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!

It’s Monday, February 15 (Family Day in BC!), here is what I have been reading.

I used to post here quite often about my reading week, but in the last year or so I have found it increasingly difficult to find the time to do so. As many of you know, lots of things are just a lot more difficult as we learn to live with this pandemic. I am still teaching grade 5/6 in a face-to-face school and taking all the extra precautions to try and make that safer. BC does not have a mask mandate for students at my grade level, but there are many other safety measures in place. We have been fortunate as a school to have only one covid exposure (a member of the school community tested positive causing that class to self-isolate for two weeks from the date of the person being in the school). There are also a lot of changes in the library but I am still open (this is about 35% of my teaching assignment, and another great teacher covers my class). I guess all of the extra work led to me not doing this very much, but also really missing it. I read some of the great posts and today I decided to try again as I have a holiday day off. The other important factor is that I just learned how to turn off the WordPress block editor (it was not intuitive for me and was doubling my writing time for these posts).

Books I Enjoyed This Week

I didn’t actually read the first collaboration between these two creative people, Ida Always, although I know I saw it on someone’s blog. My wife purchased this book for her library and I have often really loved Charles Santoso’s illustrations in The Snurtch, Dandy and other books. As the cover reveals, this is a really great animal friendship story that will appeal to any of the animal lovers in your life. Its based on a friendship between two animals at a rehabilitation ranch in Oklahoma. A horse losing its vision comes slowly befriends a prickly goat who, in time, becomes a great support.

This is another book that my wife bought for her library (we both have time in different elementary school libraries) and while she had it at home to process, I was able to borrow it. The setting is the Okanagan area in BC, about 150 km southeast of where I live (I hope at least one person who lives even closer than I do reads this). The setting is kind of the star of this book. It works as a sort of timeline for the changes that happen in the area, especially the contact between white people and the Indigenous Peoples that are near the area. These are tricky books to write and as a librarian, I always want to buy them if they are historically accurate and sensitive to how contact negatively impacted Indigenous peoples. What I can say about this book is that Indigenous people were consulted with in the writing of the book (I think the author is from a different part of Canada, so that for me was something that could be an issue). This doesn’t give it some more authenticity as a cultural administrator for the Westbank First Nation states that the book’s story reminds us of the need to take responsibility and care for the land. The focus here is really on the land, and if you are using this book (which is a little too long for simple read alouds with primary aged groups in the library) to help study first contacts between Indigenous and Europeans, it is really a jumping off point, and you will need other resources to advance a more thorough discussion of contact. It does have great illustrations and covers a lot of points of history in the area and how they impacted the land such as railway building, the use of the land as a training area for soldiers and more recently, a wildfire. There was some of the Indigenous content I was looking for, and even though I wanted a little more, I will add this to my library.

I typically add Ryan Higgins’s books to my library right away, and if they are Bruce books, so much the better. My students love this grumpy bear. I don’t think this one will disappoint them and it is more accessible than the full-sized Bruce books that seem to work best as read alouds.

This is a book I remember seeing lots of buzz for in the summer, and I really wanted to read it. I was getting a Rain Reign, OCDaniel vibe off of it. Those two novels, by Ann Martin and Wesley King respectively, are quite popular in my school. I sold them to kids through book talks and their inclusion in our yearly Battle of the Books. I have been surprised by how much students seem to enjoy books that portray characters dealing with mental health issues. In reading this one, I was hoping the portrayal was accurate, and also that the inclusion of a character that is of Ojibwe heritage would also be authentic.

I enjoyed most of the story but I was aware of the main character, Collin’s statements that he know little of his heritage (having grown up in California) and that some of what he thought to be true were really false stereotypical views from media. At one point, I wondered if there were too many stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples in the book itself. It seems the author’s background is similar to the character’s, and I was able to find this blog post at American Indian’s in Children’s Literature that does a much better job of explaining some of the depictions of life on the reserve in the story https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2021/02/an-ojibwe-educators-review-of-brave-by.html . The blog post is written by Dr. Janis A. Fairbanks who writes that “my community is… the setting of the book.” The issues she brings up with the depiction of the reserve in Minnesota are important.

Another major plot point in this book is that Collin displays OCD behaviours such as counting the letters in speech that is directed at him and answering any such speech with the total number of letters. This condition seems to be related to social anxiety. A large part of the book is how poorly treated Collin is as a result of this, particularly at school, and how he comes to deal with it. I think my readers of OCDaniel would need more details about this condition, maybe in the story or maybe in the afterword. I am not really an expert on these types of anxiety driven conditions, but as I did with the handling of culture in this story, I am going to try to find out more for my readers before recommending this book to them. I really loved a lot of the secondary characters, but am worried that the main character’s heritage and medical condition may detract from the plot’s magical realism, which I think might appeal to some readers.

This is a series that is always must-purchase for me. I had to wait longer than I wanted to for this one, but it was worth the wait. While this is the seventh HiLO book, it feels like the first book in a new series too. This is because Gina is emerging as the main character with her thoughts, emotions and actions at the core. HiLo is still there and provides much of the comic relief with I always love in this series, but Gina dealing with the changes in her life was also really well done.

I always find it a little confusing about when books arrive. I had a hard time getting HiLo, but I have this book even though the publishing date is actually a week from tomorrow (Feb. 23). This is a local Indigenous author who actually attended the school that I teach at. So, this was a must have book as well. It includes some words in a few Indigenous languages in this part of my province and a glossary at the back that guides readers who do not speak those languages. The book is not so much a narrative (for me, at least) but more an examination of what we see and hear when out in nature and a call to celebrate and sustain our connection to the land.

