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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. The lists of the books in the images below may be found at Goodreads. 

The Past Week in Books: 

The Flat Share was a romantic comedy that I read celebrating three days off in a row. With my teaching jobs and the fill-in job at the county library, I've had six day work weeks for the past few weeks and so this time was an extra special treat. 

Notable Native People is a great middle grade collection of brief biographies. It also has several essays mixed in. I appreciate that the essays add context like with the first one "Settler Colonialism 101." 

The She Persisted series is a very nice early chapter book set and Kekla Magoon did a great job with the one about Ruby Bridges. I was able to hear her speak once and will likely never forget being able to speak with Ruby Bridges. 

I'm still having fun with easy readers and board books in Korean. In case anyone else is trying to read picture books, the Papago app is excellent for Korean in particular, but has other languages too. It's from a South Korean company. It has a camera feature so you can take a photo of the words on the page and have them translated over the image. I read the book as well as I can and then go back through and see if I was anywhere close and learn a few new words. 

I had thought I'd read A Boy Called Bat before, but it was just that I had read many reviews and heard so much about it. I finally read it because amazingly enough, the public school mentioned in the book is where my husband went to school and the private school in the book is modeled after the one I now teach at. It's a lovely book and was delightful to read as I was noticing things from my everyday life since we now live in the midst of the setting. ;) I followed up with the sequel Bat and the Waiting Game. They are both lovely middle grade stories of friendship and family. 

The Genius Under the Table: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain is another gem from Eugene Yelchin and would fit in nicely with Banned Books Week. I have a post from a few years ago that features picture books that touch on censorship in one way or another in case you'd like to read other books like this. There are even more books for a variety of ages here on my Goodreaeds censorship shelf. 

To Change a Planet is a beautiful picture book about how our planet is changing and how we can be a force for positive change. 

Swim Team is an awesome middle grade graphic novel about a girl who goes to a new school and reluctantly joins the swim team and learns a lot about history and herself. Aven Green is an early chapter book series that is fun and features the character from Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. 

Bubbles is an adorable board book and May We Leave Enough to Share, by Richard Van Camp is another beautiful board book with photos of Indigenous babies and their care givers.

There are others I read, but I am getting sleepy. I have been working beyond 40 hours a week and was also prepping for the online class I will teach in Oct. I decided on my reading list and may share portions of it over time. Two of the videos that I chose for professional development purposes are the Spring 2022 Baker Diversity Lecture - Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (Amy Breslin, Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen & Becky Leathersich) and Native Voices in Children’s Literature with Debbie Reese. Both are so helpful when people are choosing and evaluating literature to use with young people. 

The Coming Week: 

I'm not sure what I will read this week, but I did just pick up a lot of Korean picture books so likely that's what I'll focus on. I'm also reading the new book As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow. I think it releases later this month. Have a great week!

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. The lists of the books in the images below may be found at Goodreads. 

The Past Two Weeks in Books:  

John's Turn by Mac Barnett

Learning My Rights with Mousewoman by Morgan Asoyuf

When We Say Black Lives Matter by Maxine Beneba Clark

Baby, Sleepy Baby by Atinuke

Herizon by Daniel W. Vandever

Flip the Script by Lyla Lee (YA and fun)

Triceratopposite by Bridget Heos

Vanmpires Don't Wear Polkadots Graphic Novel by Pearl Low

American Desi by Jyoti Rajan Gopal

Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo

The Very True Legend of the Mongolian Death Worms by Sandra Fay

Flubby Will Not Go to Sleep & Flubby Will Not Take a Bath by Jennifer E. Morris

The Bad Seed Goes to the Library by Jory John 

Fancy Pants by Dawn Quigley

I Love You More Than Ice Cream by Becky Davies

A Cool Day at the Pool by Lola M. Schaefer

There were many really excellent books in my past few weeks, but I am just not able to comment on them right now. I am almost falling asleep sitting up. The first week of school is always draining and the second week is just about to start so I need to get to bed. 

The Coming Week: 

I am still working on finalizing my reading list for the What's New in Children's Lit class I will be teaching through UW-Madison in October so I will try to get to a few more picture books and early chapter books. Have a great week. 

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. The lists of the books in the images below may be found at Goodreads. 

The Past Two Weeks in Books:  

I have a bunch of work to do tonight and professional development days begin tomorrow at both of my schools so I am going to keep this brief. 

