#IMWAYR August 8, 2016

Here we are again, time for #IMWAYR. Jen at Teach Mentor Text and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host this weekly event when readers of kidlit share what they have been reading. 

The life of a reader is fraught with difficulty. 

Before I went away with my sisters, I lost my house and car keys. I searched high. I searched low. I could not find them anywhere. 

me and my sisters dressed in matching tops in honor of our mother

When I returned home after a fabulous time, I continued to search. Eventually, I had an idea that they must be in the pocket of my library book bag. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my book bag anywhere. Now I was missing my keys, my library books and the beautiful bag gifted to me by one of my best friends! 

I cleaned the house. I couldn't find my bag. I had a bad feeling that I might have left it in our car (which we regularly leave unlocked) or maybe in the hall with the front door open. 

Thursday I went to the library to drop off titles I had finished and pick up what had arrived, I asked if someone had returned it, you know, just in case. Then I went and spent $240 on a new car key and contemplated the cost of changing locks on the house. 

On Friday morning I got a message from the Vancouver Public Library. Some kind patron found my bag of books somewhere and returned it, my books and keys to the library! 

Library users are the best kinds of people. 

PICTURE BOOKS 

4 stars

A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson and David Roberts (illustrator)

These stunning illustrations by David Roberts make this book work for me. The story and guidelines are humorous. I don't think I appreciate the hilarity so much since I love to be in wild spaces where encountering bears can be seriously scary.

5 stars

The Airport Book by Lisa Brown

This book just wowed me! It's the kind of book my sons would have been lost in way back in the day when we were all much younger. The book follows a family taking an airplane on their way to visit grandparents. The youngest has packed her own sock monkey in her suitcase. Unfortunately it isn't available when she needs or wants it while on the plane.

That's the basic storyline, but there is so much more going on in this book. For younger readers who've never been on a plane ride, this book explains everything that happens in the process. 

What makes this book spectacular is that there are many parallel stories revealed in the illustrations at the airport. I think I went back three times to figure out who the people were and how their stories would unfold.

There is also a fun story about what happens with the sock monkey in the cargo area of the plane.

3 stars

Marvellous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner & John Parra (illustrator)



This is a story about a Cornelius Washington, a garbage man in New Orleans who inspired others by just being who he was. I absolutely adore John Para's illustrations. 


It's just, there is something surreal in this tall tale style that, for me, ended up minimizing the real person and the power and spirit of the collective of New Orleans. The idea that one person alone can make a difference perpetuates a myth of the power of an individual and belief that we have to be 'special' to contribute. Granted there is more about how the local and larger community worked together after Hurricane Katrina at the end of the book, but this juxtaposition following the exaggeration, didn't work for me.

I wish I had learned more about how 'Marvelous Cornelius' came to be the man he was. I enjoyed watching him talk about the importance of respect in the following video.

4 stars

Finding Wild by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Abigail Halpin (illustrator)

These are gorgeous illustrations showing us the many facets of wild. The language is lush with evocative descriptions.

My only quibble is the section where the two children search for wild in a city and only end up discovering it in what looks to be a park. As a city dweller who loves wild, I can attest that wild is impossible to bury that deep. Scraps of it make itself known everywhere, even in the concrete jungle!.

NOVELS

3.5 stars

I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest read by Mary Robinettte Kowal

I gave this one 3.5 but think maybe it would have been more if it wasn't an audiobook. I missed all the graphic components and it took me a while to figure out that this is what was going on in the oral portrayal of it. I enjoyed this mystery that unfolds as May follows the clues to find out what happened to her best friend Libby. May thought Libby had died in a car accident until versions of a comic they created together show up on the Internet. What I liked most about this book is that it has diverse male and female characters working together without any romantic overtones. 

3 stars

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly  read by Bea Miller

I finally got around to this book. It was a title recommended to me by many of my older book club members in the past few years. There is much to laud. I enjoyed listening to Bea Miller's narration. The book has strong independent female characters and interesting world building. The story is loaded with adventure and close calls. It's just that sometimes the writing was stilted and jarred. 

5 stars

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm read by Becca Battoe

This book! Holy Carumba. I started listening to this book and finished it in one day. This is historical fiction at its finest. Holm has created strong characters and placed them in time and space so authentically, readers can't help but connect to and believe in them. I have to admit that the ending kind of surprised me, but I think the open endedness actually makes it a stronger story. And honestly, it left me with that spark of hope for what might be for Turtle's biological parents. 

CURRENTLY

Lately I have been devouring audiobooks, but am almost stalled with real reading. I've been trying to work my way through The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle, but it just isn't working for me. If this was my own book instead of a library copy, I would just abandon it, but it's already overdue, so I have to finish it! I wonder if I didn't associate Federle with the Nate books I might appreciate this one more. 

I'm still savouring One Native Life by Richard Wagamese. I have just barely started the audiobook of Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk.

UP NEXT

I've peeked into Kim Fu's For Today I am a Boy and am excited to read more of it ASAP. Ellen Potter's Too Much Good Luck, the second Piper Green and the Fairy Tree title is sitting beside me hollering for attention. I still have a few more audiobooks to get through as well.  

PS I finally finished The Great American Whatever! More about it next week.