I am not the biggest Anne of Green Gables fan, but my friend that teaches next door to me would be in the conversation if that title was ever awarded. This made me seek out this early chapter series after seeing it in Cheriee Weichel’s blog post some time ago. I feel like the first two books (this is #2) hit all the right notes: highlighting the most important parts of the story (as I know it) and using some of the really interestingly descriptive language while still keeping the books short and accessible for young readers in a way that reminded my friend right away of Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson books. I am glad I got this one in time for our school’s celebration of Canadian written stories this week. I Read Canadian Day is Wednesday, February 17th.

Currently Reading

 

I somehow missed reading the Click series of graphic novels when they came out. They seem geared to fans of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale’s graphic novels and in the early going that seems to be the case. The main character is not being asked to join some of the social groups forming around a talent show but does not want to approach anyone either. I know of a few kids who could learn how to handle this type of social situation and I want to see where the rest of this book goes. I am re-reading recent Newbery Honor book, A Wish in the Dark as our family read aloud. I really enjoyed my first reading of this book. I am also re-reading Airborn with my grade 5/6 class. We are really enjoying this steampunkish adventure.

On Deck Reading

 

I have a couple of Shari Green’s novels-in-verse that I am going to read as Missing Mike has been very popular in my library right now, and novels-in-verse in general have been more popular this year than the last couple years. I might try this one, or Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles. I am probably going to choose one of these ARCs later in the week, probably Game Changer since it is already out and I meant to read it much sooner.

Thanks for reading my post, it is a little late on Monday, but it was also kind of an impulsive decision to write it. I hope to read more of the other Monday posts this evening and as the week progresses. Have an excellent reading week!

It’s Monday, September 28, What Are You Reading?

Tomorrow is the beginning of the third full week of in-class instruction at my school. The results are really mixed, I would say. Our community is small, but we did have a positive test in the last week and some people are choosing to self-isolate out of caution. In looking at my classroom and my library, you might not be able to tell that we are going through a pandemic. They look, pretty much the same at times, unless an adult is wearing a mask. Three months ago, that would have been shocking for me, but things seem to change quickly and there seems to be some acceptance that this is the way things are for now.

With things being the way they are, a good escapist read is much appreciated and I have had a few of those lately. I am happy to be able to share them with other bloggers that link-up at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. Thanks to Kellee and Ricki, as well as Jen V. for continuing to host us.

Books I Enjoyed This Week

I borrowed this picture book from my wife’s school library. We found it through one of the bloggers in our link-up, I think it was Michelle Knott’s but there were probably multiple readers of this book. It seems very relevant these days to twist this classic story and focus on what is a fact, and how to tell what it not a fact. That is kind of what this story does. Very cute.

Ryan Higgins sets the bar so high. His books are really well loved in my school. First, we fell in love with Bruce, and now Penelope (and his early chapter What About Worms? is cute too). I didn’t quite love this one as much as the first Penelope books, We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, but that might not be fair to this book, because as I said the bar is high. In this book, Penelope struggles with whether or not to play in a talent show for her classmates. Stories about courage are pretty needed right now for all of us, so I will find a place for this story.

The next installment of The Princess in Black early chapter series comes out on October 6. In this, the eighth tale (or 9th counting the really short covid-19 related one that came out last school year), the Princess in Black, accompanied by The Goat Avenger and The Princess in Blankets have particular trouble with a nasty giant that is just too big to stop and doesn’t seem to listen to reason. They need to enlist the help of many new and old heroes to stop this foe from destroying everything in sight. And this giant is not what he seems. Cute and funny as usual, and I love the illustrations by LeUyen Pham. I think these illustrations are my favourite in this series. Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

The debut of Rebecca Stead was a re-read for me as our family’s read aloud. My oldest was scared it would be “another survival book” but it is a lot more than that (don’t mind her, but she did have a few years of mostly survival themed novel studies and now she is tired of the genre). I think Rebecca Stead is best known for one of my favourite books, When You Reach Me, and although the setting is quite different here, there is still a bit of mystery and somethings you will need to find out along with the main characters, Peter, a boy from New York on an scientific expedition with his parents, and Thea, a girl who is frustrated with her local government who have never allowed her to explore and see the wider world around her.

This was my escapist read of the week in many ways, but also a bit of a tough read during a pandemic. A pandemic does not happen in this series, but a VERY serious threat to humanity does happen, and there are many parallels between what occurs and what we are living through. This is book two though, so you really need to read Bloom first. If you are the type of person that might find it odd and a little funny that characters are dealing with a toilet paper shortage, this might be the series for you. If you are the type of person who liked Day of the Triffids as well, then this is certainly for you.

Kenneth Oppel started this trilogy with Bloom, a story about plants that just seem to be everywhere. They can’t be killed, and start to feed off of humans. But, three Salt Spring Island teens seem to be immune and are the key to survival and winning what seems to be the beginning of a war.

Hatch picks up where Bloom left off and if anything, ups the ante considerably. This is still terrific science fiction with a touch of horror, and you will want to keep reading, but it will be over. For now. The third book is scheduled to arrive in May.

Currently Reading

I was reading this book earlier last week, but I had to switch to Hatch. This is nothing against this book, but I needed to get Hatch to a student this week. I am going back to this story of two young people heading out to try to climb Everest. They are very experienced mountain climbers. The book comes out on October 13, and I have an early copy from NetGalley.

On Deck Reading

I have an ARC of Bye-Bye Blue Creek, the second Sam Abernathy book by Andrew Smith. Sam is a character from Smith’s YA series Winger. I really loved that book, and the follow-up/sequels have been good, but not as great as the original, for me. I still want to read the next one though. It comes out on Oct. 13. I also have my oldest encouraging me to read the fourth Trials of Apollo book by Rick Riordan before the fifth one arrives in early October as well. Lastly, it is my choice for family read aloud and I think we are going to read the fifth Dory Fantasmagory, because they are just hilarious.

