Showing posts with label Refugees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Refugees. Show all posts

#IMWAYR June 13, 2022

 Welcome readers! 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. 



This summer I'm once again joining Sue Jackson and others to participate in the 2022 Big Book Summer Challenge. Click on the link if you want to know more about this fun event. I have a list of sixteen books that I may or may not get to this summer. You can have a look at it here.

As I write this on Sunday, it is day thirteen, and I'm still dealing with Covid. The line on the test that confirms positive is fading, so I'm optimistic that it won't last forever. I am feeling better, but my respiratory tract system is out of control and small bits of work exhaust me. These days, while napping is my favourite pastime, I do sneak out into the garden to pull weeds for short intervals and do the odd bit of housework. Thankfully my partner is the main cook around here. 

I did manage to find the time and energy to make an apron for my daughter in law whose birthday was last week. I will send it off to her as soon as I can leave the house. 


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 

A special thanks and shoutout to Max @ Completely Full Bookshelf for introducing these first two book to me.

4 stars

Every Little Kindness by Marta Bartolj (Illustrations) October 12, 2021

This wordless book gobsmacked me from the get go. The art work is brilliant. It's mostly sepia toned with significant bits in red. Following these bright splashes of colour is important because it provides clues for where an act of kindness has been and where it will go next. I like how acts of kindness are inspired not just by being on the receiving end, but also by watching kindness in others. 

Making new friends is challenging for most of us - even in the best of times. For Violet, it's even harder. She is infatuated with Mira, a popular girl in her class. As friendly as Mira is with her, Violet can't get over her own anxiety and shyness to invite Mira to have adventures with her. Even when she crafts a special valentine for Mira, it's not certain that Mira will ever get it.
I love the sweetness in this book. It's a perfect mirror for queer children and any of us experiencing our first crush.

Thanks to Beth Shaum @ A Foodie Bibliophile for the introduction to this one.

Gibberish is the perfect picture book to read at the beginning of a new school year: especially if you have new language speakers in your class. As someone who once taught English as a Second Language, I highly recommend it for all teachers. If I was still working, I would read it to the staff at our first group meeting.
Dat, a young boy, heads off to school in a place where he doesn't know the language. Everything sounds like gibberish to him. On top of that, People can't seem to get his name straight. It's all overwhelming for the young boy. Then a young girl takes him in hand. She invites him to play with her and, as she befriends him, ends up helping him learn this new language.
The imagery in this book is absolutely brilliant. Vo reveals Dat's experience by portraying the speakers of gibberish as black and white cartoonish characters, while Dat himself is shown more realistically in colour. While his emotions are shown clearly, the reader has to work a bit harder to unpack those of the rest of his cartoonish classmates. As Dat's comprehension of this new language increases, we see glorious colour and realism emerge all over the pages.
Young Vo shows Dat's world transform across the span of one day. It is really my only quibble with this book. I know it's only a metaphorical day, but I worry that children might think that learning a new language is easier than it really is.


This is a lovely story about a girl (Jyoti) and her grandmother (Sita Pati). They live in different countries and speak different languages, but the love between them overcomes those barriers. At first Jyoti and her family visit with Sita Pati in India. Then Sita Pati visits Jyoti in United States.
The title of the book comes from Tamil words of parting the author's grandmother taught her to say, instead of goodbye. Enjoy this book trailer. 

Each night before I go to sleep I set the timer and listen to an audiobook. Focusing on the book while I nod off keeps my brain from getting caught up in worrying about the things that otherwise keep me awake.
The book has to be one I have already read, and one without any terrifying bits in it. I've discovered that many of Pratchett's Discworld novels are perfect. Some nonfiction works too.
In The Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching manages to rescue Wentworth, her little bother, and Roland, the Baron’s son, from the Queen of the Elves. It is a gripping adventure wherein a talking toad, the Nac Mac Feegles, and a frying pan play important roles in the rescue. The remarkable thing about Wee Free Men is that I have now read or listened to it more times than I can remember, and with each read, even when I'm half asleep, I find more to marvel at.   

