#IMWAYR JANUARY 11, 2015

It's time for #IMWAYR again. Thanks ever so much to our marvelous hosts, Jen at Mentor Texts and Kellee and Rickie at Unleashing Readers for hosting this weekly event. It is a time to find out what others are reading in the world of kid lit (and adult stuff sometimes too) and come up with new ideas for yourself. 

Well it was a week of frenzied picture book reading for me although I did manage to finish up three novels and a couple of nonfiction titles. I also managed to get a couple of reviews posted and am working on another.

 

PICTURE BOOKS

I spent a lot of time this week going through our collection of picture books that present vignettes of Canadian history. While there are some jewels there, there are some that just need to be weeded. I'm working on a post to pick out and talk about the best of them.

Aside from those I finished reading:

Tommy Can't Stop! by Tim Federle & Mark Fearing (Illustrations)

4 stars

Tommy is one of those wild kids. His family comes up with all kinds of plans to try and help him find control. It isn't until he discovers tap dancing that his energy finds a focus. In fact, it turns out that Tommy has talent! I suspect that this book resonated for me since I was a kid like Tommy. Anyone who really knows me will tell you I'm still kind of hyperactive....

I'm New Here by by Anne Sibley O'Brien

4 stars

This is the perfect book to read when a new student from a different culture with a different language enters a classroom. It brilliantly provides insight into what it feels like to be that child and will help other students be more compassionate. It tracks three new students, one from Guatemala, one from Korea, and one from Somalia as they learn to survive in a new country.

After reading this book, I pulled one of our new students into the library to ask for his feedback. (His family arrived here last fall) With a huge smile, he told me this is how it was for him too.

3 stars

The Full Moon at the Napping House by Audrey Wood & Don Wood (Illustrations)

This just didn’t work for me in the same way as the original did. I can see how it is a wonderful book for new readers because of the pattern language though. 

4 stars

Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast by Josh Funk & Brendan Kearney (Illustrations)

This book didn't quite live up to my expectations for it. I guess it is because I have heard so much about it, I just expected more. It is humorous. I appreciated the message at the end. Maybe if I hadn't read it Friday afternoon I might have had more energy to enjoy it more? Anyway, I'll have to try this out on a group of kids to see what happens.

4 stars

Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlett

This is a beautiful book about making friends with what you fear the most. (But I'm still not making friends with a spider - except for maybe Charlotte) For Orian, this would be the dark. It is beautifully illustrated. I can see children getting lost in all the little details in this book

 

NONFICTION 

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, Sophie Blackall (Illustrations)

4 stars

This nonfiction narrative is brilliantly done. It begins with the mother telling her young child a story about a bear. This narrative is interspersed with the mother's telling about Harry Colebourn and how he found and kept The baby bear who came to be known as Winnie the Pooh. Sophie Blackwell's illustrations are just bloody gorgeous. I also enjoyed the photographs at the end of the book.

5 stars

Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle, Edel Rodriguez (Illustrations)

This is such a gorgeous book! You can read more of my thoughts on it by clicking on the link. The most important thing I have to say about it is that if this book isn't on your want to read list by now, it should be. Actually, whether it is or not, you should go right out and get a copy and read it.

NOVELS

The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud

3.5 stars

3.5 stars

This isn't my favorite book in this series. I didn't like this ending and I wasn't comfortable with the relationship between the two girls in this novel. It was too stereotypically antagonist. Other than this, it was another exciting, slightly scary, adventure. However, I really hate novels that end on a cliffhanger, and this one does. Not good! If I were not already addicted to this series I would quit.

4 stars

Amanda in Alberta by Darlene Foster

This was one of my #mustreadin2015 titles. It is also part of my goal to read more Canadian fiction. I've now become a fan of Amanda. Amanda is a spunky Canadian girl who lives in Alberta, but ends up traveling around the world solving mysteries. In this one in the series, she stays at home. I particularly enjoyed revisiting familiar Alberta places along with Amanda and her friend, Leah, from England.

Poached by Stuart Gibbs

3 stars

I'm not going to sugar coat this. I was glad when this book was over. I listened to it because my readers are into this series, but it was just a bit too macho and even misogynist for me. I wasn't comfortable with how women and girls were portrayed even though Teddy Fitzroy's mother is a scientist.

CURRENTLY

I didn't finished The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer because when I went to finish it, the ebook had already expired. This is also what happened to Jellicoe Road. I've asked for both of them back, but in the meantime, I've got a whole mess of books from the public library to finish. I'm in the process of listening to The Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

UP NEXT

I have a lot of audiobooks and hardcovers checked out from the public library! Why is it that everything I put on hold arrives at once? The next book due back is The Pirate Code by Heidi Schulz so I'll be getting to that I think.