Thanks for stopping here to hear what I have been reading, hope to see what you have been reading soon.

It’s the last day of Summer, what have you been reading?

Today is, I believe, the last official day of summer. I missed writing last week about my reading and last night (when I would normally have queued up this post) but wanted to note my last few books of the summer here. Summer reading kind of ends when school begins, which for me was right after Labour Day and that kind of explains why I did not post last week and nearly missed this week, but I have read a few books that I would love to share with others. Thanks, as usual, to the Kellee, and Ricki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts for providing a link-up for It’s Monday posts.

Books I Enjoyed Over the Last Two Weeks

This one is for more developed early chapter readers. It is the kind of book that sometimes gets missed in my library. I have students that are not up for reading slightly longer early chapter books when they are the right age from an interest perspective. When their reading skills are sufficient, they sometimes don’t have the interest in reading “animal stories.” But for those that do, I think they will enjoy this story, which I have seen compared to things like Winnie the Pooh. For me, it made me think of Kate DiCamillo’s Deckawoo Drive series. It wasn’t as humorous to me, but the interplay between Skunk and Badger reminded me a little of Eugenia and Baby Lincoln in that they have very different world views. There is a similar sense of whimsy as well. I am a big fan of Deckawoo Drive, and I am not saying I enjoyed this as much, but young readers that are fans of DiCamillo, might also enjoy this book.

This is the second book in a spin-off of John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice (RA) series. I have loved sharing that series with a few books and also with my own kids. It takes place in an author created world that resembles our own during medieval times. Rangers are kind of like a combination of the FBI and the CIA. This series takes place about 20 years after the original RA series and features a female main character, Maddie, who is the daughter of two characters from RA. Maddie gets pulled into a situation that someone of her age and experience shouldn’t really be getting into. A political group called The Red Fox Clan opposes females having the right to succession to the throne. When The Red Fox Clan gets more aggressive about creating change in Araluen they become a threat to the monarchy, and Rangers need to get involved.

Another really funny picture book from a team that I hope continues to collaborate. This book, along with You Don’t Want a Unicorn, pulls kids in quickly and forces out lots of giggles and belly laughs in my library. With the destruction of a pet unicorn still evident, our little friend decides he really needs to switch things up and get a pet dragon. This is, of course, a very bad and dangerous idea.

One of the best first week of school books I have ever read. Lots to unpack for groups of students trying to build community, be brave, try new things, and work together. Great humour in the words and illustrations.

A great addition to the series, I think fans will love being back in the mind of Jaron (I did). His defiant sense of humour shines again as he begins a battle with new enemies and some old friends. This is a fast paced thrill ride. This is exactly the escapist read I needed right now.

I think a lot of hockey fans, like me, will relate to this story of a boy who is initially disappointed with his “new” hand me down skates. Eventually, little Bobby (widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest hockey players) learns to love his skates and there is a great moment when he passes them on to someone else. The illustrations makes the book feel older, which kind of fits the subject matter with kids skating on frozen ponds. I enjoyed this, not sure people who are not hockey fans would though.

Currently Reading

I just started an ARC of Above All Else and I honestly haven’t gotten very far to describe it other than to say it is about mountain climbing which is clear from the title. My family and I are wrapping up our read of First Light this week. I started The False Prince with my grade 5/6 class today.

On Deck Reading

I would likely be reading Hatch but I lent it to someone (given how badly I want to read that book, you know it must be someone special- yes it is my wife). Hopefully, I get to start and read it this week and I have several new picture books to read while I (im)patiently wait. Thanks for reading my very late post for the week, and I hope to see what many others have been reading this week.

It’s already, September!?! What have you been reading?

It’s another Monday, this one is a holiday, and the day before the first day of school here in BC. But, because this is 2020, and she likes to do things in ways that are different from ever before. No students tomorrow. Our return to work plan needs more work, so educators will go it alone for two days here in BC, and try to work out all the details in order to give the plan the best chance of success when we welcome kids back into our buildings on Thursday.

A little less pressure not having students tomorrow (but I still feel the pressure of not being sure how to make this work properly later in the week) is probably a factor in me finding the time to write this post. I am linking up with our great hosts at Teach Mentor Texts (thanks Jen) and Unleashing Readers (thanks Kellee and Ricki). I managed to finish a couple of books late in the week, although I did find it hard to concentrate on reading with my focus on news being a little too high, and my other release from that (aside from reading) taking lots of time (watching playoff hockey and basketball- which I miss playing).

Books I Enjoyed This Week

I really enjoyed reading an e-ARC through Edelweiss+ of this second book featuring Kevin the Unicorn. The art is really bright and eye catching, but there are also many little details that relate to the story hiding in plain sight. In the story, Kevin really wants to be besties with the new unicorn moving in, but it just doesn’t work. They don’t like the same things, and that is okay. Once they are honest with one another, they figure out they can be friendly, if not besties.
Great story, full of some fun word play. We should start seeing this in stores on Tuesday.

Not really kidlit, I know, but a few of you got me on to this series. When I rated on Goodreads, I saw Cherie’s review and it was nearly exactly what I was feeling. I did not love this second book as much as the first, but I am kind of hooked, in my case, I would say I am hooked on this character. I would read what it thought about grocery shopping.

