#IMWAYR August 29, 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.

It has been a very hectic couple of weeks. I gave up on blogging last weekend and contemplated leaving it for this one too. I decided against that because our son, his wife, and their two girls will be arriving Monday and will be here for a week. I fully expect to be exhausted next Sunday and will be desperate to do nothing. 

Because we expected to be away for a couple of weeks early September, we had to get a lot of food preservation accomplished in August. So, on the 16th I purchased 120 pounds of Roma tomatoes. They had to sit and finish ripening for a few days. Since they became ripe enough, I have canned 14 quarts of tomatoes, made 50 odd jars of salsa, 25 pints of tomato sauce and 14 jars of ratatouille. I also made a couple of quarts of dill pickles and a double batch of zucchini fritters to freeze. After all, the garden doesn't stop producing just because we are busy with other things. On Saturday, the 20th, a crew of us juiced another 320 pounds of tomatoes. We ended up with about 110 quarts of tomato juice. Only half of it is ours. 

It is very satisfying going to the cool room in the basement and looking at all the food on the shelves. 

This is our portion of juice cooling. My uncle reminded me of the good old days when we used to go and pick our own tomatoes and juice up to 1000 pounds.
We are a family that loves our red juice. 

In the middle of all that we got the message that we no longer have to be away. 

In addition to all the food processing, we have been trying to get the suite in our basement under control so my cousin can move in. Our last tenant left a huge mess that has taken a lot of work to clean and a lot of stuff to fix. I've painted the kitchen cupboards and my husband made new doors for them. I've done just about all the rest of the cleaning except the linoleum floor that I am leaving for him to look after. I am quite proud because I fixed the toilet all by myself and, after much scrubbing and half a bottle of bleach, got the bowl cleaned out. 

Needless to say, I did not get much reading with my eyes accomplished, but I made up for it listening to some brilliant audiobooks. 

I will do my best to respond to everyone's posts this week, but I'm not guaranteeing it will happen for the first few days. 

Hope you are all enjoying the end of summer. The weather the last couple of days has been a bit cooler. This hint of autumn has been much appreciated. 

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.

MG NOVELS

Me Three by Susan Juby & Justin Miller (Narrator) March 22, 2022  🍁

Rodney, his sister, and their mother have moved to a new town in a new state to start a new life. The two children start school using their mother's maiden name because of sexual abuse allegations made against their father. 

This epistolatory novel introduces us to Rodney and his family and they struggle to come to terms with what has happened and make new friends. At first Rodney thinks that the allegations must be false, but over time he comes to understand that they are true and that his father is not the man Rodney thought he was. 

I liked Rodney even if he seemed a bit young for his age. I appreciate that we see the ramifications on children when their parents are held accountable for their unscrupulous actions. I liked the complexity in Rodney's new friends even if some of their adventures terrified the bejeezus out of me. 

All the other Susan Juby books I've read have been set in Canada, so I was a bit disconcerted, and wondered why this one is set in the USA. I appreciated that one of Rodney's friends has a mother living here in BC Canada. 

The Fort by Gordon Korman June 28, 2022  🍁

I am really enjoying Korman's work these days. The Fort is the story of a group of boys who discover an underground bunker. It was built in the 1980's by a now deceased, local capitalist. They end up selling the pure silver cutlery to purchase food and fix one of their group's phone.
A couple of older bullies figure they have money and end up harassing them to get them to let them in on what is going on.
The tale unfolds through each of their voices. I appreciate how the character of each of these boys has been developed. They all have important stories that reveal the kinds of challenges that real boys today are liable to connect to. Ultimately, the important thing is how they are there for each other.

Playing the Cards You're Dealt by Varian Johnson & Dion Graham (Narrator) October 5, 2021

Anthony, (Ant) idolizes his father and want desperately to impress him. Now that he is ten and in grade five, he plans to do this by winning the next spades tournament. His older brother, his father and his grandfather have been winners of this card game year after year. Unfortunately, a lot of things get in the way of this. He and his best friend and spades partner, Jamal, end up estranged. Ant pairs up with Shirley, a new girl in school and still hopes to win. But his father's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and strange until Ant's mother makes him leave. 

Varian Johnson has created another endearing character in Ant. My heart aches for him as he struggles to figure out how to become his own man in the middle of his father's failures. 

