Showing posts with label high interest low vocab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high interest low vocab. Show all posts

#IMWAYR, July 25, 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. 

Our oldest son and his family are arriving on Wednesday. We are excited. I've downloaded all the Charlie and Mouse books to introduce to Everett, our five year old grandson. I think we have enough board and picture books to keep Lydia, who is almost two, entertained. I'm not sure if I will get a post in next week (or even how much reading I will actually accomplish) since they will be here til Sunday. 

It's predicted to be hot this week with temperatures climbing to over 40 °C.  Thankfully we have central air conditioning, a shaded backyard, and our neighbours encourage us to use their pool. 

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.

MG NOVELS

I started reading this only to discover the story was really familiar. I realized I had read it before, but couldn't remember how it all ended so I decided to continue reading. I'm glad I did.
There is a lot going on in this verse novel. Eleven year old Macy is deaf following a bout of meningitis when she was four. There has always been just her and her mom, but now her mother is getting married to a man with twin six year olds. Macy is not happy and does not want her life to change. Unfortunately, her life just get worse. She has no idea how to complete a family tree project. She gets in a fight with her best friend and ends up isolated at school. Her mother sends her over to help Iris, their aging neighbour, sort out her books. In the process, Iris and Macy become fond of each other. It turns out that Iris might have the key for how to get Macy's life back on track - so long as Macy doesn't do something really disastrous first.

5 stars

The Wherewood by Gabrielle S. Prendergast   🍁

Don't make a deal with the Fae. 
Salix (a Nixie) and Finola (a Faerie) have tricked Blue into going on another adventure into the Faerieland. They end up first in Wherewood, a land where lost things end up. It's a problem if you haven't lost anything, since the only way out is to find what you are missing. Things end up going from bad to worse when they eventually end up in Witherwood, a cursed land now ruled by Olea, the former evil queen of Nearwood. 
This is the second in Prendergast's Faerie Woods series from the Orca Currents collection. Imagine Holly Black for reluctant, struggling readers. Like The Crosswood, this is loaded with fast paced action and plenty of humour. I came to enjoy the characters even more and am looking forward to reading the last in the series. 

The Orca Currents collection are "are short, high-interest novels with contemporary themes written specifically for middle-school students reading below grade level. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 5.0. Interest level ages 9-12"


The thing I enjoy most about Pratchett is that he takes well known stories and messes around with them. This book is a feminist look at war, religion, and gender roles. 
"Polly Perks joins the Discworld army to find her brother Paul. "Ozzer" cuts off her blonde braids, dons male garb, belches, scratches, and masters macho habits - aided by well-placed pair of socks. The legendary and seemingly ageless Sergeant Jackrum accepts her plus a vampire, troll, zombie, religious fanatic, and two close "friends". The best man for the job may be a woman."
When Polly Perks signs up to go to war to search for her brother, she soon discovers that the rest of the recruits in her regiment are women disguised as men. They end up rescuing the rest of the army by disguising themselves as women.
In the end, Polly reminisces, "You think you’re the hero, and it turns out you’re really part of someone else’s story."
 
ADULT FICTION


This was a book club book. We had previously read Meet Me at the Museum by the same author. Not only did everyone enjoy that one, we probably talked more about it than any other we have read together. 
I preferred the first one, but the characters in this are rich and unique. It's the story of friendship between three women from disparate walks of life. Eve has been let go from the job she worked at for 30 years. Sally has left her husband. Anastasia, the owner of the boat, has to have an operation to remove cancer. The most important thing about all of them is how they show us that we are never too old to come of age.
I found myself trying to convince my partner that we should go on vacation touring the canals of Britain. He told me that Britain is experiencing a drought and it isn't a good idea. 
I prefer the title, The Narrowboat Summer and wonder why the title of the book is changed to this in more recent publications. 

As a Jane Austen fan, this has been on my to read list since it was first published. When Bloomsbury Girls, the next in the series, became available, I went to remind myself what had happened previously. I was shocked to discover I hadn't read it. Luckily it was available immediately. I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. Natalie Jenner has written some glorious characters. I appreciated the strong women and girls. I admired most of the men. I loved the sense of community, the love for Austen, and the multiple romances. I was shocked by the group's decision for Adam, and kept thinking it couldn't end like that. I'm still not sure I'm happy with that part of this book, but I still loved the story. 

