#IMWAYR March 18, 2019

#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.

After more than two months of being sick, I am finally feeling almost human again! Facing two weeks of Spring Break helps a lot. 

My list of of things to do includes:

• getting out into my garden
• catching up on my netgalley reviews
• reading all the other books piling up around here
• more quilting
• cleaning the house

My partner and I are heading off to our Oliver home for a few days. Then my son and his wife and our granddaughter are heading off to visit their Korean relatives. It will be very quiet around here until we start babysitting our grandson at the end of the second week.

I managed to get a quilt finished this week - just barely in time to send off to Korea. I ended up piecing and quilting it myself. It was a challenge, but I discovered basting spray and it made my task much easier than it would have been in the olden days. Now I have to get back to the one that is supposed to look like a flower garden in bloom.

FAVOURITE BOARD BOOKS

I haven't been blogging about baby books for a while because we read the same ones over and over and over. However, a few have developed into favourites that I must share with you.

5 stars

Gossie by Olivier Dunrea

We have been reading this book for ages and my 21 month old granddaughter adores it. As soon as we open the book she has to hang upside down just like Gossie does. Then we go on into the story. Ada waves at Gossie's friends when she goes out wearing her beautiful red boots. Then when the boots go missing, she is completely absorbed in the story as Gossie goes searching for them. "Are they under her bed?" I ask. Ada shakes her head, "No." And so it continues until the mystery is resolved.

The best thing about this book is that when Gossie's red boots are discovered walking on someone else's feet, she ends up sharing them with Gertie, her younger sibling.

I must purchase more of this series!

5 stars

Hug by Jez Alborough

This book is just brilliant. So much is conveyed in just one word. Of course when I read it with Ada and Everett, we spend a lot of time talking about what is going on. Bobo, a young chimp, is walking through the jungle when he comes upon other animals hugging a parent. When Bobo seems downcast, the mother elephant takes Bobo on a search for Bobo's mother. On the way we see other young creatures with a parent. When I ask if each animal is Bobo's mother, Ada emphatically responds, "No, No, No!" We are all relieved when Mommy and Bobo are finally reunited.

It was interesting reading other readers comments about what is going on in this book. At no time have I ever thought that Bobo wanted affection from these other animals. I just thought that seeing them made Bobo miss his/her own mother more.

BTW, this is my go to book when I have had enough baby time. I just read it with Ada and she feels a profound desire to go and see her Mama. 

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Grandpa's Girls by Nicola I. Campbell & Kim LaFave (Illustrator)

This book takes us into the joy of spending time with extended family. It's centred around a Grandpa when his granddaughters come for a visit. His farm is full of adventures to be had - from playing house in the root cellar to teasing a poor pig. I am part of a loving extended family. This book reminded me of those joy filled and raucous adventures on my uncle's farm. Have you ever had a cow pie fight?

Nlaka'pamux vocabulary is used in the text.

Both the author and illustrator are Canadian.

  

4 stars

Pig the Fibber by Aaron Blabey

To get his own way, Pig the Pug blames Trevor for all the nasty things he does. Eventually he learns, the hard way, that lying can have nasty consequences.

I love the rhyming pattern and the art work in this series.

3 stars

Whimsy's Heavy Things by Julie Kraulis

I liked the art work in this book a lot. I appreciate what I think the author is trying to say, that overwhelming things are easier to deal with if we break them into smaller bits. I agree with this, but I also think it depends on what these heavy things are. Sometimes heavy things can't be broken up and this isn't really clear here.

Julie Kraulis is a Canadian author.

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lynn Fulton & Felicita Sala (Illustrations)

I liked this well enough, but prefer Linda Bailey's Mary, Who Wrote Frankenstein. This one focuses primarily on the immediate events leading up to the writing of the novel, while Bailey's book provides information about Mary Shelley from the time when was a small child. I appreciate that Fulton's book provides more background information about the beginning science of electricity and the important role of Mary Shelley's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

5 stars

Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Sy Montgomery & Amy Schimler-Safford (Illustrator)

This book engaged students from grades 1 to 5 this week. I love how it combines narrative with all kinds of information about octopi. With the older groups we had interesting conversations about how the author would have had to learn a lot about octopi to imagine what Inky's life was like before he was captured. Since reading this book and realizing just how smart these animals are, I'm not sure I will be able to eat octopus again.

NOVELS

4 stars

Claire's Race by Nancy Wilcox Richards & Brock Nicol (Illustrator)

While looking for books about strong women and girls, I found this in the stacks. At the age of five, Clair McNally was diagnosed with a rare form of Epilepsy. After brain surgery to deal with it, she had to learn how to walk all over again. Many of the athletic activities she loved to do were off limits because she might get hurt. Even though she had to wear a brace on her leg and arm, eventually she joined the track and field team.

Clair McNally's true story is an inspiration to all readers, especially those facing their own challenges. It's a short, easy to read novel with delightful black and white drawings by Brock Nicol. Nancy Wilcox Richards is donating all the royalties to the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia.

Both the author and illustrator of this book are Canadian.

5 stars

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

I loved this so much that I might have to get a hard copy to see if reading it with my eyes could be any better than listening to it.

This was intense, but impossible to let go of. The writing is just brilliant.

Writing poetry is what keeps X sane. She shares a room with her male twin brother in a fundamentally religious family. Her mother is extremely strict with her, at the same time as she is lenient with her brother. Their father seems to be almost absent. X is caught up in questioning her faith, falling in love for the first time, fending off unwanted sexual advances by boys and grown men, and writing poetry as if her life depended on it. Maybe it does. Thankfully there are adults in her life to support her, including her teacher, Ms. Galiano, and surprisingly enough, their local priest.

I believe that X will resonate with many readers for a multitude of reasons. Her story is a window into growing up in a religious Dominican family in modern day America.  As a young woman growing up Catholic in a different era, there are huge chunks of this book that I connected deeply with. 

5 stars

Where the Heart Is by Jo Knowles (Netgalley)

I'm working on an in depth review of this. All you really need to know is that it is a tear jerker and one of those books that once you pick it up, you hate to put down.

CURRENTLY

I didn't make much headway with The Way Home Looks Now by Wendy Wan-Long Shang, but will finish it in the next day or so. I just started listening to Homegoing by by Yaa Gyas.

UP NEXT

My goal is to get reviews written for all the Netgalley books I have read but not reviewed. I also plan to read the I'll try to get on top of my Netgalley books next week. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 6/25 1 in progress

#MustReadNFIn2018 4/12

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 4/25

25 books by Canadian Authors 20/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge 96/333

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