The Stone Child by David Alexander Robertson & Brefny Caribou (Narrator) August 2, 2022  🍁

There are two individual, but linked adventures in this novel. It begins as Morgan wakes to finds Eli near death at the base of the great tree. His soul has been stolen. To save him she has to call on everyone she trusts. She brings her best friend, Emily, from the everyday world to Misewa. Together with Arik, they travel into the dangerous North Woods, to search for Eli's soul. They are helped by an unexpected saviour. On their return home Eli realizes that another soul has been trapped inside the tree. In order to set it free, they have to destroy their portal to Misewa. 

The second part of the story involves their search for a new portal and Morgan connecting to her grandmother and deceased mother. 

I liked this a lot. My adrenalin ratcheted up while reading of their terrifying experiences in the North Woods. (At least there were no spiders.) I liked the romance that is blossoming between Emily and Morgan. I liked that the children are appreciating their foster parents more and in turn, the foster parents are doing their best for the children.  

I can hardly wait to find out what will happen to them all when they visit Misewa in the next book. 

Wings (Bromeliad Trilogy #3) by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) January 1, 1990

I love this series so much that I've listened to each book twice. 

This quote from a wiki page explains the series much better than I can: "The main theme in the trilogy is the struggle of challenging society's accepted beliefs in the face of new information. This theme recurs through the books and includes changes in the scientific establishment, political establishment, religious beliefs, accepted history and family values of the nomes."

Wings is a companion book to Diggers in that it takes place at the same time. While the main group of Nomes are trying to deal with humans invading the quarry, this small group sneaks aboard an airplane and flies to NASA. With the help of 'the thing,' they end up contacting their spaceship, and returning to the quarry just in time to save the rest of the Nomes. 

Like the other novels in the series, this book is chock full of humour and rich commentary by the Nomes that ends up showing us ourselves. 

Some of the humour comes from how the Nomes think about the world: 

'What was that thing, Thing?’ said Masklin.
The Thing extended one of its sensors.
‘A long-necked turtle.’
‘Oh.’
The turtle swam peacefully away.
‘Lucky, really,’ said Gurder.
‘What?’ said Angalo.
‘It having a long neck like that and being called a long-necked turtle. It’d be really awkward having a name like that if it had a short neck.'

Some of it comes from how they see us:

 

'I don't think humans want to know things that disturb them.'

Nomes live ten times faster than humans. They're harder to see than a high- speed mouse. That's one reason why most humans hardly ever see them. The other is that humans are very good at not seeing things they know aren't there. And, since sensible humans know that there are no such things as people four inches high, a nome who doesn't want to be seen probably won't be seen.
  

"The other humans around it are trying to explain to it what a planet is."

"Doesn't it know?"
"Many humans don't. Mistervicepresident is one of them."

This series is deeply subversive. Don't let the book banners know anything about it. 

YA & ADULT FICTION

Huntress by Malinda Lo & Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator) April 5, 2011

I was wowed by this fantasy novel. It's jam packed full of action and romance. "Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly." They travel with the Prince and a small group of guards. 

If the sequel, Ash, had been available, I would have started it right away. 

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala & Danice Cabanela (Narrator) February 8, 2022

I kind of fell in love with Lila Macapagal and her aunties in Arsenic and Adobo, the first in Manansala's Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series. They are cosy mysteries steeped in Filipino culture. Also, the food descriptions have me salivating nearly all the way through it.  

In this one, Lila, a former beauty queen herself, is roped into being one of the judges for this year's pageant. Then someone murders one of them and Lila's cousin, Bernadette becomes the prime suspect. Lila and the Filipino aunties (AKA the gossip brigade) get to work to clear her name.

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi March 2, 2021

So many people have praised this book that I think I went into it with unreasonable expectations. I enjoyed it well enough, but it was loaded with too much relationship angst for me. It's the story of two Korean American sisters who grew up in Texas but now live in New York. June, the older, successful sister has cancer. Jayne, the younger one is a student struggling to deal with an eating disorder and feelings of inadequacy. While the relationship between the two siblings is fraught with all kinds of tension and squabbling, it isn't the angst that arises from this that bothered me.
It's the angst that is embedded in Jayne's relationships with men that was hard for me to deal with. I expect that this is because I am more of an age to these girl's parents and after 46 years of marriage have figured out that you just have to try and be as honest and upfront as you can. Also, if someone is a jerk, you either leave or kick them out. 

