Showing posts with label #Diversity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Diversity. Show all posts

#IMWAYR March 25th, 2024

 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.

The grandkids have come and gone. I did nothing for close to 24 hours after they left except relax and finish up some adult books. Then I started cleaning the house and doing laundry. It still isn't under control, but the main part of the house is almost presentable. 

As usual, we read a lot of books together! Today I'm only mentioning those that were new to us. 

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.

BOARD BOOKS

5 stars

I'm Hungry!
by Elise Gravel 🍁 September 12, 2023

I've most likely written about this book before. It's part of Elise Gravel's Funny Little Books series. The patterned language in these books is hilariously brilliant. It's really fun to read aloud. Both of my three year old granddaughters loved this! Ellis carried it around 'reading' it by herself. 

This book is a celebration of community - of coming together and creating beauty with other people. After a cold winter has kept children inside, they emerge into the street. Amanda brings a container of sidewalk chalk with her.  Each child creates something unique to them. In the end they create a collective masterpiece. 


This book is pure joy to read. Both the illustrations and the words are absolutely drop dead gorgeous. 
A mother tells her bicultural son stories of dragons that comprise his different backgrounds. On the one hand are the dangerous Western dragons who hoard gold. On the other are the benevolent Eastern creatures who are related to water and agriculture. 
I read this with my two half Korean granddaughters. This book could have been written for them. I wish we had had time to read it more than once. I might renew it and take it to Vancouver at the end of April when we go for the younger one's birthday. I'm now on the look out for good books about Korean dragons. Do you have recommendations?

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

When just the two girls were with us, we made a trip to the library and returned home with all kinds of titles. I'm not going to write about these books individually. The following dinosaur books were mostly for Ellis, but it turned out that all four of them enjoyed them. 
My grandson actually sat down and read the book about rocks and minerals all by himself. (He did occasionally come and ask me for help with a big word.)


CHAPTER BOOKS


My grandkids and I are thankful to Earl Dizon for introducing us to this series. I started reading it to two granddaughters, and then put it aside since the three year old wasn't really interested. (Alas there are no dinosaurs or monsters.) Her six year old sister took it and finished it on her own. 
It turns out that my grandson, who I gave the first in the series to as a Christmas gift, also loves these books. The glint in his eye when he spied it was a delight to see. 
The Ratsos and their friends clean up an empty lot and set up an arcade in the transformed space. In this book Louie has to overcome his fear of whatever/whoever lives in the adjacent house when they accidentally break a window. Ralphie has his own challenges. After being nice to a bullied girl at school, rumours abound that he likes her. When he finds out who started the rumours, he ends up having to take responsibility for something he did to that person first. In the end, both boys go out of their way to make the other person's life better. 
I really love this series. It's full of humour. The illustrations by Matt Myers are delightful. Mostly though, I love that it is full of heartfelt lessons about how to live a good life. 


I read this one with my granddaughter, Ada. We started the first chapter and then I downloaded Salma the Syrian Chef so she could have some background on Salma's life. 
Salma and her mother have been in Canada for a couple of years without her father. When word arrives that he is finally arriving, Salma is filled with big, complicated emotions. She is happy that he is coming, but worried that he will not like it in Vancouver and will want to return to Damascus without them. Then she will have to experience missing him all over again.
This book packs an emotional wallop. Ada and I had some good conversations about what life is like for her mother who left her home in Korea to marry their dad. 
Finding readable chapter books that deal with complicated issues isn't easy. If I was still working, I would purchase a set of these for literature circles for younger students.
I'm looking forward to reading the next in this series, Salma Writes a Book. Hopefully it will arrive for me to take with me on my visit to see the grandkids at the end of April.

MG FICTION


Grace has magical power and needs to find someone to help her learn to use it. She ran away from the orphanage in search of a witch who is purported to live in the nearby woods. After narrowly escaping being cooked in a witches oven, the two make a deal. If Grace can complete all the spells in the witches grimoire before the cherries blossom in the spring, she will take Grace on as her apprentice. If she can't, the witch will take her magic.
I appreciate that this book is inspired by Anne of Green Gables. Grace has all the heart and energy of Anne. I love that her friendships and the plot follow so delightfully the story line of the original novels.

