It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.
If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.
Last Week on the Blog:
May book releases at Rich in Color
Pride Month
Last Week in Books:
I read about a dozen books in the past week and these are some of the ones I enjoyed the most. The Harvey Milk Story by Kari Krakow is a well done picture book biography. Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Arthur has lovely illustrations and the poems throughout are great. It's one I will want to re-read. A Morning with Grandpa by Silvia Liu is a sweet story and I will enjoy sharing it with my younger students. We already have some yoga books that we use and this one will extend that in a nice way since it also includes tai chi. The Donkey Lady Fights La Llorona by Xavier Garza is the third in a series of creepy books. I haven't read the others, but now I want to find them. It's a bilingual book and is a lot of shivery fun. Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices by Kristin Cronn-Mills qualified for a the #ReadProud read challenge that's going on this month. It's a nice introduction for those wanting to learn more about transgender experiences. The best part is hearing from several individuals. It's a combination of information and personal stories.
Padma Venkatraman wrote a book that I really enjoyed called A Time to Dance so when I saw that she had an earlier book, I wanted to read it. Climbing the Stairs takes place in India during WWII. Seeing the war from that perspective was different to say the least. The main character's family is not exactly enamored of the British yet one member feels compelled to fight against Hitler on the British side. There are way more things going on in the story than that, but it stood out to me how I often only think of WWII in relation to us, Europe, Africa and maybe over in the South Pacific, but things were happening in so many other places.
Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories is a nice by Sandra Cisneros. Having lived in Texas for 16 years, I appreciated many of the references. LGBT Diversity and Inclusion in the Early Years Education by Deborah Price and Kath Taylor was a nice find. I visited Madison when last week and finally signed up for a UW-Madison library card (teachers in WI can have one for free). It is cool because professional books are harder to get my hands on as public libraries don't often buy such things. Now I can use the education library in Madison for books like this. Here's a line from my Goodreads review: "Readers are led to question whether they see children as "an equal, a co-constructor of the learning environment of your early years setting" or as a "passive recipient of the knowledge and ideas" to be imparted to them." I appreciated the way the book made me think about the way I teach and how I see my students aside from giving me ideas about inclusive practices.
The Coming Week: I'm still listening to Daring Greatly and though it has a lot of the same information that was in The Gifts of Imperfection, I am hearing new bits and pieces that are valuable. I started a book called Papi: A Novel (another from UW-Madison), but am not sure I will stick with it. I have a whole pile of books on order from the library so I will dig into those as they arrive on the hold shelf. I'm super excited to get Lucy Knisley's newest book and LaRose by Louise Erdrich. I also have The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye on the way among others. These are all part of my summer #Bookaday plans. I hope you have some fun reading lined up too.
The Coming Week: I'm still listening to Daring Greatly and though it has a lot of the same information that was in The Gifts of Imperfection, I am hearing new bits and pieces that are valuable. I started a book called Papi: A Novel (another from UW-Madison), but am not sure I will stick with it. I have a whole pile of books on order from the library so I will dig into those as they arrive on the hold shelf. I'm super excited to get Lucy Knisley's newest book and LaRose by Louise Erdrich. I also have The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye on the way among others. These are all part of my summer #Bookaday plans. I hope you have some fun reading lined up too.
Reading Challenge Updates:
Goodreads Challenge - 309/550 Diversity on the Shelf 2016 - 146/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)
LGBTQIA Challenge - 17/31
ReadPOC Challenge - 105/125
#MustReadin2016 - 20/54
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 63/100
Around the World with Books 2016
There are a lot of interesting books on this list. The ones I've read, Harvey Milk and Daniel Finds a poem, I really enjoyed. I'm specially interested in A Morning with Grandpa and Climbing the Stairs.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Daniel Finds a Poem too, it's definitely worth a reread. :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked Daniel Finds a Poem, too. It is loaded with possibilities for classroom use. I definitely want to get my own copy for my classroom library next year. I've ordered A Morning With Grandpa from my pubic library. Looks good! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteClimbing the Stairs was interesting-- the partition of India is a fascinating topic. Jennifer Bradbury has a good YA one-- A Moment Comes, I think. If you're interested in the 48 Hour Book Challenge for next year, let me know! http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2016/06/sic-transit-gloria-mundi-48-hour-book.html
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed The Harvey Milk Story. There are so many good LGBT books. Yay!
ReplyDeleteI am so interested in Padma Venkatraman - partly because I am Indian, too, and also because I've heard wonderful things about her as a writer. You have been on a reading tear, clearly. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI am so interested in Padma Venkatraman - partly because I am Indian, too, and also because I've heard wonderful things about her as a writer. You have been on a reading tear, clearly. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI am so interested in Padma Venkatraman - partly because I am Indian, too, and also because I've heard wonderful things about her as a writer. You have been on a reading tear, clearly. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI just saw Climbing the Stairs on my bookshelf the other day. I am thinking that I need to pick it up--now that I've read your description. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe only one I am familiar with on your list is Daniel Finds a Poem, which I really loved. Sweet story and beautiful illustrations.
ReplyDeleteLots of really great titles here! Daniel Finds a Poem is a new favourite of mine - and used it for a poetry workshop I conducted with parents - so effective!
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