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.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful winter break. We had the whole family here over Christmas. It was gloriously exhausting. I read a lot of Christmas picture books with my grandkids, but am not sharing those today.
I'm working on all kinds of projects these days, but not finishing much.
I haven't started a final update for my MustRead read challenges last year.
I'm beginning to think about what might go on my MustRead lists for this year.
I managed to get holds on just about all the books I will need for my job as a round two Cybil's Awards Judge.
Today I'm just trying to get caught sharing what I've read since my last post December 12th.
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
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| 5 stars |
Poppy's House by Karla Courtney & Madeline Kloepper (Illustrator) June 7th 2022 🍁
A young girl spends time with her Poppy (grandfather) at his house on top of a hill in Newfoundland. This collaboration between Karla Courtney and Madeline Kloepper brims over with the love between the two of them as they go about their days together doing ordinary things. Thanks to Linda Bai for the introduction to this.
Boy and dog and grandfather with beard walk to the river to watch the sun go down. On their way home boy and dog notice the darkening sky and the lighting of the windows. Three slightly maniacal rhyming poems of shoppers interrupt the dreamy lyrical prose portraying a magical world where the lights of Christmas, Kwanza, and Hanukkah shine in shop windows.
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| 5 stars |
Patchwork by Matt de la Peña & Corinna Luyken (Illustrator) August 30th 2022
I read this twice. This beautiful book affirms our complex humanity. Everyone, no matter their age, should read this book.
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| 5 stars |
The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen (Illustrations) October 18th 2022 🍁
This is a brilliant retelling of one of my all time favourite fairy tales.
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| 5 stars |
A Very Mercy Christmas by Kate DiCamillo & Chris Van Dusen (Illustrator) September 27th 2022
I purchased two copies of this to give to my sons and their families. As I was wrapping them I figured I should read it first.
I'm so glad I did.
I'm sure it will become one of my favourite Christmas stories. How can it not when it shows how one person, in this case Stella Endicott, manages to bring joy to the her world by heading off carolling all by herself. All kinds of ordinary miracles occur and in the end, as is always the case in a Mercy Watson tale, there is toast.
NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS
I knew next to nothing about Maya Angelou’s life before reading this picture book biography. Watson’s poems and Collier’s emotional artwork surpassed the brilliance I expected from them. Through their collaboration we come to know more about Angelou’s life: not only the events that formed her, but the emotional consequences of them.
Five stars is not enough.
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| 4 stars |
Finding My Dance by Ria Thundercloud & Kalila J. Fuller (Illustrator) September 13th 2022
Ria Thundercloud began jingle dancing when she was only four years old. She moved onto fancy dancing and from there on into tap, jazz, modern, contemporary and ballet. She travelled the world before returning home. She is an inspiration for all children who, like her, have dance in their souls.
CHAPTER BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
Crimson Twill: Witch in the City by Kallie George & Birgitta Sif (Illustrator) July 12th 2022 🍁
I am enchanted by this chapter book. It's the story of an oddball witch who travels with her mother to the city of New Warts to shop at Broomingdales.
If you haven't figured out that this book is full of delightful puns, mostly there, I am sure, to entertain parents, then read that second sentence again.
The main message of this little story is to be yourself, help out when you can, and enjoy making new friends. Those are pretty good guidelines for witches of all ages.
Two Degrees by Alan Gratz & Narrators, Sophie Oda, Adam Sanders & Almarie Guerra October 4th 2022
Three different children from different parts of North America have to deal with the immediate consequences of the climate crisis. Their experiences are revealed in alternating chapters. A girl in Florida deals with a category 5 hurricane. Another girl in California is trapped inside a massive forest fire. In Churchill Ontario, two boys are stalked by polar bears.
This is similar in format to Gratz's Refugee.
David Suzuki is one of Canada's most respected Canadians. In 2004 he came fifth in The Greatest Canadian Contest. Since 2006, David Suzuki has scored at or near the top of the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Canadian poll. I really appreciated learning so much about him in this short biography.
He was born in Vancouver BC, in 1936 and in 1942 his family was one of 22,000 Japanese Canadians forced into internment (prison camps) in the interior of the province.
After the war Suzuki's family moved to Ontario. He went to university in the USA and became a world renowned geneticist. Back in Canada he taught at different universities, and established radio and television programs about science. His focus on the environment was always part of what drove him. These days he actively works to get the rest of us aware of and involved in dealing with the climate crisis.
Meet J. Armand Bombardier (Scholastic Canada Biography) by Elizabeth MacLeod & Mike Deas (Illustrator) September 6th 2022 🍁
If you are a Canadian, you have most probably heard the word Bombardier - especially in the context of jet manufacturing. This delightful biography lets us know more about J. Armand Bombardier and his amazing inventions. His first inventions were vehicles that let people travel on top of the snow. They were used for delivering groceries and milk. There was even a school bus snow mobile that could carry 25 children. He developed special carriers to move men and equipment during world war two. Eventually he created the first small machine for personal use, the Ski-Doo, that became a recreational success.
