#IMWAYR October 31, 2022

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Welcome! 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.

Tuesday, November 2nd is I Read Canadian Day!

I'm still working on a blog post highlighting the Canadian Authors I have read since the last I Read Canadian Day. I'll have it ready for this one! The links below will take you to earlier lists.
I tried to read only Canadian books last week, but I ended up substitute teaching and given that it's Halloween season, I dragged a couple of appropriate titles from my collection to bring along for back up activities. They both got used. 

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

Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer 🍁

PICTURE BOOKS 

5 stars

Mina by Matthew Forsythe February 15 2022 🍁

Mina is pretty much unflappable. She isn't bothered when her father brings home a tin can to make his jokes louder, or by his collection of antique art, or even by the band of musicians. Still, when he brings home an animal he is certain is a squirrel, she's not sure. She worries and has trouble sleeping, but everything seems fine until the new creature stops eating. Then her father brings home more of these animals. None of them want to eat. The doctor is called and as soon as he identifies them as a different species entirely, trouble erupts. 
I really liked this one. The gorgeous illustrations and the quirky story are just perfect. I appreciated the message about trusting your instincts. 
As soon as I finished it I downloaded Pokko and the Drum. 


Pokko's family have made mistakes before: getting her a slingshot, a llama, and the balloon, but giving her a drum was the worst. It was so loud her parents couldn't hear one another talk. They sent her outside to play her drum, but told her take it easy and not draw attention to herself. They were after all, just a little frog family who lived in a mushroom. Pokko tries, but ends up leading a huge noisy band of forest animals. 
I adore the art and the humour in both of the books by Matthew Forsythe. Each one has an important message. In this case I think it's about the power of practise, of not giving up. Maybe it's also about getting your children inappropriate gifts and letting them grow into who they will become. 

5 stars

One Dark Night by Edna Mitchell Preston & Kurt Werth (Illustrator) September 15, 1969

This is a cumulative Halloween tale with rhythmic, repetitive language. It follows a group of Halloween trick or treaters as they head off into the night. Then they hear a terrifying squeak. In their haste to get away from the sound they fall over each other scaring themselves even more.




I wish more teachers would work with books like this. I wish we had more books like this. I brought it along with me to read to individual students when I was substitute teaching. I listened to one girl read from the levelled text she had been assigned. Then we read this together. Well she mostly read it and I helped out if she needed it. The difference between the two readings was profound. The first was stilted, dry and boring. Not long after she started the second she was into the pattern of the language and reading with expression. You can download it and read it at the Open Library


I own a copy of this book and have read it many times with children of all ages. The younger ones need a bit of help following the story line, but all of them were in awe of Tor Lokvig's paper engineering.
This pop out book takes us through different rooms in a haunted house. We follow a couple of mice as they make their way to the attic. Readers must depend on inference to follow the storyline as they integrate it with the fabulous artwork. A lot is going on, so it's easy to lose the narrative. I'm not sure it really matters.
The small groups I read it to on Friday appreciated it as much as every other group has.


Mary Ann Shad was the first woman publisher in Canada and the first black woman to publish a newspaper in North America. She was born in 1823 in Wilmington Delaware. Slavery was still legal but her family were not slaves. Her parents were involved with the Underground Railroad as station masters. In 1850, the law was changed to make it legal for any black person, free or not, to be snatched by slave catchers. Their family moved to Canada soon after that.
In what is now Windsor, Ontario, Marianne started an integrated school where skin colour didn’t matter. She wrote numerous letters to the editor about her opinions but these were either not printed or edited so that her meaning was obscured. 
In 1853 she started her own newspaper. She had to work hard to raise money for it. They sold subscriptions but had to fund raise in other ways: holding fares, bazaars, and tea parties. The newspaper was a forum to talk about the discrimination Black people, both men and women, faced. By1860 the paper had run out of funds and had to close. 
Over the years Mary Ann Shadd travelled back and forth from Canada to the United States to try and make life better for Black people. She was also very involved in the women’s suffrage movement fighting for the rights of Black women at a time when many white suffragettes didn't want Black people to have the right to vote. 
In 1869 she started night classes at Howard university to become the first Black woman to to attend law school. She was 60 years old when she graduated. Throughout her life she worked for the rights of her self and others.