CURRENTLY

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett June 2, 2020

Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me by Bailey Oster et al August 6, 2021  🍁

UP NEXT

I've had these books on my up next list for a number of weeks now.  I do mean to get to them but have to admit that they are merely suggestions.

Barry Squires, Full Tilt by Heather Smith  🍁

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, 

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 19/24

#MustReadNonFiction 13/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 52/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 13/25 one in progress

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 201/250

#IMWAYR August 15, 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.

This post I'm sharing a couple of weeks reading. I had no internet or technology when I was camping this last while, so I ended up writing out my thoughts in pencil on paper. It was a strangely liberating experience. Ideas seem to write themselves. Although I did have to edit these perceptions, I noticed that I ended up producing more. So this got me wondering, is it too much? What do people prefer to read - in depth reflections or just a one sentence blurb? I definitely prefer to read something about the books you have been reading - the more the better. 

This article, The Problem with Female Protagonists, came up in my Facebook memories a couple of weeks ago.  I reread it and wondered about my own reading life. Do I read mostly about women? men? 

I went and looked at the data for this year so far. I wish I had included a category for queer characters and gender of author, but will leave that for another time. Here are my results. Let me know if you want to copy the form for your own use.

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.

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Abdul's Story by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow & Tiffany Rose (Illustrator)

Abdul finds that telling stories is easy, but writing them down is hard. He has trouble forming letters and spelling words correctly. He is about to give up writing when an author who looks much like him visits their classroom. He tells a story about a community very much like Abdul's. Mr Muhammad encourages the children to write their own stories. When he sees how disheartened Abdul is about his messy paper, he shows him his own messy notebook. This gives Abdul the courage to continue on with his own writing.
This is a wonderful book. I love the multicultural classroom and community portrayed in the pages. I love that it provides an overview of what the writing process looks like. I especially appreciate that it shows how attempting to get everything perfect the first time round interferes with eventually creating a brilliant story. That's an important message for all of us.

4 stars

Mr. Watson's Chickens by Jarrett Dapier & Andrea Tsurumi (Illustrator) October 5, 2021

Slightly slapstick, this book is loaded with rhyming ridiculousness.
Mr. Watson and his partner, Mr. Nelson, start out with three chickens. Their life becomes pure chaos as those three chickens reproduce to become 456 birds. They had:
Chickens in the sink,
chickens on the bed,
chickens in the bread box,
chickens on their heads!
It isn't until Mr. Nelson threatens to move out into the coop out back - alone, that Mr. Watson finally comes up with a plan for what to do with all those chickens.
I appreciate much about this one: in particular, the gay couple just being a couple; the humour; and the illustrations so loaded with detail, readers can spend hours poring over them. Thanks to Linda Bai for the introduction to this.

4 stars

Rosa's Song by Helena Ku Rhee & Pascal Campion (Illustrations) June 14, 2022

Jae and his family have moved into an apartment building in a new city in a new country. He mopes about their suite missing home. After his mother sends him off to make new friends, he knocks on a door and meets Rosa and her parrot, Pollito. They become fast friends. Rosa and Pollito teach Jae the song, When I fly Away, My Heart Stays Here.
One day, without warning, Rosa is gone. She left Pollito behind for Jae who is heartbroken. Eventually two new children knock on his door.
In her author's note, Helena Ku Rhee talks about growing up in an apartment much like this one. Like Jae, friendships were often "disrupted just as they are forming."
I like the multicultural community portrayed in Pascal Campion's illustrations.

5 stars

Fly by Brittany J. Thurman & Anna Cunha (Illustrator) January 11, 2022

Africa decides to join a Double Dutch Competition. She has never double dutched before, but her grandmother was a champion, so Africa is certain she has it in her too. She has one week to be ready for it. At first she tries to learn on her own. Then she gets her friends to help her. They might not do double dutch, but they teach her how to dance; step in rhythm; clap and sing; and double cartwheel, back flip, and summersault.
On the day of the competition, Africa uses the skills her friends taught her to double dutch even better than her grandmother used to.
The artwork in this book is glorious! Anna Cunha's illustration are vibrant and sing with action.

