#IMWAYR December 12th, 2022

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.

I didn't get a chance to respond to everyone's blog posts last week, but I did read almost all of them! I will try to do better this week. 

Although I am still fighting an infection, we are starting to get into the winter festival spirit. My partner and I are excited that our boys and their families are planning to be here for Christmas. We have picked out our tree and will probably collect it the end of this week or the beginning of next. I am also beginning to panic a wee bit thinking about everything that I think needs to be accomplished before then. On my agenda for this week is making a master list. Once I've got this under control I will feel better. 

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

Forever Home: A Dog and Boy Love Story by Henry Cole August 16th 2022

This wordless book will steal your heart. 

First we see a stray dog no one wants. Then we are introduced to a boy who wants a dog. While we might anticipate the ending where the two are united, the boy has a lot to go through to prove to his fathers that he can be responsible enough to look after a pet. This entails keeping his room clean and going on regular walks with an empty leash. He even makes a connection to the stray dog while out and about. Eventually there is a happy ending for both of them.
Henry Cole's detailed black and white artwork is just stunning. I really appreciate that the the boy's gay parents are incidental to the story.

MG NOVELS

4 stars

Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel September 6th 2022  🍁

Four children, (one of them a ghost) end up in a battle with a massive, monster ghost who's ultimate goal is control over both the worlds of the living and the dead.
This is a little bit ghostbusters and a lot Lockwood & Co. It's chock full of action, chunks of hair raising terror, and a bit of romance. The friendship between them, especially the two boys, is delightful.
I'm hoping there will be a sequel.

Answers in the Pages by David Levithan, Christopher Gebauer (Narrator),
Vikas Adam (Narrator) & Oliver Wyman (Narrator) May 10th 2022

Donovan's mother gets her knickers in a knot when she reads the end of The Adventurers, a novel Donovan is reading with his class. One boy acknowledges that he loves another boy, but whether or not this means the boys are gay is never made explicit. His mother claims that it is not appropriate for grade five students. Donovan disagrees with her, but she never even talks to him about it.
On the one hand the book takes us through the process of what happens when a book is challenged and how different people react to it.
On the other hand we see Donovan becoming friends with, and developing a romantic relationship with a new boy in his class.
I have been a fan of Levithan's work since reading Boy Meets Boy. I fell in love with the world of possibility and acceptance he creates.
Listening to the Author's Note in the back matter of this book brought back lots of memories for me about how I went about introducing books with queer characters into our school library. David Levithan's book, Boy Meets Boy, and James Howe's Totally Joe, are two of them. Luckily, I got no flack from parents or administration.
Thanks to Jennifer Sniadeck for the heads up about this book.

MG NON FICTION

5 stars

As Long as the Rivers Flow by Larry Loyie, Constance Brissenden, & Heather D. Holmlund (Illustrator) September 4th 2005 🍁

This illustrated short memoir tells of the author's life before he was taken from his home and community to attend residential school. In his last summer of freedom we see a boy learning to become a man within an extended loving family. There is no doubt that he belongs here.
Heather D. Holmlund's artwork is absolutely stunning. https://www.hdholmlund.com/new-page-1
An epilogue in the back matter talks more about Lawrence's and other children's experiences in these so called schools. Many could not read or write when they left. This section also includes photographs of the authors family and his time at the institution.

4.5 stars

Unforgotten: The Wild Life of Dian Fossey and Her Relentless Quest to Save Mountain Gorillas by Anita Silvey June 29th 2021

I wish I had this book when I was introducing readers to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Until I read this biography, other than that she had worked with primates, I knew very little about Dian Fossey. I was fascinated to learn more about her work to save mountain gorillas. I loved reading about the relationships she formed with many of them. At times I was brought near to tears. 

Dian Fossey was a complex, difficult, and at times troubled soul. She made a lot of enemies including people who also wanted to protect these magnificent creatures. The list of suspects for who might have murdered her is very long.  

I am especially impressed by the caliber of this nonfiction book. It is chock full of all kinds of text features: a table of contents, captioned photographs, maps, headings, bold words, sidebars, glossary, index, and where to go for additional information. 

This is really a book for people of all ages. If I was working in a high school library I would make sure I had all of Anita Silvey books in this series. I'll try to find the rest of them to read. 

YA & ADULT FICTION

5 stars

The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club #3) by Richard Osman & Fiona Shaw (Narrator)

I adore this series. The Thursday Murder Club is made of four aging pensioners, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim, who meet at least once a week to try and solve cold case murders. In this book they try to find out who murdered Bethany Waites, a TV journalist. At the same time, Elizabeth is coerced into murdering an old friend or Joyce will get killed. 

Not only are these books full of adventure and suspense, they are absolutely hilarious. I appreciate how much Richard Osman, in creating such rich characters, shatters stereotypes of older people. In this case we see that Stephen, Elizabeth's partner, might have some kind of dementia, but that doesn't mean that he still isn't capable of some brilliant deduction of his own. I like the bits of romance too. 

CURRENTLY

A Green Velvet Secret by Vicki Grant 🍁

A Sorrowful Sanctuary (Lane Winslow #5) by Iona Whishaw 🍁

Narwhalicorn and Jelly (A Narwhal and Jelly Book #7) by Ben Clanton 🍁

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

UP NEXT - HOPEFULLY/MAYBE?

The Line in the Sand by Thao Lam 🍁

The Song That Called Them Home by David Alexander Robertson & Maya McKibbin (Illustrations) 🍁

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

On Animals by Susan Orlean

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 24/24

#MustReadNonFiction 17/18

Canadian Authors 78/100 three in progress

Indigenous Authors 19/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 272/250

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5