ADULT NONFICTION


Grieving is hard work. It's triggered by places, events, and sensory experiences. For Michelle Zauner, it's H Mart, a Korean grocery store, that provokes overwhelming grief for her mother. 
This book is a memoir of her life with her Omma until she died of cancer when Michelle was only 25. It's a story of love, loss, learning, and coming as close to acceptance as we can. It's full of Korean culture and food. 
I am lucky to have a Korean daughter in law and two grandchildren from her. We have shopped together at H Mart and other Korean grocery stores. My daughter in law, like Michelle's mother, is beautiful inside and out. All this helped me to connect to her story at a personal level. I pray my granddaughters never have to go through what she did. 

CURRENTLY

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner  🍁
The Summer We Saved the Bees by Robin Stevenson  🍁

UP NEXT

The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson
Diggers by Terry Pratchet
Forbidden City by James Ponti
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1983 by Cho Nam-Joo

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 15/24

#MustReadNonFiction 12/18

Canadian Authors 46/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 6 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 173 /250

Posted by 24 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

#IMWAYR July, 11, 2022

Welcome readers! It's #IMWAYR time again, when bloggers share what they have been reading and find out what others have beouten 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. 


We enjoyed having our two grandkids visiting with us for four sleeps last week while Mom and Dad got the new house ready to move into. They arrived and left earlier than expected, so I am able to get a post in. The youngest had never been away from her parents before. During the day she was fine, but bedtime was hard. They returned home on Sunday. It was time. I came home, picked five pounds of raspberries, froze them, and crashed on my reclining rocking chair listening to an audiobook. My partner came in saying he already missed them. It will take me a day and getting all the chaos of toys strewn all over the house cleaned up before I do. As I write this, I am just enjoying the quiet down time. 

The best part of having them with us, is reading together. Ada is on the cusp of becoming an independent reader so we read fun pattern books to help her on her way. We also read lots of different picture books, but today I'm mostly just sharing books that are newish to me. 

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


A family spends the day at the beach in this wordless picture book. The three children spend their time trying to build a sand castle. Time and again it is destroyed by different things. A toddler totters through it. The wind blows a woman's hat into it. Waves crash into it. The siblings remain undaunted and rebuild after each disaster. Then it's time to go home. 
Qin Leng's artwork is brilliant. I spent hours poring over the illustrations. 
Then I gave it to my granddaughter to try out by herself. I think she isn't ready for this kind of book yet - at least, not all by herself. 

I like how this book is laid out. Each animal is given two full page spreads. In the first, the second page is folded over so we see an imaginary version of the unique creature we are about learn about. 


The inside spread has an illustration showing the animal in its habitat. Information boxes, written in scientific jargon, surround the beast. Each page has a fact box on the bottom right hand side with details about the animal. I like that these show a silhouette of a scuba diver or their mask compared to a similar image of the creature. This is a brilliant way of getting a sense of what the size data means. 


On the right hand side of the spread is large print text written from the perspective of each animal. I read and enjoyed this by myself the first time round. Then Ada and I read a few pages of the book for a few nights til it was done. Those personalized entries were what fascinated her most. 

CHAPTER BOOKS

5 stars

Charlie and Mouse Series by Laurel Snyder & Emily Hughes
Charlie & Mouse (#1) April 11, 2017; Charlie & Mouse & Grumpy (#2) January 1, 2017; Charlie & Mouse Outdoors (#4) March 3, 2020; Charlie & Mouse Lost and Found (#5) August 24, 2021

Charlie & Mouse Are Magic, the newest book in this charming series will be released in August. Luckily, Lost and Found was available at my library so I was able to introduce these two brothers to my five year old granddaughter, Ada. She ended up loving these characters as much as I do. We laughed together at all the same places. I then found some digital versions available at the library, downloaded them, and we binged a bit. We read the first book in the series a couple of times. Ada especially enjoyed the Bedtime Banana story. We both agreed that Grumpy is a lot like her Grandpa. 
I am thinking I will get one entire set for her and another for her cousin who is the same age. 
If you know nothing about these books, they are based on the author's two sons. They capture the joys and humour of everyday life. Emily Hughes' illustrations are the icing on the cake. She captures an innocence in childhood and shows us a diverse cultural community living together in harmony.