ADULT NOVELS 


Kate Quinn pretty much had me from the first paragraph of this book. I was fascinated by her fictionalized portrayal of the life of Mila Pavlichenko. Pavlichenko was a Russian Sniper during WW2. After recording at least 311 official kills, she was part of a congregation of Russian students who were sent to the United States to try and encourage that country to engage in a second front against the Germans. Once there she was taken under the wing of Eleanor Roosevelt.
I got so caught up in her story I forgot about what is now happening in the Ukraine. Upon reflection I can't help but acknowledge that how we see stories of war and the participants, really depends upon whose side we are on.

ADULT NON FICTION

5 stars

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake May 12, 2020

Merlin Sheldrake is frigging brilliant.
Not only is this book full of fascinating information about fungi, it is a delightfully entertaining read that's easy to digest. (pun intended) Listening to it read by the author is an absolute treat. He fills the narrative with nuances of emotion, especially wry humour and excitement.
This book is mind bending in multiple ways. (again, pun intended) The scope of what he takes on in this book is almost overwhelming. Even though I knew a bit about systems theory and fungal networks, my head nearly exploded trying to rid myself of old notions of how the world works and fit a new world view into it.

If you are only going to read one nonfiction title this year, make sure it's this one.

CURRENTLY

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives by Matt Richtel

Satellite Love by Genki Ferguson  🍁

Rez Rules by Chief Clarence Louie 🍁

UP NEXT 

Worser by Jennifer Ziegler

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 12/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 9/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 31/100 two in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 11/25 one in progress

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 1  one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 135 /250
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#IMWAYR February 7, 2022

Welcome readers! 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. 

Recently, reading anything except news has been hard. 
If you are not Canadian, you might not be aware of what's going on here in our country. It's distressing.
A group of truckers and others (99.9%white) with organizers connected to right wing, white supremacy, occupied our capital city. The citizens of Ottawa are tortured with noise and diesel fumes twenty four hours a day, and harassed for wearing masks. Roads are blocked so that ambulances can't get through. Other cities learned from the errors made in Ottawa, so this weekend, convoys planned in other large centres were thwarted by police and local protestors. On Sunday, more than a week after it began, Ottawa declared a state of emergency.

I am hoping that by the time you read this, the worst of it will be over. 

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

5 stars

Bright Star by Yuyi Morales September 07, 2021

This book is is visually absolutely stunning.
My heart swelled at the beauty of the illustrations of the natural world of the Sonoran Desert. At the same time it aches because of it's destruction by the stupidity of some humans.


Dreamers by Yuyi Morales September 4, 2018

I reread this book after finishing up The Last Cuentista. 
I've gone through this book at least four times. Each time I find something I missed and end up loving it more. It's an homage to the power of libraries, of stories, but even more, its overflowing with the power of love.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

These days I've been reading graphic novels for the Cybils awards. By the time this is posted, we will have decided the winners. As soon as it becomes official, I will create a post sharing my thoughts on all of them.

I finished this last week.


NOVELS


I started out listening to this book but then it became so tense I downloaded an ebook and finished it that way. 
No wonder this won the Newbery. What a story! I am not a huge dystopian literature fan (I get easily terrified) but this book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go until I finished it. I was deeply, emotionally connected to Petra Peña. 
A comet is headed towards earth and Petra and her family leave the planet on a spaceship. They have been chosen to be part of a group who will survive and continue the human race on a new world. Unfortunately the ship has been infiltrated and taken over byThe Collective, a political group who think that everyone must be the same in order to avoid the conflict that made life on earth dangerous. In their efforts to achieve this, art and storytelling have been banned. 


I'm kind of gobsmacked by this adult book which is a fictionalized account of true events. In 1615, Johannes Kepler's mother was accused of witchcraft. Kepler ended up taking a year off his other work to defend her against these charges.
Aspects of this book are hilarious if you are a fan of black humour. It all seems so absurd until it isn't anymore.
Katharina Kepler was a somewhat cantankerous, illiterate old widow who was left well off after her father's death. People envied her for this and for her son's success. One aspect of this book that distressed me is how financial gain became a factor in why people made the claims they made against her. When she was finally imprisoned, her property was sold to cover the cost of her captivity. Her detractors then complained that there would be nothing left for them.
This book is terrifying in what it shows us about modern day witch hunts and the capacity for people to be riled up over rumour, lies and misinformation. It shows us the consequences of living in the middle of a world of scientific illiteracy and absence of logical and critical thinking. 
But then, I guess we don't need to read a book to figure this out.