4 stars

The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes &Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Illustrator)

A young girl's mother sends her off to her first day of kindergarten with a tiara and rules for how to be a queen. The rules are: 1.Brighten any room you enter; 2. Be caring and kind; and 3. Be helpful to others. These are good rules for people of any age and gender.
If I was still working I would have ordered this book for the library in a heartbeat. I just wish this book and The King of Kindergarten had been titled with A as in A Queen of Kindergarten, rather than the.

MG NOVELS

5 stars

Diggers by Terry Pratchet & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) January 1, 1990

I finished this, and then started it all over again.
It is the second in Pratchett's Bromeliad series.
The nomes (four inch tall people) now live in buildings in an abandoned quarry. Life is much harder than it was in their department store lives in Truckers. It is winter, already a hard time, when a notice goes up that the quarry is going to opened again.
A small crew head out on a scouting mission to the nearby airport while Grimma, (a budding feminist) and the rest of the leadership come up with a plan to make the humans go away. Believing that humans always obey signs, they create some badly spelled ones warning them to keep out. They lock the gate with a heavy chain and padlock. They spike the tires of a lorry that tries to enter. The humans keep coming.
Eventually they capture a night security guard.
Knowing that more humans will arrive with the dawn, the Nomes climb aboard JCB (Jecub) an abandoned digger they have refurbished with parts taken from the decommissioned lorry. 

Will they be captured and forced to make shoes, do housework, and paint flowers in exchange for bowls of milk? You will have to read the book and find out. 
The important thing about Pratchett's work is that while we are laughing, he provides a mirror for us to see ourselves with clarity and compassion. I can't help but wonder if Nomes really are smarter than humans.

4 stars

Forbidden City (City Spies 3) by James Ponti & Lisa Flanagan (Narrator) February 1, 2022

I love this series about a group of teenage spies. With each story, the drama of their mission is counterbalanced by the social and emotional development of their characters.

To succeed in their new mission, Paris has to up his chess game so he can participate in chess prodigy tournaments in Moscow and Beijing.
Sydney, acting as a junior reporter, follows a billionaire's daughter around the world to uncover his role in soviet missiles.
Brooklyn is stuck in summer school where she connects with Charlotte, a previous member of the team. Together they manage to crack an important to code that enables the success of the operation.
The goal this time is to recruit a young North Korean chess prodigy, Dae-Jung, and his nuclear scientist father, Park Jin-Sun, before Umbra can kidnap them.
Luckily their adopted father, (code named Mother,) is there to support the team through their all their challenges.
Now I have to wait til next February for the next instalment.

4 stars

The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson January 1, 2022

If Ellis Earl (Earl) was a real person, he would be two years my junior. The same historic events would have reverberated across both our lives. That's where the similarities end. My family endured a short stint of abject poverty, but was a choice made by my parents in hopes of a better life to follow. Earl's poverty is a permanent fixture, a grind brought about because of the colour of his skin. Those events were significantly more profound for him and his family than I could have begun to imagine.
The conditions Earl and his family have to live in are horrific. He lives with his widowed mother and a large number of siblings. Then they end up looking after three of this brother's children while their mom is having another baby. In addition to the constant gnawing hunger, they live in an already crowded three room shack that leaks when it rains and floods the only way out.
Of course Earl loves school. School is his salvation and a potential way out of his misery. He has a fantastic teacher who cares for the educational, physical, emotional and social well being of students under his care. It's because of him that the circumstances of Earl and his family eventually improves. Mr. Foster gives Earl a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a gift. Earl was a struggling reader until he became engaged in Charlie's story. He noted their similar circumstances and hopes to someday win his own kind of golden ticket. 

This is a book about making connections and looking forward. It's about the power of one important teacher in a child's life. It is still a hard read. 

I hope that all those real children Earl represents did manage to find their way into a better life.

4 stars

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride (Author and Narrator) August 17, 2021

I listened to this book. I'm not sure it was the ideal medium for the story. While I appreciated the language, I think reading with my eyes would have had a more profound impact.
It's a book that deals with grief, isolation and abandonment. It's about first love.
Moth lost her entire family in a car accident. Sani sees ghosts. The two help each other find their way from their past into their futures.
I'm not going to spoil this book for you, but part of it was a huge surprise for me. It was a necessary revelation that enabled the two youth to move forward, but it still shocked me.

