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.
Some Writer! is simply fabulous and is a must read biography. Barefoot Gen: The Day After was recommended by Sonia Patel and is a heartbreaking account of the day after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The author was a child and witnessed it firsthand. This was a very difficult book to read.
I'm reading the newest Grace Lin book and am loving it. I just got quite a few books in from the library so am looking forward to reading the graphic novel Snow White and Beholding Bee also. I wish you a great week full of reading.
Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts
a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I
love the encouragement to explore more nonfiction. My plan is to read
at least 100 nonfiction picture books this year. So far I've read 84.
Today I want to highlight an incredible new book. Betsy Bird wrote a very thorough review that led me to purchase the book. I am so glad she wrote that review so I could get to know this book and Misuzu Kaneko. I hope her review also convinces you.
Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kanekois a fascinating book that had me reeling. It's beautiful in both illustration and in the narrative and poetry. It's also unique. It's part biography and part poetry anthology. The first part of the book is a picture book biography, but when the narrative author David Jacobson describes Misuzu Kaneko he uses her own poetry to help tell about her. He knows Japanese, but there were two translators, Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi, who also worked to make Kaneko's poems accessible to readers who would need the poetry to be in English. I don't know if the translations are accurate, but the poems spoke clearly and beautifully to me.
The biography portion of the book is moving and powerful as readers get to know Kaneko and then learn about the difficulties she faced in her married life. Suicide is not something that is dealt with often in picture books, but Jacobson told about this aspect of her life. We often seek to protect children from the ugliness and pain in the world, but Jacobson has included this in a way that honors the truth without making the book become focused on that one aspect of her life.
The illustrations of Toshikado Hajiri are warm and inviting. There are moments when I see glimpses of manga type facial features, but there are also more traditional nature scenes that are simply gorgeous.
To see some of the interior pages and to learn more about Kaneko, visit the website for the book.
Here's Janet Wong's interview with the narrative author David Jacobson and one of the translators, Sally Ito.
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.
The big standouts this week were the two poetry books: Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kanekoand Somos como las nubes/We Are Like the Clouds. The first is an amazing picture book biography that includes poetry. It's stunning and her life story is very moving. The poetry is fabulous too. The second is a collection of poems showing what it is like to be a child refugee. The author fled El Salvador when he was young and has also worked with children who have come to the U.S. from Central American countries. The poetry is very moving.
Ralph Tells a Storytempted me to do NaNoWriMo one more time. I am still not sure if I am doing it or not, but Ralph and his story made me see possibilities. I am a Storyand How This Book Was Made were also rather convincing. I may finally do it as a rebel and work on picture book ideas instead of a novel. That would be a first.
Many of these books were excellent and I will have most of them in my library at school. I read Steeplejack for possible review over at Rich in Color. It was a cool steampunk mystery type and it was an exciting read. Altogether, it was an excellent week of reading.
The Coming Week:
I've ordered a few books from my #MustReadin2016 list (Beholding Bee and Branded by the Pink Triangle) because I am way behind on that. I am also starting to look at the Mock lists and am realizing that I need to catch up on some of the really good books from this year. I'm not sure exactly which titles I'll get to, but those are the plans.
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.
Today fall continued to bless us. Many of the trees were still filled with yellow, red, brown, and orange leaves though I didn't get photos to prove it. The corn field I ran around rustled in the breeze and was clearly still providing snacks for deer. The sun fought to be seen through the clouds and even peeked out a few times. My run only lasted about 30 minutes while my dog was getting groomed, but the weather and peaceful water had me smiling. Today I celebrate the changing of the seasons and the beauty of our world.
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.
Last Week in Books:
My favorite chcildren's book this week was definitely I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leaves Her Mark. First, because I admire Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but also because it is very well done.
Is That Wise, Pigis another funny book by Jan Thomas. It's a bit silly and I will have to explain the word galoshes. Students will probably love it.
Nothing Up My Sleeveis a humorous middle grade book that will be popular with any readers who enjoy learning magic tricks. I can think of a few who would enjoy it. I am not as fond of magic so that wasn't a draw for me, but it was a nice book about friendship too.
The Best Manis another funny book and is a great look at family and especially male role models. I think adults may enjoy it more than students, but there will be Peck fans who like it. The book features two weddings. One of them is the marriage of two men who are important in the main character's life, but that isn't the primary focus of the book.
