#IMWAYR January 25, 2021

Hello out there. It's #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.

We've had glorious sunny weather so I've managed to continue with my daily walks. I now get antsy if I can't get out. Not only am I getting faster, I'm walking farther every day! We are supposed to get snow flurries this coming week, but the good thing about living in a semi desert is that it rarely adds up to more than a few centimetres a day and it doesn't last long. And if we get more snow than that I'll get to test out my new boots! 

I'm looking forward to the ALA awards today. Congratulations to all the winners, honors, and other contenders. Thanks to all the readers who had to make the hard choices. 

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. 

RECENT BLOG POSTS

Bubbles by Ben Clanton

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Bubbles by Ben Clanton

Narwhal and Jelly make their debut into the board book format. Younger readers will be delighted by this incredi-bubble story of finding beauty and joy in life no matter what. You can read my full review here. 

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh & Raúl Colón (Illustrator) 

This is a reread for me. After finishing up Ocean Speaks by Jess Keating last week, I wanted to revisit this picture book about Marie Tharp's life. 

This beautifully illustrated book tells how Tharp, a female scientist, struggled to be accepted in a man's world. It shows how she was able to use others' work to create a map of the Atlantic ocean floor that revealed its landforms, thus providing evidence of the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. I was surprised to learn that acceptance of this theory happened in my life time!

In one section Robert Burleigh articulates the way scientists work:

"As I continued working, others wandered in and out of my room, arguing about continental drift. Was it true? Yes, no, yes, no. (Scientists are like that. They question everything. Nothing is for sure -- until it's really for sure)"
I appreciated the section at the end of the work that includes additional biographical information as well as a glossary.
I loved quote at the end of the endnotes. "Marie didn't just make maps. She understood how the earth works."
The first person narrative in this title creates an intimate experience so we feel connected to a real person. Paired with Ocean Speaks, readers come to a rich understanding of Marie Tharp and her life.

POETRY

4 stars

Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds by Jorge Argueta, Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator) & Elisa Amado (Translator)

This collection of poems reveal the reasons so many young people leave their homes and everything they know to migrate to the USA. Their precarious journeys are full of danger. Some are these poems are heartbreaking. Others are hopeful. 

GRAPHIC NOVELS

I'm not going to talk about any of these novels in depth until after the Cybil awards are announced. 

You Brought Me The Ocean by Alex Sanchez & Julie Maroh (Illustrations)

This is a coming of age story about a young, queer, black man discovering he has superpowers that give him power over water. 

Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder

This memoir by Tyler Feder tells about the loss of her mother from cancer when she was 19. 

The Runaway Princess by Johan Troïanowski

A princess visits different lands and has different adventures that connect to different fairy tales and other classic stories.

NOVELS

5 stars

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley & Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

I have loved everything Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has written so far. She didn't let me down this time. The audiobook was narrated by Bahni Turpin. Between the two of them I ended careening between laughing out loud, biting my nails, and weeping.

Della narrates the story of her older sister Suki, and herself. They have ended up in foster care after something really hard to talk about happened to her.

As usual Bradley writes authentic characters I feel I could meet in a classroom or on the street. I appreciated Francine, who, while reserved, ends up being the perfect caretaker of the two girls. I adored Della. I love her spunk and fearlessness. Because she isn't afraid to stand up to a bully at school, she ends up making a difference for other girls. Suki nearly broke my heart. After being strong and looking after Della for many years, when they are finally safe, she attempts suicide.

Reading this as an adult who spent time in my younger years working with sexually abused girls and teens, I knew where this one was going. It was still hard to read. Did I mention that I wept?

I really appreciated Brubaker Bradley's note at the end of the story. This is an #OwnVoices novel. The authenticity and honesty of the novel come out of her own experience.

 

NONFICTION

4 stars

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

Nicole Chung was a very immature newborn to Korean parents. Her pediatrician wasn't hopeful for her future so they gave her up for adoption. Chung was then adopted into a white family who loved her to the best of their ability. She was told that her birth parents loved her but were unable to pay the medical bills or care for her so they gave her up. As much as she was loved, growing up as the only Asian child in a white community was a difficult experience for Chung. 

When she was pregnant with her first child she decided to find out more about her birth family. It would end up challenging her idea of her birth parents and changing her life. 

I wonder if Chung's experience as an Asian adoptee into a White family would have been different if her parents had lived in a multicultural community? I think that parents are much more cognizant of the challenges now than people were when she was a child. At least, I hope so.

DISCWORLD NOVELS

"Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind; it doesn't take you anywhere, but it tones up muscles that might." Terry Pratchett

4 stars

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

This is a parody of detective novels. I couldn't stop listening. Commander Vimes and the City Watch have to deal with a series of murders, unexplained deaths, and the poisoning of the Patrician. Golems are mixed up in it. At the same time as Pratchett is making fun of the genre, I was captivated by the mystery. 

Like all of his novels, the small side plots and characters add special nuance and hilarity to the novel. In this one, the new hire, forensics expert Cheery Littlebottom, a female dwarf, is befriended by Corporal Agua. Everyone else in the Watch knows Agua is a werewolf. Cheery, unaware of this, confides to Agua that she can't stand werewolves. In the Discworld it's almost impossible to tell the difference between male and female dwarfs. Cheery decides to celebrate her gender and takes to wearing jewelry, makeup, skirts and even welds high heels to her steel boots. I'm looking forward to learning more about her. 

3.5 stars

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

This is another City Watch novel. I read on a fan sight that "the title can be related to the word jingoism, meaning an attitude of belligerent nationalism." It pretty much describes this novel where Pratchett takes a poke at racism, war, and political intrigue. He especially denigrates military leaders. 

When an assassination attempt is made on a Klatch prince, Ank-Morpuk ends up at war with the Klatch empire. Disaster is averted by Commander Vimes, the Watch and the Klatch equivalent. 

CURRENTLY 

I'm reading Go with the Flow by Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann and just started Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson. I hope to get it finished before it has to go back to the library. The book I'm listening to now is the Last Continent by Terry Pratchett. I've taken a break from listening to Patron Saints of Nothing by by Randy Ribay. It got a bit too intense to listen to so I'm waiting for a text version. 

UP NEXT 

I've almost finished all the new to me Cybil graphic novel finalists that I can get my hands on. I'm waiting for some kind of copy of the remaining three. Then I'll peruse the ones I read previously and be ready to meet with the other judges. Otherwise I'll read from the pile of picture books I brought home from the library. My next audiobook will be Vi by Kim Thúy.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2021 4/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 2/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 4/100

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 3/25 one in progress

Books by Canadian Authors: 6/100

Canada Reads 2021 1/5

Discworld Series 22/41 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 32/333