I have been reading as much as I can fit in around my training at the public library (to be a substitute/extra help librarian) and preparing at the private school where I will co-teach humanities with 3rd-6th graders half-time and at the public school where I will be the half-time teacher librarian. It's going to be fine once it all gets rolling, but right now I am pulled a few directions with odd scheduling. 

Some of the books I really enjoyed were:

Picture books

• Eyes that Speak to the Stars - gorgeous
• This Book is Not For You - will be great for class discussion
• The Life of Pura - a board book biography that has a surprising amount of information
• Climb On - a story of a parent and child and their hike through a distinctive setting

Graphic Novels

• Heartstopper (YA) - the whole series was relaxing & often made me smile - then I had to watch the series of course 
• Rabbit Chase is a fun middle grade Indigenous retelling of Alice in Wonderland
• Silk (YA) is a super hero I hadn't met before, but I enjoyed getting to know her

Middle Grade Novels

• Operation Sisterhood was a delightful story of family and friendship and dealing with change
• New From Here is a story from COVID times that closely mirrors that of Kelly Yang and her children and I couldn't put it down

Nonfiction

• Reawakening Our Ancestors' Line: Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tatooing is an oversize book that could work as a coffee table book. It is filled with amazing pictures documenting an inspiring project that brought tattoos back to Inuit women. 

As always, I am also grabbing many short Korean board books and picture books (not all are on Goodreads so I don't record them all there) and am finding better luck understanding what I'm reading--yay!

The Coming Week: 

I will be preparing for the school year, but I also need to finalize my reading list for the What's New in Children's Lit class I will be teaching through UW-Madison in October. That means I may be re-reading or grabbing some new titles to round out the list. I wish you a great week of reading!

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. The lists of the books in the images below may be found at Goodreads. 

Last Week on the Blog: 

Review: Batter Royale

Last Week in Books: 

Here are some of the books that stood out last week.

Picture Books--

Luli and the Language of Tea is sweet and shows children connecting through tea. They are from various places in the world and have slightly different names for it, but they can all relate to one another through this beverage. Opposites Abstract by Mo Willems was really clever. There isn't much text, but he communicates so well with very little text and simple illustrations. A Boy Named Isamu is a nice book that shares a bit about the life of the Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi who found inspiration in nature. It's a book to encourage wondering. Big Truck Little Island is a fun story about a road getting blocked by a large truck and the way people deal with that challenge. Calvin is the story of a young transboy and how he lets the people in his life know who he really is. The family and school are supportive.  

I also read two books that were closely related and noticed a difference. Light for All by Margarita Engle has the Statue of Liberty and immigration as a focus and I is for Immigrants by Selina Alko also speaks to immigration in the U.S. They both celebrate immigration and the phrase "a nation of immigrants" is brought up in both. The difference I noted is that in Engle's author note she addresses an issue with that phrase. "That phrase ignores the true experiences of Indigenous and African American communities who were either here before conquerors and immigrants arrived, or were brought by force, kidnapped, and enslaved." Alko does point out that there are also descendants of African slaves, but doesn't mention Indigenous folks which is a common omission. 

Early Readers--

Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes is another fun early chapter book from the Juana and Lucas series. It has humor and realistic situations as Juana and her family prepare to welcome a new family member. 

Young Adult--

My Mechanical Romance was a very fun rom-com centering on a young woman who is kind of aimless, but begins to find her way unexpectedly through the school robotics team. 

Sugar Falls is a graphic novel that shares about a young woman who is sent to a residential school in Canada. It's a reissue of a short story by David Robertson that had been published ten years ago. I really appreciated how it showed a focus towards healing. 

Adult

Kamila Knows Best is inspired by Jane Austen's Emma. It's not direct, but it is related enough that I realized that without being told ahead of time. As I read, I was thinking that it reminded me of Emma. It's a fairly light and fun rom-com.

The Coming Week: I just started reading Kelly Yang's newest book New from Here and am reading many books for ages birth to 14ish for the class that I will be teaching online in Oct. so I can finish up my reading list for the students. I am not sure how reading will go though since I am simultaneously starting several part time jobs which add up to full time. Onboarding in multiple places means a lot of paper work and meetings. It's exciting, but also there are many details to keep track of and I don't have a lot of extra brain space for other things. Have a great week!

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. 

