone!

  

    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!

    Our country remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today! "The time is always right to do what is right."

Thanks to Publishers Weekly
for my advanced e-copy!
This will be published next month. 

      Books that move back and forth in time are intriguing, and that is how Pam Jenoff chooses to tell this new story inspired by the true story of Lévitan, a posh department store in Paris! The story centers on a woman named Louise, who served with the Red Cross as a young girl in World War II and is now married with a couple of kids, and her early sweetheart, who came out of combat, a rather silent and changed man. She has found a half necklace that she was sure she saw the other half in a terrible time when serving Allied soldiers behind the German lines. That time meant the loss of her friend, Franny, whom they declared that she had been hit by a car. Louise knew it couldn't be true, but she was forced to leave by her boss, Ian, with whom she had some attraction, both to save herself and others. Now, it's the fifties, and this necklace, amazingly, has appeared again! 

     Louise races to Paris, to find out as much as she can, beginning with asking Ian for help and pushing to discover more about that department store. Well, that store has a dark past, was a Nazi prison where the prisoners unloaded all the goods from Jewish homes that had been confiscated and then arranged them like a store for Nazis to come to shop and acquire. 

     In between these stories, Louise also tells of her time in the war, working for the Red Cross and the missing piece, a young woman named Helaine with the saddest past until it all changes when she finally breaks out, falls in love in a cellist, and leaves her home, unblessed, perhaps never to see them again.

      You can imagine the layers of emotion in these lives, mixed in with strange events and love in numerous guises that no matter what the reader believes is true, it is not, or first it's not, then it is! The book is worth a look for being a many-plotted thing! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press
for my copy!

       There's so much to love when an author uses the ABCs to tell a story, and this time  Sam Winston has the dictionary to help him. You know that a dictionary has many, many words, but never, ever is there a story. And she wants one! This time, she decides to bring some words to life, for a story! But when they get mixed up and begin some not-so-expected colliding, things do not happen as wished. Oliver Jeffers' illustrations show all the emotion, like an enthusiastic alligator who's after a donut, and it doesn't work out very well at all. Antics like this will make one laugh, especially when Dictionary's friend Alphabet comes in to save the day with a clever song! You may have heard that one, and it's magic happening when all the words learn to behave! What a clever and fun book, especially to read aloud! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press 
for my copy!

       I've never heard of Viola Smith and now love that Dean Robbins has told about her life. She lived until 107 and was still drumming! She started out with the drums because her other "five" sisters had taken all the other instruments for their new band, the Smith Sisters Orchestra! She tried all the parts, and per the text: "She lost the beat, made a terrible racket, and had more fun than she'd ever had before." Things improved and one huge influence that Viola had later was to write an article that pushed for the music industry to begin accepting women in their groups. This was at the beginning of World War II, when many male players were leaving for war. It helped elevate women as accomplished players! There are more amazing parts to Viola's life, shown in such flashy illustrations by Susanna Chapman that one nearly believes the drumming can be heard! I'm so glad to read a biography of someone very talented whose life one must admire! There's an author's note with more information, a list of musical terms, and a source list at the back. End papers show various kinds of drumsticks! It's terrific! 

        Julia Donaldson wrote this older book, published in the UK, then Scholastic here in the US. It's a fantastic adventure, a song to be sung plus this edition came with a CD, sung by Imelda Staunton, a British performer. It also has a little flap in the back that, when lifted, reveals a wee coloring page of a stick man adventure and the CD. Julia Donaldson creates funny and sad scenes of Stick Man's numerous adventures. When he's out for a jog,  he is first plucked away for play by a dog, then grabbed by a girl for a "Pooh stick," and used by a swan for her nest. There are more adventures, ending in a grate, where the woodpile will be lit, on CHRISTMAS MORNING! It certainly surprised me, for it's also a Christmas book with a delightful surprise ending! Axel Scheffler's colorful illustrations wonderfully show the antics poor Stickman must endure and after reading more than once, Children will be singing this little ditty! What a fun delight! 

               (If you don't know what a "Pooh stick" is– It's that playing on a bridge over a stream. The sticks are first dropped on one side, and then everyone runs to the other side to see who is first!)

         Last fall's Friday Night Lights are over, and some may still remember one game, one coach, and their teammates! The memories of a special team can be just a few months ago, or years! This is one of Grisham's older books, as players from all over the US return to small-town Messina, players for the mighty Spartans. They've come to say goodbye to the coach who brought them to undefeated seasons, those glory days when they were heroes. All-American player Neely Crenshaw has returned for the first time to help bury Coach Eddie Rake, though he still is unsure whether he loves him or hates him. For those with their own Friday night memories, and the last of pro football happening now, it's a nice time to read one story of the feelings of these players when they were heroes, and despite the coach's methods, they loved him. 

Now Reading! The Squad - Christine Soontornvat & Joanna Cacao