#IMWAYR DECEMBER 21, 2015

Hello Monday! It's time to check in with Jen at Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers to find out what other readers are up to
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What with guests all last weekend, dealing with my ill mother, and trying to get through the last week of school before the holidays, I didn't get a post in last Monday.  So this here is a recap of most of my reading for the previous two weeks.

PICTURE BOOKS

The final school week of 2015 was all about reading seasonal picture books, handing out candy, and making sure students were loaded up with good books to last the winter break. I gave each group of children their choice of three books for me to read. Each one wanted When Santa was a Baby.

4 stars

When Santa was a Baby by Linda Bailey and Genevieve Godbout (Illustrator)

I had a lot of fun reading this. Have I mentioned that I am a Linda Bailey fan? The K/1/2 grouping laughed much heartier than the older students did, but we all appreciated the humour and enjoyed Godbout's retro looking illustrations. When there was enough time, I paired it up with Little Santa by Jon Agee and my listeners couldn't decide which they liked best. 

  

An Otis Christmas by Loren Long

3 stars

While I am an Otis fan, this book just didn't quite work for me. It might be that this book was a little too saccharine for my tastes, especially paired with the humour and fun of the other seasonal titles I've been reading recently.

4 stars

Merry Christmas Mr Crow by Kathi Appelt and Jon Goodell (Illustrator)

While this text by Kathi Applet is charming, it is Jon Goodell's beautiful illustrations make this book. A crow flies around at Christmas time collecting odd bits of this and that (in very crow fashion) to decorate a tree.

How to Read a Story by Kate Messner and Mark Siegel (Illustrator)

YES!

5+ stars

If only it was possible I would give this book many more than five stars. Mark Siegel's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to Messner's brilliant text. I love that this is a story within a story. I can't wait to read it to our older students who read with little buddies. I can't wait to read it to the younger students because there is just so much here about making sense of text.

What a jewel of a book!

INFORMATION

4 stars

Water Can Be...  by Laura Purdie Salas & Violeta Dabija (illustrator)

I've waffled back and forth between giving this book 4 or 5 stars. As a primary level picture book read aloud it is a solid five. The poetry of the text works well against the backdrop of these rich, almost illuminated illustrations. I appreciate the section at the back of the text that explains almost every line of the text in more detail. Unfortunately, as research tool for older readers, this section provides introductory information only.

NOVELS

3 stars

The Rule of Three by Eric Walters (book club book)

I'm pretty sure I'm not the target audience for this book, but that said, it is a pretty engrossing read. It is an end of the world scenario set in America as some kind of virus destroys computers and shuts down all power. It's a reminder that when disaster strikes in any form, we really must pull together as a community to survive. To be completely honest, this book was a bit too macho for my tastes. 

4.5 stars

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands narrated by Ray Panthaki 

This was a stunning book to listen to. It's got murder, mayhem, suspense and all kinds of plot twists and turns. 
In addition to all that, there is a sweetness to this book that underlies all the adventure. 

4 stars

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde narrated by Elizabeth Jasicki

If I wasn't already a fan of Fforde's work, this would have put me solidly in his camp. I'm in awe of how he is able to pull together a fabulous satire that melds our modern world with magic and dragons. 
Avid readers of Terry Pratchett's work will probably be appreciative of Jasper Fforde. 

4 stars

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan narrated by Ari Fliakos

This book has been keeping me company in my head for a while now as I travel back and forth to work, go Christmas shopping, and work on assorted projects. I was happily engrossed in this complicated story that begins in a book store.  I appreciated the combination of archaic mystery and the modern world of google. This was a very satisfying read. 

4 stars

George by Alex Gino narrated by Jamie Clayton

I enjoyed listening to this book. I liked that it is essentially a positive story about a transgendered child. It is important that George is referred to as she right from the beginning. While there are a few boys who are nasty, and one teacher who has to learn to be more accepting, this is a good book to introduce my elementary readers to a transgender character. 

