#IMWAYR January 24th, 2022

Welcome readers! It's #IMWAYR time again, when bloggers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to. 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. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next. 

Just a reminder that if you are participating in the #MustRead challenge, Leigh Anne Eck at A Day In the Life is hosting the last update for 2021 here. When you are ready, post your #MustReadIn2022 goals here. The links are open until the end of January.

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

Fossil Hunter: How Mary Anning Changed the Science of Prehistoric Life by Cheryl Blackford

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Ducks! by Deborah Underwood & T.L. McBeth (Illustrations) Feb 11, 2020

A young duck gets distracted by a butterfly. When it thinks to go back to it's flock, they have disappeared. As they go in search of them they find lots of clues, but NO DUCKS. I love T.L. McBeth's minimalist illustrations. The expression on the little duckling's face is delightful.

5 stars

Hello, World! by Ethan Long March 3, 2020

My sons were fans of Richard Scary books. This is a lot like those, except with a whole lot more humour. (Children might not get all the puns, but their parents most likely will!) I imagined reading this with my 4 1/2 year old grandchildren. I’m pretty sure they will love it.
If I was still in the library I would probably get a couple of copies of this to support primary teachers who do community projects with their students.

NONFICTION 

5 + stars

Fossil Hunter: How Mary Anning Changed the Science of Prehistoric Life by Cheryl Blackford January 25, 2022

This biography is visually stunning. I adored it. The images, combined with the straight forward, easy to read text make it a model for what nonfiction texts for elementary and middle grade readers should aspire to be. I read it a couple of times and each time I was more impressed by it. "It takes young readers through Anning's many fossil finds and scientific breakthroughs. At the same time it doesn't stint about the hardships Mary and her family endured. It makes clear the challenges she faced because of her poverty, gender and class." 

GRAPHIC NOVELS

These days I'm mostly reading graphic novels for the Cybils awards. I will do a post to share my thoughts on all of them after we pick a winner. From the ones I've finished so far, that's promising to be a daunting task. 

Here's what I read last week. If I previously reviewed the book, I've provided a link to it.

Chunky by Yehudi Mercado June 22, 2021

Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani June 22, 2021
    My original review is here. 

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte &  Ann Xu (Illustrations) October 27, 2020

    My original review is here.

NOVELS

5 stars

Washington Black by by Esi Edugyan & Dion Graham (Narrator) August 2, 2018 🍁

I listened to the audiobook and was mesmerized by the writing, the story, and Dion Graham’s narration.

Washington (Wash) Black was born into slavery on a plantation in Barbados. The brutality he grows up with is horrific. When he was just a boy, Christopher, (Titch) the plantation owner’s brother, takes him on as his assistant. He teaches him to read and introduces him to scientific thinking. It turns out that Washington is a gifted artist.
Wash is present when a cousin of the brothers kills himself. Knowing his brother will blame Wash, Titch and Wash flee the plantation. They travel to America and, fleeing a relentless slave catcher the brother has sent after them, end up in the Arctic where Titch abandons Wash, who is still a child.
There are more journeys in store for Washing Black. To start, he leaves the Arctic and ends up in Nova Scotia.
As he grows up alone, Wash becomes a young man searching to figure out who he is, who he can be, and how he fits in the world. It’s an almost impossible task. He finds some peace, but all the while he’s haunted by Titch’s abandonment and lives in fear of the slaver catching up to him. As a black man with a disfigured face, he’s easy to track down. Even when he connects up with another scientist and his daughter, he’s never really acknowledged as a human being with the right to be recognized for his own work.
The ending left me heartbroken.
There is so much in this novel to unpack. To start there’s the relationship between the captured octopus and Washington. Then in tandem with the author, take a hard look at who Abolitionists were and explore the contradictions between what they said and how they acted. 

I wish I had read this with a book club.

PS - Esi Edugyan has won two Giller prizes (this is one of them) and her books have been nominated for for many more awards.

MEMOIR

5 stars

Life in the City of Dirty Water: A Memoir of Healing by Clayton Thomas-Muller (Author and Narrator) Sep 04, 2019  🍁

Learning how people come to be the people they are is always fascinating. I really appreciated Clayton Thomas-Muller's brutal honesty in this. His life was full of hard things - some are difficult to read about. He didn't always make the kinds of choices people might think are the right ones, but he's come out of it being a staunch environmental activist at the same time as working hard to become the best person he can be. The first part of the book deals with his early years and the second half focuses more on his activism. In many ways his story is the story of Indigenous rejuvenation, reclamation, and celebration.
Reading reviews about this book is interesting. Some readers complain it is too much about his activism. Others say it's too much autobiography. I think the intersection of these two make it just right. 

CURRENTLY

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad & Dion Graham (Narrator) 

My Last Summer with Cass by Mark Crilley  (Cybil title)

Spílexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence by Nicola I. Campbell

UP NEXT 

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith (Illustrator) (Cybil title)

I have almost finished reading and rereading the finalists in the graphic novel categories in my role as a round 2 Cybils judge. I'm looking forward to finding time for other books.

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 2/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 1/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 5/100 one in progress

Canada Reads Longlist 5/23 one in progress

Indigenous Authors 2/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 26/250