GRAPHIC NOVELS


When 'The Scientist' discovered that all sadness, anxiety, and anger disappeared when you removed your heart, people rushed to get their hearts removed. Without the distractions of these negative emotions, or even those of love, students are able to focus on their studies and do better in school. It seems immaterial that giving up your heart means that you lose a capacity for empathy and all interest in the arts.
June is one of the few remaining holdouts. She can't bear to lose her passion for art. She still has her heart but is under a lot of pressure from her parents to have it removed. Then she finds an abandoned heart in a bottle outside of the Tabularium, a facility that houses all the removed hearts. Shortly after this June befriends Max. The two of them set out to discover if hearts can be replaced.
June and her sister, Maya, had a close relationship until Maya had her heart removed. After that, June became an outsider at home and school. Her loneliness is so palpable, my heart ached for her. 
I really appreciated that there are all kinds of moral and ethical issues being addressed here. Should we be expected to give up parts of ourselves in order to fit in? What is the role of art in living a full life? I loved Kerilynn Wilson's artwork. 
The only part of this book that didn't really work was the ending. It didn't seem plausible enough. I know this is absurd given the the whole premise of surviving heart removal, but still, it felt too simple for me.

4 stars

Look on the Bright Side
by Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann

I loved this duo's Go With the Flow, so when I saw they had another graphic novel with the same characters, I was excited. It didn't let me down. I enjoyed my visit with Brit, Christine, Abby and Sasha. I appreciated that we are shown Brit recovering from endometriosis surgery when the book begins. The school is stocked with tampons and pads as a direct result of the girl's activism in the first book. In this one, the focus is more on their romantic entanglements. Through it all, first and foremost, they remain friends.  

ADULT/YA FICTION

4 stars

A World of Curiosities
(Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18) by Louise Penny & Robert Bathurst (Narrator) November 29, 2022 🍁

All is not well in the small town of Three Pines. A brother and a sister from Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir's past are visiting the village for a graduation celebration. A boarded off room in Myrna's loft reveals strange messages that send the Sûreté du Québec investigators down some very dark alleys into the heart of a psychopathic serial killer who is hunting them. 
I appreciate that this book honours the victims of the École Polytechnique massacre without naming their murderer. I appreciated learning more about how Armand got his start as a policeman. I also appreciated reading more about how Jen-Guy became a member of Armand's team. 

My problem with this book is that it is a thriller, not just a complicated cosy mystery. A couple of times I had to pull my ear buds out and do something else for a while. In the end, I just downloaded the print version of the book and finished it that way.  Even that was so terrifying I mostly skimmed the pages until I got to where the worst of it was over. 

4 stars

The Secret Hours
by Mick Herron & Gerard Doyle (Narrator) September 14, 2023

Two years prior to the events in this book, the government of the day created the Monochrome Inquiry, a special task force directed to look for misconduct in MI5. Of course the head of MI5 ensured that nothing important would ever be released. 
Just when it looks like the inquiry has reached the end of its life, a confidential MI5 file is slipped to one of the leaders. This file takes us back in time to 1994 Germany, just after the Berlin wall came down. If you have read the other books in the Slough House series, you can't help but realize that this file tells us the back story of some of its important characters. 
The individual responsible for the release of the files has a very good reason for having them come to light. She's got her eye trained on a former KGB agent now masquerading as a London businessman.  
I am a hardcore fan of these Mick Herron's spy novels. I love his humour and how he incorporates the malfeasance of politicians and other high level public sector employees into each book. Now that I have finished all these (until the next one is published) I might have to give his oxford mysteries a try. 

