While they were here we dug into my vintage picture book collection for night time reading. I'm sharing a few of those here with you today. I hope you are able to find copies of these to read for yourself.
Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.
PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
Both of my toddler grandchildren love this one, so I do too. It's the simple tale of a mouse that saves his family. Maybe the real kicker for them is that the mouse has a baby brother at the end, and both of my darlings are either expecting a new sibling or have one of their own.
I like the repetitive language, the stylized art, and that the little mouse becomes a hero.
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| 5 stars |
Through illustrations and poetry we discover the various perspectives of a frog, a fly, a bat and a fern. Each one tells us what their world is like, and then the lark flying over them all tells them that they are all right.
It begins with this,
"The world is wet," said the little frog.
"What isn't water is mostly bog."
I'm not always a fan of rhyming poetry but it really works here!
I absolutely adore the illustrations! One of Janina Domanska's picture books, If All the Seas Were One Sea, was a Caldecott honor book in 1973. I wish I knew how she had created the art for this one. I found a site saying that "her illustrations are noted for their often abstract and geometric style as well as her use of color. Her works are done in various media including watercolor, pencil, pen and ink, and woodcuts."
I want to use her images in a quilt!
NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
Thumps DreadfulWater returns home from Seattle where he has been with his girlfriend, Claire, who underwent treatment for cancer. Things are looking good for her but as soon as they return home, she heads off somewhere without letting Thumps know.
Turns out that while he was away his car was wrecked, his cat ran away, and his diabetes has taken a turn for the worse.
A film crew offers him money to help them find out what really happened in the death of a young girl a few decades earlier. Thumps needs the money, but resists until when one of the crew dies in the same mysterious way. He ends up involved whether he wants to be or not.
I love all the characters in these books. Each novel feels like visiting old friends. I hate having to wait for the next in this series which, from the end of this one, appears to involve the serial murders linked to his past.
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| 5 stars |
I am in the process of writing a longer blog post about this book. In the meantime you should know that it takes us inside the head of a young girl with all kinds of mental health issues. She is a character you won't want to miss!
NONFICTION
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| 5 stars |
This was a hard read. It felt like bearing witness to a year of police brutality in Canada. I don't think I am naive about these problems, but I still needed to take breaks from reading to keep from getting overwhelmed and let the reality sink in. Desmond Cole is a brilliant writer who takes the time to educate readers fully about each of these different episodes of violence. I can't fathom what it is like to have to live with this reality on an ongoing basis, but I feel like I have a much clearer understanding of what it means to be black or indigenous here in Canada.
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| 5 stars |
Maria Campbell had a challenging, but love filled childhood. Her family were poor, but so was everyone else around her. Listening to this took me back to aspects of my own childhood. Especially in the early years, poverty hounded us, and like her, we had a large and rambunctious extended family and there was never any shortage of love. Unlike her, we never had to worry about someone coming and taking us away from our parents. As the oldest child, she did what she had to to protect her younger siblings. After her mother died, that meant, at fifteen years old, getting married to someone she did not love in order to give them a home.
Maria Campbell survived all kinds of horror before finally starting to get her life back in order around the time she turned 30.
This book was first published in 1973 and has been a regular required read in high schools in Canada ever since. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. This recent edition has an afterward that lets us know how she has fared since then.
This autobiography was a book club title that started out interestingly enough with Prudence Emery's early life in Nanaimo BC, Crofton House School for girls, and Victoria BC. It even has a recipe for Nanaimo Bars (If you have never hand a Nanaimo Bar, you live a deprived life.) It kind of went downhill from there. I abandoned the book when she was working for the Savoy and it was more or less a tale of drunken debauchery interspersed with never ending name dropping. I have been told it improves later on when she delves into he life in the film industry but don't have the stamina to read more. Maybe if I hadn't read Half-Breed previously I would have tolerated it better.
CURRENTLY
I'm almost finished to The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus. I've just started reading The Year We Fell From Space by A.S. King. I've got a couple of NetGalley picture books open and ready to go.
UP NEXT
I plan to get to The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Katie O'Neill. My next audiobook will be The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I'm hoping to get to Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders.
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
Big Books Summer 2020 4/10
#MustReadIn2020: 13/25
#MustReadNFIn2020: 5/12
25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 17/25
100 books by Canadian Authors: 102/100
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 207/333
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a very interesting book. I am also hoping to get Coop Knows the Scoop soon - waiting for a library copy.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping to encourage my book club to read it, but we settled on another nonfiction title instead.
DeleteThese books sound great! Sara and the Search for Normal sounds like an excellent book! Half-Breed sounds like a painful story—it's amazing that Campbell not only lived the story, but also wrote it down and shared it with the world! The Skin We're In sounds great as well! I'm glad you had a nice visit with your son and grandson! Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not have to deal with mental health issues, one of my sisters did. I think it's clear that Sara and the Search for Normal is an own voices novel. Thanks for responding to my post!
DeleteI have some vintage picture books in the attic that may never see the light of day again! Sara and the Search for normal was interesting and on trend. You've been busy!
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you have grandchildren during a time of a pandemic you might end up digging into your treasure trove? My sons (now in their late 30's) end up digging into them and sharing their favourites with their own children!
DeleteThe only one of the books you shared today that I have read is, 'Whose Mouse Are You?'. In fact, I probably read it aloud to Kindergartners and 1st graders about a billion times during my teaching career. :0} Other favorites of mine by this exceptional author/illustrator team include, 'Leo the Late Bloomer', 'Little Louie the Baby Bloomer', 'Milton the Early Riser', and 'Herman the Helper'. Thanks for sharing all of these books for #IMWAYR. I will look into reading some of the other titles you've included in your fine post.
ReplyDeleteYes, Robert Kraus wrote some fabulous titles that I too remember sharing with little ones. I adore Leo the Late Bloomer. Thanks for your response and the little trip down memory lane.
DeleteYou've got me interested in Sara and the Search for Normal.
ReplyDeleteIt is a prequel to OC Daniel, but is a fantastic read all by itself. It's obvious that Wesley King has lived this experience.
DeleteToddler grandchildren? I love hearing about your son and grandson's visit. My toddler grandson stayed with me today and I found some new books to share with him, but as a toddler, he has his favorites at my house. I want to look for "What Do You See?"
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your other books as well.
Grandchildren are the best blessing ever! I hope you can find a copy of What Do You See. It really is beautiful!
DeleteInteresting looking Thomas King book, I have fallen so far behind on his recent works. I really loved Sara and the Search for Normal and was happy to see that you have as well. Your picture books are really cute too. Get ready, I think BC is finally going to have summer weather in the next week. Thanks for the great shares.
ReplyDeleteBookbub is the best marketing for your book. Try to be flexible with the promotion date. Ask them for any suggestions to improve. Also, having 100+ reviews helps. Try www.usbookreviews.com for reviews.
ReplyDelete