This illustrated chapter book tells the story of Anne's tea party with her best friend, Diana. The two girls had a great time drinking raspberry cordial and pretending to be grown-up. Unfortunately, Marilla had mistakenly mixed up the raspberry cordial with the current wine, and Diana went home sick. Even though Marilla tried to explain, Mrs Barry, Diana's mother, was sure it was all Anne's fault and refused to let Diana have anything more to do with her.
Then one evening Diana flung open the Shirley's kitchen door. Her parents were away and her little sister was deathly ill. Matthew went for the doctor, but it was Anne who worked tirelessly all night to save Minnie May's life. Mrs Barry acknowledged that she was wrong about Anne's character and the two girls were allowed to be boon companions once again. 
I love how this series captures the essence of the original books. 

I am always content to read a Becky Citra novel. Not only does she create authentic characters, she places them in environments so real, readers experience a sense of having been there.
She does it again with Rachel Bird.
Rachel is a 14 year old teen with a 5 year old sister, Jane. Their mother died and as the story begins, they are spending time in Vancouver, BC, with an uncle they knew nothing about. During the summer holidays they are sent to live with Margaret and Wayne, grandparents they have neither met nor heard of. They end up on a ranch north of 100 Mile House in the Caribou region of British Columbia.
At first Rachel wants to just return to Vancouver, but eventually she makes connections to Margaret and Wayne; Magic, her mother's horse; new friends; and the land itself.
As a reader I couldn't help but wonder, why the mother left the family and had nothing to do with them afterwards?
Rachel wonders the same thing and as the story unfolds, secrets are forced into the open and we learn the answers.


Let me just get this on the table right off the bat. I hate books that end in cliffhangers. This one ends with a cliffhanger.
It's a good thing I was already hooked on this series or I might just refuse to read more on general principle.
Ma takes Jaxon to Chicago to a Witch and Wizard convention, but when they are there, refuses to let him attend. Instead she sets him up with a guide who shows him around the city and teaches him about the history of Black people in the area. His guide reconnects Jaxon to Blue, a trickster from the previous book. Through them he learns that he has been summoned to attend a court case at the convention, but that Ma has hidden this from him. Of course Jaxon tried to keep his phoenix egg and now hatched phoenix from her. 
In the end, Jaxon gets to the court session and ends up in a trap set by Blue and others. 


This book compares the experiences of best friends growing up on the same cul-de-sac in Prince Rupert in the 1980's. Mia, the half Indigenous narrator, lives in poverty. Lara is a middle class white girl. Class and culture matter. You can read my full review here. 

I am a hard core fan of cosy mysteries. If they are historical, I'm even happier. When the book is well written by a Canadian author and highlights a Canadian landscape, it's a dream come true.
It's 1946 and Lane Winslow, ex-intelligence officer, has left London and her war trauma behind her to settle in a small hamlet in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. She's just settling in, making new friends, and dealing with an unwanted suitor, when she and her cantankerous neighbour discover a body plugging up their water system. The discovery and following machinations have her past catching up with her, and puts her smack in the frame for the murder. In the process we are introduced to a handsome police detective who doesn't want to arrest her, but might have no choice. In the end, Lane comes up with a deadly plan to draw the murderer out into the open.
I can hardly wait to start the next in the series to see what Lane gets up to next, and how her relationship with the handsome detective unfolds. 
 
CURRENTLY

Butt Sandwich & Tree by Wesley King  🍁
Science Comics: Crows: Genius Birds (Science Comics) by Kyla Vanderklugt  🍁
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

UP NEXT - MAYBE

Death in a Darkening Mist (Lane Winslow #2) by Iona Whishaw 🍁
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
  
READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 22/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 14/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 65/100 two in progress

Indigenous Authors 16/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 248/250

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7
Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

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Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this important book. It was released October 18, 2022, by Orca Book Publishers.

Weird Rules to Follow is based on the author's experience growing up in Northern British Columbia. It reads like a series of vignettes narrated by Mia, a half Tsimshian, half white girl, about the events of her life. These episodes, spanning a number of years, focus on both life within her family, and on her relationship with her best friend, Lara, a white girl who lives nearby. They include basketball tournaments, Christmas at Disneyland, berry picking, canning salmon, riding bikes around the neighbourhood, dance recitals, and school.

