Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

I've been under the weather this week and somehow that makes it seem harder to find the bright spots, but I still discovered quite a list of things worth celebrating:

sun

honey

spiced tea

a warm house

Christmas lights

holiday chocolates

the love of my family

students giggling & learning

books, books and more books

our annoying yet very adorable dog

this wonderful reminder to celebrate

every

single 

week

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. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Last Week on the Blogs:

Celebrating family, holidays, quiet time...

Last Week with Books: 

Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter

Illustrated by Qin Leng

Very cute early chapter book!

Native People of Wisconsin by Patty Loew

Revised edition of an excellent non-fiction title

(WPR interview with Patty Loew here)

Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Loved this beautiful book!

Here's the trailer: 

A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord

This book has some positives, but also has some 

problematic aspects. More about that here.

Nightingale's Nest by Nikki Loftin

An emotional book full of sorrow, but healing too.

 

Like Water on Stone by Dana Walrath

Novel in Verse

Moving look at the Armenian Genocide

True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Not very excited by this one. It seemed preachy.

It was a re-read. I'm reading all the Printz books.

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

I loved getting to know the quirky characters in this story.

There were so many things that reminded me of my own family.

Serpentine by Cindy Pon

This book was full of adventure & it was a perfect book for holiday reading.

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

Tough context, but I really enjoyed this one.

The Good Braider by Terry Farish

Another novel in verse.

Well written look into lives of a family from Sudan.

The Coming Week:

I am not really sure what is up next. I have three more Printz award/honor books checked out right now. I have twenty-one more to go and would like to get all caught up though I don't think I can get them finished before the new ones are announced in January. Happy reading!

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

I was not looking at the camera - ack!

A closer look at the cute turkey hat my sister made for me.

Our Christmas tree is up and both of our children were with us for Thanksgiving. My son, husband and I also got to do the 5 mile Turkey Trot on the morning of Thanksgiving. We ran at the same pace and I'm not sure we've ever stayed together like that. It was a fun time and we saw friends from the community. It was a wonderful way to start the day. It was raining as we drove to the race, but the rain stopped while we ran. The weather was pretty much perfect. We had plenty of food that afternoon. We were thankful, well-fed and together. These are blessings that make me very happy. I love the holiday season where everything seems possible. I look at the world through rose colored glasses during this time of year. I know everything isn’t as it should be, but for a few weeks, it’s nice to see it as it could be.

This morning I had some quiet moments to enjoy a fresh cranberry scone (I love cranberries), some chai (the recipe from Lucy Knisley's book Relish), and a lovely book.

I’m getting ready to start Hour of Code and our Mock Caldecott and Mock Pura Belpré units at school and that’s exciting too. I’m looking forward to our lessons and that’s always a good feeling. I wish everyone a lovely week.

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. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Last Week on the Blogs:

Celebrating the Holiday Season

Reviewed The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish

by Deborah Diesen/illustrated by Dan Hanna

Reviewed Urban Tribes here

Reading Last Week:

Young Adult

Orbiting Jupiter was definitely emotional and will be one that I remember for a long time. This is a beautiful story, but is also heart-breaking. I'll Give You the Sun was an audio read. I had mixed feelings about it. I liked the way the plot worked for the most part, but Noah and his language annoyed the daylights out of me and there was so much drama. It also seemed to go on forever. I loved Jude though. I'm still trying to read all the Printz books or I might not have finished it. Lizard Radio is science fiction, but felt realistic. Here is part of the summary on Goodreads, "As a girl in boys’ clothes, she is accepted by neither tribe, bullied by both." Kivali doesn't conform to gender expectations, but figures out a way to live as the person she truly is. I loved the friendships and the challenges to rigid ways of thinking.

Middle Grade

This was a week full of middle grade books. I think I kept picking them up because they are quick reads and quite a few of them gave me a bit of lightness to my week. A standout was Shadows of Sherwood. There was so much action and I have a favorite Robin Hood book the Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley. It was fun to see the story told a different way. Moving Target was another awesome adventure filled with action. On an evening when I needed some giggles, Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood was pure fun and entertainment. I also enjoyed the other three, The Way Home Looks Now (a serious family book), The Bubble Wrap Boy (a not quite so serious family book), and Night of the Zombie Chickens (even less serious family book).

Picture Books

Finding Winnie is fabulous. It's non-fiction and tells the story of Winnie, the real bear that ended up at the London Zoo and inspired A.A. Milne to write Winnie the Pooh. It's beautifully done and I loved the inclusion of actual photos and artifacts. Edible Colors is gorgeous. It's filled with photos of eye-popping fruits and veggies. I Love Snow! is cute. Mud Puddle and Mechanimals were silly books I read when my classes were using our Tumble Book library. ¡Vámonos! Let's Go! is a bilingual book that is essentially a Spanish adaptation of the song The Wheels on the Bus. It was okay, but not my favorite. The illustrations are energetic and fun, but the song itself has some things that sound forced. The Great and Mighty Nikko! is a counting book involving wrestling. Young wrestling fans will enjoy it. Hansel and Gretel had wonderfully creepy illustrations. My old eyes had trouble with the text sometimes though as there were colored papers layed over text once in a while. There were other design features that seemed cool, but also made reading a challenge. The Sky Painter was an interesting biography written in verse accompanied by gorgeous illustrations.

The Coming Week: Today I started reading The Good Braider. I'm not that far in, but it is intense. Wow. Serpentine and A Tale for the Time Being are both about to land on the library hold shelf, but I'm not sure what else I will tackle this week. I'm finishing up NaNoWriMo and will have my son home from university so am not sure how much time I'll have anyway. We'll see. I wish you a great week filled with reading. 

