Hello everyone. 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.
Hope you are all doing well. At our house, we are back into serious renovations. Walls have been knocked out. More are scheduled for this coming week. Then the electrician will come and change wiring. I am especially looking forward to getting rid of the wall that separates the kitchen from the dining and living rooms. On the down side, dust is now our constant companion.
I have joined Sue Jackson at Book by Book for the 2021 Big Book Summer Challenge. This is my third or fourth time - it's hard to keep track of the years. It's lots of fun to tackle those monsters, then chat about them and make new friends.
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 LAST WEEK
You would be forgiven for thinking, after chuckling at the end papers, that this would be a humorous book. After all, humans are identified like some kind of bird species.
When you actually get into the book, it becomes a fable with a profound lesson about environmental stewardship and climate change.
A little yellow warbler lives on an icy island in the far north. He enjoys watching the human visitors who come to the island. Then a fog settles over the land and stays. While the warbler continues to worry about it, he notices that other animals either don't notice it, adapt, or rationalize it away. Eventually Warbler connects with a little red-hooded human. The two of them send out messages into the rest of the world and when they start to get replies back, the fog begins to lift.
Kenard Pak's watercolour illustrations are the perfect complement to Kyo Maclear's text.
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| 5 stars |
Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Pena & Christian Robinson (Illustrations) February 2, 2021
Whether it's a picture book or a novel, Matt de la Pena writes important books: books that make you think and challenge you to see the world through new eyes.
Milo and his sister are taking a long subway ride. He looks at the different people, imagines their stories and illustrates them in his notebook. When they reach their destination and one of the other riders is going to the same place as they are, he comes to realize that, "Maybe you can't really know anyone just by looking at their face."
I liked the contrast Christian Robinson shows between the people on the train and Milo's imagination. Milo reminded me of the characters from Ezra Jack Keats books.
Lentil Soup by Carole Tremblay, & Maurèen Poignonec October 12, 2021 🍁
This is a fun book about two brothers sitting down to eat their bowls of soup. The littlest one pesters his older sibling with questions about the ingredients. The back matter contains a recipe for the soup. Check out my blog post here to read more and see images of the artwork.
NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS
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| 5 stars |
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant & Frank Morrison (Illustrator) October 6, 2020
Like the title explains, it's the story of Elgin Baylor's influence on basketball. It's set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. Baylor, by sitting out of games when they played in cities where blacks could stay in hotels or eat in restaurants, played his part in that movement. His actions led to the NBA commissioner asserting that no team would stay anywhere that practised segregation.
Frank Morrison's artwork is just stunning.
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| 4 stars |
If Bees Disappeared by Lily Williams March 16, 2021
This provides a simplified look at the role bees play as a global keystone species. The back matter includes a glossary, additional information about honeybee in trouble, an author's note, and a bibliography. I especially appreciate the page, How You Can Help Save Bees. It's full of things ordinary people can do.
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| 4 stars |
Louis Riel Day: The Fur Trade Project by Deborah L Delaronde & Sheldon Dawson (Illustrations) August 18, 2020 🍁
A young Metis boy works with his grandfather to research and write a report on Louis Riel and the fur trade. This book and the rich paintings by Sheldon Dawson provide information about the Metis people and this famous Canadian.
I'm not a fan of poetry in picture books. They are hard to do well. Deborah L Delaronde's poem kind of works here, but it interrupted the flow of the story for me.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
This was a sweet story about baking, falling in love, and figuring out who you are. I ended up stopping reading to search for recipes. I liked that it had a recipe for sourdough buns at the end, but what I really wanted was the ravani! I liked the details in the art a lot, but the blue palette didn't work for me.
Every time I read a book by Lucy Knisley, I end up loving her and her work even more. This memoir deals with her experiences getting pregnant and having a baby. I connected to all of it. I'm thinking of getting this for my daughters in law, although now that I think of it, maybe I should get it for my sons instead.
Harvey is an adorable westie who runs away from his keeper when his family is away on vacation. He is found by Austin, a young boy who works after school at a retirement home. Austin is supposed to take Harvey to a shelter, but doesn't, and lies about it. Harvey spends his days at a care center for seniors. Through him Austin gets to know the cranky Mr Pickering who ends up telling him stories about living on the Canadian Prairies during the 1930's. Meanwhile, Maggie, Harvey's real owner, has returned from vacation and is searching for him.
I became so emotionally engaged in the different story lines that I ended up with leaking eyes.
NOVELS
I became so emotionally engaged in the different story lines that I ended up with leaking eyes.
MEMOIR
My partner and some of our friends rave about Ruth Reichl. They argue over which book is best. I decided that this year I would read one. They told me to start with this.
I loved it. I loved the hilarity of the disguises, the ensuing retrospection, and the friendships. I loved learning what life as like as a food critic. I appreciated that what she shares with us here is about much more than food and restaurants. It’s about who we are and how we are with others.
I am also inspired by the recipes and trying to figure out what to try first. Cheesecake is calling me.
DISCWORLD NOVELS
I finished listening to Pratchett's Raising Steam again. I'm not going to add anything more from what I said last week.
CURRENTLY
This is what I have on the go:
Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath
Child of a Mad God by R.A. Salvatore & Tim Gerard Reynolds (Narrator)The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett
Bad Sister Charise Mericle Harper
Ophie's Ghosts by Justina IrelandFinding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
Becoming by Michelle ObamaUP NEXT
BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK
Anne's School Days by Kallie George
Bad Sister by Cherise Mericle Harper
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2021 16/25 one on the go
#MustReadIn2021 16/25 one on the go
#MustReadNFIn2021 6/12
#MustReadPBIn2021 33/100
Big Book Summer Challenge one in progress
Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 17/25
Books by Canadian Authors: 56/100
Canada Reads 2021 4/5
Discworld Series 40/41 one on the go
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 206/333
Good luck with your renovations! I'm glad you're getting the wall you don't like removed. The Fog sounds excellent—I really enjoyed Maclear's writing in the graphic novel Operatic, so maybe I'll take a look at that one! Milo Imagines the World sounds great as well—I have had some experiences in my life recently reminding me of similar morals, where I decide somebody is a certain kind of person and they are not! I'm glad you enjoyed Bloom—I thought it was a nice read as well, and the art is beautiful! And I definitely need more books by Lucy Knisley—I read Relish and enjoyed it, and I also enjoyed her book Displacement (which I didn't review). I'm also curious to hear your thoughts on Bad Sister! Thanks so much for the great post!
ReplyDeleteOh my - so much dust with renovations. But how wonderful it will be to get things back up and running before too long. I'm particularly interested in the Louis Riel Day book. Our town was named after a French-Indian (Métis) fur trapper who ran a huge trading post here. We have a yearly "fur trade" festival where people come from far and wide to celebrate, visit our fur trade museum, participate in a parade, and attend all sorts of booths and author events. So something like this might fit nicely into that conversation. And I own a copy of Kid Gloves and can't believe I haven't yet read it (since I've been so involved in our birthing community and I was quite excited when the book came in). Hopefully I can finally squeeze it into my 2021 reading. Thanks for shares, Cheriee!
ReplyDeleteI love both Lucy Knisley and Ruth Reichl, though I've only read one Reichl memoir (her first, I think, Comfort Me with Apples), so I need to read more!
ReplyDeleteAnd Bloom looks wonderful! I have gotten behind with graphic novels and want to catch up some - they'll make nice palate cleansers in between Big Books this summer!
Glad you joined the summer challenge again!
Sue
2021 Big Book Summer Challenge