This has been one of the most difficult books for me to read. I heard about it a long time ago. My school Skyped with Dusti Bowling and chatted about it. I was ready to grab it as soon as I could. I asked on NetGalley and got no reply for months. I switched to Edelweiss + (so much easier for me to get books on so far) and got accepted right away. But, the download to Kindle did not work. So, I tried Adobe Digital Editions and it did not work (first time for me). Customer service tried, but to no avail. Finally, a couple of weeks later, and after I had given up, a different book loaded to something called Bluefire Reader, and I thought, well why not try The Canyon’s Edge again. Good idea, for once.

It is a powerful story about a girl, Nora, living after trauma but not really living. When she and her father are caught in a flash flood while hiking in a slot canyon, she has to fight to live. She battles against nearly everything the desert could throw at her (and if you know Dusti Bowling books, you know few, if any, writers can tell a story in a desert so well. She battles the dark thoughts in her head as only a survivor of earlier trauma would have to. In doing so, she discovers that she truly wants to live and that she has much left to do with her life.
The story is mostly told in-verse and is beautifully written as we slowly begin to know much of what Nora has been through and how she can begin to grow again. And, thanks to Edelweiss + for allowing me the chance to read this book, which comes out on Tuesday.

I probably should have already read one of the Max books, in which Max explains something that he has become an expert at to the reader, in this case, owning a puppy. But, I haven’t. This was a cute and fun way to learn alongside a boy about what it really takes to be a puppy owner. We see the good and the bad. Kids should be able to relate to this if they have ever been through pet ownership and will learn something if they haven’t. I need to seek out the others in this series.

Currently Reading and On Deck Reads

The second in the series of books that spun off of John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. These books take place a generation after the first series, and are called The Royal Ranger books. The best part is that there is a female main character. There were a few secondary characters in his first series, but well away from most of the action. I read the first quite a while ago, but my youngest is getting me back into them. She really enjoys these and it has been a while but I did too.

This is our latest family read aloud. It is a re-read for me, the debut of one of my favourite authors, Rebecca Stead.

I was supposed to start this one last week, but I am a little distracted by getting e-ARCs. Maybe this week? It feels like it is going to be busy though.

Thanks for stopping here to see what I have been reading, I hope to be better about reading other blogs this week. I just moved through a lot of them today. Hopefully, many of you had a great relaxing long weekend, and are starting a fabulous reading week.

It’s the last Monday of the Summer!!! Here is what I was reading…

Well, it was kind of cold today, and I go back to work tomorrow (just professional development, no students for another week and a half), so it feels like summer is kind of over. That is pretty depressing way to begin a piece of writing, but the end of summer to me means that I have to cram in the last few books before work cuts into reading time.

I am pleased to be able to post about a few great books this week and link up this post with those of many other reader/bloggers at Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts sites. Thanks to the hosts of those sites, Kellee and Ricki and Jen respectively for continuing to support our linkup this week.

Books I Enjoyed This Week

I really enjoyed this ownvoices, speculative fiction novel. I have read that this is considered a YA book, but as an elementary teacher, I am thinking about considering it upper MG and adding it to my classroom/school library. I was able to read an e-ARC through NetGalley. This book was just released at the beginning of the week.
The setting and the character’s approach to the supernatural is what first made me think of this as speculative fiction, rather than fantasy. Our main character, Ellie, is a Lipan Apache teen who has the ability to raise the dead. Her best friend is a dog that has been dead for years. The way this was so casually mentioned made me think this America (Texas, actually) is slightly different than the one we know.
These types of powers are passed down in a family and seem to be accepted as part of normal life. This America is impacted by monsters, ghosts, magic, and it seems more impacted by stories, including the stories of Ellie’s people.
Being Lipan Apache is different in Darcy Little Badger’s America, but there were some scenes that show that racism was still very much a force in this America, present and past. One scene in particular when Ellie is in a store is great for white people to read about how Indigenous peoples are often treated.
When Ellie’s cousin is murdered, her instincts tell her that she needs to investigate. She travels to a small town in Texas to help her Mom look after the grieving family and begins to find out that something is very wrong.
Ellie uses her powers, and knowledge passed on through her ancestors as well as the support of an elder, her friends and family to learn more about her cousin’s death.
What is going on turns out to be even bigger than a murder investigation, and I am hoping this turns out to be more than one standalone book. I would read more books set in this world, with Ellie as the MC, or not, although the way that Lipan Apache traditions and ways of knowing are interspersed is also something I would read more of.

Lupe Wong is a cute and funny story about a middle school student who has many of the awkward issues around growing up. Then, she has to deal with the horrors of a new PE unit on square dancing, hence the title. Lupe does NOT want to dance and does everything she can to avoid it. Her efforts largely blow up in her face and contribute to some of the friendship troubles that she faces. She is an interesting character, and it is easy to root for her as she figures out how to do right by her friends and herself. The book also contains a diverse cast of characters. Lupe has mixed heritage with one side of her family identifying as Chinese and the other half as Mexican. In a scene featuring a culture event at school several other characters demonstrate aspects of their family’s heritage. Most of the kids belong to cliques centered around their sports teams, those character tend to be stereotypically mean. Lupe plays baseball but is kind of the exception to this. She has other friends and learns in this book how to be a better friend to them. Her friends, are well developed characters and alongside the humour of Donna Barba Higuera, their discovery that all kids are worthy and none better than the other is the strength of this book. Early middle school readers should enjoy this story. This was another book published by Levine Querido, as is Elatsoe, a new name in publishing that is really focussed on Ownvoices works such as this one. I also enjoyed picking this one up from Edelweiss +.