ADULT/YA NONFICTION


This is book that focuses on the history of Cobalt, a mining town in Northern Ontario, Canada. I agree with Charlotte Gray that, “Cobalt is the best kind of popular history: carefully researched, vigorously narrated, respectful of the period it describes, but also informed by today’s concerns.” 
Often these kinds of historical narratives are told from the perspective of the white miners and settlers. Angus integrates the impact the discovery of silver had on the Indigenous population in the area and describes how these original people ended up displaced and slaughtered. 
I appreciate how thorough this book is. Global patterns in resource management, business and industry policies, union building and busting, government regulation and taxation have their roots in the history of this small community. 
Cobalt is a companion metal to silver - and historically was discarded. With demand for it on the rise globally, Angus ponders if it will be mined in his area again, and if it is, can we do better for workers and the environment? 

CURRENTLY

Bad Cree by Jessica Jones 

Double Eagle: A DreadfulWater Mystery by Thomas King

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Mexikid by Pedro Martín

Doppelganger by Naoimi Klein (for bookclub)

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 5/25 one on the go

NonFiction 8/24 

Canadian Authors 12/50 two on the go

Indigenous Authors 4/25 two on the go

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 56/200 

#IMWAYR MARCH 11, 2024

 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.


My sister returned from galavanting around the world, so we started working on a quilt for one of our friends. Each May we go away for 4 days with a group of the same women. We have almost finished a quilt for each of them. This friend loves birds so we asked everyone what bird they most resonated with. This quilt is really pushing us way past our comfort zones since we are making our own paper pieced bird blocks. To make matters worse, I started working on these blocks last fall, and can't remember what I was doing. I think I am spending as much time picking out seams as I am sewing. 

The great Canada Reads Debate was last week, so I tried to keep on top of that even though I haven't read all the books. 

Aside from that, I worked two days and spent one day travelling for an appointment a couple of hours away. 

All this means that I didn't finish a whole lot last week. I was almost finished What Comes Echoing Back by Leo McKay Jr. but my book expired and the library took it back. Now I will have to wait to get it again. After than I started a number of books, but abandoned them when I couldn't get into them. I ended up listening to Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands again after just finishing it. I also read, with my eyes, the scary bits of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder that I had skipped over in the audiobook. 

I contemplated just leaving off posting this week, but two of our grandkids will be arriving to stay with us for the next 10 days, and next Sunday, another two will be joining in the fray. I don't expect to find much time for reading, never mind posting about what I am reading, till they have returned home.  

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

4 stars

What You Need to Be Warm
by Neil Gaiman and illustrators: Yuliya Gwilym, Nadine Kaadan , Pam Smy, Daniel Egnéus, Beth Suzanna, Marie-Alice Harel, Petr Horáček, Chris Riddell, Bagram Ibatouilline, Benji Davies, Majid Adin, Richard Jones, & Oliver Jeffers October 31, 2023

Thanks to Myra @ Gathering books for the introduction to this one. 
Neil Gaiman crowd sourced memories of what it means to be warm. He took these ideas and transformed them into a poem. Each page is illustrated by a different artist. Gaiman donated the poem to the UN refugee agency. Funds from the sale of the book go towards keeping people warm. 
It's a beautiful poem full of gorgeous black and white  images with touches of reddish orange. 


All the Beating Hearts
by Julie Fogliano & Catia Chien (Illustrator) January 31, 2023

I've gone through this a number of times and with each reread, I find more beauty in both the poem and the images. 




Ice Bears at Ice Edge
by Robert Burleigh & Wendell Minor October 17, 2023

Thanks go to Linda Bai for introducing me to this absolutely stunning book!
This tale of a mother polar bear and her cub trapped on a disintegrating ice flow is riveting. Wendell Minor's illustrations are swoon worthy gorgeous. 
I appreciated that two pages in the back matter include additional polar bear facts and details how the climate crisis make their survival as a species precarious.

ADULT/YA FICTION


Slough House
 by Mick Herron & Gerard Doyle (Narrator) 
February 9, 2021

This is the seventh book in the Slough House series. I somehow missed it and read number 8, Bad Actors, first. This one filled in a number of gaps. Dianna Taverner, head of MI5 has got herself into a complicated mess. Because of it, a murder team from Russia is trying to kill off the Slough House agents - present and past. 

CURRENTLY

The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson June 13, 2023
Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower by Charlie Angus February 1, 2022  🍁
The Grace of Things by Heather Fawcett February 14, 2023

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Besties Work It Out by Kayla Miller

I will continue to deal with the picture books pile.