CURRENTLY

Spílexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence by Nicola I. Campbell

History Smashers, Plagues and Pandemics by Kate Messner

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu

UP NEXT 

Solimar by Pam Muñoz Ryan
and whatever else strikes my fancy

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 3/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 1/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 8/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5

Indigenous Authors 2/25 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 38/250
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#IMWAYR January 31, 2022

Welcome readers! 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. 

Here we are with another week of reading to celebrate!

The Canada Reads shortlist contenders and their champions was announced last week. I had already read four of them and finished the fifth last week. Now I'm just hoping to reread one of them that I read quite a while ago. 


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


Alice & Gert: An Ant and Grasshopper Story by Helaine Becker Aug 15, 2020  🍁

The original version of this tale portrays the grasshopper as lazy and worthless while the ant is esteemed as hardworking. That grasshopper met a sad end.
I prefer this version much more.
In this one, Ant works hard gathering seeds for winter while Grasshopper works hard to keep Ant entertained while she works. When the cold weather comes, Ant invites Grasshopper to stay with her. In return, Grasshopper keeps her entertained throughout the cold months.
Dena Seiferling's gorgeous illustrations paired with Helaine Becker's retelling show us that not only do we need more art in our lives, we need to value the work of artists who bring pleasure and meaning to us.

4 stars

Change Sings: a Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman & Loren Long (Illustrator) September 21, 2021

This is a beautiful book about how we can come together and change the world. Loren Long's illustrations are absolutely glorious. I adored the message of this picture book.
Be prepared to practise reading this to yourself a few times before reading it out loud to a group. As much as I loved this, the format didn't really work for me.

4 stars

Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor & Nabi H. Ali (Illustrator) September 14, 2021

On her first day of school, Zubi hears all kinds of incidental remarks that cause her to doubt her own beauty.
These are the kinds of comments, probably inculcated over a longer period of time, that lead to internalized fat shaming and self hatred.
I love that Zubi’s reaction to all this, and her family’s response, help all of them, and all of us, think about beauty in a healthier ways.

5 stars

The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler (Illustrator) February 01, 2005

After reading this sequel to The Gruffalo, I went to reread the original. I love how this one revisits it in a new way. The Gruffalo's child heads off in search of the big bad mouse. Along the way she runs into the same animals who wanted to eat the original mouse. Readers will appreciate these interactions best if The Gruffalo is fresh in their mind. The poetry in this is brilliant.

POETRY

5 stars

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renée Watson & Nikkolas Smith (Illustrator) November 16, 2021

Just wow! This collection of illustrated poems provides a look into the history of black people before they were ripped from their homes, families, and friends in Africa and after they were enslaved in the Americas. It is absolutely essential reading for people of all ages.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

These days I'm mostly reading graphic novels for the Cybils awards. I will do a post to share my thoughts on all of them after we pick a winner. From the ones I've finished so far, that's promising to be a daunting task. 

Here's what I read last week. If I previously reviewed the book, I've provided a link to it.


My Last Summer with Cass by Mark Crilley  (Cybil title)

NOVELS

5 stars

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad & Dion Graham (Narrator) July 20, 2021 🍁
Amir, a nine year old boy is the only survivor of a shipwreck. The boat was full of other refugees from Syria, Palestine, Ethiopia, Egypt and Lebanon. He escapes from the soldiers cleaning up the beach and is rescued and hidden by Vanna, a teenage girl who lives on the island. The story is told in two parts in alternating chapters. Before tells how Amir ended up on the boat and what happened on it. The after section describes their journey to get Amir to safety.
The book is brilliant. It's emotionally terrifying. A review I read used the work harrowing. I think that's a perfect word for it. In spite of all that, I felt hope. 
And then that ending, the Now arrived. 
I'm still struggling with what it all means. I think it's saying a lot about western culture and the difference between who we want to be, who we think we are, and who we really are.

