#IMWAYR FEBRUARY 1, 2016

I appreciate all my library monitors, but I have come to cherish my conversations about books and life with Anna, one of my grade sevens, who comes in to help me after school on Friday afternoons. This week Anna guest hosted my blog with her review of Tomboy. My editing was minimal. Please read it. I am not sure which of us was more excited when Liz Prince tweeted a response after reading her post. Anna is also writing a novel. I am looking forward to reading it some day soon.

Today is Monday and time for #IMWAYR. Many thanks to Jen at Teach Mentor texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers for hosting this weekly event. Their kindness enables the rest of us to find out what other kid lit aficionados are reading and blogging about. 

What with supporting my mother as we wait for a place where she will get more care, attending different kinds of meetings last week after school, and trying to get the library under control, it was an overwhelming week, and truthfully, my reading life, up until Sunday, showed it. If it were not for audiobooks, I'm not sure I would accomplish anything. I wondered if I was in a reading slump, as all I was doing was listening to stories. Yet this weekend, something changed. I gave myself permission to not finish all the work on my to do list, and spent Sunday afternoon relaxing on the sofa reading. I suspect not reading text during the weekdays might be just from the exhaustion of days so full they seem to never end. 

NOVELS

Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger

3 stars

In this conclusion to the Finishing School series, Sophronia, in her last year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, is forced to utilize all her special training and fancy tools. It is discovered that the Picklemen are involved in a nefarious plot to take over the government. To do it, they must take over the school, a massive dirigible, and get it to London. Sophronia embraces all manner of subterfuge, coquettishness, and even hand to hand combat in order to save the country, her school, and her life. Two out of three isn't bad I supose. I wanted to love this book more, but it just didn't live up to my expectations.

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

5 stars

This book is why I gave myself permission to abandon my to do list. I discovered Sunday morning that I had this book checked out from the library and that it was overdue. From the first line to the last it was as if I'd fallen into a beautiful magical world of unconditional love and adventure. I couldn't help but make connections to Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant. Rundell's writing is just stunning. Here are some examples: 

Mothers are a thing you need, like air, she thought, and water. Even paper mothers were better than nothing – even imaginary ones. Mothers were a place to put down your heart. They were a resting stop to recover your breath. Page 32 

"Books crowbar the world open for you." Page 34 

Carrie Gelson, if I didn't already love you, I would now for recommending this book to the rest of us.

NON FICTION

5 stars

Tomboy by Liz Prince

I am so glad Anna convinced me to take this book home and read it.

Not only did I enjoy it, I made personal connections to my own youth in this look at what it means to be a girl. I did get a bit freaked out when Liz worries that she will never be 'normal' and professes to hate girls. Thankfully Harley starts her on the road to understanding that being a girl has many more configurations than what is portrayed in modern media and popular culture.

My discussions with Anna about this book were rewarding. We had a long conversation about the use of the word 'tomboy.' Like Anna, I will be recommending it to older elementary students. If I taught in highschool, I would invest in a literature circle set of it. 

The Inventor's Secret: What Thomas Edison told Henry Ford by Suzanne Slade & Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Illustrations)

4 stars

Essentially the first part of this book is the story of how Thomas Edison inspired Henry Ford to create his many different automobiles. The picture book section is interesting narrative, but it is Reinhardt's illustrations that made the book for me. I really don't understand cars at all, but her illustration on page 21 showing how a four stroke cylinder works went a long way to remedy this. I also enjoyed seeing the illustrations of the different kinds of cars Ford invented. I have to confess that I had a special interest in seeing them because my partner's parents traveled from Saskatchewan to British Columbia in a Model T back in the 1940's.
I appreciated the sections at the end of the book that deal more specifically with the two inventors relationship and their different inventions.

From The Mountain to the Sea: We Share the Seasons by Brenda Boreham and Terri Mack (available from Strong Nations)

4 stars

This nonfiction big book is as much a collection of charts as it is a book. It enables teachers to implement aboriginal learning principles into their primary classrooms throughout the year. Clicking on the above link will take you to where you can read more about the many ways to use this in your classroom, but you have to see the book for yourself to appreciate the gorgeous illustrations. The left hand side of each page spread is illustrated to show the natural world. On the right hand side the illustrations reflect aboriginal culture. Each double page spread ends in a question that students, taking turns using the accompanying eagle feather, can respond to. 

CURRENTLY

Between the World and Me written and narrated by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Learning to see the world in new ways is one of the reasons I am a reader. This book humbles me, enrages me and makes me weep. If it isn't already on your want to read list, it should be. I've already decided to purchase a print copy for myself. 

On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

The beginning of this book was a bit confusing for me, but I persisted because the writing is just stunning. I've got this on my portable devices and whenever I get a chance, or have to stop and wait, I just read. I think this is the title that is most helping me get back into more real reading. 

A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children edited by Doris Seale and Beverly Slapin

Last week, after reading Debbie Reese's post Where do you shelve Native American stories? I decided to take a hard look at our collection. I know we have texts that are beyond problematic, but haven't gotten around to weeding them because I'm sure how to replace them. In addition to all this, while I may have Menominee ancestry through my grandmother, I am mostly a mix of everything and have lived a life of white privilege. In essence, I am in no position to really understand all the nuances that might make a book distasteful at best and harmful at worst. Then I discovered this book. It isn't the kind of book you sit and read cover to cover, but it is an excellent resource filled with information about different authors and titles. After a bit of work, the "I should probably weed these books" pile is much higher than the"Keep these" pile. 

UP NEXT

I'm going to read Red Wolf by Jennifer Dance. There has been some controversy over whether or not this book should be in our library system given that the author, while she has family in an aboriginal community, is not herself, an aboriginal woman and should not be telling stories that are not hers to tell. The book has won all kinds of accolades and awards here in Canada and has even been lauded by Joseph Boyden. We shall see....