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.
#CCBCBookWeek2021 began on Sunday. Canadian Children’s Book Week is a celebration of Canadian authors of children's literature.
"From May 2 to May 8, Canadian children’s authors, illustrators and storytellers will embark on our first-ever virtual tour, reaching 17,205 kids and teens across the country. Hosted on digital platforms, our goal is the same as it has always been: to share stories and captivate the imaginations of children and teens. Throughout the week, 45 authors, illustrators and storytellers will visit hundreds of schools, public libraries, bookstores and community centres across Canada to read from their books and share with children the magic of reading, writing, illustrating and storytelling. Touring participants will be visiting students all across Canada, including remote communities like BC’s Salt Spring Island, Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories, and Lennox Island First Nation, PEI."
I've tried to focus on sharing books by Canadian authors this week and will try to read #CanKidLit books this week.
I've tried to focus on sharing books by Canadian authors this week and will try to read #CanKidLit books this week.
Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian or Indigenous Canadian Author and or Illustrator.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.
BLOG POSTS FROM LAST WEEK
PICTURE BOOKS
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| 5 stars |
My Family, Your Family! by Kathryn Cole & Cornelia Li (Illustrations) September 8, 2020 🍁
I love that this features so much diversity in families. I've ordered copies of this board book for my youngest grandbabies.
Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério March 1, 2018 🍁
In this wordless story, A young girl finds a picture book on a busy street and brings it home. When she opens it, she is taken from her drab city existence into a world of nature. Pages explode with colour as she reads it. When she finished the book, her bedroom has been transformed.
At the Pond by Geraldo Valério March 1, 2020 🍁
This wordless book is stunningly gorgeous.
Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore & Kristi Valiant (Illustrator) May 1, 2014
I connected with this book right from the first page. I remember being a child watching my slightly older aunts and uncles cooking with my grandparents. Just like Cora, I longed to be a part of that crowd. When her older siblings go out to the mall, Cora and her mother cook pancit together for the rest of her family.
I appreciate that there is a glossary and recipe for pancit at the end of the book. I had to adapt it for only the two of us, but it was delicious.
Skunk on a String by Thao Lam March 15, 2016 🍁
I finished listening to this more than a week ago, and then started it all over again. I have so much love for this book and this mini series inside the Discworld collection. In this, the second to last book, Tiffany is now the fully-fledged witch of the chalk. The baron dies and Roland, his son, takes over. Roland has gotten himself engaged to a weepy, but beautiful, princess with a tartar for a mother. Tiffany's conflicted feelings about his engagement are compounded by his no longer seeming to be her friend. On top of this, a powerful demonic spirit, the Cunning Man, is stalking her. The Cunning Man despises all witches and uses his powers to fill minds with suspicion and hate towards them. Tiffany must defeat him, because if she doesn’t, and he manages to take over her body, the other witches will have to destroy her. Thankfully Tiffany has many allies, including new witches, a promising young man, and the fearless Nac Mac Feegles to help her.
The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Light the World by Mike Winchell
BLOG POSTS NEXT WEEK
This Is Ruby by Sara O'Leary
Out into the Big Wide Lake by Paul Harbridge
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| 4 stars |
Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério March 1, 2018 🍁
In this wordless story, A young girl finds a picture book on a busy street and brings it home. When she opens it, she is taken from her drab city existence into a world of nature. Pages explode with colour as she reads it. When she finished the book, her bedroom has been transformed.
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| 5 stars |
At the Pond by Geraldo Valério March 1, 2020 🍁
A boy visits a pond with his dog and ends up discovering a new way to be in relationship with the animals, plants, and world around him.
This wordless book is stunningly gorgeous.
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| 5 stars |
Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore & Kristi Valiant (Illustrator) May 1, 2014
I connected with this book right from the first page. I remember being a child watching my slightly older aunts and uncles cooking with my grandparents. Just like Cora, I longed to be a part of that crowd. When her older siblings go out to the mall, Cora and her mother cook pancit together for the rest of her family.
I appreciate that there is a glossary and recipe for pancit at the end of the book. I had to adapt it for only the two of us, but it was delicious.
There is so much to love about this book. I ordered two copies - one for each of my almost four year old grandkids to help prepare them for kindergarten. The 'Richard Scary' format will keep them entertained and ensure they go to the book back again and again. You can read my full review here.
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| 3 stars |
Skunk on a String by Thao Lam March 15, 2016 🍁
Somehow a skunk has been tied to a helium balloon and, unable to untie himself, is floating across a city sky.
The art in this is gorgeous, but at times I had a bit of difficulty making sense of the story.
The art in this is gorgeous, but at times I had a bit of difficulty making sense of the story.
CHAPTER BOOKS
This graphic novel style picture book packs an overload of sweetness and humour. Read my whole review here.
This book is for everyone who has had that defining moment, that episode of utter humiliation that changes their lives for at least part of their life. I've got at least one of my own and bet you do too. This is about how, with a little humour and help from friends, you can rise above it.
This is about the power of friendship. It’s about being friends across ages and cultures. It’s a little bit about finding romance when you least expect it. Ultimately it's about becoming the best kind of person you can be. You can read more about this book here.