The title of this book refers to the different kinds of rules that govern the two girls lives. The consequences are profound. Mia notes that Lara has rules and then wishes she had more of them. In this instance it's about family rules that focus on the child's future. Yet in the general community, when there are rules, they are either not applied equally, or rules are different based on culture and class. Where white students might receive sympathy and support, Indigenous ones receive punishment and scorn. 

Mia and her mother live with her grandmother, a reclusive uncle, and a foster girl named Mary, on a cul-de-sac in the community of Prince Rupert. It's a small neglected house often filled with relatives. Lara and her family live in a large modern home full of modern amenities. The difference between the two lifestyles is a critical component of the book. Yet while Lara might have more materially, Mia is surrounded by extended family, love, and a way of knowing and experiencing the world that Lara misses out on. It's obvious that Mia's mother does her best for her no matter what. "Yes I got a new bike and it’s really cool, but I knew we couldn’t afford it. The bike came at a cost." This is because Mia needed braces. Her mother, even though she worked two jobs, couldn't afford to pay the family portion of them and get Mia a new bike. In the end, Mia had to choose what she wanted more. She chose the bike.  

One important thing I appreciated about this book is seeing issues from different sides. When Mia's mother wins $1000 at bingo, Lara's mother frowns and points out how much she lost before she won. When Mia tells her mother about this, her mom "rolls her eyes and says, "I know how gambling works! But it's entertainment - I do it because it's fun."

Some parts of this book made me laugh out loud. When Mia agrees to get a perm for picture day, it doesn't end up the way she anticipated. "I look like my mom and aunties. I'd fit right in at bingo." After she tries to fix it, she ends up looking like, "a dead ringer for Michael Jackson on the cover of his Thriller album."  At other times the humour is found in little quips like this one, "Grandma doesn’t watch basketball, probably because she’s Christian."

Sometimes I almost wept. Mia doesn't really fit in anywhere. She's either too Indigenous or too white. Microaggressions are commonplace. They arise from both outside and inside the Indigenous community. When Lara's bike is stolen, her father automatically assumes it was an Indian who took it. Mia's half-Indigenous older cousin says that his Indigenous mother told him, “not to marry an Indian”.  In the Ts’msyen town of Kitkatla, (referred to as out there or out home) where her family originates, she’s considered an outsider. When she's bullied by a group of girls, her mom takes them back to Prince Rupert. The most stark example of one of these aggressions is when Mia starts high school. Lara gets a locker on the main floor in the midst of where the rest of the white students are. Mia's locker is situated in the dingy basement with other indigenous learners. Upon reflection, this is much more than a micro aggression. It's an example of systemic racism in action. Mia and Lara's relationship suffers because of this and other experiences as they grow older. 

While this book is recommended for readers aged 11 to 13, I would recommend it to readers of all ages who are interested in understanding what it means to grow up Indigenous in this province. It's a must read for all teachers who work with First Nation learners. 
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#IMWAYR October 24, 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.

Life has been busy, but we have no company scheduled for the next while, the garden is sort of under control, and I feel like I might have my reading mojo back. Today is a catch up post from the last couple of weeks, but I hope to be back on track posting and responding regularly every Monday for the next while.

November 2nd is I Read Canadian Day!

The finalists for the Governor General Literary Awards were announced last week. Some I've read, but those I haven't are now on my wish list. 
I do my best to read as many books by Canadian authors as I can. Four of the titles I finished this week fit this bill. All the books I am currently reading meet that criteria. I'll be reading only Canadian authors in the near future. Next week I plan to do a blog post on the Canadian Authors I have read in the last year or so. In the meantime, here are some links to I Read Canadian Day from 2021.
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

A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall 🍁 & Vera Brosgol (Illustrator) July 19th 2022

If you don't already have this in your school library, hurry up and purchase it for your Halloween collection. 
It's hilarious. It isn't obvious at first, but a witch is making a batch of soup on a cooking show. It actually sounds pretty good except for the cup of fly extract. Then she tries to catch a spoonful of frogs. If you have ever tried to catch a frog, you will appreciate the impossibility of getting one to sit on a spoon. Children of all ages will chuckle at the witch's antics as she tries to pull it off. 