ADULT FICTION

5 stars

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1983 by Cho Nam-Joo October 14, 2016

In 2017, women in Korea earned 63¢ for every dollar their male counterparts made. In 2021 it is still the lowest ratio in OPEC countries.
Kim Jiyoung, a symbolic character, epitomizes this story of gender inequality in Korea. She represents the experiences of Korean women, especially those with a career who are married with children.
The book is supposed to be a clinical assessment of a married woman with one child. Her husband sent her to see him after she began to behave peculiar.
"In a chilling, eerily truncated third-person voice, Jiyoung’s entire life is recounted to the psychiatrist—a narrative infused with disparate elements of frustration, perseverance, and submission. Born in 1982 and given the most common name for Korean baby girls, Jiyoung quickly becomes the unfavored sister to her princeling little brother. Always, her behavior is policed by the male figures around her—from the elementary school teachers who enforce strict uniforms for girls, to the coworkers who install a hidden camera in the women’s restroom and post their photos online. In her father’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s fault that men harass her late at night; in her husband’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s duty to forsake her career to take care of him and their child—to put them first."
At the end, the psychiatrist acknowledges that he would not be aware of women's reality without having met Kim Jiyoung, but he still doesn't make connections from her to the women in his own life.
Those of us from other parts of the world will find ourselves reflected in Kim Jiyoung's reality and in turn, see our own culture through new eyes.
This book leads us to ask all kinds of questions. What is it like for women in other parts of the world? Will/Did this book bring about change for women in Korea?
Here in Canada how many women stay home because child care is either not available or so expensive as to make continuing to work financially ridiculous? Even when women continue working following childbirth, they end up taking on a majority of the work at home. While they are at least spared the disdain of stay at home moms in Korea, we still don't acknowledge the value of their unpaid labour.
I am left contemplating my Korean daughter in law's experiences here in Canada. She has a master's degree in translation work. Before she was married, she lost or couldn't get jobs because of her gender. In Canada her options are limited because her qualifications are not recognized here. Like many married woman in Korea, she is a stay at home mom with two children and does contract work from home. I wondered how different her life is here compared to there. She tells me it is much better.

4.5 stars

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers & Emmett Grosland (Narrator) July 13, 2021

This book is a kind of blessing - a promise of a better world to come.
Eons before the story begins, human beings built robots to do their work. One day robots awoke to consciousness and eventually an agreement was made between themselves and humans to live separate lives. It was a catalyst that changed human beings and their environments for the better.
This is the the story of Sibling Dex, a nongendered city monk who longs for more. They want to listen to the sound of crickets in the evening after working. They want a more meaningful purpose to their life.
After a few initial mishaps, Sibling Dex ends up with a successful tea cart, travelling through rural areas helping others get through the tribulations of their days. But there are no crickets. It still isn't enough. They decide to go in search of true wilderness.
On the way Sibling Dex meets up with Mosscap, a sentient robot. Mosscap is on a mission to find out what humans want. As they travel together, learning more about one another, a heartwarming friendship blossoms between the two of them.
I will definitely be reading more of Becky Chambers' words.

CURRENTLY

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi March 2, 2021

The Fort by Gordon Korman June 28, 2022  🍁

Wings by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) January 1, 1990

UP NEXT

Barry Squires, Full Tilt by Heather Smith  🍁

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, 

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 17/24

#MustReadNonFiction 13/18

Canadian Authors 49/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 193/250

#IMWAYR August 1st, 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.

Last week I forgot to thank Jen at Introverted Reader for the heads up about the Chrome Library Extension. I love being able to check if any of my libraries have copies of the books when I search for titles on Goodreads. 

Our son and his family left Sunday morning to return home to Vancouver. After a bit of clean up, a bazillion loads of laundry, and a long nap, the missing of them started. 

Before they arrived I managed to almost finish sewing these matching dresses for my granddaughters. Late at night I binge watched Call the Midwife and finished them so they could take them back to Vancouver with them.

We will be away at a wedding next weekend so I won't get a post in for a couple of weeks. 

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.

PICTURE BOOKS

Lydia, my almost two year old granddaughter and I enjoyed a lot of classic picture books this week. Her favourite was Peek a Zoo, but the others were a hit as well. 

4 stars

Apple and Magnolia by Laura Gehl & Patricia Metola (Illustrator) February 8, 2022

A young girl is convinced the two trees in her yard are friends. When one seems to languish, she is certain that the other one helps it out. 

