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

#IMWAYR October 7, 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!

We are hosting a birthday party for my uncle Monday night. Even though I prepped a lot of dinner in advance, the day will be a bit crazy since I start out with a meeting. I probably won't get round to reading your posts til Tuesday, but I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to.

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.

This is the story of a boy who struggles to become a reader. The words on the page just don't make sense to him so he doesn't like to read. When his teacher asks the students to bring in their favourite book, he's in trouble. A librarian tries to help him find one. A bookseller tries to help him. He comes home dejected. Luckily his mom comes up with an idea and he ends up writing a book about himself. 
This book reminded me of when I first started teaching. Part of how we taught reading was through the key word method. Students would pick their word of the day. I would print it on a strip of card stock. The student would then print and illustrate the word. We did a lot of teaching with those words!


When Lia and her family arrive in Montreal, she can only speak Romanian. She ends up in a class with other students from around the world who are in a similar predicament. As they learn French together they become friends. Slowly, Lia's language and grades improve. Her artistic talent gets her on the staff of the school magazine.
I love a lot about this book.
I appreciate how supportive the group of friends are. I like that the misunderstanding that arises between Lia and another girl are eventually resolved without excessive drama. While romance plays a roll here, it's not the most important part of the story. I adored the fashions that the girls in the story are wearing even if they don't jive with the technology of the day!
I appreciate that Lia's period, and the problems she has with them, are dealt with in a realistic, ordinary way. I like that Lia's parents are supportive and understanding. The interactions between Lia and her brother are authentic as is the way her parents deal with them.
I like that the book is populated with a multicultural cast of characters. I appreciated that most of the older characters are shown in different body shapes and sizes. I just wish there had been more of this in the friend group.
I'm looking forward to the next book in this series!

Ent
ADULT/YA NON FICTION


I wasn't as gobsmacked by this book by Jen Gunter as I was by her most recent title, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation, but I still think it's brilliant. She is less vociferous in her condemnation of the snake oil salesmen who try to make women feel bad about their bodies, but it's there. I appreciate all her advice about looking after our vagina and vulva, while not obsessing over it's 'purity'.
I want Jen Gunter to write a book for middle grade children. By the time women are old enough to to read this, they will already have been sucked into the misinformation social media circus.

"I Am Woman represents my personal struggle with womanhood, culture, traditional spiritual beliefs and political sovereignty, written during a time when that struggle was not over. My original intention was to empower Native women to take to heart their own personal struggle for Native feminist being. It remains my attempt to present a Native woman's sociological perspective on the impacts of colonialism on us, as women, and on my self personally."

It took me a while to take in these essays and poetry. Lee Maracle's words need time to steep. Sometimes I would read one essay before setting it aside. Other times I only read a few pages, or just a poem. I copied out a lot of quotes.
Maracle's honest perspective is brutal at times - whether she's talking about colonization, racism, internalized racism, the American Indian Movement, Native government, Native men, white men, white women, Native women, or herself.
It was originally published in 1988. I wonder how her perspective had changed by the time she died in 2021. I found that the terrifying thing about many of these essays, is not that they are a snapshot of the times, but rather that, given the move towards the right these days, still relevant.
I leave you with a few quotes that I found relevant:
 
"The one thing about human beings we can all be sure of, besides death, is imperfection. We don’t need to go to each other to screw up. We do it naturally."

"Loving children is one of the most difficult of life’s tasks. It is one of the things that is very hard to do well. Procreation, pure and simple is natural. But loving children is work, work for which there is no reward.… Love is what drives you to rise in the early hours of the morning, feed and clothe the kids and get them off to school before you go to work. Love stops you from beating the Jeezus out of the monster when she kicks her sister off the porch, pisses in the yard or paints the wall with a pen. Liking them takes much more work. It is hard to like a person as outrageous as that."

In the following video Lee Maracle is delivering the Margaret Lawrence Lecture.  It is 38 minutes long and worth every minute. 