Last Week on the Blog: 

Want a Clue? (A booklist of YA mysteries)

Last Week in Books:

Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero and Omar Rising were amazing middle grade books. Blur is a lovely book and I can't believe it took so long for me to get to this one. Minh Le and Dan Santat are an awesome pair. Scrap Metal Swan was a fun read about a river cleanup with community members and then they use things to create a work of art with things they collected. It reminded me of the cleanups they did on the Mississippi when I lived in Wi. Once I finished reading I found that the author was on the Mississippi. Cat Problems is hilarious. The cat is so frustrated stuck in the house, but there is a cute joke with a squirrel about that. I don't want to spoil it for anyone though. The cupcakes book was a little underwhelming, but I know there are young readers that love anything with cupcakes.

The Coming Week: I'm currently reading a cute YA rom-com My Mechanical Romance and will need to read something else for review at Rich in Color. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll be reading. Have a great week. 

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. 

Last Week on the Blogs:  

Review: Pixels of You (YA Graphic Novel)

Review: Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules (Picture Book)

Last Week in Books: 

I read Tales from the Cafe which is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. It's a book translated from Japanese and has related short stories that all happen in and around a cafe where time travel is possible. I don't usually enjoy time travel, but this series is delightful to me. Sad things do happen, but people are able to make meaning from their grief. 

Speaking of sadness, I watched the series 스물다섯 스물하나 -- Twenty-five Twenty-one (Netflix) and after the finale, I had cried so many tears. So many. Ack. I just re-watched the trailer and am crying again. Whew. It's an emotional series as so many K-dramas are and I really enjoyed the friendships. That is when I turned to the Totoro comic series (middle grade). They are pretty brief and if you've seen the movie already, it goes pretty quickly. Totoro is so darn soothing.  

I hadn't been reading a ton of English children's literature lately, but I have a class to teach in the fall and I need to read a lot of new material as I prepare for that. Some of the stand outs were: 

Star Child by Ibi Zoboi is a fantastic mixed format middle grade biography about Octavia E. Butler. It's predominantly poetry, but also has prose and some media. It's lovely and worth a read or even more than one read.

Maya's Song is another biography, but is a picture book in poems. The art is stunning and the poetry itself sings. There are traumatic events that are referenced, but the author handles this so well and I think it may be healing for young children who have also gone through things children should never experience. 

Keep Your Head Up is a picture book about a young person who is having a rough day and is trying to keep his head up. Readers can really see the frustration building and can see that he is trying to cope, but eventually he has what he calls a meltdown. I think this could be a valuable book for discussions in classrooms or between caregivers and children. Honestly, I think it would be good for adults to read also to remind them that some people in the world seem like they aren't even trying, but they may be trying everything they know how to try.

A few that revolved around family and cooking were sweet: Tomatoes for Neela and Granny's Kitchen: A Jamaican Story of Food and Family. 

We Shall Overcome is a beautiful picture book that packs in a lot of history and connects it to the present with an amazingly small amount of words.

Stacey's Extraordinary Words is a fun memoir from Stacey Abrams that shows her love for words through and focuses on a spelling bee that she participated in when she was young. It shows that even if you don't win, that isn't the end and also demonstrates how to speak up. 

The Coming Week: I will continue reading a lot of kidlit because my time is running out to prepare my list of what's new and wonderful in kidlit these days. Have a fantastic week. :)

Review: Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules!

Title: Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules! 

Authors: e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Pat Zietlow Miller

Illustrator: Joe Cepeda

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Availability: On shelves now

Publisher summary: When Lupe Lopez struts through the doors of Hector P. Garcia Elementary in sunglasses with two taped-up Number 2 pencils—drumsticks, of course—poking from her pocket, her confidence is off the charts. All day, Lupe drums on desks, tables, and chairs while Ms. Quintanilla reminds her of school rules. Lupe has her own rules: 1) Don’t listen to anyone. 2) Make lots of noise. ¡Rataplán! 3) Have fans, not friends. But with her new teacher less than starstruck, and fans hard to come by, Lupe wonders if having friends is such a bad idea after all. Can it be that true star power means knowing when to share the spotlight? With its spirited illustrations and a simple text threaded through with Spanish words, this picture book is proof positive that being a strong girl moving to her own beat doesn’t have to mean pushing others away. 

