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. I'm also connecting up with the Sunday Salon. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next!
I'm slowly working my way through Evicted. Slowly, because it's an emotionally hard read. I can only do it in bits and pieces.
I'm also learning about making marionettes through watching videos and a pile of books I picked up from one of my libraries. My guild's exploration group decided on birds for this year's theme. We have to come up with a project based on this theme and we must do something we have never done before. I've made a three dimensional bird before so this year I'm thinking of creating a bird marionette out of fabric. Right now I'm just learning, but I have to get creating pretty soon since I only have til May to have it finished.
A Shot in the Arm! by Don Brown April 20, 2021
This book looks at the history of vaccinations. It is narrated by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a survivor or smallpox, who popularized inoculation in England. Deadly diseases such as cholera, smallpox, polio, rabies, influenza and other illnesses are addressed. It explores the history of our understanding of disease vectors. This includes the science behind how the immune system works and the discovery of bacteria and viruses. It also looks at the origins of the anti-vaccination movement. Unfortunately it ends just prior to the development of the Covid 19 vaccine. The irrational anti vaccination behaviour we saw first hand during it, was part and partial to many vaccination roll outs.
The cartoonish illustrations make the complex ideas under discussion easy to understand, as well as making it a fun read.
Rose and Lem live with their parents above their spice shop. Their father has taught both of them to read, write, and do arithmetic. They are thriving until their mother gets the plague. Their father sends them to the stay in shop while he tends to their mother. Then when he also gets ill, he gives them a formula for Rose to make that will protect them from the disease. He then sends them off into the world with instructions to do whatever it takes to survive: steal, trade, or beg. As soon as they leave, he burns the building down with him in it. The siblings find a safe place under a bridge, but soon run out of money. Lem supports them by stealing from abandoned plague houses, but then he disappears. When she is begging by a church, Rose meets up with a mother and Clove, her daughter. After the mother dies of the disease, Rose and Clove band together with other orphans to survive. When she finds Lem, she discovers that he told others about their oil and that all of them are in danger. During a conversation with a plague doctor they learn that if they can find a way out of London to Cambridge, they will be safe.
This is a riveting historical novel. The characters are well developed and sympathetic. It's filled with enough action to keep readers turning the pages. I especially appreciated how much we learn about this time in history.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond & Dion Graham (narrator) March 1, 2016
A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2) by Terry Pratchett April 29, 2004
Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes by Nora Shalaway Carpenter (Editor) et al
#MustRead2025 6/25
NonFiction 5/30 one on the go
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.
MG GRAPHIC NON FICTION
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| 5 stars |
A Shot in the Arm! by Don Brown April 20, 2021
The cartoonish illustrations make the complex ideas under discussion easy to understand, as well as making it a fun read.
Rose and Lem live with their parents above their spice shop. Their father has taught both of them to read, write, and do arithmetic. They are thriving until their mother gets the plague. Their father sends them to the stay in shop while he tends to their mother. Then when he also gets ill, he gives them a formula for Rose to make that will protect them from the disease. He then sends them off into the world with instructions to do whatever it takes to survive: steal, trade, or beg. As soon as they leave, he burns the building down with him in it. The siblings find a safe place under a bridge, but soon run out of money. Lem supports them by stealing from abandoned plague houses, but then he disappears. When she is begging by a church, Rose meets up with a mother and Clove, her daughter. After the mother dies of the disease, Rose and Clove band together with other orphans to survive. When she finds Lem, she discovers that he told others about their oil and that all of them are in danger. During a conversation with a plague doctor they learn that if they can find a way out of London to Cambridge, they will be safe.
This is a riveting historical novel. The characters are well developed and sympathetic. It's filled with enough action to keep readers turning the pages. I especially appreciated how much we learn about this time in history.
Oliver is a kind of nerdy Greg Heffley. The beginning of middle school is full of all kinds of strangeness, but the one thing that still makes sense to Oliver is science. Oliver is fascinated by astronomy and plans to become an astrophysicist some day. After admitting to his teacher that he wants to write a book about it, she encourages him to create it and share it with his class. In his book "Oliver explains everything he learns—like how the sun burps, how ghost particles fly through you, the uncanny similarities between Mercury and cafeteria meatballs, and most important, how the Big Bang is basically just like a fart in the school hallway."
Jorge Cham is renowned for creating kid friendly science programs and you can add this series to his list of achievements. His blend of humour, fiction, and science are a winning combination.
I can't wait to introduce my grandson to this series. Everett is a bit of a science and math nerd so I'm sure he will enjoy it. I suspect my granddaughter will too.
CURRENTLY
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond & Dion Graham (narrator) March 1, 2016
Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes by Nora Shalaway Carpenter (Editor) et al
UP NEXT (MAYBE)
Hidden Truths by Elly Swartz, Jeff Ebner (Narrator) & Emily Eiden (Narrator) October 31, 2023
2025 READING GOALS
NonFiction 5/30 one on the go
Poetry 0/12 one on the go
Canadian Authors 8/50
Indigenous Authors 0/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 16/200
Canadian Authors 8/50
Indigenous Authors 0/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 16/200
Your puppet creations sounds like it will be fun, Cheriee! And thanks for each of the books you shared. Plague Thieves sounds too real & terribly sad. It was a haunting time for sure. This time in our lives when people are questioning vaccinating is really scary! Have a good week this week!
ReplyDeleteThe thing about Plague Thieves is that while bad things happen, it's also a kind of reminder that when bad things happen, the solution is to connect with other people and help one another. I think that in both our countries, this is what we need right now.
DeleteI have not read Evicted but it sounds alarming. You'll need something upbeat to counter it. Good luck with the marionettes.
ReplyDelete