The Eye of Ra was a fast paced adventure story perfect for kids that have graduated from books like Magic Tree House, and are on the way to reading books like Percy Jackson. The time travel element makes it easy to compare this story to Magic Tree House, but this is clearly for an older reader. Sarah and her younger brother John accidentally discover a way to travel back in time to Ancient Egypt. Relating to the power of the god Ra, they also are surprised to discover that they are able to communicate with the people that they meet. This leads to them making some friends and immersing themselves in Egyptian culture.
This allows for a richer experience for the reader as they can learn about some of the work done to build pyramids, about Egyptian food, daily life, mythology and more. In addition to the great information provided, there is a lot of action as John and Sarah try to help solve a mystery that jeopardizes the building of the pyramid and also are confronted by scorpions, sandstorms, snakes and (my least favourite for some reason- nothing to do with this book) crocodiles.
I enjoyed the relationship between brother and sister in this book. It continued to change and evolve during the course of the events.
A couple of key events late in the book show the potential for what might come next in this series, and many readers will enjoy anticipating the action of upcoming books from Ben Gartner. I was fortunate to get an e-ARC version of this book, and will enjoy turning readers onto this series.

I was a huge fan of Jabari Jumps, and it is a read aloud favourite at my school, so when I saw that there was a new Jabari book on Edelweiss ‘s list, I requested it immediately and felt lucky to get to review this one.
Once again, Jabari is a young boy trying to stretch himself and complete a tough task. He is challenged by the task and needs to take a moment to collect himself, listen to the advice of his father and accept help in order to complete this STEM tasks.
While I did not get as much out of the art in this book (there are some changes in vantage point as was the case in Gaia Cornwall’s last Jabari book that are good but they do not work as well as in the first one) compared to Jabari Jumps, I loved the message for kids who have to persevere through tough tasks. I think kids are going to love this one just as much as the earlier Jabari book. For some of the older (kids or adults) readers of this one, there are some names of inventors in the background of one of the pages and instead of using some of the white centered inventors that typically come up in STEM titles, I thought it was great that Gaia Cornwall chose to highlight BIPOC inventors and scientists that are far less famous for their amazing achievements (Lewis Howard Latimer, Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal, Roy Allela and Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson). I am not super knowledge when it comes to inventors and I had to google a few of these names. Their work could make a great jumping off point for discussions.

Currently Reading

The second in the series of Murderbot novellas that so many other bloggers have written about and inspired me to read. My wife is also hooked on this now. We don’t make time for too many adult books, but I just got this one on hold as e-book from my public library.

This is our latest family read aloud. It is a re-read for me, the debut of one of my favourite authors, Rebecca Stead.

This is a writer whose books are consistently entertaining, and probably the most popular with my two daughters. I would already enjoy these books, but being able to chat with my girls about them pushes me to read them. This is the fourth of the Trials of Apollo series, which takes place in the Percy Jackson universe. The final book comes out in October (book 5) so it feels like the right time to be starting this one.

Thanks for reading this post, I hope to check in with other posts this week at Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts (much more than I did last week). Have a great reading week!

It’s Monday, August 24th, What Are You Reading!

The last full week of my summer vacation. Next Monday, I will be back at school completing some professional development with the other teachers at my school for two days. Generally, that is the week many of us are getting classrooms ready. Here in BC, we have all of our students scheduled to return to full face to face learning, so there will be much to do in order to make the return safe and welcoming.

This week, I plan to finish a lot of books. I started to use Edelweiss+ for the first time several days ago, and I wasn’t expecting to get so many acceptances to read books so quickly. I ended up getting nine in just a couple of days. I have had issues downloading one of them, but other than that it has been great. I did fail to notice that one of them expires on Tuesday though, so I had to switch the novel I was reading yesterday, and start reading a different one. I should finish both of them in the next couple of days and will write more about them next week. Here are the books I finished this week.

Books I Recently Enjoyed

I was sent this book by Penguin after attending a virtual conference. It is a really uplifting story of a girl named Esther, a young Jewish girl who lives with most of her family in Poland. Her father has moved to Cuba and is trying to make enough money to bring the rest of the family to Cuba. He makes enough to bring one of them over, and Esther fights to be the one. I loved that she convinces her parents that sending the oldest boy is not the best plan (she is the oldest child). Once she arrives her positivity and spirit change everything for her family. I loved how she saw the beauty and the good in her new life in Cuba. The book does show that there were certainly some challenges for people in her situation but the rich setting, and support Esther and her family find in Cuba really overpower the racism they experience.

Last week, I reviewed David A. Robertson’s upcoming MG novel The Barren Grounds, which I really enjoyed but I think he has even more graphic novels than MG and YA books out. This graphic novel came out in 2012 and it was originally four short graphic stories. In them, Edwin, an Indigenous teen struggles with feelings that his hopes will never be realized. After a suicide attempt, his mother feels he needs to find out more about where he comes from in order to help address the past of his people and embrace the future. We get different pieces of his family’s history, from war, to smallpox infection, residential school, and his father’s belief that he was not capable of being the parent his son needed. There are a lot of necessary and uncomfortable scenes for the reader to learn about the history of an Indigenous family. Edwin has to learn about finding his own way forward, acknowledging the past without being defined by it and offering some forgiveness where warranted. A very powerful book.

This was a re-read for me. Our family read aloud. I have read all four books of this series, and look forward to a fifth coming in 2021. It’s a mystery that is set in 17th century England. Christopher Rowe is an orphan who has the fortune to land an apprenticeship as an apothecary under Benjamin Blackthorn. However, their world is rocked by the murder of several in their guild throughout London. Christopher and his loyal friend Tom have to solve codes, and puzzles to learn the secrets behind these deaths. A smart, thrilling beginning to the series featuring one of my favourite friendships.

