It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week on the blog:

Review: A Journey Toward Hope

Interview with author Darcie Little Badger

Last week in reading:

I knew 10 Things I Hate About Pinky was on its way to me, so I quickly re-read the first two books - When Dimple Met Rishi and There's Something About Sweetie. They're all rom-coms and they really made me smile a lot. Another YA rom-com that had me smiling was an ARC of Super Fake Love Song. The other standouts were Magnificent Homespun Brown (beautiful poetry picture book celebrating the color brown and brown skin), Be You! (inspirational picture book), and Love by Sophia (a sweet picture book about family and perspective in an art type of way). I got the Love book from the publisher and will review it more formally later in the week. Redwood and Ponytail made me cry, but also smile. It's an excellent  middle grade novel in verse romance with a focus on identity.

The Coming Week: 

I'm still reading a graphic novel called A Map to the Sun. It's available on my desktop, so I don't think to get back to it. I've also started reading This is My Brain in Love through Sora. I have really been enjoying our school Overdrive collection. We're in a consortium and so though I set my students to only see the books appropriate for elementary, staff are also allowed to access the YA and adult sections. This means I have one extra library worth of books available to me now. I didn't know that was available when I signed up so it was a happy bonus. This is our first week back to school so I'm not sure how reading will go, but I wish you all a great week filled with wonderful books.

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 412/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 243/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 158/200

#MustReadin2020 - 26/36
#YARC2020 - 51/55
Muslimshelfspace - 21/30

A Journey Toward Hope

Title: A Journey Toward Hope

Author: Victor Hinojosa & Coert Voorhees

Illustrator: Susan Guevara

Publisher: Six Foot Press

Pages: 40

Review Copy: Final copy via publisher

Availability: On shelves now

Summary:  Every year, roughly 50,000 unaccompanied minors arrive at the US/Mexico border to present themselves for asylum or related visas. The majority of these children are non-Mexicans fleeing the systemic violence of Central America’s “Northern Triangle”: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. A Journey Toward Hope tells the story of Rodrigo, a 14-year-old escaping Honduran violence; Alessandra, a 10-year-old Guatemalan whose first language is Q’eqchi’; and the Salvadoran siblings Laura and Nando. Though their reasons for making the journey are different and the journey northward is perilous, the four children band together, finding strength in one another as they share the dreams of their past and the hopes for their future. Written in collaboration with Baylor University’s Global Hunger and Migration Project, A Journey Toward Hope is a celebration of their humanity and an ode to the power of hope and connection even in the face of uncertainty and fear.

Review: A Journey Toward Hope helps show the diversity of those coming into the US from the south. They are coming from many different places and situations. Their humanity is shown and young readers can see that unaccompanied minors go through much to get to the border asking for asylum. Though we don't get to know each character well, they are distinct and they each have hopes and dreams for their future. 

The artwork is lovely and the addition of the animals related to each character will likely make it more appealing to young readers, but also simply adds a creative beauty to the story. The train, La Bestia, also has a beast shown that emphasizes the danger of that way of traveling without making it too overwhelming for young readers. Without visually showing how people may be injured or killed, it still communicates the fear and risks.

The end notes are excellent and I was glad to see a map that shows the places mentioned in the text. It also shows the paths that each of the characters travel. There are suggestions on how people can be involved in addressing the needs of migrant children. The illustrator's notes are also wonderful and explain that she was trying to show the importance of connections and relationships. 

Recommendation: This is a wonderful addition to any library. There is a lot of confusion about unaccompanied minors and this is one way for readers to learn more about them in an age appropriate way. Many facts are shared through the end notes and through the story we see the emotional aspects. This will be a great way to start discussions with young people and I would venture to say there are many adults who could also benefit from this story and information. 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week in reading:

 

My favorite picture books of the above were The Ocean Calls, Saturdays Are for Stella, Going Up!, and Home in the Woods. 

The best middle grade for me was Serena Says. 

The YA that I enjoyed the most was the audio of Running via Libro.fm.

And finally, the adult memoir Men We Reaped was so fantastic I think I will re-read it in the future.

The Coming Week: 

I'm reading a graphic novel called A Map to the Sun and I started Super Fake Love Song. I have quite a long list of digital ARCs on my iPad so I will keep plowing through those like A Thousand Questions, Cemetery Boys, The Barren Grounds, Loretta Little Looks Back, Ciel, and Selfie. We'll see what I get to though because we are starting our professional development days this week so I'll be pretty busy. I wish you an awesome week of reading.

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 399/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 237/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 152/200

#MustReadin2020 - 26/36
#YARC2020 - 49/55
Muslimshelfspace - 21/30

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week on the blog: 

Review of Furia at Rich in Color

Last week in reading:

I've been catching up on a lot of ARCs this past week so I zipped through quite a few books to get them reviewed. I feel the school year looming and had a lot of digital ARCs waiting for me. 

