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. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.
Both fabric arts workshops I attended the last couple of Mondays were brilliant. I learned a lot! I'm now working on a project of my own inspired by the paintings of Alma Thomas.
Life was busy last weekend and last week so I didn't even try to come up with a post. Instead, I got a caught up on my reading and today I'm sharing two weeks of reading.
I've decided to join Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in their Free Verse Fridays. On the first Friday of the month, we post a poem written on a theme. You can read my February contribution at the link below.
Even though the shortlist has been announced, I'm still reading books from the longlist of Canada Reads. For those of you who don't know what this is, you can read more about it here. Essentially a number of books, authored by Canadians, are chosen to represent a theme. This year the theme is one book to shift your perspective. Five books are championed by five different celebrities who debate them on CBC across four days. Each day a different book is voted off.
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.
BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK
Nathalie Dion's illustrations are glorious. Right off the bat this huge expanse of sky and a line of horizon it took my breath away.
Kumo is a small cloud who has stayed away from the spotlight. When she is called upon to provide shade, she is fearful and full of self doubt. She soon learns that closing your eyes is a bad idea, but with the help of others, manages to figure out how to carry out her responsibility. She even ends up making some new friends.
Blanket by Ruth Ohi August 2, 2022 🍁
Cat wakes up to a grey day. Not even the bluebirds outside their window make a difference. They hide under their blanket until a friend, Dog, arrives. Dog listens, reads, plays and sits with Cat until they feel better.
This is a profound book about sadness and understanding that just being there with someone really helps.
This is a profound book about sadness and understanding that just being there with someone really helps.
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| 5 stars |
My Uncle Is Coming Tomorrow / Mañana viene mi tío by Sebastián Santana & Elisa Amado 🍁 (Translator) January 1, 2011 (original) August 30, 2022 (transalted edition)
This is a perfect example of a picture book for adults - or at least for older readers. At first it seems like it's going to be about a child excited that their uncle is arriving tomorrow. It's not. Each page shows the child aging and waiting for the uncle who never arrives. Notes in the back matter make it very clear that this is a book about the disappeared.
CHAPTER BOOKS
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| 3 stars |
Gigi and Ojiji by Melissa Iwai Aug 03, 2022
When Gigi's grandfather comes to visit, their language and cultural differences distress her. With the help of her mother, and a grandfather eager to connect with her, they manage to bond.
MG NOVELS
This is an intergenerational novel full of humour, worry, and love. Two children, Leo and Lizzie, end up alone with their unknown Grampa when their parents go to spend a few days a spa. While they are gone someone steals the farm's beehives. The trio end up on a wild adventure as they try to solve the mystery of the stolen hives.
I encourage you to go and read my full review of this book. Then you should purchase it.
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| 5 stars |
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, Kinsale Hueston (Narrator) & Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Narrator) November 09, 2021It's taken me ages to finally get to this book. I've had it checked out of the library a couple of times before finally getting to it. Maybe adding it to my #MustReadList helped?
It's told from two perspectives. Nina, a Lipan Apache girl, is a story teller who believes there is more out there than just our ordinary world. Oli is a cottonmouth youth who lives in the spirit world. When a catastrophe on earth causes one of his friends to become deathly ill, he and some friends visit in an effort to find a cure.
That summary doesn't come close to explaining how subversive and smart, and how brilliant and beautiful this book is. If it's not on your list, go and add it now! It is really neither a MG, YA, or an Adult read. It's a story for everyone!
ADULT YA NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin & Ulka Simone Mohanty (Narrator) April 13, 2021 🍁
I probably wouldn't have finished this except that it was on the Canada Reads Longlist.
I had a hard time getting into it because I thought it was going to be a romance along the same lines as the movie, "You've Got Mail." I worried that it would be full of angst. There is some of that here, but oh so much more! Readers are introduced to aspects of history of the Southeast Asian diaspora - especially as it pertains to the role of women. We see what it's like to deal with Islamophobia and racism.
What I mostly adored were the characters. Even the secondary ones have personalities, backstories and their own problems. The romance, when it really happened, was just lovely.
What I mostly adored were the characters. Even the secondary ones have personalities, backstories and their own problems. The romance, when it really happened, was just lovely.
I'm glad I read it.
I am unable to comment on these right now, so I'm just sharing quotes the from GoodReads blurbs. As soon as the winners are announced, I will post my reviews of them.
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Dawud Anyabwile & Derrick Barnes September 27, 2022
"On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships."
Invisible: A Graphic Novel by Christina Diaz Gonzalez & Gabriela Epstein (Illustrations) August 2, 2022
"a must-have graphic novel about five very different students who are forced together by their school to complete community service... and may just have more in common than they thought."
"A little girl arrives, excited for a beach vacation with her Lao Lao. The girl and her grandmother search for shells, chase crabs, and play in the sea, but when the girl finds an exquisite flamingo feather in her grandmother's living room, her vacation turns into something fantastical."
The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories by Kate Ashwin (Editor) et al April 5, 2022
"Tricksters? Rabbits? Rougarou?
Shapeshifters so frightening you shouldn't speak their name? That's just the start of this collection of folklore from the Indigenous people of North America, retold in comic form."
Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship.
"It’s the first day of sophomore year, and now that Winifred’s two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, she must navigate high school on her own."
Nina Totenburg's memoir integrates the story of her own life with that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruth was the same age as my mother and Nina is about 10 years older than me. I remember the struggles these trail blazers had to endure as professional women in a male dominated culture. Despite the very real challenges women and girls face today, our lives are much easier because of them.
CYBILS GRAPHIC
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Dawud Anyabwile & Derrick Barnes September 27, 2022
"An epic sci-fi graphic novel romance between two non-binary characters as they find one another through time, distance, and war. An amazing story that explores the complexity of human nature and what brings us together."
Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas May 17, 2022
Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas May 17, 2022
"Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees--until she's stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she's forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help."
Invisible: A Graphic Novel by Christina Diaz Gonzalez & Gabriela Epstein (Illustrations) August 2, 2022
The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories by Kate Ashwin (Editor) et al April 5, 2022
Shapeshifters so frightening you shouldn't speak their name? That's just the start of this collection of folklore from the Indigenous people of North America, retold in comic form."
CURRENTLY
Half Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano 🍁
Crunch by Kayla MillerBlood Scion by Deborah Falaye 🍁
UP NEXT
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 🍁
Greenwood by Michael Christie 🍁
READING GOALS
#MustReadFiction 3/24
#MustReadNonFiction 0/20
Canadian Authors 9/75
Indigenous Authors 3/20
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 36/200