I first heard about this book at the Western Washington University Children’s Lit Conference I attended just before the pandemic began to really limit people’s ability to travel. Jason Chin was one of the four featured speakers, and sold his audience on his upcoming book, even reading a few pages. I was fortunate to get an e-ARC from Edelweiss+ this week. Jason Chin tackles a pretty challenging topic here. Trying to show children their size relative to something as massive as the universe or even a galaxy. The pictures do a great job of accomplishing this task. Kids that enjoy learning about space will also have a lot of facts to digest in the main story and also in the back pages. Those that enjoy numbers will like learning about their own size relative to massive things on earth and then the sizes of those large things like Mt. Everest, compared to distances in space. For fans of Jason Chin, this one has a little less of the narrative aspect than his books such as Grand Canyon and Redwoods, but I really enjoyed the facts and perspective. Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Holiday House for allowing me to read and review this title that comes out on September 1.

Currently Reading

This was the ninth book that I got from Edelweiss+ this week, but it wasn’t until after I downloaded it that I noticed it had a deadline of Tuesday, it’s release date, so I need to read it quickly! It is a very interesting with elements of supernatural, and speculative fiction.

I was reading this book until I realized that Elatsoe has a deadline. I was really enjoying the humor and will be happy to go back and finish it soon.

I am pretty sure this is the first book Rebecca Stead published. I really enjoyed reading it several years ago. My wife has selected it for our next family read aloud that we start today.

On Deck Reading

I think I will finish both of the books I am reading on my own fairly soon, and then go back to last week’s plan to read The Eye of Ra. I was approved for an e-ARC of Dusti Bowling’s The Canyon’s Edge, but I can’t seem to get the document to work on my IPAD, so I hope that my frustration finds a happy ending and I get that one to work, and finally read it. Thanks for stopping by here to see what I have been reading. Check out other Monday bloggers at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. Thanks to Jen, Kellee and Ricki for hosting. Have a great week!

It’s Monday, what are you reading? 08/17/20

Another Monday is here, and as a teacher and part-time librarian it is hard not to start thinking about the start of the new school year once you get into mid-August. Of course, this is particular year will not start like any other and it is also hard to think about the new school year.

I am two weeks away from our annual professional development conference. Usually, our whole district meets together on the first day. That was cancelled back in May. We are doing more remote, self-directed professional development than in the past in place of some of the face-to-face stuff we have done as a group in the past. We have two days planned in our schools to work in small groups.

The week after that, we start teaching. My province’s full back to school plan is a work in progress, but so far it has been a bit of a surprise. I did not think we would be welcoming back students for full-time, face-to-face learning, but that is the case. Since the announcement, parents, teachers and administrators all called on the government to push back the starting day to allow educators to work together on how to best implement the plan in their space, and it sounds like the first two days will be for that purpose.

So, I really only have two weeks of summer reading left, best to make the most of it. The weather was extremely hot this week which usually has me staying inside a bit more, but I am a hockey fan, so the playoffs have me distracted as well. I did manage to get several books read this week and I am eager to share some upcoming releases.

Books I Enjoyed This Week

This is a book that comes out tomorrow, I managed to get an ARC by entering a draw at an virtual conference several months ago. As a big kidlit reader, I sometimes miss out on authors that write for older audiences. The cover let me know that this was by an author that has won many awards for books intended for audiences older than this book, her first MG title. I really enjoyed it. It follows a boy, Nnamdi, who is grieving the loss of his father, the chief of police, when he discovers that he has some superpowers that may help him continue his father’s work of eliminating crime. Nnamdi is a big fan of comic book superheroes and now he has become similar to one. However, how will he learn to control these powers? He is a regular kid, who makes a lot of mistakes in judgement. I liked how having superpowers, did not make things great right away. He needs the help of a good friend, and the ability to reflect, make changes and grow as a person in order to have the best chance at defeating the cast of criminals that inhabited his Nigerian town. Some of the villains had names and personalities that reminded me of very old Batman TV shows and I wonder how kids will take to it, but I did enjoy that the book was set in contemporary Nigeria.

I really enjoyed the first Julia book, Julia’s House for Lost Creatures, and so I asked for an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley. I think it makes more sense if you have read the earlier but not completely necessary. Here, the cast of strange creatures from the first book is still living with Julia. The art will look very familiar to fans of Ben Hatke’s graphic novels (Zita and the Spacegirl trilogy, and Mighty Jack) and I love the way motion is depicted in many of the pictures. The creatures are getting restless, hence some of the movement, and the house is as well. Julia makes a plan to move on. But, like a lot of things in 2020, Julia’s plans do not work out, and she and the creatures have to show high levels of adaptability. However, will they thrive when things get really rough. This one will be easy to make connections to after it comes out at the end of September. There are two lines at the very end that struck me. The second to last is true of me on a bad day, and the the very last one is true on a good day. I feel like 2020 has provided a lot of both so far.

This is another sequel that I picked up from NetGalley. I enjoyed sharing the first one with my kids, who as you might know are huge fans of mythology in novels. This series has many characters that are part of the mythology of different civilizations (West African, Norse and Persian to name a few). There is a big cast of characters here as Nico works at a shop that provides supplies to adventurers, Gods, Goddesses and creatures from all corners of the world. Some show up with bad intentions and the fate of the shop, and maybe the world are at stake. Plenty of magic, and action ensue along with some comic relief from a sword who lacks subtlety and the unicorns. Other than my children, I don’t always have luck passing graphic novels with this much mythology to kids, but the first book in this series was funny enough for some readers to enjoy it and I think this one will be too. It is out a week from tomorrow.

This one is usually sold as an Indigenous Narnia, and is written by Canadian David A. Robertson, whose YA series Strangers I loved. I have been waiting for this MG series to come out for about a year, so I requested an ARC of this first book from NetGalley. It comes out on September 8.