I wish I had read this with my grandchildren to find out what they think of it. As much as I appreciated this book, (I am a sucker for these kinds of generational relationships) I wonder if they would find it as engaging.
It's the story of an immigrant family bringing a seed from home and planting it in their new country. In this case, the walnut tree grows tall while the boy who planted it becomes elderly and frail. He gives a nut from the tree to his granddaughter and tells her the story of how she came to receive it. Together they plant it in a pot and nurture it.
When he eventually dies, the girl and her mother plant the sapling outside beside the mother's and grandfather's trees.
I liked how this story shows us death in the larger context of the cycle of life, but doesn't diminish the young girl's grief.
I would pair this book with The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland.

When city hall doesn't have the information a young boy wants, inspired by his grandmother, he sets out to collect the data for himself.
He goes door to door collecting information about who in his neighborhood has a dog, and the dog's name. Not everyone has a dog, so he ends up collecting data about all sorts of different pets. Eventually, this data is used to create a dog park in the community.

Thanks to Myra @ GatheringBooks and Linda @ Teacher Dance for introducing this book to me. 

While this story is told from a child's point of view, I completely connected to it. While I miss my grandchildren and sons, this little person misses a grandparent. It's hard for all of us to live so far apart.
Suzy Lee's depiction of the grandmother had me thinking about the Korean grandmother of two of my granddaughters. At least I get to see our darlings once in a while. Since Covid, she hasn't even seen the newest, now two and a half, except through FaceTime. I am very lucky. 

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS 


This has been nominated for a 2022 Governor General Literary Award. Once you read it you will understand why.
Honestly, I wasn't sure I would like it, but the author is Canadian, and it has that nomination. I ended up completely enthralled. Time is a tricky idea. Julie Morstad provides multiple metaphors and concrete examples of what time feels and looks like. Her artwork is just gorgeous. 
As I was reading I wished it had been around when primary teachers would come to see me looking for a book on this very topic. I can envision using it with different ages as a springboard to thinking about time as a big idea and writing our own poems and books. I hope to get the chance to use it with students.


Dan Gemeinhart gets to me every time I read a book from him. I can't help but adore his characters. This one is a story about friendship and belonging. It's quirky, bizarre and full of sweetness with a hint of magical realism thrown in.
I started and finished it in one sitting.
Ravani Foster is a lonely boy who while staring out his window one night, sees a group of children move into the house across the street from in. He is befriended by Virginia, one of the girls. That friendship is the catalyst that changes all of their lives.
I especially appreciated the tone of the omniscient narrator. It is reminiscent of an old time story teller, every once in a while dropping in hints of what disasters might be coming next.

This bilingual tale (Spanish and English) is the story of a crew of Latino students who end up working together in their school cafeteria for community service.
We come to see them as unique individuals with different kinds of struggles, but just like the homeless mother and child they try to help, their differences are invisible to their supervisor who assumes they are all the same.


This was a lot of fun. Rose, a waitress and wanna be chef, serves a special dessert to a food critic and ends up getting an invitation to a cooking contest. If she wins she will be able to pay for tuition and living expenses at a top culinary school. It takes a bit, but eventually she convinces Fred, her best friend, to partner her. Winning half of $500,000 dollars will go a long way to help out his family's struggling restaurant.
The contest proves to be more harrowing than they could have imagined. By the end, they learn a lot about cooking, but even more about their feelings for each other.
I liked a lot about this book, especially the recipes for the different desserts! I'm hoping to get to making some macarons in the near future!

YA & ADULT FICTION

4 stars

The Merciless Ones (The Gilded Ones, #2) by by Namina, Forna & Filippa Suenson (Narrator) May 31st 2022

I'm certain that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I hadn't just finished The Obelisk Gate before starting it.
In spite of this, I ended up completely engaged in this continuation of Deka's story. It's chock full of action, convoluted plot twists, secrets, and betrayal. It's fine enough that I would have started the next one right away had it been available.
 