There is ample evidence showing that trees communicate with each other through fungal networks. This book is a delightful introduction to the process.

4 stars

At the Pond by David Elliott & Amy Schimler-Safford (Illustrations) February 8, 2022

This is a collection of poetry that connects to different animals that live in, on, or around a pond. They didn't all work for me, but I adored this one about frogs. 

Amy Schimler-Safford's illustrations really make this book for me. They are created with mixed media and finished digitally. The back matter contains additional information about the plants and animals honoured in the book.

Thanks to Linda B at Teacher Dance for introducing this book to me. 

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

When the Schools Shut Down: A Young Girl's Story of Virginia's Lost Generation and the Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka Decision byTamara Pizzoli, Yolanda Gladden & Keisha Morris (Illustrations) January 11, 2022

The caliber of nonfiction picture books available these days is exemplary. This book is the proof. 

Tamara Pizzoli relates how she and other African American children managed to get an education when schools were shut down to avoid integration. The power of this book is that is shows the consequences of the ruling and the aftermath from a personal perspective. 

Thanks to Linda B at Teacher Dance for the heads up about this one too. 

READERS

My five year old grandson and I read the Charlie and Mouse series while he was here. He ended up enjoying them as much as my granddaughter did. If you are not acquainted with this series, you don't need to read them with children. They are delightful on their own. Make sure you read them as hardcopies. The formatting of the ebooks sucks.

 

4 stars

Blippo and Beep by Sarah Weeks & Joey Ellis (Illustrations) May 17, 2022

Everett enjoyed this one too. He grinned the whole way through it. Blippo and Beep, a couple of robotic friends tell jokes to each other. Beep seems to have a better handle on what a joke is. Blippo gets it eventually though. Everett told me he liked the rhyming joke best. 

MG NOVELS

4 stars

The Summer We Saved the Bees by Robin Stevenson September 1, 2015 🍁

Wolf had no idea that his project on bees would end up with his mother becoming passionate about saving them. He had no idea she would create a website and have the whole family involved in raising awareness of colony collapse. Now they are leaving school before the end of the school year. He's expected to wear an ill fitting bee suit and, along with his twin five year old sisters, hand out flyers while his mother entertains crowds. His older step sister, Violet, is angry about having to leave her boyfriend Ty and abandon school before finishing grade ten. But it's Whisper, one of their little sisters who worries him the most. She has always been anxious and worried, but now her stomach aches have gotten worse and she's stopped talking altogether. How can Wolf and Violet get their mother to focus on what's going on with her children now, instead of panicking about their future?

I was much more invested in Wolf's story than I expected to be. I was so angry at his mother that I had to take a break from reading a couple of times. 

4 stars

The Overwood by Gabrielle S. Prendergast February 15, 2022  🍁

You might think that Blue Jasper and his mother would be safe in The Overwood, the Fairie name for our world. Unfortunately, the evil Faerie queen, Olea, stripped of her magic, now lives here. When Blue's mother goes missing, Olea, and a coven of witches, have something to do with it. Blue and his Fairie friends have to rescue her within 24 hours or she will be killed and Olea will get her power back.
While the first two in Prendergast's Orca Currents Faerie Woods series are full of action packed escapes, this one ratchets up the tension. It felt a lot creepier, but maybe that is because the dangers Blue and his friends face are more tangible. I don't even like heights, never mind almost falling off the CN Tower in Toronto.
(The Orca Currents collection are "are short, high-interest novels with contemporary themes written specifically for middle-school students reading below grade level. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 5.0. Interest level ages 9-12")

ADULT FICTION

5 stars

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner May 17, 2022 🍁

I think I liked this book even more than The Jane Austen Society. I was delighted to get to know Evie Stone better, but loved making the acquaintance of Vivien Lowry and Grace Perkins. Reading about the hardships these women faced in academia and in the workplace left me both thankful for the progress we've made, and hoping for more for the working women of today. I loved the literary connections - especially all the women authors and publishers. The romantic bits were delightful. 

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Diggers by Terry Pratchet

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1983 by Cho Nam-Joo

Forbidden City by James Ponti February 1, 2022

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The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson

Barry Squires, Full Tilt by Heather Smith  🍁

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, 

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 15/24

#MustReadNonFiction 12/18

Canadian Authors 49/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 6 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 181/250