#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.
It's been hot here in Vancouver, BC. I made it to the folk festival Saturday and enjoyed listening to the music and discovering artists I didn't know about. I was especially impressed by Canadian indigenous artists, Iskwé and Leonard Sumner.
Other than that I've been hunkered down inside reading, writing, and sewing. A friend's daughter is expecting a baby and I'm making a quilt for her. I'll post a picture when it's done.
PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
This is an important book that shows the consequences of bullying.
I like how Carey Sookocheff’s simple illustrations highlight the important characters and show these consequences. I also like that we don't know the bullied child's gender. When this child finally tells their mother, the mom does a good job of helping the child understand the bully’s perspective. I’m not sure that the eventual solution is realistic, although I concede that telling the principal doesn’t always make a difference.
This is a book that should be in every school library. It’s a book that needs to be read and talked about in all classrooms.
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| 4 stars |
This reminded me of a Robert Munsch tale. Chuck goes for a walk and has all kinds of adventures and close escapes. It’s hilarious. The cartoon illustrations enhance this humour. My only complaint is that it’s written in rhyming verse and while it works most of the time, there are sections where it doesn’t and the flow of the language falls apart.
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| 4 stars |
I read this a couple of times because I've read reviews that praised it. The first time I thought it was sweet but it didn't wow me. The second time I read it I started to think about its potential. This is a book I would love to read with intermediate aged students. I think there is a lot to unpack about who we are and our responsibility for the earth.
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| 3 stars |
The art in this is lovely, but the book itself didn't quite work for me and I can't help but wonder if it will engage children.
NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
I liked many things about this book. It took me a bit to get into, but then I connected with the characters and couldn't stop reading. Charlotte and Ben are online friends who play scrabble together. Both are going through hard times at home and at school. Some of the school stuff, like friends moving apart is somewhat ordinary, but the bullying is pretty intense.
To be honest it felt like too much to deal with in one book. That said, Erin Entrada Kelly had me right there with those children throughout their ordeals.
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| 5 stars |
Wow! There is so much to love about this book. First off, it's about baseball. Baseball is the one sport I love to watch. Second, Stacy Mozer, (a fellow #IMWAYR blogger) has created authentic characters who grow and mature throughout the novel.
Sam Barrette loves baseball and is also very good at it. She's the only girl on her team and her coach rides her hard and complains about her attitude. When she goes away to baseball camp she has to deal with more misogyny, but manages to overcome these obstacles to become an even better player. The bit of romance is just right. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
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| 4 stars |
Jerome is a 12 year old black boy who is killed by a white police man while out playing in the park with a toy gun. He's now a ghost who wanders through the world visiting his family, looking at the courtroom, and spending time at the police officer's home. It's there he meets Sarah, the officer's daughter. She is able to see and talk to him. Jerome discovers that there are a lot of ghost boys out there. One of them, the ghost of Emmet Till, is there to support him through whatever comes next. Jerome has some things to figure out before he can move on to that. Sarah and Emmet are part of this.
Add this one to your list. It's a fine book to partner up with The Hate U Give and Dear Martin.
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| 4 stars |
To be honest, if I wasn't listening to this book while I was sewing, I might have put it aside, but it turned out to be the perfect book to keep me company. I was transported into this almost perfect world.
It's a slow book. Nothing really happens as Celeste Ng takes us from character to character spiralling deeper and deeper into each one of them. If you like thoughtful riveting stories, this one's for you. It's a compassionate look inside people, some who aren't really very nice. It's so well done that you will end up feeling sorry for them anyway.
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| 5 stars |
This book will wrench your guts out and break your heart. Terese Marie Mailhot’s memoir gave me insight into what it means to have a bipolar diagnosis. Her life has been filled with all kinds of horrors most of us can’t imagine. She seems to have come out the other side, and is a successful writer and teacher, but I still find myself worrying about her.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough!
CURRENTLY
I bet you are getting tired of me saying I am working on Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate. So am I, but I did read a few pages this week. I started reading Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, but then the audiobook became available so I switched to it. I've just started reading The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty.
UP NEXT
I'm hoping to read The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Then I'll decide between Rebound by Kwame Alexander and Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages. I'm hoping to start listening to The Grapes of Wrath by John Stienbeck. I've wanted to read it for ages. It's one of my #MustRead titles for this year and one of my #BigBookSummer reads. How's that for killing a few birds one stone! Then there is also that pile of picture books to get to...
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2018 17/25
#MustReadNFIn2018 5/12 1 in progress
#BigBookSummer 2/4 1 in progress
25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 13/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge 243/333
I almost gave up on Little Fires Everywhere. It took until halfway through before I get really interested in the story.