Secret Coders is a fun series. I liked Paths and Portals though not quite as much as the first book. It seemed a little more code heavy and a little lighter with story.
Lowriders to the Center of the Earth has a lot of action and adventure. It's also filled with humor. I think it will be fairly popular. I had some concerns about the Spanish, but am not sure if I am knowledgeable enough about it to really make strong commentary. It just seemed written/marketed more for a non-Spanish speaking audience than not. I would be very curious to know how Spanish speakers react to it in general.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois was a challenging read as an audio book. I listened mostly while driving and would find my mind drifting. I don't know if it was the reader or just that it was written so long ago that it was harder to follow than more current writing. I was able to finish, but many times I had to back up and start chapters over because I realized I had lost track. If I read it again, I won't use audio. Last week I watched 13th which was amazing and if you haven't seen the documentary, I highly recommend you watch it.
Watching 13th and reading The Souls of Black Folk so close together was eye-opening for me. So many things were already apparent even back in 1903 that have not been part of my education like how policing started. There were things I learned in the video that had been common knowledge in the African American community for years and years, but were new to me. This should not be the case, but it likely is for the vast majority of people who have gone through our education system. I'll end with these quotes from the book, "Would America be America without her Negro people?" and "We seldom study the condition of the Negro to-day honestly and
carefully. It is so much easier to assume that we know it all. Or
perhaps, having already reached conclusions in our own minds, we are
loth to have them disturbed by facts."
The Coming Week: I just started reading Steeplejack. I also just got the ARC of Stacey Lee's newest book coming in December thanks to Edelweiss so that is likely to be read this week. Her books have been fabulous so far. Other than that, I'm not sure what will land in my hands. Have a great week!
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.
A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America is excellent and includes the history of many people who are often left out of the American narrative. This would be an essential text for middle and high school teachers for classroom use, but would also be a good text for elementary teachers to read for themselves to have a good context when teaching history or sharing literature.
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist is a cool look into the life and music of Juan Garcia Esquivel. Here are a few videos to give you a taste of his music. Of course I picked it up because it's illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh and he's one of my favorites.
Speaking of Tonatiuh, I also read his picture book The Princess and the Warrior. It's a good one, but a little on the sad side so unlikely to be a Disney pick. You'll find out what his last name means in this book if you didn't know already. I think I will use it and a few of his others and do an illustrator study with his books this year. This video shows how he creates his illustrations and I find it pretty fascinating.
Because of an Acornis a great picture book that demonstrates cause and effect. It reminds me of No Monkeys No Chocolate only in a more simple way. It has some great back matter, but would work with young readers.
My Dad Used to Be So Cool is super cute and is one more to add to the tattoo books. There aren't so many picture books with characters sporting tattoos, but there are starting to be more, Last Stop on Market Street, Tell Me a Tattoo Story and several of Bob Graham's books like Let's Get a Pup. I think there is a blog post in there somewhere. Anyway, it's one that made me smile.
Before I Leave put tears in my eyes. It's a perfect book for a child who is moving or for a child who has a friend who is moving. It's also just a nice one for talking about feelings.
Ghostis a great realistic middle grade book. As a runner and parent of a cross country/track runner, I really enjoyed having a book featuring running. It's more than a sports book though. It's about a young man who is trying to find his place. He's been in survival mode and had a rocky time in school. Being on a team is a positive step, but some of his choices jeopardize this new part of his life. This would definitely be one that would inspire discussion in a book group.
Overall, this was an excellent week of reading mainly because I got a big order in and have so many fantastic books to choose from all of a sudden.
The Coming Week: I have more books from the recent order waiting for me like Best Man by Peck and a new one by Diana López called Nothing Up My Sleeve. Have a fantastic week!
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.
I had an unexpected trip due to the death of my grandfather. This meant I hardly read anything this past week. I have been reading and re-reading a lot of Lauren Castillo books for
Global Read Aloud though. This has been super fun so far. The students have
only heard Nana in the City, but this week will hear The Troublemaker. I think they'll love it.
The Coming Week:
I am recovering from a five day trip back to Ohio and so will hopefully have a little down time this week for reading, but I have a huge to-do list to get through first. I did grab Jason Reynold's Ghost from our box of new books so that will likely be the first one I get to. Happy reading!