When a sassy drummer starts kindergarten, the rules of school cramp her style. What’s a young rock star to do?

My Thoughts: Lupe is full of confidence and excitement as she bounces through the door into her kindergarten. I could help but be entertained by her. Though Lupe and her teacher don't see eye to eye, the teacher does seem to keep a smile on her face even when she was delivering information Lupe wouldn't appreciate. Young readers seem to enjoy mischievous characters and here they will definitely see someone who stands out and pushes boundaries. The illustrations are bright and upbeat and add a lot to the story. 

Recommendation: This would be a nice story to use at the beginning of the school year to have a discussion about rules and why we have them and/or why we choose to follow or break them.

Review: Pixels of You

Title: Pixels of You

Authors: Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota

Illustrator: J.R. Doyle 

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Format: YA Graphic Novel

Pages: 172

Review copy: Final copy from publisher

Availability: On shelves now

Publisher Summary: In a near future, augmentation and AI changed everything and nothing. Indira is a human girl who has been cybernetically augmented after a tragic accident, and Fawn is one of the first human-presenting AI. They have the same internship at a gallery, but neither thinks much of the other’s photography. But after a huge public blowout, their mentor gives them an ultimatum: work together on a project or leave her gallery forever. Grudgingly, the two begin to collaborate, and what comes out of it is astounding and revealing for both of them. Pixels of You is about the slow transformation of a rivalry to a friendship to something more as Indira and Fawn navigate each other, the world around them—and what it means to be an artist and a person. 

My Thoughts: What is fake? What is real? How much can we even know about ourselves and others? These are some of the wonderings that this story brought up for me. There were also questions about what and how we see the things or beings around us. There is a short and sweet relationship happening, but the AI layer adds a lot to think about.

I also appreciated the design of the book. Don't forget to check under the cover and the endpapers are lovely. The palette is fairly simple for much of the book and sticks with a lot of deep blues and magentas or pinks though for some scenes there is also an abundance of yellows. Little bits of information about AI is also interspersed between scenes through simple white text on a black page.

Recommendation: This is a relatively quick relationship story that can intrigue and inspire readers to question and wonder. It's definitely worth a read and while not a lot of action happens it's a story that will likely stay with readers for a long time.

Extras:

16 Page Sample of Book

Book Trailer:

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. 

The Past Week in Books: 

Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson is quite an interesting book. I read it for a YA book club or I may not have discovered it. The main character is alive in the future and is learning about people from the Depression era and the generation just prior to that. It was cool to see the different generations. If I taught high school I think it would be cool to read that with teens and then have them do some kind of project about generations like Millenials, Gen X, Z etc... and how they see the world in different ways based on their experiences. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Troussalot) also has an element of history and generations to it. In this book, there is a coffee shop where you can time travel, but there are very specific rules including the fact that you have to return before the cup of coffee on your table gets cold so it's very brief. I found this to be one of the more compelling time travel stories I've read. Each of the stories are vaguely connected and gave me a lot to think about. This was also for a book club, but it is an online one through the podcast Books and Boba. 

Wave by Diana Farid is an excellent novel in verse about a young girl and one of her friends. I loved the artwork that accompanied it too. I did end up crying with this one. It takes place in the 80s and since I was a teen then, it brought back a ton of memories. It also has a ton of music references. There is are Spotify playlists to go with the book if you want to listen as I did. 

Cafe con Lychee by Emery Lee is a fun rom-com and it was easy to enjoy.

Like the past weeks, I am still reading a lot of picture books in Spanish and Korean. Goodreads is  US based so I not all of the books I am reading are represented there. I am still pretty solidly stuck in board books with my basic level reading skills, so it's great that so many exist. 책이 뭐야? It's a Little Book by Lane Smith is cute in any language. The books about the forest, shapes, opposites, colors, numbers and even homes, were great for me to practice vocabulary words. 

