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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.
It cooled down enough last week for me to show most of the weeds in the garden who is the boss.Unfortunately we all know it's a temporary situation.
I'm hoping to pick enough tomatoes to make some salsa, and of course, I have a whole lot of other vegetables to deal with. I also have a quilt to quilt before next weekend. Those weeds will be partying again soon!
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.
NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
How to Be a Vet and Other Animal Jobs by Jess French & Sol Linero (Illustrator) July 2, 2021
I'm planning on keeping this library book until my grandkids arrive next week. I'm certain they will enjoy this look into what being a Vet entails. Beginning with a table of contents, it is loaded with all kinds of important text features. The brightly coloured illustrations show worlds of diversity in both the animals and human beings who work with them. I appreciated all the captioned diagrams and the timeline of the history of veterinary medicine. The Did You Know sections extend the information on that page.
I'm willing to bet that at least one of my grandkids will be interested in becoming a Vet after reading this book. The write up suggests that this book is appropriate for 6 to 9 year olds. I think it is also an important book for middle grade students. Even adults like myself can learn a lot from it!
MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS
This is a fabulous time travel book!
When Dally's grandfather dies, her mother takes the envelope he left her and puts it in the safe till Dally is of age. After an argument with her mother, Dally secretly opens the safe and removes the envelope. Inside is information about a bank account, but it also includes a map. When she decodes the map she sets off to find the location he has marked. It turns out to be the Secret Library where books are portals to specific times in history. Each time she opens a volume, not only does she learn secrets from the past, she learns about her remarkable ancestors. Dally's mother is very strict and rigid. Her secret visits to the library are the only adventures she gets. Yet the library has a downside. It has chosen Dally to be the next librarian, but she is only 11 and not ready to give up her life outside the confines of it.
I loved Dally and ached for her in her confrontations with her mother. It was obvious that Dally had to do something. What she finally came up with was brilliant!
ADULT/YA GRAPHIC NONFICTION
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| 5 stars |
Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story by David Alexander Robertson & Scott B. Henderson (Illustrator) April 27, 2015 🍁
This was an exceptionally hard read for me. The gritty, black and white illustrations tell the story of one of the many Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman and Girls in Canada.
Betty left her home on the Norway House Reserve to move to a larger centre so she could attend secondary school and eventually become a teacher. One night, on her way home from visiting with friends, she was abducted by a group of white men who brutally raped, beat, and killed her.
As the novel develops the two story lines: that of Betty's evening and that of the group of white men, I had to stop reading. Even though I knew what was coming, I couldn't continue. It took me over a month before I convinced myself to bear witness to Betty's story and finish the book. This medium made her story come to life and become real to me in a way that just reading the facts of her case never could.
Betty, who was just a year older than me, was only 19 years old in 1971 when she was murdered.
ADULT/YA FICTION
This is the most recent in the Lane Winslow series. Lane and some friends head up the mountain above King's Cove to see what caused an explosion. They discover a wounded child who they rush to get to the hospital. When Lane returns to investigate the cause of the blast, she finds a dead woman.
Back in Nelson, the police are investigating the murder of the local jeweller and theft of expensive items from his store. As the two cases are unraveled, it is discovered that they are related.
I love this series in part because I get to read a compelling cosy mystery that is populated with delightful characters. I also appreciate that Iona Wishaw fills these novels with information about Canadian history. In this case the focus is on Japanese Internment, but there is also mention of the Sons of Freedom, a radical Doukhobor group. The story behind the balloon bomb and its connections to Japan was fascinating. Another thing I love about this series is that it reminds us that there have always been good people even against historical backdrops of intolerance.
CURRENTLY
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko June 11, 2024
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle (2nd edition September 1, 1996) 🍁
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko June 11, 2024
UP NEXT (MAYBE)
The Secret Keeper by Genevieve Graham April 2, 2024 🍁
Cougar Annie's Garden by Margaret Horsfield August 1, 1999 🍁
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 149/200
Oh, those pesky weeds! Your books sound intriguing. I can see why Betty would be such a hard book to read. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteI loved The Secret Library, too, Cheriee! And I just read Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith that touches on the terrible mysteries of Indigenous girls & women who are either killed or have never been found. Though not as graphic as you describe about the Helen Betty Osborne story, it feels frightening, too. It's admirable that you finished the book for her sake! Best wishes with the garden in its heyday!
ReplyDeleteWeeding is so satisfying even if it's also rather temporary. My new garden has a couple of landscaped beds, but unfortunately there is some sort of thick weed cloth laid down under a couple of inches of rocks! The handful of plants aren't doing well and of course it's impossible to plant anything else with the rocks and cloth. So my big fall project is removing the rocks and then removing the cloth. i think the soil is going to be grateful! Anyway, BOOKS! I need to recommend the Lane Winslow series to my mom. The Kekla Magoon looks so good--I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm adding How to Be a Vet to my TBR - my kid loves animals and nature and one of the possible future goals is to be a vet! Glad that it seems you enjoyed it! I also hadn't heard of I Am Woman, but it looks intriguing. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteBetty sounds like a tough read but I'm glad she hasn't been forgotten. The Secret Library sounds so good! Enjoy your week and good luck keeping those pesky weeds in check!
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