Measuring Up (Oct. 27) is a delightful graphic novel featuring a young Taiwanese girl whose family moves to Seattle. She misses her grandmother a lot and much of their time together had been spent with the preparation of food. She learns about herself and others as she does a huge amount of cooking. For realistic graphic novel fans, this will be one they won't want to miss. 

As with many books dealing with food, there is something to make and there is a video lesson online. I just had to try it out.

 

After reading a digital ARC of the graphic novel Measuring Up by @lilylamotte, I made iû-pn̄g or Taiwanese Oil Rice. The author and her son shared how to do this in a video https://t.co/1iErdCwO3p pic.twitter.com/Ohr2h1LjQX

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) August 17, 2020

I'm hoping to get some books in from the library so it will all depend on what arrives. I still have several ARCs to read too. Happy reading. 

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 385/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 228/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 146/200

#MustReadin2020 - 25/36
#YARC2020 - 48/55
Muslimshelfspace - 20/30

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week on the blog: 

Stamped Discussion at Rich in Color

Review: Ick! by Melissa Stewart

Hmong Resources

Last week in reading:

Favorite Picture Books: Nana Akua Goes to School, Southwest Sunrise, A Girl Like Me, Big Papa and the Time Machine, Bedtime Bonnet, An Ordinary Day, Swashby and the Sea

Favorite Middle Grades: Fly on the Wall (ARC), We Dream of Space, The Collection

Favorite YA: Punching the Air (ARC), Heiress Apparently (ARC)

The Coming Week: I'm listening to The Water Dancer and I'm reading the ARC of Furia. I'm also reading The Wisdom of No Escape and I have quite a few more ARCs that I am trying to get to and review before school begins again. Happy reading.

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 3528/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 215/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 134/200

#MustReadin2020 - 24/36
#YARC2020 - 47/55
Muslimshelfspace - 20/30

Hmong Resources

There are many thousands of Hmong Americans in the Midwest and other areas around the country, but teachers and librarians are not always able to easily find resources that represent those students and families. Over the past few years, I've been working to find helpful resources and I wanted to make a space to gather the books and other things I've found. If you know of others, please share them in the comments.

Publishers/Bookstores:
HER Publisher
Hmong ABC (bookstore - online & St. Paul location)
Hmong Baby (publisher)
Minnesota Reading Together Project (books to order & free pdfs)
My First Hmong Book LLC (beginning readers)
Project Hmong (publisher - early readers & bulletin board border)
Reading Karma (publisher)

St. Paul Public Schools - Hmong Language & Culture Products

Individual Books:
Astrid & Apollo series (early chapter books)
Hmanganime (Hmong Fantasy/Anime Coloring Book - free)

Hmong ABCs
Hmong in Wisconsin (WI Historical Society book)
Hmong New Year 2015 - La Crosse, WI (Electronic book - free access)
Hmong New Year 2017 - La Crosse, WI (Electronic book - free access)
Leej Twg Hlub Koj? Who Loves You?
Ntxhais (high school senior project online comic)
The Plain of Stone Jars
Ten Little Fish/Kaum Tus Me Nyuam Ntses (board book)

Who Are the Hmong People

Yer and the Tiger - audio online via Classical Storytime

Hmong Clothing/Accessories
Big Eye Little Eye (online & St. Paul location)
Muaj Tiag Clothing Co.

RedGreen Rivers

Other Resources

Duachaka Her's Resource page

Fresno Unified School District Dual Language Immersion

Hmong American Experience (latest news & stories about Hmong Americans) 

Hmong Embroidery (online textile museum) 

The Hmong Language Resource Hub

Hmong Museum

Hmong Museum coloring pages

Hmong Times (MN online news)

Joe Bee Xiong

Learn About Hmong

Madison Schools Hmong Cultural Resources Guide

Neng Now
Wisconsin Life: Hmong

Artists
Hmong Artist List curated by Duachaka Her

Hmong Artist List curated by HmongThrills 
Mai Chao (a student was able to interview her - watch here)
Multiple Artists spotlighted
Shoua Yang (he did a great virtual visit at my school)

Musicians - I'll need to find more ;)
Maa Vue

Maa Vue 'If I Became a Rapper' (fun rap using math)

Hmong instruments for purchase - Neng Now

Children's & YA Authors 
V.T. Bidania (awesome virtual visits for both 3rd & 4th grade)

Mai Chao
Hua M. Conry
Lori M. Lee

Doua Moua

Mykou Thao

Chia Gounza Vang
Ka Vang
Kao Kalia Yang

May Y. Yang

Children's & YA Illustrators
Duachaka Her (comics)
Dara Lashia Lee
Billy Thao

Spoken Word Poetry/Essays/Read Alouds (Videos)
Come Home (spoken word poem by Kevin Yang)

Hmong American Day Read Alouds (not all follow copyright regulations)
'Hmong American Experience: Life Between Two Worlds' (Poem by Nakita)

Kuv Ua Tau/I Can Do It/ (read aloud by Mykou Thao)

Leej Twg Hlub Koj? Who Loves You? (read aloud)

A Map Into the World (read aloud by Kao Kalia Yang)