My only quibble is that Girls are very multidimensional characters and as I finished the book I couldn't help but wonder if all transgender girls want to be girly girls in the same way that George and Grayson from Gracefully Grayson by Amy Polonsky want to.
Both of these books are circulating constantly in our library. I now want to go and talk to readers about them to see what they are thinking.

CURRENTLY

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, one of my #MustReadIn2015 titles, is the book I'm reading with my eyes. I'm listening to Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. I read the book last spring, but listened to all the previous books in the series and always planned to listen to this one too. Will Patten's narration sent me back into this world within the first few words. I hope this will tide me over until The Raven King is published this coming April. If I read one of my #MustReadIn2015 books twice do I get to count it as two books?

UP NEXT

Cress will be my next audiobook, and then Jellicoe Road, another of my #MustReadIn2015 titles. 

#IMWAYR DECEMBER 7, 2014

It's Monday and not only is it time for #IMWAYR, there are only two weeks of school left til winter break. I admit that the latter makes me a tad more excited than the former, but just a tad. Thank you Jen at Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers for hosting this weekly party. 

I have held my last book fair. It is very liberating to say this. It isn't that Scholastic didn't have some spectacular books. They did. In an ordinary year, I would be having another one in the spring, but this last one was so frustrating, I decided to just say enough. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the 'seasonal' collection was all Christmas books. I teach at a multicultural and multifaith school. To be honest, I was ashamed to see this selection of books. I have been complaining about it for the last number of years, but this year when I was told that they had included some other titles but they didn't sell, I suggested that maybe they needed to have better choices. My other frustration came from the fact that they upgraded their Wi-Fi credit/debit machines and now they don't work at our school. I want to thank Ms Yingling, whose comments here last week gave me extra courage to make this decision. 

I went book shopping on Saturday and picked up a passel of new Hanukkah titles and even scraped together time to do a blog post about them. You can read my post about them here or see them on goodreads here. 

I also picked up some new Christmas books, but I'll blog about them next week some time. 

Other than seasonal books, I did get some other books read. 

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur by Linda Bailey Colin Jack (Illustrations) 

I must confess that I have adored every Linda Bailey book I have ever read. In other words, I am a fan. This is one of our Chocolate Lily book club books for this year. Readers will discover all the truly positive reasons why owning a dinosaur is a good thing. This is a fun read that will leave young readers with a model for writing their own story. Colin Jack's cartoon style illustrations add an extra level of hilarity for the reader. 

Of the many picture books I read at the book fair, these are a few that stuck out.

  

4 stars

The Very Noisy Bear by Nick Bland

I have loved every one of Nick Bland's books about Bear, and this one is no different. I loved that bear wasn't afraid to keep trying new instruments until he found the right one, even though the instruments (and their original owners) suffered for it. I finished this book up with a surprised laugh.  

3 stars

Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman & Ben Cort

Ben Cort's bold and colorful illustrations are perfect, albeit, some are a tad scary. Mostly the poetry works for me but occasionally the rhyme and rhythm falters. I can see that this would be a great book for children just moving out of diapers!

4 stars

Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey Rosen Schwartz & Dan Santat

This book is a lot of fun. I read it during the book fair with a few boys I have been doing writing workshops with. It will make a perfect addition to the twisted fairy tale telling ideas they have been coming up with. In fact, I told them they could have written this. (Maybe without the rhyme scheme as they are only 6 and 7 years old) We were not totally satisfied with the ending because while we didn't want the wolf to eat Red Riding Hood, he really had worked hard to become a ninja! 

NOVELS

5 stars

The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall & Narrated by Susan Denaker

Adoration isn't too strong a word for how I feel about the Penderwick family. Each book is like visiting with a family of old friends. I can't imagine listening to a finer book to provide a break from the insanity of book fair week. I loved discovering what was going on with them through the voices of Batty and Ben. I laughed and I wept a bit while driving home and listening to this book. Susan Denaker's voice captures this family brilliantly. The best part of finishing it, is discovering that I missed The Penderwicks at Point Mouette so I have it to look forward to while waiting for the fifth book in this series to come out. 