CURRENTLY

Spílexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence by Nicola I. Campbell
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith (Illustrator) (Cybil title)

UP NEXT 

History Smashers, Plagues and Pandemics by Kate Messner
Solimar by Pam Muñoz Ryan

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 2/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 1/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 7/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5

Indigenous Authors 2/25 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 33/250
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#IMWAYR July 26, 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.


The world is on fire. At least, our part of it is. As of Sunday, we have 1,217 fires burning in our province. One of them is raging across the valley from where I live. So far it has burned 6,871.8 hectares (16,980.6 acres) It's moved from the grassland areas where people live into the treed area above it. On Sunday evening we sat on our front lawns with friends. Looking through our binoculars, we watched trees candling. I wept. 
 

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


This book features a diversity of boys engaged in all kinds of activities. They all focus on positive attributes. The books works to eliminate toxic masculinity from boys and men.

4 stars

Story Boat by Kyo Maclear & Rashin Kheiriyeh (Illustrations) 🍁

A family of refugees makes their home in different places on a daily basis. It’s the small things: a special cup, blanket, or light, that comfort them.
Rashin Kheiriyeh’s lovely artwork “was created with the coloured pencil and watercolour, oil and acrylic paint and painted paper, with additional natural materials including wood, wall and cut paper.”

4 stars

Escape Goat by Ann Patchett & Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrations)

When this adorable goat decides it wants to see more of the world, it ends up getting accused of all kinds of things it didn’t do. I loved Robin Preiss Glaser‘s detailed artwork. She used ink and watercolour to create these illustrations. Many thanks to Shaye Miller for turning me onto this book.

4 stars

The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen 🍁

This is dark and weird and screamingly hilarious.

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

The Bat by Elise Gravel 🍁

Elise Gravel creates absolutely delightful nonfiction titles for younger readers. They are so much fun, you hardly know you are learning. She proves that bats are fascinating in this one. I appreciate that she even mentions how we humans are threatening bats with extinction.

5 stars

Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís

I knew about the kindertransport, but this similar story is new to me. Nicolas Winton was a young man in 1938 when he arranged for 669 Jewish children to leave Czechoslovakia before the German invasion. Vera is one of the young girls he saved. This beautiful book, that celebrates the good that an ordinary person can do, gave me shivers.

CHAPTER BOOKS 

4 stars

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley & Tara Audibert (Illustrations) 🍁

Jo Jo is a first grade Ojibwe girl. Her first best friend is a cat. She’s not sure about Fern, her school best friend. At the same time as this book is delightfully funny, it also deals with the important topic of how to be a friend.

Jo Jo reminds me of Junie B Jones.
Tara Audibert is Canadian. 

NOVELS

4 stars

Ways to Grow Love (Ryan Hart, #2) by Renée Watson

There is less cooking in this second Ryan Hart novel, but that's because Ryan has so much going on in her life! Her pregnant mom is on bed rest so she spends more time with her Grandma. She's busy reading books from the library for their summer reading program. There is the excitement of summer camp with her best friends. It isn't until the end of the book that we see this young chef cooking up a storm again.
Ryan learns a lot about caring for all your neighbours, even the ones you don't know. She comes to understand forgiveness. At the end of the book, Ryan discovers the overwhelming love of a baby sister when she arrives.

5 star reads

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon & Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

Every time I read something by Nicola Yoon, I fall more in love with her writing. If you add Bahni Turpin's narration into the mix, you get about as close to perfection as is possible.

I thought this would be a light fun romance. I needed it after all the intense adult nonfiction I've been reading. It has many of the aspects of a fun filled romcom. It's even got a bit of magic.

Ever since Evie Thomas caught her father kissing another woman, she doesn't believe in romance. Then she developed the ability to read the past and future of kissing couples. None of them have had happy endings. This new ability of hers led her to a dance studio where she ended up partnering with X, a gorgeous young man. The two of them enter a dance contest. Of course they fall in love. It seems perfect until Evie has one of her visions while the two of them are kissing.

What suprised me about this book is how deeply it looks into the nature of love. It's a lot about forgiveness, living for the moment, and embracing the love you get for however long you are lucky enough to have it.