This was a delightful post Christmas read. It's a feel good, joyful novel about coming home to a place you've never been before. It's about finding family in people around you and letting go of the past. It's about growing up and finding love in yourself and others. It's got just enough romance to make your heart sigh. It is exactly what I expect from this author.
It's been seven years since Sarah Addison Allen's last novel. It was worth the wait.
A Sorrowful Sanctuary (Lane Winslow #5) by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) September 25th 2018 🍁
A missing son, a mysterious murdered man, and a gang of thieves lead Inspector Darling, Lane Winslow, and Ames into all kinds of territory. From Nelson's high society to the dark underbelly of corrupt immigration workers and a white supremacist cult, they do what they can to bring justice to their part of the world.
A Deceptive Devotion (Lane Winslow #6) by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) April 23rd 2019 🍁
A Russian operative with plans to retire and move to England is betrayed. On his way to a gulag he escapes and makes his way to Canada to connect with Lane Winslow, the only person he feels he can trust.
In the meantime, a elderly Russian woman has come to Nelson in search of her missing brother. She ends up staying with Lane until a better home is found for her. She seems to be a harmless painter.
While Ames is in Vancouver taking a course to become a sergeant, his replacement is proving to be less than satisfactory.
If you haven't figured out that this book is full of delightful puns, mostly there, I am sure, to entertain parents, then read that second sentence again.
The main message of this little story is to be yourself, help out when you can, and enjoy making new friends. Those are pretty good guidelines for witches of all ages.
MG NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
Two Degrees by Alan Gratz & Narrators, Sophie Oda, Adam Sanders & Almarie Guerra October 4th 2022
This is similar in format to Gratz's Refugee.
I'll be publishing a full review of this book tomorrow. It's a lovely story about the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother. When the grandmother dies, the girl begins to believe that she has been reincarnated into someone else's body.
Meet David Suzuki (Scholastic Canada Biography) by Elizabeth MacLeod & Mike Deas (Illustrator) September 2021 🍁
MG NON FICTION
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| 4 stars |
Meet David Suzuki (Scholastic Canada Biography) by Elizabeth MacLeod & Mike Deas (Illustrator) September 2021 🍁
David Suzuki is one of Canada's most respected Canadians. In 2004 he came fifth in The Greatest Canadian Contest. Since 2006, David Suzuki has scored at or near the top of the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Canadian poll. I really appreciated learning so much about him in this short biography.
He was born in Vancouver BC, in 1936 and in 1942 his family was one of 22,000 Japanese Canadians forced into internment (prison camps) in the interior of the province.
After the war Suzuki's family moved to Ontario. He went to university in the USA and became a world renowned geneticist. Back in Canada he taught at different universities, and established radio and television programs about science. His focus on the environment was always part of what drove him. These days he actively works to get the rest of us aware of and involved in dealing with the climate crisis.
 |
| 4 stars |
Meet J. Armand Bombardier (Scholastic Canada Biography) by Elizabeth MacLeod & Mike Deas (Illustrator) September 6th 2022 🍁
If you are a Canadian, you have most probably heard the word Bombardier - especially in the context of jet manufacturing. This delightful biography lets us know more about J. Armand Bombardier and his amazing inventions. His first inventions were vehicles that let people travel on top of the snow. They were used for delivering groceries and milk. There was even a school bus snow mobile that could carry 25 children. He developed special carriers to move men and equipment during world war two. Eventually he created the first small machine for personal use, the Ski-Doo, that became a recreational success.
YA & ADULT FICTION
It's been seven years since Sarah Addison Allen's last novel. It was worth the wait.
 |
| 4 stars |
A Sorrowful Sanctuary (Lane Winslow #5) by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) September 25th 2018 🍁
A missing son, a mysterious murdered man, and a gang of thieves lead Inspector Darling, Lane Winslow, and Ames into all kinds of territory. From Nelson's high society to the dark underbelly of corrupt immigration workers and a white supremacist cult, they do what they can to bring justice to their part of the world.
 |
| 4 stars |
A Deceptive Devotion (Lane Winslow #6) by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) April 23rd 2019 🍁
In the meantime, a elderly Russian woman has come to Nelson in search of her missing brother. She ends up staying with Lane until a better home is found for her. She seems to be a harmless painter.
While Ames is in Vancouver taking a course to become a sergeant, his replacement is proving to be less than satisfactory.
Out in the forest a hunter is found with his throat cut.
Are any of these people who they claim to be?
Are any of these people who they claim to be?
Will Inspector Darling and Lane Winslow finally tie the knot?
I especially appreciated learning more about Russian history in this book.
The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
I especially appreciated learning more about Russian history in this book.
CURRENTLY
The Universe in You by Jason Chin
UP NEXT
Blackmail and Bibinka by Mia P Manansala
Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura GaoWhatever other Graphic Novels become available
READING GOALS FROM 2022
#MustReadFiction 24/24
#MustReadNonFiction 17/18
Canadian Authors 86/100 three in progress
Indigenous Authors 20/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 288/250
