#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. 

CURRENTLY

Diggers by Terry Pratchet

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1983 by Cho Nam-Joo

Forbidden City by James Ponti February 1, 2022

UP NEXT

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