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 3/25 one on the go

NonFiction 7/24 

Canadian Authors 8/50 one on the go

Indigenous Authors 4/25 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 40/200 

#IMWAYR November 22, 2021

Hello everyone. It's #IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. 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. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

It's been a wild week here in British Columbia and Washington State. BC is now in a state of emergency. Last weekend, from November 13th to November 15th, a level 5 atmospheric river dropped up to 250 millimetres (9.84 inches) of rain in some areas. Areas that didn't get that much, still ended up breaking all previous records for rainfall. This followed what was already one of the wettest months on record. Flooding and landslides have been intense across the province and state. Small towns have been nearly decimated. Vancouver, our largest city, was cut off from the rest of the country for a week because all the highways were closed. In one of the most important agricultural zones, Sumas lake, drained in the 1920's, has returned.

Photograph from Abbotsford News Nov. 17, 2021

The one route that finally opened up is for essential traffic only. Other routes won't be passable for at least a year, if ever. Here in my small town we were unscathed weather wise, but the usual self centred faction stormed grocery stores and cleaned out the produce, dairy, and toilet paper sections. 

In more positive news, the Governor General Literary Awards, "among Canada's oldest and most prestigious prizes for literature," were announced. Philippa Dowding won the Young People's Literature prize in the text category for Firefly, while David A. Robertson and illustrator Julie Flett won the illustrated books category, for their picture book, On the Trapline.

I finished up my advent calendars and mailed them off on Friday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that, now that the mail can get through, they will arrive in Vancouver before December 1st. Now I'm back to working on my second Olivier Dunrea quilt. 

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.


A young Cree boy is hyper sensitive to noise. His Mosom, (grandfather) teaches him an indigenous strategy called mamaskasitawew that involves learning to listen for wonder.
Read my whole review to see some examples of Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley gorgeous artwork. 

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS


Emmy Noether (pronounced NER-ter) solved a problem in Einstein's Theory of Relativity that none of the existing male mathematicians could figure out, but you probably haven't heard of her. She ended up proving a number of other laws of physics, but remained essentially unknown. "She worked in a field of study that didn't welcome women, and her male colleagues didn't even think to give her credit when they used her work or included it in their own."
The back matter includes additional information about this amazing woman. 
Kari Rust's artwork is hand drawn and coloured digitally. 

NOVELS

5 stars

Linked
by Gordon Korman July 20, 2021 🍁

I picked this up because Ms Yingling, who is more critical than I am, gave it 5 stars. I knew it had to be good and wasn't disappointed.
A swastika is painted on a school wall in a small town in Colorado. It sets off a series of events that results in students at the school working to create a paper chain 6 million links long, to represent the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. In spite of this, swastikas continue to show up. 
This novel is told through the perspectives of a number of students at the school. The creation of the chain, uncovering the truth about the communities racist past, and discovery of the swastika painter, transforms them and their community. 
Gordon Korman is proving himself to be a noteworthy author. While this novel contains his characteristic humour, it addresses serious issues in ways that make them approachable for his readers. I adore this quote, "A paper chain can be done when it hits certain number of links. But tolerance is a project you always have to keep working at."


This is an adult novel told through the voice of Swiv, a nine year old. Three generations of women live together. Swiv's pregnant mother, an actress, tries to take care of all of them.
It's a book about intergenerational love. It's full of family stories told to Swiv that bring us close to each member of the family - including Swiv's absent father. It's about the relationship between a girl and her grandmother. In a family full of characters, this grandmother steals the show. She's a role model for all of us aging women.
I laughed. I cried. Sometimes at the same time.
Now that I am a grandmother, I am a sucker for stories of intergenerational relationships. I'm certain I would have loved this book even without that connection.