Middle schoolers Morgan and Eli are newly arrived in the same foster home in Winnipeg, they are not related but begin to feel a bond over the fact that they feel disconnected from their culture in spite of their kind foster parents (the story does deal with the fact that not all foster parents for Morgan have been great). Both kids are big fans of fantasy through either their reading, writing or art. When they discover a portal to a fantasy world they are eager to explore.

They find a world, Aski, that is on the edge of survival, as the traditional ways of getting food and living off the land are not working any longer. The kids get involved with “two legged animals” Ochek and Arik to try to recover the traditional ways. In doing so, they are able to connect with their Cree heritage. There is lots to discuss regarding colonialism through the fantasy plot in the alternate world of Aski. Unlike some fantasy books that are similar, this is surprisingly short at about 250 pages. I look forward to seeing where this series goes next and I will add it to my library.

Mack and Rig are two young trucks that became “fast friends”, on the first day of school in Two Tough Trucks. In this sequel, the two trucks are on a playdate when they get separated while cruising a beautifully illustrated desert landscape. As in the first book, the bouncy, rhyming text sees two friends working together to overcome a problem, this time trying to find each other and get back to their parents.
Truck books are often really popular with young readers in my library and books with great rhythm are always welcome. This series is fun to read and I can’t wait to show it to young listeners in the fall of 2020. Thanks to Scholastic for the copy to read and review.

Currently Reading

I am only reading The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands with my family. We should finish it this week. I loved this whole series, and think my ten year old (it was her choice) is liking hearing it for the first time.

On Deck Reading

I have a couple books that I have ARCs of, one that is out soon, and one that has been out for a while that I am hoping to read. After that, I have piles all over my house. Some of those piles will need to be moved back to school soon, so I better get reading some of them. Thanks for stopping to see what I have been reading this week, I hope to view many other great titles by viewing the blogs that are linked up at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. Thanks again to our hosts for providing the link-up. Have a great reading week!

 

 

It’s Monday, August 10, what are you reading?

It’s another summer Monday morning, which usually gives me some extra time to read about new books that others have been reading at unleashingreaders.com and teachmentortexts.com. Thanks to Kellee, Ricki, and Jen for hosting this link-up of kidlit readers. Not sure about others, but I have actually taken to reading other posts on Tuesdays, so I don’t miss any. I find once I read through them, I don’t back to check for people that post later that week.

Anyways, there have been so many great books out this year. I don’t think I have ever read so many outstanding new releases in one year. Partly, I have had more access to current releases and ARC this year, but also, they have just been really good. Curious which 2020 releases you have loved. I quickly made a mental list of over 20, and thought about writing a post (top 20 in 2020) but didn’t want to leave a few off. It’s totally subjective, of course, and I still might do it.

This week, I did not read much kidlit, finishing an “adult” book I have been wanting to read for a while. I had been focusing on BC writers this week (until Sunday afternoon), but next week more kidlit and finishing some ARCs before their release date.

Books I Enjoyed This Week

I was pulled in at the beginning of Ish’s story. She is a young girl who doesn’t really fit in. Karen Rivers does a great job of communicating her thoughts and feelings, and even when we can see that she is not really being reasonable, we can sort of see her reasons. Even if she is not great with people, Ish has a focus in life, she wants to be one of the first people on Mars. However, when she faints during the first day of grade 7, she gets a health diagnosis that puts her on a different path. This book is certainly for fans of The Girl in the Well is Me. If you read that book a few years ago, and didn’t really like it, this one probably is not for you either. I really enjoy Karen Rivers’s writing style, it is different.

This one is hard to explain. I will give it a go. It is the sequel to The Peripheral, a book that involves a group of Londoners who have survived a slow boil apocalypse called The Jackpot, which involves pandemics, the loss of democracy and many other events. In this one, Verity Jane is an “app-whisperer” kind of like a beta tester of tech. She is contracted by a low profile San Fran startup to work with an Artificial Intelligence- Digital, Personal Assistant, Eunice. Eunice’s growth becomes an issue for the startup and attracts the attention of another character, Lowbeer, from the earlier book, The Peripheral. Lowbeer’s hobby is influencing things that happen in other stubs (branches that have some commonality with other stubs’ pasts, but alternate futures). Among things she has influenced by reaching back from 2136 to a stub with an alternate future, are the results of the 2016 election (she wins in spite of those emails), and Brexit. In Verity and Eunice’s stub, she is interested in both Eunice and the instability of the world due to events in the Middle East which threaten to reignite the Cold War (or worse). I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the first in the series.

This picture book draws attention to the fact that many Indigenous communities in Canada do not have access to clean drinking water, or water to clean up with. Nibi heads to the community with the “shiny” houses and sings with her friends to draw attention to this, and increasing awareness pays off. There are notes in the back of the book that provide detail about how people can help facilitate change in this way. I really enjoyed the art in this book as well.

I have enjoyed a few titles from Inhabit Media over the last couple of years. They publish a lot of Own Voices books by Inuit people of Canada’s north. In this book, two kids encourage their Grandma to take them on an adventures jigging for fish. She teaches them lessons on how to properly prepare for the trip, how to safely create the holes in the ice, and what to do when you land one. In the end, the kids catch more fish than they need and their Grandma teaches them to provide for elders in their community that are not able to do so. There is a glossary of the fishing terms in the back which is good as well. Kids in my area will be able to compare this outing to fishing trips they have been on. I like the animation style art in Inhabit Media books, but sometimes find the titles have more words than really young readers can handle.

Currently Reading

I am currently reading the second half of The Blackthorn Key with my family. I really enjoyed this historical mystery and am happy to re-read it, particularly for the sake of my ten year old who has never read it. I am about to start an ARC of Ikenga that I was fortunate enough to get from Penguin. The book is out on the 18th.

