Wahoo! I am back on a roll. I was able to read quite a few books this past week. There were so many, that I am going to do this the quick way.
This huge stack of books put a dent in my TBR fortunately and got me moving on the Newbery Challenge again. The Little Yellow Bottle, Junkyard Wonders and A Lion Called Christian got tears from me. It was especially true when I tracked down the reunion video of the men and the lion they had cared for. Whew. Amazing. Another one I really enjoyed was The Unforgotten Coat. It inspired a lot of wondering and thinking. The photos were really great. It would be wonderful to read with a group of students that are interested in photography. God's Dream was another standout book. I enjoyed both the message and the illustrations. A surprising book was Frog and Fly. It is kind of Hatbackish. Not very Disney-like.
I was very sad to hear of Maurice Sendak's passing and spent a bit of time re-reading many of his works and meeting some for the first time. So glad that the Colbert Report interviews happened in time. What a creative and fantastic man he was.
For this coming week, I will finish Call it Courage & Matchlock Gun and maybe even Adam of the Road for Newbery. I am also pretty excited because The Humming Room came in the mail today so I will probably read that one too. Here's to another great week of reading!
I like the quick way! It's fun to look at all the covers...I should probably do this some time...anyway! What did you think of the Unwanteds? I know lots of people loved it but it wasn't super great for me. I wanted them to be able to do more with their magic. AND I have Remarkable to read but haven't read it yet! Need to move it up the TBR...what did you think of that one?
ReplyDeleteThe Unwanteds was okay, but the setting just wasn't convincing for me and I didn't really get absorbed into the story. Remarkable was kind of the same for me. I was never able to fall into the story. I felt like I was reading fiction. Both of them improved, but I never fell in love. You know how it usually takes a chapter or two to sort everything out and get into a book, well with both it took me about 1/2 the book before I settled in and even then, I wasn't very invested. Wish I could have liked them more, but they ended up being okay.
ReplyDeleteYou are cruising along with the Newbery Challenge! Do you have a favorite so far?
ReplyDeleteIsn't Junkyard Wonders beautiful? Where would Patricia Polacco be without these amazing educators in her life? The Art of Miss Chew is also a great story, but didn't move me quite the way Junkyard Wonders or Mr. Falker did. I'll have to check out the Little Yellow Bottle. I'm always impressed by a picture book that can be so powerful in such a compact form.
I will have to find The Art of Miss Chew. Thanks for mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Newbery so far was Invincible Louisa. I have been a long-time Alcott fan and had read that one before, but really love it. Her family had such a fascinating history and it really is amazing to see the parallels to Little Women.
Glad to hear good things for the Unforgotten Coat. I really want to read it. I loved Cosmic by Boyce. It looks like you read a lot of great books this past week!
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