5 stars

Cloud Cuckoo Land
by Anthony Doerr with Marin Ireland & Simon Jones (Narrators) September 28, 2021

It took me a bit to really get into this book. Mostly just until I got all the different characters and stories right. Then I could hardly stop listening.
Doerr takes characters from across time - starting with Anna and Omeir during the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and moving forward to the future with 14 year old Konstance, the last of a group of humans travelling across space in search of a new planet. Between them is Zeno, a gay man born in the 1940, and Seymour, from the present day, who doesn't fit in and finds solace in wilderness (he might be on on the autism spectrum).
What ties them all together is a fictional novel about Aethon, a shepherd who is magically transformed into different creatures in his search for Cloud Cuckoo Land. It's credited to Antonius Diogenes, a real author from around 100 CE.
There is a lot going on in this book. At the same time as Anthony Doerr braids together the stories of the different characters, he weaves in multiple themes. He highlights heroes, environmental degradation, our attitudes towards those who are different, the importance of libraries and librarians, and ultimately, the power of story.

I've taken my sweet time reading this eclectic collection of essays because each one is a treasure. Some, like those about Pard, Ursula K. Le Guin's cat, are pure sweetness. Others, like those about the declawed and defanged lynx, broke my heart. Maybe it's because I am getting on in years myself, that I found her essays on aging to be profound. Permeating all of them is tenderness and a wry sense of humour.
These essays are taken from the blog she wrote in the last years of her life. They prove that not only was Le Guin one of the worlds finest science fiction and fantasy authors, she is one of our finest authors.
This is a book I now want to own. It's a book I'm hoping to gift 

CURRENTLY

Living With Viola by Rosena Fung
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

UP NEXT 

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

& more picture books from my #MustReadList

UPCOMING BLOG POSTS

Living With Viola by Rosena Fung

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 29/25
 

#MustReadNFIn2021 12/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 66/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 9 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 36/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 108/100

Canada Reads 2021 5/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 394/333 


Thunder and the Noise Storms by Jeffrey Ansloos , Shezza Ansloos & Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Illustrator)


Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this picture book. It was released October 12, 2021, by Annick Press.

Thunder is a young boy who is hypersensitive to sound. When there is too much of it, it creates a noise storm in his head. When he gets overwhelmed by these storms he gets "that funny feeling in my body and my brain feels woozy." 

Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley's illustrations, like this one in the music room, made me feel overwhelmed by noise! 

By recess time, poor Thunder is so frustrated he has a meltdown and the principal calls his Mosom (Grandfather). The rest of the children go inside school while Mosom takes him on a nature walk. 

On their walk, Mosom teaches Thunder about mamaskasitawew, listening with wonder. Thunder learns to focus on the quiet sounds of wind, trees, squirrels, birds and other noises in nature.  

Eventually he is able to focus on the sound of his own heart. When they return to the noisy classroom, Thunder remembers his Mosom's words, "Thunder Thunder, listen with wonder," and finds that listening to his own heart helps him remain calm. 

I liked a lot about this picture book. I loved that Thunder is accepted for who he is and when it's obvious he needs help, the principal gets that one person who can help him. I appreciate that while the story is told in small chunks of text, sounds are integrated into the illustrations in large colourful font. This is sure to make it easier for readers to empathize with Thunder's problem. Not only will it help other students to understand peers like Thunder, it can reinforce the need for using quiet inside voices. I see using mamaskasitawew as a model for helping all students learn to listen, not just those with similar issues. 

While I think that mamaskasitawew is a brilliant strategy for learning how to deal with noisy situations, I found the timeline for Thunder's sudden ability to use it unreasonable. I can't imagine learning this skill in one walk, and worry that younger readers might think it's that easy. Of course this issue can easily be dealt with in a classroom conversation about the book. 

I admire Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley's artwork - especially the touches of woodland style throughout the book. It's more obvious when you look at the animals, but hints of it are integrated across the book. He works mainly in acrylics, digital illustration and screen-printing. If you've read Sharice's Big Voice, then you already know his work.


#IMWAYR August 16th, 2021

Hello everyone. It's #IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. 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. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

Hope you all had a wonderful week. What with the garden, making salsa, and sewing, mine was busy. 

I thought I had all the bits and pieces for my Olivier Dunrea quilts completed so I laid them out on the fabric. Then I realized that I needed to do a bit more sewing of small bits before actually appliquéing them to the backing. I've also discovered that I forgot to sew some little animals. Meanwhile, everything is laid out on flat surfaces around our house. 