This book deals with sexual assault.
Kiran Kaur was raped by her brother in law to be, a police officer, when she was still in Punjab. She left to go to Simon Fraser University, and didn't tell her mother about her pregnancy til she had safely arrived in Canada. Her mother doesn't believe her. 
Kiran was lucky to make a good friend, Joti, at university. Kiran moved into their house and Joti's family became Kiran and her daughter, Sahaara's family. 
Kiran remained in Canada as an undocumented immigrant while Sahaara grew up. When Sahaara was eighteen, Kiran was picked up by border officials. This is when Sahaara learned about her mother's history.
This book tells the stories of Kiran and Sahaara. At first Sahaara wonders about who her father was, and then when she finds out she struggles with hating herself. 
This is written in both poetry and prose. It's intense - so intense that I could only read it in bits and pieces. It's an emotionally hard read that speaks authentically about the reality of sexual assault and it's ramification for survivors. It's a story of love, survival, and speaking your truth. 


“This [is] has been a book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.”

We are living in the Anthropocene age. In our meddling with ecosystems, we always end up making things worse. We have destroyed our planet to such an extent, that we have put our species at great risk. A review in the New York Times states, "Leaving the natural world to repair itself isn’t an option anymore — or, at least, it’s not an acceptable one, considering the death and suffering that would inevitably ensue."
Kolbert writes about different mega projects either in the works, or in the research stage, in an effort to mitigate the worst of the damage. All this just so we can save ourselves from ourselves. She shows us an electrified river created to keep the voracious Asian Carp out the the great lakes water system. She talks about the terraforming attempts to return land to the areas around New Orleans. There are attempts to remove carbon from the atmosphere and turn it into rocks, ideas for seeding the atmosphere with diamonds, and projects to genetically modify coral polyps in hopes of saving the Great Barrier Reef. It isn't very hopeful.
As I finish this we have another wildfire burning out of control across the valley from us. It's the fourth fire in our vicinity this year. We haven't even reached the traditional fire season yet. While Kolbert didn't talk about fires in her book, I can’t help but make the connection between the constant roar of the helicopters and airplanes in the air here trying to keep us safe and what it's costing us to cope with this aspect of the climate crisis.

CURRENTLY 

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon with Barrie Kreinik & Peter Ganim (Narrators)
The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging by Hannalora Leavitt 
History Is Delicious by Joshua Lurie

UP NEXT
 
The Fabulous Zed Watson! by Kevin Sylvester & Basil Sylvester
Bruised by Tanya Boteju
I'll continue to work at getting the picture book pile under control.

BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

A Kid Is a Kid Is a Kid by Sara O'Leary
History Is Delicious by Joshua Lurie

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 20/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 8/12

#MustReadPBIn2021 48/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 5 one in progress

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 24/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 76/100 - one in progress

Canada Reads 2021 4/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 276 /333 

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#IMWAYR March 15, 2021

 Hello out there. 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.


Imagine a string of bad words here.

My previously damaged knee has started acting up again. Actually it's now screaming at me to keep off it. I am missing my daily walks, but acknowledge that if I had listened to my body when the trouble started, things would not have gotten to this point. I'm waiting for an appointment with a physiotherapist and hoping to get a proper knee brace so I can resume roaming around the countryside. On a positive note, I got more reading done with my eyes last week. 

The Canada Reads debate was last week. In some years it has seemed like the debate focuses on winning as the most important thing. This year it felt like celebrating the books was primary and winning was of secondary importance. It was a glorious conversation about each of the books. The winner this year is Jonny Appleseed. It's the first time an Indigenous, queer, two spirited author, represented at the debate by another Indigenous queer has ever won. Of the three books I've read, I liked it best. 

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 FROM LAST WEEK

Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose

The Case of the Burgled Bundle by Michael Hutchinson

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

This is an allegory about refugees and how we respond to them. It will wow you. 
A strange creature arrives in the forest with a suitcase. It has gone through a traumatic journey to get here. The other animals are suspicious and don't believe his fantastical story of what's in the suitcase. When the exhausted animal falls asleep, they break it open only to discover that a version of the creature's truth is in there. They discover that this being is not so different from them, and go out of their way to fix what what was broken. This kindness at the end almost made my eyes water.
I only wish more adults would read picture books like this.