Ada and I enjoyed the first in this series well enough. Eva is a young owl who tries to organize a festival all be herself. It's an overwhelming task. At first she thinks she can do it by herself, but by the end realizes she needs help. Along the way she learns a valuable lesson about delegating and turns a foe into a friend. 

5 stars

The Princess in Black and the Bathtime Battle by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale & LeUyen Pham (Illustrations)

Ada and I are now caught up in our Princess in Black reading. We might have read this together before, but I didn't keep track of it. In this one the princesses superhero alias' have to work together to give a bath to a very stinky monster.  

NOVELS


This memoir by Jordan Sonnenblick goes a long way to explain why his fictionalized young men are some of the sweetest I've encountered in middle grade fiction. 
A lot happened to young Jordan when he was in grade four. His pet snake had way too many babies. He had bullies to watch out for, drum lessons to keep on top of, and had to take a lot of medication for his asthma. To top it all off, his teacher hated him - really hated him. (This last bit really made me really angry.) When she hit him his parents put him in a new school with a new loving teacher. 
This is an important book for teachers. As someone with asthma who on occasion has to take a lot of medication, I am fully aware of how jittery this makes us. I've always cut kids like young Jordan as much slack as I could. For those who never had to experience this, it gives you insight at what it feels like. The whole book is full of insights to help teachers become better people in the classroom. 
For readers, this book will help struggling students realize that they are not alone. They are sure to appreciate the humour in this.
I loved all the connections to comic books and literature. I managed to miss Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series. (I was in my last years of high school and taking in 'serious literature' when it was first published) After reading this I am convinced that I missed an important reading experience in my youth. 

4 stars

The Crosswood by Gabrielle S. Prendergast January 19, 2021 🍁

This is from the Orca Currents collection. These books are "are short, high-interest novels with contemporary themes written specifically for middle-school students reading below grade level. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 5.0. Interest level ages 9-12"
Blue Jasper loves his twin siblings, but they are a handful to look after. One day when he is trying to give his mother a break, he takes them for a hike in the forest. Just like that, they disappear. It turns out they have been kidnapped by the Fairy King. Blue discovers that they are actually the children of the Fairy Queen. In exchange for her saving Blue's life, his mother made a bargain to look after the twins. Now the queen wants to take his mother's life for failing to take proper care of them. Blue makes a bargain with the queen and sets off into the dangerous fairie realms to rescue his foster siblings. Along the way he makes all kinds of new friends. 
As is common with these books, the plot zips right along. I was enthralled enough to keep turning page after page. What really impressed me was how much character development Prendergast managed to fit into this novel. I finished up wanting to read the sequels, The Wherewood & The Overwood. 
As a fan of Holly Black's fairie books, I wondered if this book would work for me. It turns out to be like a stripped down version of one of hers. It might not have the rich complexity of Black's books, but I was still pleasantly surprised. 


I am thankful to Karen Yingling, who highlighted this book a number of years ago. Anytime she gives a book 4 or more stars, it goes onto my must read list. I am a sucker for any book with grandparent connections and this book did not let me down. 
Set against the backdrop of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, this story of forged friendships unfolds through the perspectives of three main characters. Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko are two girls who lived in the city at that time. Both lost their fathers through the accident. Rita Grigorievna fled Kiev in 1941, just prior to the Nazi invasion. At first Valentina and Oksana seem to be enemies. Then they end up travelling together and staying in Leningrad with Valentina's grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. As Oksana gets to know Valentina and her grandmother she discovers that her abusive father's anti-Semitic rants were false. As the two girls and the grandmother get to know one another, love grows between them. Then Oksana's mother comes to take her back to Minsk. The man she is now with turns out to be as abusive, if not even more than her father was. It's up to Valentina and Rita to come up with a plan to rescue her. In the end it involves the Muslim family who save Rita in the 1940's. Fans of Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch will enjoy this. 