4 stars

Rabbit Ears by Maggie de Vries

This book deals with difficult subject matter. It is the story of a girl, Kaya, and her family after she ends up addicted to heroin and working the streets in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, BC. We eventually discover that an old man in their neighborhood abused her when she was younger. It is not an easy read despite being a relatively short and simple book. de Vries knows her subject matter having written earlier about her sister, Sarah, who was one of the Missing Women from that part of town. 

I have to admit that I'm nervous about my grade sevens reading this book. It's part of the Stellar book club books chosen for high school. I'm sure glad that I've read it and can debrief it with them in our meetings. 

CURRENTLY

I've started listening to The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands and reading The Rule Of Three by Eric Walters. 

UP NEXT

Since we separated book club into three groups, and I am leading only one of them, I feel a bit relaxed about needing to finish them all. I hope to get a few more of my must read in 2015 titles completed before reckoning day arrives. 

HURRAH FOR HANUKKAH! 2015

Hanukkah begins Monday, so last Friday, after the book fair was packed up, I was at school late setting up our menorah and getting seasonal books on display. It appears that our Hanukkah books are popular since half of the collection was missing. In response, I went book shopping on Saturday and picked up the following titles: 

Simon and the Bear: a Hanukkah Tale by Eric A. Kimmel & Matthew Trueman (illustrator)

A young man, Simon, travels on a ship to America, but the boat hits an iceberg. He gives up his seat in the lifeboat to a man with children and then jumps onto the iceberg just as the boat goes under. While stranded on the ice he meets and befriends an enormous white bear. Matthew Trueman's illustrations complete the enchantment in this tale of Hanukkah miracles.

Is it Hanukkah Yet? by Chris Barash & Alessandra Psacharopulo (illustrator)

There is something universal in this book about waiting for a special day to arrive. Psacharopulo's enchanting illustrations and Barash's rhyming text combine magically to show us all the seasonal hints that let us know that Hanukkah is on it's way. While this is a book about waiting for Hanukkah, students will be able to make connections to the many celebrations they wait for in their own lives.

Nonna's Hanukkah Surprise by Karen Fisman & Martha Avil (illustrator)

Rachel's mother is Jewish and her father is Christian. She is a bit worried about their upcoming visit to her father's family because she is afraid that she will miss Hanukkah. Her parent's reassure her that they will share their holiday celebrations with everyone. Her father gifts her with an early Hanukkah present, a menorah with nine proud Maccabee girls! Unfortunately, Rachel leaves it on the plane. Luckily, she has an amazing Nonna who saves the day.

I really loved this book about families melding their different celebrations into one larger one. Avil's illustrations augment the text beautifully.

Hanukkah Bear by Eric A. Kimmel & Mike Wohnoutka (Illustrator)

This is the retelling of a tale first published in 1990 as The Chanukkah Guest. Bubba Brayna is 97 years old, and while her hearing and vision are not as good as they once were, she still makes the best latkes in the village. Hilarity ensues when she mistakes an old bear for the rabbi who she is expecting. I enjoyed this version as much as the first one.

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz & David Slonim (illustrator)

This version of the Old Lady with the strange appetite, educates the reader about many hanukkah traditions, but the heart of the story is in David Slonim's just stunning images. It begins as a wordless comic book style where we see how it is that the old lady ended up swallowing the dreidel in the first place. Throughout the book Slonim has taken creative license that takes us into a 'delightful romp' through art history. At the back of the book he lets us know what paintings he has parodied. I enjoyed this book except for the part when the old lady swallows "a pitcher of oil, 'bout ready to boil." That just brought too many uncomfortable images into my head. 

Clifford Celebrates Hanukkah by Norman Bridwell

Clifford and Emily Elizabeth go to a classmate's house to learn about Hanukkah. This book is both educational and fun at the same time.

Hanukkah is Coming! by Tracy Newman & Viviana Garofoli

This brightly illustrated board book is sure to entertain the younger students and their younger brothers and sisters.

Thankfully, I discovered on Sunday, where the missing books were hiding. It's all good though because you can never have too many seasonal titles can you?