IMWAYR September 27, 2021

 

The start of another week, and I think I had one of the more relaxing weekends I have had in a while, which allows me to write this post a lot earlier than usual. I know I probably ignored some workish things that I thought I would do today, but that is good self-care, or as good as it gets for me. I didn’t worry too much about whether I had enough books read for this blog post, or how much I put into my assessment work. That will happen tomorrow. My wife and I played D&D with our two daughters, I did finish a book I have been wanting to read this morning and I feel ready to for what tomorrow might bring. I might be setting myself up for a bad Monday tomorrow…

At any rate, I hope your weekend was great, and that you are set up for a good week. I am happy to link this post up with other bloggers at Teach Mentor Texts, and Unleashing Readers. Today, I will share a few books that I read over the week and the cover of a book that I excited to read in the future.

New Cover

Two years ago my school used Diane Magras’ The Mad Wolf’s Daughter as one of our Battle of the Books titles. I loved the historical fiction aspect with a Scottish medieval setting, the non-stop adventure, and the way the story played out with not knowing which character’s side of the story was the truth. When I heard that she had a new book out I signed up to an email list to learn more and I was intrigued by a story that features some of the historical fiction elements and also some steampunk, which I am a sucker for. The book seems to put kids in dangerous situations that have more of a fantasy element than Diane Magras’ previous books with some monsters involved and steampunk castles. The cover looks like such a fun read. I wish this book was out sooner than June 2022, but I feel sure it will be something to look forward to.

Books I Enjoyed This Week

The second of the Misewa Saga picks up where the first one left off. As in the first novel, we are with Morgan and Eli in the earth world, where they are the victims of systemic racism at their school, but do have the support of a good friend, and supportive foster parents. We are also with them in a world that they enter through a portal, Misewa. In the second book their time in Misewa, ends up being a bit about the backstory of some of the events in the first book. Once Morgan and Eli head through the portal they find familiar characters and have to determine how best to help them. In doing so, they also find out how to help themselves as well

With some powerful themes and inferences to explore, and great art work, this is a series that I have always enjoyed. This is the third Julia… picture book. I think they have the potential to generate some great discussions with older picture book readers, and could be a gateway to author/illustrator two of Ben Hatke’s graphic novel series Zita the Spacegirl and Mighty Jack.

This was a cute story of a young boy who loves his books, but notices that one seems to go missing each night. He develops a plan to determine what is happening and it works. He is able to solve the mystery and fix the problem of his missing books, while still allowing his books to be lent out and read. An ending that will have every librarian’s heart, this book will be good to share with early learners at the beginning of the year as they start to take out books for the first time.

A young Metis girl who does not feel like she is very good at anything, learn to do a traditional dance, the Red River jig. She has to be brave to learn the dance, to show her classmates and to enter a competition at the request of her grandmother. She learns to have pride in herself and her culture. I thought the story was good and nice to have a Metis book, but I am not sure how kids will do with this one as there are a lot of words per page for a picture book. 

A nice early primary book with lots of repetition that will also introduce readers to the syilx (Okanagan) language. Julie Flett’s illustrations are typically beautiful. This book focuses on local (to my area) Indigenous language and it is great to see books like this for representation. Catherine Jameson does a great job of creating a story that young readers will enjoy and learn a few words of local language by reading.

 

Currently Reading

I honestly thought my family and I would be done Ship Breaker, but it is so much harder to have a family read aloud now that my oldest is so much more active in high school with things like jazz band, volleyball and debate club. We have only three chapters left, it is an interesting story in a well thought out futuristic world. I am reaidng The Ruins of Gorlan with my class. I seem to do so every two years. I offered them three choices and this is the one that they wanted. I thought it might be Wonder as a read aloud to start the year, but instead it is this coming-of-age novel set in an alternate medieval world. Building Thinking Classroom is a book I am reading to improve my practice in math. I really like it, but honestly, it did not have a chance of being read this weekend. I only just started Violets Are Blue, which releases Tuesday, but I am really excited to read another important novel by Barbara Dee.

Thanks for stopping to read my post this week, hope you have a great week and if you are writing your own post, I look forward to reading about what you have been up to.