Aaron @ Wriggling Bookworms suggested I read this. I'm glad he did.

A ponderosa pine grows into maturity not far from where I grew up and now live. The history of the Syilx, the original people here, unfolds over time as the tree grows and thrives. Each two page spread contains images of the landscape and people with information about the pine and events of the time. It takes us to 2007 with the land recovering from an extensive wildfire. The pine didn't survive that conflagration.
The back matter contains a timeline of events; additional illustrated information about the Syilx people, their experiences with the land and white invaders; the history of the white settlers; a map of the area; an index and a page of acknowledgements.
I appreciated how much I learned about the Syilx population and their relationship to this land and the wild horses that still roam in their territory. (I've seen remnants of them in the country around where I live.) 
Some bits and pieces articulate the stark difference between the Syilx cultural ways of knowing the world and the settler perspective. First, "Overall wealth and economy were based on the health of the surrounding environment. If the land, resources, and water were healthy and all the of the people were being taken care of, then the community was recognized as wealthy. While recognizing the idea of wealth and having possessions, Syilx people considered the greatest wealth to be knowing how to use resources in the most respectful manner." Second, The Syilx called the sacred spirit of Okanagan Lake, nx̌aʔx̌ʔitkʷ. White settlers changed the name to Ogopogo and called it a lake monster.
As a nonfiction picture book this is very text heavy. This makes it a starter book for intermediate and older readers interested in learning more about the area.
My only concern about Growing Up In Wild Horse Canyon, it that it is not an own voices book. I appreciate the researched information and admire how Loraine Kemp's illustrations portray this country that I love. But still, neither the author or the illustrator are Syilx. Before purchasing it for a school library, first I would see if there are books by Sylix authors sharing their perspectives of our shared history. 


It's easy to understand why this won the Caldecott prize this year. It is exquisitely written and illustrated. The relationship between the two is seamless. My wish for this book is that it motivates all of us to become water protectors.

5 stars

Beatrix Potter's Countryside by Linda Elovitz Marshall & Ilaria Urbinati (Illustrations)

This book gave me all the feels.
I kept wondering if I had read it before since so much of it felt familiar. Then I realised it was from watching the Miss Potter movie. (I don't think I finished it, but I might now.)
Reading this I learned how Potter, who grew up in a traditional household, overcame the restrictions of her time: initially by self publishing her first books and taking control of her own copyright, and second, by purchasing land by herself. Seeing that the pastoral landscape of the lakes district was in danger of industrial development, she continued purchasing farms all around her. Upon her death, she bestowed it to a land trust.
I appreciate how she was able to use her own privilege and money to make life better for ordinary people in her community.

5 stars

I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott & Sydney Smith (Contributor) 🍁

I now understand why this book won the Schneider Family Book Award. Sydney Smith's art is the ultimate compliment to Jordan Scott's words. In my teaching career I only had one student who stuttered. He also had Tourette's syndrome. I wish this book had been around then. It is a mirror that let me know what it is like to deal with disfluency. I could feel my mouth trying to get those P, C and M sounds out.
Both of the creators of this beautiful book are Canadian.  

This is an essential book. That it's beautifully written and illustrated serves to underscore the unspeakable horror of the event. In 1921 a white mob attacked and destroyed the thriving black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This picture book is an important introduction to this episode in history and a lead in to doing more research.

GRAPHIC NOVELS


Beetle and Kat were once best friends. Then Kat went away to witch school and seemed to forget Beetle. Meanwhile Beetle has been learning goblin magic from her aunt and hanging out with Blob Ghost who is tethered to a local mall. Kat is apprenticed to learn magic with her Aunt Hollowbone. They return home because her aunt wants to tear down the mall and rebuild her family's estate on the land.
This is a coming of age book. It's about friendship and finding your own magic.
While I liked the story line, I had a hard time with the art in this one. It felt too busy and I was challenged to make sense of what was going on.
The Mighty Muskrats are on the case again! A memory bundle goes missing during The National Assembly of Cree Peoples being held at the fictional Windy Lake First Nation. The four cousins, Chickadee, Atim, Otter, and Sam, work with their Uncle Levi, the local band constable, to rescue it before the assembly is over. To find out  more about why I love this series, go and read my full review here. 

