It’s Monday March 1, what are you reading?

I missed out on posting last week as I was writing report cards and that really got the best of me last week. Now that I am done, I am grateful to be able to post on some of the books I have read the last two weeks. Two weeks of school left before Spring Break, and we are back to our weekly recorded message about a covid alert in one of the four schools my family attends. We were getting them once a week, always on a Sunday night for some reason. I think we had three weeks in a row, but then finally a bit of a reprieve. Until tonight, when my oldest daughter’s school got one. We have been really fortunate that none of us have had covid-19 yet, and I certainly feel for all of those that have lost loved ones or been sick themselves. We have had some heightened anxiety over hearing that there was someone in the school who soon after tested positive, but these are the times we are in and that is just the way it will be for a while longer.

Books I Enjoyed Since My Last Post

I missed this graphic novel that seems a good choice for fans of Telgemeier and Hale when it first came out. It is another good story about managing the changing relationships in the middle years of school. It takes being left out of the groups performing at a talent show for Olive to realize that even though she feels like she kind of clicks with all the kids at her school, she doesn’t have any really close friends. She is lucky to have an aunt to help her figure out how to deal with this problem. I have this in the library now, and of course it got signed out right away. I should get the feedback to buy the rest of the series soon.

 

I have a group of readers within my grade 5/6 class this year that have really been loving novels-in-verse. Its not only the format, but the ones that I have had them read feature really well written characters. This one is by a BC author, whose Missing Mike I really enjoyed, and decided to include in my school district’s Battle of the Books this year. My class starts this in early April, when we are back from Spring Break. In anticipation of Missing Mike being a hit with my novel-in-verse fans, I bought this one. It has been out for a while and I quite liked it. Macy is dealing with her Mom’s upcoming marriage, which she is not a big supporter of, partially because she will be moving out of her home and into her Mom’s new husband’s house. Just before that happens, she is also struggling with a dispute with her best friend at school. As she is preparing to move, her Mom has her help the lady next door (the other title character) who is also preparing to move. Macy hadn’t really gotten to know her to well, and going through the neighbour’s old stuff sparks a lot of neat conversations about life that drive the rest of the plot. Macy’s deafness makes it more challenging to communicate but Macy’s hearing is not really the main part of the plot.

To be honest, I don’t always have a lot of luck finding readers for Early Reader books such as this. Elephant and Piggie is one exception. I have some other really good series, but readers that I think would love this type of book seem to either stick with picture books, or Elephant and Piggie. I did enjoy these first two Fox + Chick books that have three stories in each of them and have some of the buddy humour that is essential to this type of book. I know these books have a lot of fans in this group, if you haven’t checked them out, and you have young readers in your life, I encourage you to do so. They are very cute and funny.

A little book about a big power hungry grasshopper who likes to boss the other insects around. Of course he needs to get what is coming to him and have a smaller creature prove that being big and loud is not everything. It is a classic underdog story and shows that all different types of creatures can make an impact.

Currently Reading

It has been a little slow in terms of my reading lately. But this week should be much better. I should finish Where We Used to Roam tomorrow. I am really enjoying it, it releases on Tuesday. The plot reminds me a tiny bit of Kate Messner’s The Seventh Wish, a book I liked. I was up late reading this book last night. Once in a while I read a short story or two from B.J. Novak’s short story collection. The author of The Book With No Pictures, and a writer/actor from the office, Novak has some funny moments in this collection but it is not really forcing me to read it exclusively. My class is really enjoying Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn, we are a little over half done. I hope we can finish before Spring Break starts in two weeks. My family read aloud is A Wish in the Dark. It is a re-read for the adults. We really loved this book and wanted to share it with our 13 and 10 year old daughters.

On Deck Reading

I still want to get to these two ARCs that I have, but I think I said that in my last post. I will read one of them this week. I have a few picture books to get to as well. 

Thanks for reading my post, and I hope to get to read what everyone else has been enjoying. Have a great week!