CURRENTLY

The Body by Bill Bryson
Traitors Among Us by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

UP NEXT 

Three Women and A Boat by Anne Younson
Truckers by Terry Pratchett

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 13/24 one in progress

#MustReadNonFiction 11/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 41/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 4 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 162 /250

Posted by 22 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

#IMWAYR MAY 25, 2020

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.



I am celebrating.

 First because I finished reading all the Chocolate Lily candidates. Mostly they are all really great reads so choosing the finalists is going to be challenging!

 Second, because we now have our garden planted! (There is more to come, but for now we are on top of things.)


Tomorrow we start renovations.
Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator.

 Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.

 NOVELS: High Interest - Low Vocabulary

 I need to begin this section by giving a shout out to the Orca Current novels written by British Columbian authors. These are, according to their website, "short, high-interest novels with contemporary themes written specifically for middle-school students reading below grade level. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 5.0. Interest level ages 10–14." Many of these are written by award winning authors and from what I am reading, many are own voices books. I'm impressed as heck. 
4 stars
Embrace the Chicken by Mahtab Narsimhan 🍁

 This little novel packs a lot of important messages into it. Like many newcomers to Canada, Shivani is struggling to fit in and find a place for herself in her new school and community. She is terrified that if people meet her mother, who is struggling with English, people will make fun of her. If they do that, they will also end up making fun of Shivani.
I cringed at how Shivani was ashamed of her family and her culture. Thankfully, her parents are smart and their new community is diverse and accepting. I really appreciated how responsible and responsive all the adults in this book are. I also liked how thoughtful the students are. This is the reality of the multicultural world I spent many years teaching in.


4 stars
Tick Tock Terror by Melanie Jackson 🍁

 I don't do scary at the best of times. That's why it took me a while to garner enough courage to open this book. As an adult reading books for children, my perspective is different from the target audience. I'm so busy worrying about what will happen to the characters, I don't get involved in the way younger readers might. On the other hand, I know the Edgar Allan Poe story this one references so that might just be another reason for my anxiety.
Anyway, this is a fast paced, tense, thriller for younger readers. Connor, who loves to climb, is coerced into hiding a stolen object high on a 'Pit and Pendulum' fairground ride. Fixing the mess he's gotten himself into isn't easy.
What I really liked about this book is how the many different characters are shown to be more than Connor assumed.
4 stars
Dressed to Play by Jennifer Manuel 🍁

 The publisher asserts that "Sports Stories are action-driven sports novels that turn reluctant readers into all-star readers! Plus, they feature characters with diverse racial, physical, mental, and economic backgrounds."
Dressed to Play impressed me much more than I anticipated. I admit to even getting a bit weepy at the end. Jordan loves basketball almost more than anything else, but when she starts getting called names and has to deal with bullying, she almost quits.
I especially appreciated how this book takes a hard look at misogyny and body image within the world of sports. It has made me appreciate all those young women athletes across time even more than I did before reading this.
You can find out more about this series here.
http://www.lorimer.ca/sportsstories

 NOVELS
4 stars
The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead & Rachel L. Jacobs (Narrator)

 This character driven book is just charming. I loved the authenticity of Bea as she struggles with all the changes in her life. When her father acknowledged he was gay, her parents divorced, but continued to have her best interests at heart. When her father decides to marry Jesse, Bea discovers that Jesse has a daughter. Sonia takes longer to embrace their new sisterhood, but Bea is undaunted.
Throughout the book Bea sees a therapist to help her deal with her anger issues. Eventually we become privy to a big secret that has been eating at her.
I appreciate how much Rebecca Stead deals with in this book - separated parents, living in two different places, therapy as part of a normal life, homophobia, and the ordinariness of spats and arguments with friends and family.
5+ stars
Cold Falling White by G. S. Prendergast 🍁