5 stars

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day & Kimberly Woods (Narrator)

Maisie Cannon's sanctuary is  the ballet studio. Unfortunately, she damaged her knee in a fall, and is unable to dance. Her grief and loss interfere with her academic success. Her knee might be improving, but she's not able to dance yet. The pain continues, but she ignores it. On a hiking vacation with her family she damages it again. Recovery is harder as she comes to understand that she might never dance again.
Maisie has a loving supportive family even if they don't quite understand what she is going through at first. When they do, they ensure she gets the emotional support she needs. Her little brother is adorable and the relationship between the siblings is tender and sweet. I appreciated the integration of Makah culture into the book. I remember the furor around the resuming of traditional whaling.
A few days before reading this book my previously damaged knee began screaming at me. As I read about Maisie's pain, I was right there with her.
Christine Day sure can write.  

POETRY


I took my time with these poems, letting them sit with me before going on to another. They are not comfortable to read. Each one speaks to experiences I have been privileged not to have to endure. In my career I taught children like Joshua and had hints of this life. I wish I had read his poems about life and school then. 
Joshua Jordan spent his early years in and out of foster homes. Terrible things happened to him there. When he was twelve, he woke up one morning and his mother was dead. More tragedy ensued before he ended up living with a woman who became his new mother and is helping him heal. Love, fear, and grief are constant themes in this collection of poetry that he wrote these he was only sixteen! Joshua Jordan is an indigenous author to keep your eye on.

MEMOIR

I had a bit of a difficult time getting into this. I listened to it read by author, but she was not the problem. It might be that I was listening while I was out walking and was experiencing knee pain. It was also difficult to take in her rich descriptive passages of a rainforest I've never been too, while roaming around in a semi desert land.
When the narrative focused more on her family and their history in China and Taiwan, I became hooked. By the end I was loving her integration of family history and their environment.

3.5 stars

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

A friend recommended this book to me. There are parts that didn't work for me, but I hope that now that I am nearing 70, I can acknowledge that different people come to being the best person they can be in their own way. This is the first Glennon Doyle book I've read. I appreciate her honesty. I like that she makes mistakes, acknowledges them, and tries to do better.
I hope that white women will learn from the debacle she writes about with respect to her attempt to teach other white women about their own racism. The book, Your Brain on Stereotypes, explains research looking at the difference between what we know is right and our actual behaviour. We know we shouldn't be racist, so we assert we're not, but mostly our actions show that we are. All we can do is acknowledge this, learn more, support BIPOC women emotionally and financially, and do our utmost to be better allies.
There are a few flippant moments here, like when she claims to have let her third child raise herself with an ipad. I assumed that was a kind of metaphor for doing much more hands off parenting. While it wasn't the smartest remark, I think anyone with more than one kid lets go of control. Parenting is the hardest work we do. Nobody gets it right all the time. I appreciated her models for when it does.
I've read negative comments about the religious aspects to this work. I left the Catholic church in my teens when I discovered feminism. Just about everyone I still know who stayed, has transformed their idea of 'godness'. It seems like this is what has happened to Doyle. I wish her well but won't read more. 

DISCWORLD NOVELS


This is one of the Discworld books I know I will be reading again. Moist Van Lipwig is a conman who has been rescued from hanging by Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh-Morpork. All Moist has to do is take over and get the abandoned post office running again. In this case, Moist learns to use his talent as a conman to out con the most nefarious capitalist in the city and ends up in love with a golem rights activist.
I love that this book illuminates and pokes fun at the evils and ridiculousness of neoliberal capitalism and the Ayn Rand books.

CURRENTLY 

This is what I currently have on the go:
My Body in Pieces by Marie-Noëlle Hébert (from Netgalley)
Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player by Willie O'Ree
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

UP NEXT

I plan to get to the last half the picture books piling up. I will read and review a NetGalley title, Butterflies Are Pretty ... Gross! by Rosemary Mosco.  I'll start listening to Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.  I hope one of the audiobook Discworld titles I have on hold become available. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2021 6/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 2/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 17/100

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors

Books by Canadian Authors: 24/100

Canada Reads 2021 3/5 

Discworld Series 32/41 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 100/333 

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