Hiram Walker was born a slave. His father was the plantation owner. He was much smarter and more responsible than his white half brother. It doesn't matter. He will always be a slave. It turns out that Hiram has the special power of conductivity. Eventually he is freed from slavery from an unexpected person and ends up joining the Underground Railway. This is an odd book to review because it's a mixture of magical realism, fantasy, and historical fiction. While there were places where the narrative got a bit bogged down, I was compelled to finish listening to Hiram's story.
This memoir reminds me that Indigenous people on Turtle Island lived here long before it was separated into different countries. The history of Gansworth's family showed me a history similar to those I've read of Indigenous people here in Canada.
NOVELS
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| 5 stars |
This book is for everyone who has had that defining moment, that episode of utter humiliation that changes their lives for at least part of their life. I've got at least one of my own and bet you do too. This is about how, with a little humour and help from friends, you can rise above it.
This is about the power of friendship. It’s about being friends across ages and cultures. It’s a little bit about finding romance when you least expect it. Ultimately it's about becoming the best kind of person you can be. You can read more about this book here.
NON FICTION
I was struck by the many references to Canadian place names and pop culture. I was reminded that the Sylix here where I live have close family on both sides of the border. There is one particular section when he writes about sharing a Tragically Hip tune with his niece that says it all. "The Canadian side of her DNA wakes up, and since we don’t consider it another country, the Canadian side of my DNA wakes up as well, as we listen to Gordon Downie singing of poets and hockey and ice storms and hockey and Toronto and hockey and penguins and hockey and fireworks and the power of phantoms, or fleeting, phantom power, and in return she walks into the house and returns, offering me slices of cornbread, buttered and salted, on a paper towel."
That's big picture stuff.
In the minutia of one family, this is a story of tragedy, determination, resilience, and love. It's a story of redemption, reconciliation, and rejuvenation.
Some of these poems made me weep. Others made me laugh. I was always in awe.
In the minutia of one family, this is a story of tragedy, determination, resilience, and love. It's a story of redemption, reconciliation, and rejuvenation.
Some of these poems made me weep. Others made me laugh. I was always in awe.
Wab Kinew is a well educated, former CBC reporter who is now the leader of the NDP party in Manitoba. This memoir was written by him as his father neared the end of his life. It's the story of his father's experiences and how these in turn influenced his own. Kinew's father was a residential school survivor who became an accomplished academic and politician. He was often away from home and emotionally distant from his family. Kinew's mother is a white woman. He is comfortable in both worlds.
This book is full of what reconciliation means. The official apology for residential schools was just the beginning, not as many people might think, the end.
It was fascinating to be listening to this book at the same time as I was reading Gansworth's memoir with my eyes. There are many similarities in their family's experiences. Just as Gansworth's family stretches into Canada, Kinew's stretches into the United States. Unfortunately, The Reason You Walk lacks the emotional intimacy of Apple: Skin to the Core
DISCWORLD NOVELS
CURRENTLY
This is what I have on the go:
Not On My Watch by Alexandra Morton
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Raising Steam by Terry PratchettA Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
UP NEXT
Love Is A Revolution by Renee Watson
Out into the Big Wide Lake by Paul Harbridge
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2021 11/25 one in progress
#MustReadIn2021 11/25 one in progress
#MustReadNFIn2021 4/12
#MustReadPBIn2021 29/100
Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 16/25
Books by Canadian Authors: 44/100
Canada Reads 2021 4/5
Discworld Series 39/41
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 168/333
Lots of lovely books here, Cheriee. I love what's happening for all the schools & students this week. And I am happy that my library has both Valerio books, At The Pond & Blue Rider! Hooray! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy Valerio. I own My Book of Birds by him. I used one of those pictures to create a wall hanging of an owl for a friend.
DeleteCanadian Children's Book Week sounds like a great opportunity for kids. Sounds like some great books here, too.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun week for sure!
DeleteApple is such an emotion-filled book!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all new PB with me :)
Happy reading!
It is profound (but then, I have loved everything of Gansworth's so far.
DeleteWow. I'm so impressed with your Discworld challenge. What are you going to do to celebrate?
ReplyDeleteI've read almost all of the main books, but there are a number of short stories that fit I haven't read. I'll try to track those down. Then I'm going to reread Nation. I hadn't really thought about celebrating because I've been feeling sad about the end. I'll have to contemplate on this.
DeleteAll of these books look so wonderful! Apple and The Water Dancer sound intriguing, and it's so fun that you made the pancit from Cora Cooks Pancit. Also, Canadian Children's Book Week sounds exciting! Thanks so much for the great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! I was really impressed by The Water Dancer because I had no idea what I was in for. I like Ta-Nehisi Coates' nonfiction writing a lot.
Delete1,2,3, Off to School is a new title to me. I grew up loving Richard Scarry's books so I am eager to check this one out!
ReplyDeleteI started Apple: Skin to the Core awhile ago but gave up on it quickly. I can't even remember what it was that made me stop. Maybe I can try it again in the summer when there is a bit more time to be patient with a book!
ReplyDelete