On Deck Reads

These are three ARCs I have in digital form that come out in late August or early September. I hope to read all three in the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully, you have some books set aside for a great reading week. Let me know what you have been up to and if you have some favourite books released in 2020 that I should try to read. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s BC Day, what are you reading?

 

Today is a holiday Monday in many parts of North America, here it is BC Day, a day to honour my province. I wish I felt free to travel and enjoy more of it this summer, but plans have been changing for most of us over the last five months.

We have had some super hot weather recently, and it has been almost too hot to enjoy the outdoors, for any length of time anyways, so enjoying some books and air conditioning has been the way to go.

Books I Enjoyed Over the Last Two Weeks

I really loved this YA novel, but to be honest I love all of the A.S. King books that I have read. This book wants to give you a jab in the face to wake you up and show you things about the world.

Paola Santiago is a science loving girl who lives near the Arizona desert with her Mom. She loves her Mom but not her Mom’s superstitious beliefs. The most common one is her Mom’s belief in La Llorona, the wailing woman who will pull kids into the Gila River. While Paola and her two best friends Emma and Dante are mostly rule followers, the banks of the Gila are the best place to stargaze with Emma’s telescope, so they meet there often. When Emma does not show up at their meeting time one night, Paola and Dante must investigate. They are pulled into a world that has too much in common with the stories of Paolo’s mother.

Dante and Paola have to work together and dig deeper to find Emma and save the day. This is complicated by systemic racism of local police, a lack of understanding of the world her mother explained to her, and the fact that they have a little bit of a crush on each other.

This story has action and humour. I enjoyed the way that Paola’s flaws and even her strengths can get in her way and how she has to learn and adapt to overcome these and other challenges. I have heard it said that visible minorities have to learn to live in multiple different worlds in order to thrive, and it seems the author knows this and is having her characters learn this, both in the sense of living as a POC and also in the fantasy book sense of adapting to monsters and magic. Thanks to NetGalley for the preview of this book which is out tomorrow.

This is a really interesting middle grade dystopian novel. I don’t want to give to much away but Miranda1 and William1 have only known their life in Oculum, but William1 finds a door to the outside that they have been told does not really exist. He wants to learn more. The story flips between a few different perspectives as events past and present are unravelled. Unlike some MG/YA dystopia this is a pretty short book, seems to be a stand alone and is not particularly violent. A good choice for younger readers of this genre.

A exciting story of a family living in the Ukraine during WWII. Krystia and her family are relieved when the Soviets occupation of the Ukraine ends. They feel hopeful that things will improve, but soon she learns that the Germans that have moved into the area are Nazi’s and her country is being occupied again, by a force that is even worse. As bad as things are for her family, they are even worse for Krystia’s Jewish friends. The story is full of heartbreak and determination. Like Oculum, it is a short book that packs a big punch.

Lance Cottonwood was good at a lot of things and that made it more challenging for him when he wasn’t good at something. That scared him. In this story, Lance, a leaf, excels at many things, but does not want to fall when everyone else is doing it. He worries about it. Eventually, he learns that it is okay to fall, and with the help of his teacher, he is able to overcome the challenge and his fear.

There are some great illustrations, facts about leaves and their life cycle and in the endpapers a great fake report card that details Lance’s progress. This is a cute picture book that has just recently been released August 1. I appreciated reading an e-ARC on NetGalley.

This is an own voices book about a girl with club foot. Author Michelle Kadarusman went through many procedures to correct one of her feet and used her experiences to help her create a character in Alba that has a lot that she is going through. She does not feel normal and really wants to. For her, the way that she can do that is to run in a cross country race. The good news for her is that her doctor is ready to take a cast off following her latest procedure and she may be able to walk an upcoming race. The bad news is that going through so many changes as an adolescent is really hard. Alba has trouble in her relationships with her family, friends and peers. Readers will enjoy Alba’s journey as she learns about herself, her friends and about relationships. This is a book that also packs a lot into a smaller package. You might wonder why I haven’t said anything about hummingbirds after reading the title, and you should know that the two main characters are very science oriented, love hummingbirds and there are a lot of facts in the book that they share.

I thought I would celebrate the BC Day long weekend by reading some books by BC authors. This was the first one I picked. Art is a twelve year old from BC who vacations in Birch Bay, Washington (not currently allowed, thanks covid) and he really enjoys time with his best friend there, full-time resident Lea. They are bullied by a guy named Zeke who is pretty much nasty to everyone, but no one will stand up to him. Art and Lea create a plan to challenge him to a paintball battle using strategies they develop through their love of Greek mythology, online games and even role playing board games. The battle tests their friendship and their spirit. A good book about standing up for yourself.

Currently Reading

I am just starting a book by another BC author, Karen Rivers. I have read some of her YA and MG books before and I find her characters and plots to be creative and sometimes a little odd. I appreciate that, so I am looking forward to this book. It was recommended by a student who I introduced to an earlier book by Karen Rivers, The Girl in the Well is Me. My family is reading the first of Kevin Sands’ Blackthorn Adventures. I have read this whole series and love it. Historical fiction, with mystery and puzzles to solve, great friendships, humour and action. He is not from BC, but he has been to BC (to my school a few years ago).

On Deck Reads

I never really know for sure what I will read soon, but this section of my posts is my first attempt at planning. I have an ARC of Ikenga that I would like to read before it’s release, and Agency is the second in a far too true near future series by William Gibson. It would certainly be classified as an adult book, written by a resident of BC.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to catch up with what the rest of the posters at Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts are reading. Thanks again to all that post, and especially to the hosts of our link-up.