CURRENTLY 

The Book of More Delights by Ross Gay September 19, 2023

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange February 27, 2024

Into the Bright Open by Cheri Dimaline September 5, 2023 🍁

A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver January 1, 1994

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman September 17, 2024

Weyward by Emilia Hart, Aysha Kala (Narrator), Helen Keeley (Narrator) & Nell Barlow (Narrator) February 2, 2023

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 16/25 one on the go

NonFiction 25/24 one on the go

Canadian Authors 58/50 three on the go

Indigenous Authors 26/25 one on the go

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 168/200    

Posted by 17 comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

#IMWAYR MAY 6, 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.

This week's post is a couple of weeks of reading. We were away in Vancouver, BC, visiting with family and celebrating one of our granddaughter's birthdays. On her birthday we took all the grandkids to Kidsbooks and let them each choose one book. We also had wonderful visits with other friends while we were there, even if it did rain everyday!

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.

PREVIOUS POST

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

I read and reviewed the first of these next two books ages ago, but checked both out from my local library to take with me when I visited my grandkids. Both these books have an interactive component that breaks the fourth wall. I ended up adding a star to my review because both of my granddaughters, the four year old and the six year old, loved these. The six year old took them to bed with her to read before falling asleep. 

5 stars

Butterflies Are Pretty ... Gross! by Rosemary Mosco, Jacob Souva (Illustrator)

You can read my full review of this book here. 


This book is full of the same kind of hilarity and information as the Butterfly book.
 
5+ stars

Club Microbe by Elize Gravel 🍁 April 2, 2024

Like all of Gravel's books, this one is loaded with humour. She breaks the fourth wall and has her illustrations speak to us about her. 


She writes about five different microbe families: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists and algae. It's amazing how much information Gravel packs into this book. There is even a section on Bacterio Phages - something a lot of adults know nothing about!
This was a huge hit with my two granddaughters! As soon as she saw the author's name, Ada, the six year old, told me Elize Gravel was her favourite illustrator. When we finished reading the digital copy, she asked me to purchase the book for her. On Sunday when we went to Kidsbooks, she got her own copy. 

CHAPTER BOOKS


This is the first of Kate DiCamillo's new chapter book series. It's a charming retelling of the Lion and Mouse fable. In this version, Orris, a rat, rescues Timble, an owl. Soon afterwards the two of them become best friends. 
Carmen Mok is an award winning Canadian illustrator. Her artwork is gorgeous! 

4 stars

Swimming into Trouble by Angela Ahn, Vicki Kim (Narrator) & Julie Kim (Illustrator) February 13, 2024 🍁

An ear infection sidelines Julia Nam just before it's time to swim for their "Personal Best Day (PBD) — the most important day for all of the swimmers. If their times are good enough, they can enter a big regional swim meet." Instead of swimming, Julia is forced to hang out at her parents’ sushi bar. It's located in the community centre overlooking the pool where she watches other members of the team practice. Julia is so desperate to be part of PBD, she ends up getting herself in an embarrassingly 'sticky' predicament. 
I appreciated a lot about this chapter book for strong readers. (It's more of an illustrated novel given the amount of text on the pages.) I loved how the different people at the community centre were like extended family to Julia and her parents. I love that Julia's parents are Korean immigrants. I loved Julia and can hardly wait to introduce her to my granddaughter, Ada, whose mother is also a Korean immigrant. 
Swimming into Trouble is the first in the Julia on the Go! series. I'm looking forward to reading more of her adventures.

Thank you Max for the heads up about this book. It is delightful.
It begins with a Rapunzel type princess, Princess Sadie, locked in a tower. Along comes Princess Amara who asks her permission to rescue her. When Amara's grappling hook slips, Sadie rescues her and the two of them end up trapped in the tower. Luckily, Princess Amara's unicorn is able to liberate them both. 
While they are escaping, Princess Sadie is haunted by negative messages in her sister's voice. Sadie thinks she should return to her tower, but Amara helps her overcome her learned helplessness by convincing her to come with her and find someone to rescue. Soon they come upon Prince Vladric, trapped in a tree. He does not want to be rescued by princesses. Amara is ready to abandon him, but Sadie reminds her of the role of the hero, "How does a hero decide who's worth saving?" After they rescue him, they find out he was thrown into the tree by an ogre. How the three of them deal with the ogre, isn't by slaying him, but rather by befriending him. 
When Sadie's sister kidnaps Amara, the other three friends set out to rescue her.
There is so much to love about this book. I love that all these royal children are dealing with gender based parental expectations. I adore they way the usual fairytale tropes are upended. On the surface this might seems like a simple adventure kind of tale, but it is full of depth and important messages about how to be a good person and live your best life with others. 