This was brilliant. I was totally hooked from the get go. It's the story, set in a not to distant future, of genetic engineering gone terribly wrong. Logan Ramsay's mother was a brilliant geneticist whose misguided, but well meaning work, ended up destroying food crops. It resulted in a famine where 200 million people starved to death.
Her son, now working for a branch of the American secret service, ends up contaminated by a virus that changes his genome. He ends up with different kinds of super powers. His sister also has them. It turns out that their mother, once presumed dead, is responsible for both of them. She wants them to take up her work creating a race of super humans in order to save the world. The two siblings disagree with each other about her goals and end up in a conflict that will leave one of them dead.

3 stars

The Project by Courtney Summers February 2nd 2021  🍁

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I tried my best and made it 75% of the way.
I don't generally read books that are considered thrillers, but I adored Sadie by Courtney Summers so I was determined to give this a go. The problem for me is that Sadie is a strong character, whereas Lo Denham is weak. 
In the end I abandoned the audiobook, downloaded the ebook and read the last 10% or so. I went and tried to scan through what I missed, but the violence was too much for me. The last bit was enough to satisfy my curiosity about what happened to the characters without having to vicariously experience the brutality.
What I liked most about the book was the insight I garnered about how people can be seduced into joining a cult.
 
CURRENTLY

Rachel Bird by Becky Citra  🍁   
The Witch's Apprentice by Zetta Elliott October 22, 2019 🍁
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer October 18, 2022 🍁
Ducks by Kate Beaton September 13th 2022 🍁

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 must admit that they are merely suggestions.

We, Jane by Aimee Wall April 27, 2021  🍁
Butt Sandwich & Tree by Wesley King  🍁
Crows: Genius Birds by Kyla Vanderklugt  🍁
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

I will deal with the rest of the pile of picture books by Canadian authors or else!
  
READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 22/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 14/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 61/100 four in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 15/25 one in progress

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 238/250

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#IMWAYR October 12, 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.

I sit here on the Monday morning of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend midst the detritus and chaos that can only mean that the grandchildren have been visiting. After a few minutes pondering whether I should clean up, go back to bed, or write a blog post, I realized it's been a month since my last one. Either we have been away, or we have had company. Considering that for the next two weekends our house will be full of guests again, and the mess can wait, here I am. 

I wish I had done more reading, but being around people so much seriously cuts into my reading life. At least what I have read has been worth it! I'm not going to share everything I read in the last while, just what I think is important or exceptional. 

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.
I was lucky to grow up in the same small town as both my grandmothers. My sons were lucky that it was only a 5 hour drive to visit their grandparents in the same small town. My grandchildren are not so lucky. One set have grandparents in Korea.
I loved the parallels between the two grandmothers who might live on opposite sides of the world from each other, but fit into the child's life in the same ways.

5 stars

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig Eugene Trivizas &  Helen Oxenbury January 1, 1993

The five year olds were fascinated by this take on the traditional story - so much so that I was requested to read it more than once. The grandson especially liked it. It was a reminder to me how important it is to interrupt traditional narratives.  Next time they visit I will share The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka.

I wasn't sure how this one was going over when I first read it to my five and two and a half year old granddaughters. The eldest left when I was still reading, but it turned out that the youngest truly enjoyed it. I had to read it to her twice. Then she managed to convince her father and grandfather to read it to her at least two other times. 
I would definitely have purchased this for our school library. It makes a brilliant addition to lifecycle collection. I appreciated the additional information in the back matter, the glossary and the index. Fiona Fogg's illustrations make this a fascinating and creepy read.  

READERS

I picked up this book because I was off to visit my grandkids. The 2 1/2 year old is a hardcore Bruce fan. Unfortunately, this was over her head and she really didn't get the humour. I enjoyed it, but not as much as Peek a Bruce, both of our favourite titles.

I dug these two The Old Witch titles out from my personal collection to read with my grandkids while they visited this weekend. When I was working I would put as many in the series as we had in our school library on display for Halloween. They were always popular, even if I did have to push a bit to get them started. 

They delighted both my five year old grandkids. I encourage you to read them if you can find any copies. They are humorous readers full of interesting plot twists. At their heart is a delightful sweetness. The two we read have different illustrators. This led to an interesting conversation about which books we liked best based on the artwork. I checked the series out and discovered that almost all the books have different illustrators. I don't think you would find this in a series today. If I was still teaching I would dig out as many different copies as I could and do a critical literacy lesson looking at how the different kinds of artwork influence our perceptions of character. 
I went looking for more information about Ida DeLage and could find nothing. If you have any knowledge about her, please let me know. 
  