Reading Challenge Updates:
Diversity on the Shelf/Diverse Books - 216/100
Goodreads - 534/520
#MustRead2015 - 46/53
Diversity Reading Challenge - 12/12
Pura Belpré Challenge -86/86 (some were read prior to this year)
Around the World with Books Map

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

I'm celebrating the holiday season. One of our former exchange students is from Germany and each year his mother sends us a box of treats!

We also got to go to a fun concert last weekend. It was the choir One Voice from Minnesota. They're a mixed chorus LGBTA group. They had funny songs and serious, secular and religious from many different cultures. It was an inclusive concert that made us laugh, cry and get excited about the holidays.

Review: The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish

Title: The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish
Author: Deborah Diesen
Illustrator: Dan Hanna
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 32
Review copy: Final copy via publisher
Availability: On shelves now


My Thoughts: The Pout-Pout Fish has his list of things to do. Getting presents for his friends seems overwhelming. He goes to different stores, but can’t find anything that works for his friends.

There is a repeated refrain, “For a gift should be big, And a gift should be bright. And a gift should be perfect—Guaranteed to bring delight.” Mr. Fish has placed such high expectations on the gifts, that he becomes scared to fail. He's unable to make any decisions until one friend reminds him of what true giving is about.

The creatures are adorably silly looking and the message of giving from the heart makes this a sweet holiday book. Fans of Pout-Pout Fish will be happy to find another fun story to enjoy.

About the Author & Illustrator

Deborah Diesen ( www.deborahdiesen.com ) grew up in Midland, Michigan, and started writing poems at a young age. She has worked as a bookseller and a librarian, and now works for a small nonprofit organization, but her greatest joy comes from writing for children. She lives with her family in Grand Ledge, Michigan.

Dan Hanna (www.danhanna.com ) has over ten years experience in the animation industry, and his work has appeared on BBC America and the Cartoon Network. He lives in Santa Barbara, California. 




Book Tour Schedule
Author Deborah Diesen
November 14, 3pm - Square Books, Oxford, MS
November 16, 3:30pm - Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC
November 18, 4pm - Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach, FL
November 19, 7pm - Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA
November 20, 4pm - Octavia Books, New Orleans, LA Illustrator Dan Hanna
November 15, 11am - WORD Books, Jersey City, NJ
November 16, 4pm - Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY
November 17, 4:30pm - Towne Book Center & Cafe, Collegeville, PA
November 18, 4:30pm - Cover to Cover, Columbus, OH
November 19, 4:30pm - Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest, IL
November 21, 12pm - Anderson’s Book Shop, Naperville, IL
November 21, 2pm - Anderson’s Book Shop, La Grange, IL

Learn more at www.poutpoutfish.com.

Review: Urban Tribes

Title: Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City
Editors: Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
Publisher: Annick Press
Pages:136
Review copy: Digital ARC via Publisher
Availability: On shelves now

Publisher's Summary:  Young, urban Natives powerfully show how their culture and values can survive—and enrich—city life.

Much of the popular discourse on Native Americans and Aboriginals focuses on reservation life. But the majority of Natives in North America live off the rez. How do they stay rooted to their culture? How do they connect with their community?

Urban Tribes offers unique insight into this growing and often misperceived group. Emotionally potent and visually arresting, the anthology profiles young urban Natives from across North America, exploring how they connect with Native culture and values in their contemporary lives. Their stories are as diverse as they are. From a young Dene woman pursuing a MBA at Stanford to a Pima photographer in Phoenix to a Mohawk actress in New York, these urban Natives share their unique perspectives to bridge the divide between their past and their future, their cultural home, and their adopted cities.

Unflinchingly honest and deeply moving, contributors explore a wide-range of topics. From the trials and tribulations of dating in the city to the alienating experience of leaving a remote reserve to attend high school in the city, from the mainstream success of Electric Pow wow music to the humiliation of dealing with racist school mascots, personal perspectives illuminate larger political issues. An innovative and highly visual design offers a dynamic, reading experience.

My thoughts:  Like their earlier collaboration, Dreaming in Indian, this collection allows readers to hear the voices of Natives in North America. We see and hear their stories through essays, poetry, music, and many other art forms. This is an opportunity for young Natives to see others like themselves and for non-Natives to get a broader picture of what it can mean to be Native today.

I read the ARC in digital format and will be excited to see the final copy. Some of the artwork was not yet available for me to see, but what was there was impressive. We talked about the book over at Rich in Color recently and we shared some of the things that stood out to us.

I especially appreciated the photo essay titled 'Perception' by K.C. Adams (Oji-Cree). In it, the participants have photos side-by-side. One has a stereotype and the other has a positive label they have given themselves. Another stand out was the feature about Gabrielle Scrimshaw (Dene) who has a wonderful Tedx Talk about her story. She has become a well-traveled businesswoman and speaker. She co-founded the Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada.

These are only two of the stories, but there are many more in this wonderful collection. To see some samples, stop by our Rich in Color discussion to find links to many of the contributors. In the editor's notes, Lisa Charleyboy (Tsilhqot’in – Raven Clan) explains, "...we are still somehow intangible to many. And in some cosmopolitan cities, we are almost rendered invisible." Mary Beth Leatherdale adds, "In Urban Tribes, we wanted to shine a light on the underreported stories of urban Natives--the artists and the academics, the bankers and the biologists--the growing number of urban Native professionals who are still largely invisible." In this they have succeeded. Here we can read powerful stories that speak strength and hope especially to Native youth. I highly recommend this book for any young adult or adult library collections.