The Most Beautiful Thing Read Aloud & School Visit with Kao Kalia Yang
Ka Vang (spoken word poem)

Review: Ick! by Melissa Stewart

Title: Ick! Delightfully Disgusting Animal Dinners, Dwellings, and Defenses

Author: Melissa Stewart

Publisher: National Geographic

Pages: 112

Availability: On shelves now

Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Summary: From award-winning author Melissa Stewart comes the journey through the animal world you'll ever take. From ants to zebras, get ready to discover some seriously strange animal behaviors. Slurp up soupy insides with houseflies, spit sticky saliva to build nests with birds, and fend off predators with poop-flinging caterpillars and farting snakes. And that's just the tip of the dung pile! These yucky habits may seem surprising to us, but they're totally normal for these animals. In fact, their survival depends on them.

Snappy text, incredible photography, and more cool features add to the learning fun. Ready to chew some fingernails with cockroaches? Dive into the digusting world of animals!

Review: The title is a serious warning. This is one of the most nausea inducing book I may have ever encountered. For readers who love to be grossed out, this is the ultimate. While reading this, my gag reflex was engaged multiple times. There are many readers at my elementary school who are going to adore this book. The best part of course is sharing the information with your nearest and dearest and watching their reaction. My youngest child refused to allow me to speak anymore after I shared just a few pieces of information from this text.

Melissa Stewart has managed to find some of the most bizarre pieces of disgusting information about a wide variety of critters. As you would expect with any National Geographic book, the illustrations are amazing close ups. The information is also broken up in to bits. There is rarely more than two paragraphs in a row so it likely won't look intimidating to readers who avoid lengthy texts.

Recommendation: This is a fabulous book for those interested in animals and all their strangeness. Readers of the Guinness record books and Strange But True series will likely adore this one. Highly recommended. 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

If you go to my Goodreads account, you can see what I have read recently & click on the books to learn more.

Last week on the blog: 

Review: A Place Inside Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

Last week in reading:

 

Best picture books: The Most Beautiful Thing is a lovely story about a special grandparent and learning what's important. I Am One: A Book of Action is all about how we can each make a difference in the world. A Journey Toward Hope is a moving story of a varied group of child refugees. And finally, I absolutely adored A Place Inside of Me and I linked the review above. 

Best YA: Darius the Great Deserves Better was just as good as the first Darius the Great or maybe even better. I love, love, love Darius. Body Talk is a wonderful nonfiction exploration of how we relate to our bodies and all things body for teens. It's a great mix of voices. 

Best adult books: The Bride Test and A Sweet Mess were just the romcoms I needed this week. Fun and cute and definitely not for the young ones. They were a little steamy. 

The Coming Week:

I'm plowing through some digital ARCs from Netgalley this week. I have the YA fantasy Vicious Spirits and middle grade Fly on the Wall waiting for me. I also downloaded some new audios from Libro.fm, but I'm not sure which one I'll start after The One and Only Bob. Happy reading!

Reading Challenge Updates: 

Goodreads Challenge 2019 - 328/500

Diversity on the Shelf 2020 - 194/250
Chapter Books 2020 - 129/200

#MustReadin2020 - 24/36
#YARC2020 - 45/55
Muslimshelfspace - 20/30

A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

Title: A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart
Author: Zetta Elliott
Illustrator: Noa Denmon
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Pages: 32
Review copy: Purchased
Availability: On shelves now

Summary: 
There is a place inside of me
a space deep down inside of me
where all my feelings hide.

In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year. Summertime is filled with joy—skateboarding and playing basketball—until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.

In her stunning debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting—through grief and protests, healing and community—with washes of color as vibrant as his words.

Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers—children and adults alike—talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.

Review: The subtitle says it all. These words have the power to heal the hearts of readers. This book spoke to my heart already in the dedication. "for Zion and all the children who miss the hand they used to hold...trust that you will laugh again and love again once your heart has had time to heal." Anyone who has lost a loved one can connect with this wish for the young ones.

Readers will accompany a young child who's sharing about the many emotions hiding within. The words are gorgeous, but so are the illustrations. And the illustrations add information. Readers will need to read those too or they may miss a lot.

Unfortunately, there are still way too many communities and families reeling due to police shootings and other instances of violence by the hands of the state. This book is one way for readers to find their way to healing. Children and their loved ones or caregivers will have opportunities to reflect on their own emotions and ways that they can express and experience them. I see this as a path to meaningful discussions or even just a way for loved ones to sit with each other in their pain and healing.

There is beauty in the strength and the hope that this young Black child finds when looking within and when looking at his community.

Recommendation: I highly recommend this book for any home or shared library that serves young people. Anyone can find healing within the pages of this book, but I think that this is particularly true for Black readers. There are certainly ugly things happening, but that is not where the poem ends. The young person feels pride in knowing that through the struggle, his people have emerged strong. In the face of everything, he is able to show compassion and love and so are others in his community. I believe it will move readers toward healing, but will also be empowering. I hope it gets in the hands of many, many readers.