I started this and then put it aside for a bit because I thought it was just going to be a romance book. I'm so glad I went back to it. It does begin with what could be a teen romance, but then it ends up being a fabulous sports book.
Tre Brun is a young Chippewa teen growing up on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota. Although he is only a freshman, he wants to play on his school's varsity basketball team, just like his father and older brother. 
The writing about basketball held me in thrall. Yet this book is so much more than a sports novel. 
It's about growing up indigenous and having to deal with racism when you leave the reserve and when playing basketball against white teams. It's about coming to terms with death. In Tre Brun's case, it's his older brother, but according to the author, it's all too common that Indigenous youth have to deal with the death of someone close to them. 
Jesse Nobess, the brilliant narrator, is from Winnipeg, MB, and his father’s side of the family is from Pinaymootang First Nation.

MG/YA NON FICTION


This is an important, comprehensive, sex education book for our times. 
"The 150 entries cover key ideas about identity, relationships, self-image, sex and body positivity—and no topic is taboo. From bisexuality to Kamasutra to #MeToo, Naked offers answers to questions about sexuality that teens have always had but have been afraid to ask. What is consent? What does gender fluid mean? What kind of contraception should I use? With contemporary examples, vibrant illustrations and additional information and resources for young readers with more questions, Naked is essential reading for today's teens."
Although it says it's for teens, I think this is an important reference book for all ages. I learned a lot from it, so I think it's one of those books you want to have on your shelf if you have MG and older children, or even just to have around if want to check something out for yourself. 
I contemplated getting this for my grandkids, but since the oldest of them is only six, will probably wait a while in case something even better shows up. I did tell their fathers about it. 

ADULT/YA FICTION


This was an interesting time travel novel for me since I was about the same age as these characters at the time this book was written. Given that it has queer characters (gay, trans, and bisexual) it must have been an eyeopener at the time. 

4 stars

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby & Lisa Larsen (Narrator) 🍁

If you, like me, are a fan of cosy mysteries that are loaded with humour and heart, this is a book for you. Helen Thorpe has been a Buddhist nun, the manager of a spiritual retreat, and most recently has completed butler training. When she gets news of the death of Edna, the owner of the retreat, she has to return and finish up her former boss' plans to determine which of her nieces and nephews will take over the retreat.  
Almost as soon as she arrives, Helen notes that something is fishy about Edna's death. Soon four potential candidates arrive to partake in three courses so Helen can determine who is most worthy. Two of her fellow butler students arrive to help her run the retreat. All kinds of secrets and machinations are uncovered before Helen identifies Edna's murderer. 
Susan Juby has created a cast of wonderfully quirky characters. I enjoyed this book so much, I didn't want it to end. 

ADULT/YA NON FICTION


Klein's writing is honest, sharp and brilliant. This comprehensive analysis shows us that we are more connected to one another than we might want to imagine. Beginning with her personal history of being confused with Naomi Wolf, she makes profound connections across political and cultural spectrums. Ultimately she shows us that the polarization we see around us at a macro level, exists also at the micro one.  
This was a reread for me for a bookclub I am part of. I got much more out of it this time round. What struck me most was the pipikism - ”the antitragic force that inconsequencializes everything—farcicalizes everything, trivializes everything, superficializes everything.”

CURRENTLY

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & Shanna Tan (Translator) January 17, 2022

The New Climate War by Michael E. Mann January 12, 2021

Woke up Like This by Amy Lea September 5, 2023 🍁

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes (Illustrator) 🍁


READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 9/25 two on the go

NonFiction 15/24 one on the go

Canadian Authors 24/50 one on the go

Indigenous Authors 8/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 86/200 
Posted by 28 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)