 This book is the jewel of my reading week. 
It just wowed me. I started reading and couldn't stop. The world building, the characters, and the story held me in its sway till it was finished. I still can't stop thinking about it.
I have the first in this series somewhere in a box, but alas, we have moved and I have no idea where it is. Otherwise I would have jumped right in. I did read a synopsis before starting this just in case I needed to know what happened before. I don't think it was really necessary.
Earth has been invaded by alien creatures called The Nahx. The Nahx, who are a cross between machine and clone, hunt humans and kill them with a special kind of poison dart. The series focuses on a group of Canadian friends who were camping in the Rocky Mountains when the invasion took place. This saved their lives, but they were still hunted by Nahx soldiers.
This begins with Xander being escorted across Nahx territory by August, a rogue Nahx. August loved Xander's friend, Raven, who died in the previous book. He gives up his life to save Xander who eventually ends up in a refugee camp near Prince George.
Raven wakes up after being darted to find herself transformed into a human version of a Nahx.
The action packed tale is brilliantly told through the perspectives of these three characters. I'm desperately hoping there will be another in series. 

 It is pure genius. I just can't recommend it enough. 

 CURRENTLY

 I'm reading March: Book Three (March, #3) by John Lewis, and rereading Dance of the Banished by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch for an upcoming book club. I'm listening to The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo.

 UP NEXT

 I'm hoping to go and reread the the first two in the March Trilogy. All my unread hardcopy books are in boxes so I've just downloaded The Case of the Missing Auntie by Michael Hutchinson and A Short History of Indians in Canada by Thomas King. It's about time I started reading to reach my indigenous goals.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

Big Books Summer 2020 1/10

 #MustReadIn2020: 9/25

 #MustReadNFIn2020: 4/12 one in progress

 25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 9/25 

 100 books by Canadian Authors: 91/100

 Goodreads Reading Challenge: 172/333
Posted by 22 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

It's Monday, What are You Reading.


It's  #IMWAYR. I'm so thankful to: TeachMentorTexts and Unleashing Readers for starting it all off. 

My world has been very busy so my reading life has been a bit sparse this past week. 
I finished reading Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. It's not at all appropriate for my elementary school readers, but for older readers looking for something fresh and new (and want insight into what goes on inside a teen age boy's mind) I highly recommend it. Here is my Goodreads review:

 Excrementum sanctum!
That was some book!
It's a read you climb into and then hang on for dear life as you are spun in and out of spaces (at least for me) I never thought I wanted to go.
It's set in Ealing, Iowa, a dying town since the local manufacturing plant moved its business overseas. It's a town steeped in religious fundamentalism and rife with homophobia.
Austen, our 17 year old hero is all tangled up in his love and desire for his two best friends, Shann, a girl, and Robby, a boy.
To make matters worse, local hoodlums stole a glowing curiosity from the second hand shop.
It was not a good idea.
They dropped it, unleashing spores of flesh eating preying mantises, and started the end of the world.
My words can not do justice to this book. It's part science fiction, part horror, and part social commentary. It's dark, twisted, hilarious, intense and sweet.
Comparisons to Andrew Smith's writing have been made to Kurt Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson. I see both of them here.
My only wish for this book is that Austen's friends' were more equally developed. Shann is essentially a stereotype, while Robby is a richly developed character.

I also finished reading Escape From Mr Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. It started out pretty slow but once I got into it, I was hooked. I anticipated it would be full of more action, but I came to appreciate the thoughtful integration of book title clues into what turns out to be a literary detective novel. 

I also finished two high interest, low vocabulary books from the Dark Hunter Series by Benjamin Holme-Cross. I think if you click on the book title it will take you to my good reads review. 
  
I've sent them off to a grade 5/6/7 classroom to be tested by real readers. 

I've started reading Countdown by Deborah Wiles. I'm going to confess that I am old enough to remember living the times this historical novel is set in. I'm not sure why I resisted this title, since I have loved all of Wiles' work since first reading Each Little Bird that Sings. (I just replaced our copies of it and Love, Ruby Lavender.) So far, I am loving this title and plan to get the entire series for the library by next September. If you have read and liked this one, you might enjoy Rex Zero: The Great Pretender by Tim Wynne Jones, a book that details the Canadian experience of this era. 

I've also started listening to Terrier by Tamora Pierce. What can I say? Pierce is one of my guilty pleasures. I love her strong female characters. So do all the girls I introduce her work to. 

Posted by 4 comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)