#IMWAYR October 2, 2017

#IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. Kathryn hosts the adult version of this meme at Book Date. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

I had a wonderful week. Headway was made in the garden and some housework got finished. Babysitting the grandkids was fun, but exhausting. A weekend away at a cabin on the ocean with two cousins and one of my best friends was the highlight. We laughed. We danced and sang along with all kinds of music. There might have been a few bottles of wine. There was definitely good food and cake.

I just didn't get much reading in.

BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK

The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner

BOOKS FOR BABIES

3 stars

Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia

Nice bright colours in an Eric Carle style are paired with simple large text. The different machines are in different colours although they all have google eyes. I like the repetition in extra large text on each page. I can see little ones eventually joining in on this part.

3 stars

Baby's Day by Flowerpot Press

I liked the photographs of the different babies. I like that the book is multicultural and for the most part these babies are genderless. There is one word on each double page spread.

4 stars

Baby Dance by Ann Taylor & Marjorie Van Heerden (Illustrator)

Beautiful bold colours and rhyming text make this one a delightful read aloud!

5 stars

Quantum Physics for Babies by Chris Ferrie

Because, it's never to early to introduce your little ones to nonfiction. 

Our library copy is dual language: English and Chinese. So are the rest of the series, but the books can be purchased in English only. I have come to like both languages on the page. Chris Ferrie, a Canadian father of young children, uses simple illustrations and simple text to explain physics to very young children. Colours in the text match the colours of the different parts of the atom in the illustrations.

I'm sure my grandkids are too young for this, but Ada actually looked at the pictures and I learned about electrons, how they work, and what a quantum is! I suspect that high school physics teachers might want a copy. 

PICTURE BOOKS

3 stars

Tokyo Digs a Garden by Jon-Erik Lappano & Kellen Hatanaka (Illustrations)

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I've been thinking hard about what to say about this book. I've read it three times, and I'm still not really sure how much I like it. I like the lush colourful illustrations full of detail. I liked the poetic language like in this section below.

Tokyo and his family live in a city, but his grandfather remembers what it was like before:

"Then, the house looked over hills and forests and Meadows and streams. Deer grazed on the hills. Foxes ran through the forest. Bird saying in the Meadows. Salmon leapt from the streams.

But now, all of that was gone.

Tokyo's grandfather said the city had eaten it all up.

Cities had to eat something, after all."

Similar to Jack in the Beanstalk, Tokyo is given three seeds by an old woman who promises him that the seeds will grow into whatever he wishes. Tokyo planted the seeds in his backyard. In the morning three flowers were blooming. The garden continued to grow, taking over buildings, streets, and eventually the whole city. In a few days wildlife invaded the city and the people were forced to adjust.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Some pages have a lot of text on them, and to make matters worse, the black text on the dark background make it difficult to read.

CHAPTER BOOKS

5 stars

Dory Dory Black Sheep by Abby Hanlon

I don't have to read these books anymore, but when an author creates a character like Dory Fantasmagory, and there is a new book out, I just have to see what that kid has gotten herself into now.

In this one Dory is having some problems learning to read. Her imagination is still as wild as ever though.

If you have primary aged children, this is an ideal chapter book. All of these Dory books will be fun to read out loud because adults will end up loving her as much as their children do.

NOVELS

5 + stars

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

This is the best book I have read in ages and ages.

A plane full of beauty queen contestants crashes into an island. They are the only survivors. Not only do they survive, they learn to appreciate each other while they become the best people they can be.

I love this book so much. It's both screamingly hilarious and seriously kick ass. It should be required reading in high schools. Never mind that, it should be required reading for people of all ages. If you have read Lord Of the Flies, this is the antidote.

Libba Bray's narrations knocked my socks off. I went around getting people to listen to just a bit of it here and there to try and convince them that they needed this book.

CURRENTLY

I'm still reading When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon and The Inconvenient Indian. I'm listening to The Losers Club by Andrew Clements.

UP NEXT

I'll start Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and then go on to Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez. My next audiobook will be Refugee by Alan Gratz.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MUSTREADIN2017 25/36 1 in progress

#MUSTREADNFIN2017 7/12 1 in progress

50 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 28/50 1 in progress

Chocolate Lily (CL) 51/51

Big Book Challenge 4/6

Goodreads Reading Challenge 308/333