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.

The Past Week: 

I was able to read several bilingual (and some trilingual) poems this week. My Village: Rhymes from Around the World Told in English & Their Native Tongue is a new book in our library that provides exactly what the title says. They are nursery rhymes from around the world. If they are not originally in English, they are also translated. For Asian languages and a few others, the characters and the romanization are shown in addition to the translation. It is a neat look into the rhymes, but also into the languages. Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English has poems for every letter of the Spanish alphabet along with translations. From my Goodreads review: The illustrations are lush and vibrant. The text is simple, but expresses much. The poems speak of culture, nature, pride, history and more. My favorite poems were Orgullo/Pride, Nopal/Prickly Pear, Lluvia/Rain, and ¿Estrellas o Flores?/Stars or Flowers. Animal Poems of the Iguazu: Animalario del Iguazu will work well with our first grade rainforest unit. There is an environmental awareness and responsibility component along with a celebration of the plants, animals, and land. A Movie in My Pillow is a bilingual collection of poems that shares the story of Jorgito. He has moved from El Salvador to the Mission District of San Francisco. This would pair well with Barrio: Jose's Neighborhood.

Emmanuel's Dream is a great story of determination and making a difference in the world. I enjoyed the story, but also the illustrations by Seal Qualls. I'm beginning to recognize his work. Zoom in on Fireflies was another non-fiction that I enjoyed. I reviewed it here. It's by Melissa Stewart, so you know it's good.

Two funny books this week were Zombie in Love 2+1 and Juan Bobo Goes to Work. Zombie in Love and its sequel are just creepy cute. Juan Bobo is a Cuban folktale about a boy who makes a ton of silly mistakes that make you giggle.

Sleepyheads is a sweet bedtime book with gorgeous illustrations. 

Parrot in the Oven was the serious book of the week. It's a book that won the Pura Belpré and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. I can see why. It reads like a memoir though it's a novel. The voice of the narrator, Manny, drew me in and made me want to know more. We see a life in the barrio back in time. Manny is figuring out what is truly important to him and who he wants to be. There are some harsh situations which push this into young adult territory rather than middle school, but it would be on the younger side of young adult. At times the text is lyrical and I can see why it earned awards.

I also listened to Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass as a re-read so I could finally review it formally. You may read that here. Over at Rich in Color, I reviewed Matt de la Peña's newest, The Hunted.

The Coming Week:

I just started reading More Happy Than Not and so far am enjoying it. I'll review it in a few weeks at Rich in Color. I have a book that should arrive on Tuesday that I'm excited about. It's a self-published book by a local art teacher called Gathering Fireflies. It's a verse novel centering around a 13 yr old Hmong American boy who is exploring his cultural identity. Beyond that, I have a few books to read for reviews. It should be a good week for reading.