The Old Witch goes to a Halloween ball dressed as herself. She is mistaken for an elderly lady who usually dressed up as an old witch. When she doesn't win first prize for her outfit, Old Witch is very angry. She has plans for retribution but luckily, the farmer's wife has a plan to stop her.  


The Old Wizzard invites the Old Witch over to show her his newest invention, a hot air balloon gondola. He tells her that she won't need her broom. Luckily, she sneaks it in when he isn't looking. It ends up being a good thing. 
I preferred the illustrations in this to the previous one because Old Witch is more human and less of a caricature. 

MG NOVELS

5 stars

Barry Squires, Full Tilt by Heather Smith September 22, 2020 🍁

This book is full of humour, love, and heartache. I adored it. While I was reading it with my eyes, I kept imagining it read by Mary Walsh, or other members of the cast of This Hour has 22 Minutes.

It’s 1995 and 14 year old Barry Squires is full of bravado and piss and vinegar. His life is complicated. He has a port wine birthmark on his face that makes him a target for bullies. His mother is going through baby blues after a surprise child later on in life. Barry adores his baby brother Gord.

After watching the Full Tilt dancers perform, Barry desperately wants to become a member of this troupe of Irish dancers. He watches Riverdance twice and does nothing but practice all the moves. He figures he’s a shoe in. He plans to dazzle Father O'Flaherty with his skill and finds all kinds of ways to practice. Part of this is entertaining the residents of the old folks home.

The problem is that Barry has a temper that he can’t control. He’s also a bit of a prima donna.

The book is loaded with unique and colourful characters. Almost all of them are on Barry's side. When he meets Saibal, a brown skinned lad his own age whose family are long time Newfies, they become instant best friends. Together they do their best to get up to no good. A lot of that involves taking Gord out in his stroller for long walks around the town. When tragedy strikes, Saibal is there for him.

4 stars

Dragon Thief  (Dragons in a Bag #2) by Zetta Elliott, Ron Butler (Narrator) & Soneela Nankani (Narrator) October 22, 2019 🍁

I ended up enjoying the second in Zetta Elliots fantasy series even more than the first. Kavita, who stole one of the baby dragons Jaxon was supposed to deliver, is having trouble as the little rascal continues to grow and has now learned to escape from her room. She confides in Aunty, the elderly woman who lives with her. The two of them head out to see if they can find someone who will help them return the dragon to it's own world. They end up in serious trouble. 
After their return from the magical world, Ma, Jaxson's mentor, fell into a coma. Jaxson, along with Kavita's brother, Vikram, and their new friend, Kenny, set off to find a gate to the other realm in hopes of finding a cure for her. In the process they meet with Kavita and have to work together to keep the baby dragon safe, and return it to where it belongs.
Like the prequel, this is full of adventure and excitement. I liked that Kenny and Aunty proved to be much more than they first seemed to be. I appreciated learning about the history of black people in India. 
I enjoyed this so much that as soon as it was finished, I downloaded the next in the series. 
Zetta Elliott was born and raised in Canada, but now lives in the United States.
 
5 stars

Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd (Author and Narrator) May 3, 2022

As soon as I started reading Hummingbird, I fell in love with Natalie Lloyd's writing all over again. She reminds us of what is really important: that what we need and what we think we need, might not be the same things.
She does this by creating characters so real and heartfelt that we can't help but root for them. Perhaps I'm drawn to twelve-year-old Olive, who because she has osteogenesis imperfecta, must use a wheelchair. I grew up with a parent who used a wheelchair and am always happy to see characters of any age wheeling around. Of course, Olive's spunk and optimism makes it impossible not to admire her. I like that it's her athletic stepbrother who has insecurity issues while Olive almost spills over with confidence and determination.

