It's Monday! What are you reading?

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. Cover images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Recent Blog Posts

Celebrate!

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - Watch out for Water!

The Past Week in Books

In addition to the nonfiction picture books above, these were the best picture books of the week. When Penny Met POTUS is timely and is a fun way to talk about what POTUS means. Penny's mother works for POTUS, but that terminology throws Penny for a loop. She imagines all kinds of things to go with that word. The Stone Thrower is based on the story of Chuck Ealey who was an amazing quarterback, but because he was African-American, was unable to quarterback in the NFL at the time so he went to play for the CFL. Strangely enough I was unaware of the CFL until I saw a game on TV while I was in Toronto this summer. I couldn't for the life of me place the teams and the uniforms. The Airport Book is a fabulous look into airports. There is so much happening in the illustrations. There are stories within the pictures that aren't necessarily referenced in the text. It's one that can be read and re-read and more things pop out in the pictures. It's got a look-and-find quality to it. There are lots of things to find if you are paying attention. I appreciated the diversity shown in the airport too. Lisa Brown has included many types of travelers.

A Big Dose of Lucky is part of a series. There are seven girls in an orphanage and they end up going their separate ways. Each book tells one girls' story. This one is about Malou and yes, eventually you do find out about her name. Malou is the only black girl in the orphanage outside a small town in southeast Ontario. She has only one clue about her parentage and she has to decide if she will investigate her birth family or not. It was quite interesting to see the ways in which race was a factor in Canada in the midst of the U.S. civil rights era.

Peas and Carrots was also about a young girl without her family. She is a teenage white girl who has a younger brother who is biracial. He is with an African-American foster family and then Dess joins them too. Dess has a pretty hard shell, but this is a family who has kindness as their mantra even if the teen daughter, Hope, has a hard time being kind when all Dess does is insult her. It got a few tears out of me.

I really enjoyed the memoir Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. I had only read her children's books before so it was nice to get to know her a little through this book. She includes her story, some of her dreams, and a few poems. Here are the children's books I've read and enjoyed in the past.

The Coming Week:

I'm listening to a CD of Gifts by Ursula Le Guin whenever I'm in my car. I'm listening to Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela on my phone. I am reading the hardcopy of Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems by Joy Harjo and I started a professional development book called Discipline with Dignity for one of my summer classes. I have Rhythm Ride waiting for me at the library so will likely start that this week too. I wish you a great week!

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge - 408/550
Diversity on the Shelf 2016 - 183/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)
LGBTQIA Challenge - 26/31
ReadPOC Challenge - 125/125
#MustReadin2016 - 21/54
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 71/100
Around the World with Books 2016