The longer picture books like 비야, 안녕! Hi Rain by 한자영 or 우리 가족입니다 This is My Family by 이혀란 are still a bit beyond my abilities, but technology is amazing. I have an app called Papago that you can use to scan the text on a page and it will provide a translation. The translations are sometimes rough, but with the combination of the vocabulary I know, the illustrations, and the translations, I make faster progress than when I had been looking up every word that I didn't know. I "read" through the whole book on my own, then I read a page and look at the translation and see if I missed it entirely or got the gist. The Rain book is a cute book about an earthworm wandering during a rain shower who meets up with a snail and a turtle. Nothing major happens, but it's fun. The one about family is a little bitter sweet. They are a family of four and then the grandmother comes to live with them. She has trouble eating, she has leaves dried fish in the closet, she wets her pants, and gets confused and the young child is very frustrated and angry about having to share life with her. At one point though, she and her father talk and she realizes that though it's difficult to have her with them, she is her father's mother and he feels about her like she feels about her own mother. It's then that they finally become a family of five in her mind. 

The Coming Week: I've mostly caught up on book club books, but I think I need to do some middle grade reading so I'll be looking for some good graphic novels and other MG books for this week. Have a great week!

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 want to see more of my reading, visit my Goodreads shelves here. 

The Past Week on the Blog:

YA Book Review: If You, Then Me

Saying Goodbye: Blog Post with Tour of the Library

(at school I recently left in WI)

Picture Book Review: Sarah Rising

Picture Book Review: Something About Grandma

The Past Week in Books: 

I am studying both Korean and Spanish and have been devoting the majority of my free time to that so aside from books for review or for book clubs, I am only reading picture books in those languages. It's a struggle and it takes way more time that I would have hoped after studying for almost a year. I am seeing progress though. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog was funny in Korean too and I appreciated Yasmin la exploradora. My Spanish is more advanced than my Korean and I was excited to read something with chapters. I feel like I can relate a bit better to my students as they get to move on to short chapter books. The other picture book is taking me a long time since there are simply too many words that I don't yet know. 

I also watched the movie that was made based on the book I read last year Kim Ji-Young Born 1982. It was quite good and I'm glad I could finally see it. My libraries in WI didn't have access to any copies, but here in CA it was right on the shelf at the local library. Yay! That's part of the reason I am studying Korean though. There are many people in our community that speak Korean.

I did also read The Weather Girl which is a fun adult rom-com.

The Coming Week: I'm really not sure what I'll be reading this coming week, but probably need to start reading some of my book club books. One of those books is Midnight at the Electric (YA) and another is Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Adult). I wish you a great week full of reading.  

Review: Something About Grandma

Title: Something About Grandma

Author and Illustrator: Tania de Regil

Publisher: Candlewick

Availability: August 9, 2022

Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Summary: At Grandma’s house, where Julia is staying without her parents for the first time, the breeze is sweet like jasmine. Mornings begin with sugared bread, and the most magnificent hot chocolate cures all homesickness. There’s something about this place . . . and about Grandma. Like how she can tell when Julia has been quietly picking limes from the garden. Or that she can see the future—and knows when Julia is about to fall off her bike. Or how she can journey back in time through the stories she tells. In the room where Julia’s mother grew up, her grandmother holds her in a warm embrace—an embrace that Julia will pass on to her family when her parents arrive with her new baby brother. With Tania de Regil’s heartfelt illustrations, incorporating poems by her great-grandfather that were handwritten by her grandmother, Something About Grandma offers a tender and playful exploration of the magic of intergenerational love and wisdom.

My Thoughts: This book is like a big warm hug. We see Grandma's home through Julia's eyes as she discovers the interesting things about it like getting bread from a woman who brings it to the house in a basket one her head. We see the happy moments and a few that aren't so happy. When Julia is missing her family, Grandma is there to offer comfort. 

The illustrations really support the story as we see Grandma cuddling with Julia, but also, when the text says that she time travels, there are images of her mom and dad when they are younger so readers can know that the book didn't just flip to science fiction. And there is a continuity in the colors. The characters are always wearing the same clothes no matter the day Grandma in a pinkish outfit and the rest of the family are wearing clothes that are a deep blue. There are other colors on the pages, but those colors are throughout from the very beginning. The leaves on the title page are blueish and the background is a peachy pink. 

The art is mostly in watercolor, but there is also collage scattered. Much of the collage is cursive writing in Spanish and it is slipped in here and there. This made sense because Grandma wrote in a notebook each night and Julia receives a letter from her family. 

There is love seeping all over the pages in the way that Julia and her grandma interact and I just didn't want it to end.

Recommendation: This is a lovely book and would be great for any library serving young people and would be wonderful to have in any home. I know that many times I had students asking for books about new babies so this would definitely address that need, but it is also simply a lovely story for anyone. It is also available in Spanish.