ReplyDeleteYes exactly! If I hadn't had something else going on I might have abandoned it.
DeleteI’m thrilled to see you connected to Sam’s story. Your opinion means a lot to me and 5 Stars makes me say wow too! Ghost Boys sounds very interesting. I will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteSam's story is an important one. Sports stories mostly showcase male characters so having a girl is wonderful.
DeleteYou Go First and Ghost Boys are both on my TBR. I have to check out What Happens Next for my son's school library. I volunteer at his library and the volunteers have started a list of books we would like to get for the library. Last year they bought quite a few books off the list so I am hoping that continues for this year.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous idea Sara! My library volunteers were a godsend and kept me sane!
DeleteGhost Boys was such a powerful read! It is a book that provides a different perspective that really makes you think. I listened to the audio which I also highly recommend. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteSo did I! It was a great book to listen to. I appreciated the history and connection to today.
DeleteI really enjoyed You Go First, but agree: an awful lot to pack into one book. I really loved All the Animals Where I Live, though it's hard for me to imagine how it would play with actual children. I adore some of Stead's books and feel head-scratchy about others, and there's never usually any rhyme or reason, as far as I can tell, to which ones I adore and which ones are head-scratchers. I'm still thinking about Heart Berries. It's a book I loved and hated--I had to read a bunch of reviews and interviews with the author to really appreciate what she was doing and come over fully to the love side.
ReplyDeleteShe helped me to empathize with my sister who died recently. Zoe was bipolar (and an addict.) I came to truly understand how it was for her. Other parts of her story are ones I've heard from my indigenous friends. Colonization has much to answer for.
DeleteSo, so, so hot! We don't have AC at my library, but we are in a basement, which means it's much cooler than the outside! Definitely good weather for staying inside and reading.
ReplyDeleteIt never used to be such a big deal here in Vancouver, but it seems like every summer is warmer than the last.
DeleteI'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on both Amal Unbound and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl. These two are currently in my "Top 10 of 2018," so far. I agree with your comments on You Go First having a lot going on. It's difficult to do that with a middle grade book. Have a wonderful reading week, Cheriee!
ReplyDeleteI've just finished Amal Unbound. I'll be contemplating it for a while I think.
DeleteI just got Ghost Boys. I have Little Fires Everywhere on my 2018 Must Read list. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the video. I enjoyed listening to the music.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed Iskwe. I couldn't decide which song of hers to highlight. I'll be looking forward to reading your reviews on both of these novels.
DeleteI started reading What Happens Next to my 4-year-old, and I quickly backtracked. I realized it wasn't developmentally appropriate for him. I read it that night and really enjoyed it. I read it the same week as I Walk with Vanessa, another wonderful book with a parallel theme. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat Happens Next is definitely not for 4 year olds! I have a hold on I Walk With Vanessa and am looking forward to reading it.
DeleteHeart Berries sounds like a perfect book for our previous reading theme. No matter, I shall try to find it in our library. I love the picturebooks that you shared here, which I am now dying to see whether available in our library. Little Fires Everywhere was one of our book club reads earlier this year, and I have written a review of it a few months back. In the event that you may be keen to see, here it is: https://gatheringbooks.org/2018/02/17/little-fires-everywhere/ - I am pretty excited to find her other novel, and to watch the TV series adaptation of LFE done by Reese Witherspoon.
ReplyDeleteIt's a hard book to read Myra. I read and responded to your post about Little Fires. Heart Berries is another kind of look at motherhood and mothering. I guess we all do the best we can given what we have to begin with. I'm coming to think that the problem isn't with the mothers, but to how we fail or succeed in supporting them.
DeleteI really need to read Stacy's book! It's been on my list forever, just need to get it!
ReplyDeleteI think Ghost Boys is a perfect ladder book to the other ones you mentioned. I would love to use it for Mock Newbery, but I think it's just a bit too old for 4th graders to read it on their own.
Stacy's book is a delight read. It's feminist at its core. I agree that there are some parts of Ghost boys, especially the parts about Emmet Till, that will be hard for 4th graders to process.
DeleteAs I now teach grade 6, I was really happy to read Ghost Boys this week and think it will be a perfect add to my classroom library. I haven't gotten to You Go First yet, and even Hello Universe although I am hoping to read it this month. I am going to add The Sweet Spot as well. In my school library, Just a Walk is a very popular read aloud. We giggle a fair bit, especially when his rhymes don't really work. Thanks for the post, try to stay cool. Very hard to do here as well, and fire season has started with this hot weather.
ReplyDelete