Just a reminder to everyone that it's just about time for the fall #MustReadIn2021 update. I will create a post the last weekend of August for people to connect to. I'm looking forward to seeing how you are all doing. 

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.

RECENT BLOG POSTS


PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Hair Twins
 by Raakhee Mirchandani & Holly Hatam (Illustrator) May 4, 2021

This lovely book shows the affection between a father and daughter. At the same time we learn a bit about the process of tying a turban.
The sweet illustrations were created digitally.

5 stars

This is wonderful. It's based on the author's experiences. A young boy with one leg is enjoying an imaginary adventure in a playground. Along comes a girl who wants to know what happened to his other leg. A crew of other children arrive and ask the same question. The guesses they make are hilarious. 
We see how uncomfortable this interrogation makes the young boy. Eventually the children all participate in the imaginary play and his missing limb is almost forgotten. How he lost it becomes insignificant.
This book teaches an important lesson about manners and kindness. It's not ok to ask people about their disability.
My father, who used a wheelchair for most of his life, never minded if children (or adults) asked him questions. He used to say he would rather they ask than pretend he didn't exist. Still, it's important to remember that not all people feel like this.


Caden discovers something remarkable in his yard. He's certain that it's a treasure and he's not going to let anyone convince him otherwise. You can read my full review, and see some of the artwork here. 


NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas
 by Elizabeth Shreeve & Frann Preston-Gannon May 11, 2021

Gorgeous illustrations and clear text introduce readers to the evolution of life in oceans. From then on they show us how life evolved on land.

NOVELS


What a book! Can anyone ask for more than adorable characters, monsters in love, a literary puzzle, and a road trip? 

I love that these characters are unique individuals. Zed is an adorable non binary nerd. They connect with quiet, shy, Gabe, a nerdy plant enthusiast, over an unpublished book that's disappeared. Between the two of them they decipher clues to the novel's whereabouts. Sam, Gabe's older sister, drives them to the different locations while on her way to university. There's plenty of humour, ice cream, weird festivals, excitement and suspense. It's sure to keep readers of all ages happy.

5 stars

Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish
by Pablo Cartaya (Author & Narrator) August 21, 2018

This book was on my must-read list. It’s been there for a couple of years and I’m glad I kept it there.
I adored Marcus, his brother Charlie, his mother, and all his Puerto Rican family. There are books with characters you want to be real. These are some of those. I wish they lived next-door to me.
Charlie is all you could ask for in a down syndrome character in a MG novel. He's rich and complicated with a delightful sense of humour. What we hope to accomplish through integration of kids like him into regular classrooms - getting the rest of the class to see him as a person - is achieved through this novel. It's sure to make life for all the other kids like Charlie a little easier.  
Marcus hasn’t seen his father for 10 years. When he gets suspended from school after hitting a bully, the family decides to take a trip to Puerto Rico where his father lives. Marcus is certain that if they can only find him, his father will save them.
At some point in our lives we discover who are parents really are. Luckily Marcus has a solid network of friends and family when he comes to understand that his father is not the person he wanted him to be.


Holy Carumba! That was some saga! Suzanne Toren's narration was brilliant! 
The integration of science and fictional characters mesmerized me. I'm not sure what made me want to continue reading more. I loved that trees themselves become characters. 
That humans are the most destructive force on our planet is not new. What The Overstory does, is tell the tale of small groups of people who, in different ways, try to do something about it. 

CURRENTLY

XOXO by Axie Oh 
Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
Compulsory by Martha Wells (A Short Story) 
 
UP NEXT

Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer by Leslie Gentile
My Name Is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling
Made in Korea by Sarah Suk
I will continue working away at the pile of  picture books!

BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Friends Forever by Shannon Hale
Bear Wants to Sing by Cary Fagan

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 21/25
 

#MustReadNFIn2021 8/12

#MustReadPBIn2021 48/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 9 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 27/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 80/100

Canada Reads 2021 4/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 298 /333