5 stars

Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson & Kevin T. Collins (Narrator) February 14, 2017

Thanks to Aaron @ Wriggling Bookworms for the introduction to this one. Now that I finally finished it I have to wonder, what took me so long?
I was drawn into this world right from the get go. I remained entranced throughout.
It's the story of a couple of teens, Liam and Phoebe, who, because of their parents research work, are scheduled to leave on the last airship from Mars just before the sun goes supernova.
It's full of suspense, action, and mystery. It involves time travel, the discovery of aliens, and for the two teens, a whole new way of looking at the universe.

Bree and her single parent father are moving to Florida. She is worried, but ends up meeting Clara, a girl from her new school, in the lobby of their building. Bree looks forward to joining the Math club, but it turns out to be full. So are all the other clubs. Well, all except for Swimming. Not only can Bree not swim, she's afraid of the water. The only good thing is that Clara is also a member. After cutting swim club enough times, her father finds out and hires Etta, an older swimmer, to teach her to swim.
No one is more surprised than Bree when she makes it on the school swim team, the Mighty Manatees. The worst thing about swim meets is the group of mean girls at Holyoke Prep, a private school with top of the line amenities. They go our of their way to harass the swimmers from the public school. Things start looking up when their coach enlists Etta's help with the team, but the team itself still can't seem to come together to support one another.
I liked this book a lot. I like how it introduces readers to the history of segregation with respect to swimming and pool access. I like the relationship between Bree and her father. He works too much, but still does his best to support his daughter. I also really liked the intergenerational friendship between Etta and Bree. I appreciated that when Bree went out of her way to locate the members of Etta's swimming team, her own team began to coalesce.
I liked the bright colourful artwork. I especially admired the yellow of the Mighty Manatees compared to the other teams. On top of all the history and drama, Johnnie Christmas has added strong character development. I loved that ending with Bree and her father.
I hope there is a sequel, and expect the target audience will too.

YA & ADULT FICTION

5+ stars

The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth #2) N.K. Jemisin & Robin Miles (Narrator)

My God but I absolutely adore this series. If you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to get started. The world building and characters are frigging brilliant. I read it twice. 
It is set on a supercontinent facing a fifth season (what could turn out to be millennia of winter). The tale is told through the perspectives of Essun, a mother and gifted orogene (person with magical ability,) and Nassun, her adolescent daughter. Essun is hunkered down in the Castrima Comm where she is learning more about her powers from Alabaster, a previous lover, who is near death. Nassun's story begins with her discovery of the murder of her younger brother by their father. They embark upon a journey to a place where he thinks Nassun can be cured of her orogene. 
The only bad thing about finishing this book is having to wait for the last in the series to become available. 

This book made my heart sing. 
There are three different stories all coming together.
Tova Sullivan, 70 years old and recently widowed works cleaning the local aquarium at night. She works to take her mind off the loss of her husband and Eric, her 18 year old son who went missing many years earlier. She bonds with Marcellus McSquiddles, a pacific octopus, after rescuing him from being tangled up in cords on one of his nightly escapes from his tank.
Cameron, raised by a loving aunt, is a an aging garage band rocker with no goal or focus in life. When he is given a box of his mothers, he thinks he has a line on who his father is and sets out to find him. He ends up working in the same aquarium as Tova.
Marcellus McSquiddles, a pacific octopus, narrates this story. He deduces what happened to Eric and sees things in these two that they can't see for themselves. In his nightly excursions he does what he can to help them realize it.


The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander & Karen Cass (Narrator)

This is an ideal feel good novel. Not only does it have romance, it's got lots of conversations about books for people of all ages.


A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers & Em Grosland  (Narrator) July 12, 2022

I loved this continuation of the story of Sibling Dex and Mosscap. I loved the deepening friendship between these two characters. But when it ended, I screamed, "No, No! this can't be all there is!"
It continues the conversation about what it is that we humans need. It provides a model for living together in healthy communities where people look after each other and their environments.
While I wait for the next one in this series, I suppose I should start reading Becky Chambers other work. 

CURRENTLY
   
The Merciless Ones (The Gilded Ones, #2) by by Namina Forna
Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Project by Courtney Summers 🍁

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 must admit that they are merely suggestions.

UpGrade by Blake Crouch
We, Jane by Aimee Wall April 27, 2021  🍁
Batter Royale by Leisl Adams June 7, 2022  🍁

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 21/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 14/18

Canadian Authors 57/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 15/25 one in progress

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 227/250

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