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's been a while since I was able to get a blog post in, but I am determined to get one finished today. In the last few weeks I have been busy with grandkids, gallivanting around Vancouver Island, hosting family and friends here at home, canning tomatoes and making tomato sauce. Today we are celebrating my partner's birthday. Tomorrow we are making tomato juice. Perhaps after all this I will get my reading mojo back.
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.
My 7 year old granddaughter is into reading on her own these days. Still, when her four year old sister and started talking our way through this book, she ended up coming over to check it out.
We had a lot of questions and some fascinating responses. Why are robots looking after the animals? What happened to the humans? Why is there so much water? Are these the only animals left?
I've tagged this one as a critical literacy title. I would love to share it with older readers!
MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS
What a book! It starts out as a science fiction novel with an asteroid headed towards earth. Life as everyone knows it will soon end. Eleven year old Kemi, an aspiring scientist and statistician, is trying to put together a time capsule to bury so that some day other creatures will know something about the beings that once inhabited the planet. She ends up collecting something from everyone except her father, who can't seem to figure out what he loves most.
And then suddenly, the book shifts and it's about so much more.
I'm pretty sure I gasped when I came to that point in the novel. I won't reveal any more of the plot because you really need to experience it for yourself. This is a story that addresses racism, gun violence, and grief.
I adored Kemi and her whole extended family. I love the way she sees the world. I love the way everyone holds each other up. I'm pretty sure you will feel the same way.
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| 5 stars |
The Vanderbeekers Ever After by Karina Yan Glaser & Robin Miles (Narrator) September 19, 2023
I love the Vanderbeekers! Reading a new book about them, is like visiting with old friends. This time round, life is scary for the family. Laney Vanderbeeker, the youngest of the children, is diagnosed with leukemia. Most of the story centres around her and her time at a children's hospital, where she makes a new friend. There are some hard times for her and the rest of the family before the story ends.
I have never had to deal with anything like this personally, but like the rest of this series, it feels authentic. While each of the books has serious aspects, this one is the most profound overall.
ADULT/YA FICTION
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| 4 stars |
Last Woman: Stories by Carleigh Baker & Narrators, Rachel Cairns, Tricia Black, Amanda Cordner, Jenny Pudavick, Jani Lauzon, Michaela Washburn & Tanaya Beatty March 5, 2024 🍁
In this collection of short stories, Carleigh Baker gives us glimpses of people living unique and quirky lives. Some of these characters could live in your neighbourhood. In other stories, we meet people who live almost supernatural ones.
"A woman’s dream of poetic solitude turns out to be a recipe for loneliness. A retiree is convinced that his silence is the only thing that will prevent a deadly sinkhole. An emerging academic wakes up and chooses institutional violence. A young woman finds sisterhood in a strange fertility ritual, and an enigmatic empath is on a cleanse. Baker’s characters are both wildly misguided and a product of the misguided times in which we live. Through them we see our world askew and skewered—and, perhaps, we can begin to see it anew.
Carleigh Baker’s signature style is irreverent, but her heart is true—these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging with sharp wit and boundless empathy. With equal parts compassion and critique, she brings her clear-eyed attention to bear on our world, and the results are hilarious, heartbreaking, and startling in their freshness."
Carleigh Baker’s signature style is irreverent, but her heart is true—these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging with sharp wit and boundless empathy. With equal parts compassion and critique, she brings her clear-eyed attention to bear on our world, and the results are hilarious, heartbreaking, and startling in their freshness."
CURRENTLY
Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation by Jen Gunter (Author and Narrator) 🍁
Weyward by Emilia Hart, Aysha Kala (Narrator), Helen Keeley (Narrator) & Nell Barlow (Narrator)
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle (2nd edition September 1, 1996) 🍁
Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation by Jen Gunter (Author and Narrator) 🍁