Reading Through Life

Sunday, August 27, 2017

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 know more about what I've been reading, visit my Goodreads shelf.

Last Week on Blogs:

Review: Revenge of the Happy Campers

by Jennifer Ziegler

Rich in Color Review: The Library of Fates

by Aditi Khorana

Last Week in Books:

I had a great week filled with tons of books. Here are the ones that stood out from the rest.

The Coming Week:

We start school this week. I'm not sure what I'll be reading, but hope to get in a few good books before classes begin on Friday.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 449/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 193/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 17/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 109/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 79/100

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Review: Revenge of the Happy Campers

Title: Revenge of the Happy Campers
Author: Jennifer Ziegler
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 267
Review copy: Final copy via author
Availability: On shelves now

Summary: The Brewster triplets, Dawn, Darby, and Delaney, are always up for an adventure, whether it's ruining a wedding (for good reasons!) or turning a Christmas pageant tradition on its head. But now they're about to go where they've never gone before: Camping!

They're spending spring break with Aunt Jane, at the campground she and their mom used to go as kids. But the first morning there, they run into a trio of boys, and one starts bragging about his plan to become the President of the United States. Clearly this is Dawn's destiny, and the two, well, don't become fast friends.

Between Dawn and Raj's competition to see who's the best leader, some unfortunate encounters with nature, and how disappointed Aunt Jane is at every turn, this camping thing is sure looking like a bad idea. And when their final contest ends with a washed-out bridge, an injured boy, and a rainstorm, it might take six future leaders of the country to keep this from being the worst trip ever!

Review: The Brewster triplets manage to get into all kinds of amusing situations off at camp. They have adult supervision, but they are also given enough independence that they can have adventures. As usual, they are plotting, planning, and putting their plans into effect with much humor and more than a few mistakes. There are moments of tension, but nothing really terrible happens to anyone aside from some hurt feelings and bumps and bruises. That reminds me of the turtle who shows up in the story in a rather surprising location.

Middle grade readers who want a fun romp will enjoy this one. It was a great summer read for me and even during the rest of the year, it will bring summer back to mind.

The political aspect was also interesting. The sisters and their competition are democratically minded, but learn a lot about good leadership as they try to get things done. Dawn and her rival come to learn that leadership is not just ordering people around.

Recommendation: Readers who enjoyed the first two Brewster Triplets books will definitely want to grab this one. It would likely work as a stand-alone, but would be best read following the other two. It's a great story for those who want a summer story to make them smile.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Celebrating Sunflowers

Rich in Color

Charlottesville and Resources

Guest Post with Sonia Patel

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge

Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix

Last Week in Books:

The Coming Week:

This is the final week of summer vacation for me and I am trying to finish up books that need to be reviewed as quickly as possible. I want to read Akata Warrior. I am also finishing up the audio of A Crown of Wishes. Otherwise, it will be a hodgepodge. I wish you a great week of reading.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 399/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 178/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 16/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 103/125

#MustReadin2017 - 21/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 76/100

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 adore sunflowers. They are beautiful on their own, but when there are thousands of them together, they are stunning. I appreciate that they both look like the sun and look to the sun. This field of sunflowers was planted in memory of a young woman who also loved sunflowers. Haley died in a car accident in 2015 and her family planted these flowers in her memory. They also share the beauty with others and allow anyone to come and walk through the path through this amazing field. One of my children went with me and we took a leisurely walk through this spot of loveliness. I'm thankful Haley's family is finding peace in this gift. I never met Haley or her family before this weekend, but with this field they are sharing her with us all in a special way. What a wonderful celebration of her life.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Non Fiction Picture Book Challenge - Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix

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.

Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & June Jo Lee

illustrated by Man One

This is another great title from the Readers to Eaters publishing company. They seem to focus on books about slow and local whole foods. Chef Roy Choi is a wonderful biography. First off, the endpapers are decorated with ramen!! Awesome. The book shows a bit of his early life like how food was very important in his family when he grew up. There were even meals that they created together as they interacted with one another. We learn about Sohn-maash or the "flavors in our fingertips." It reminds me of how my grandmother baked things with love. There were other Korean words and phrases explained in the book.

Roy Choi had an indirect path to food trucks, but his experiences helped prepare him for that type of work. I love that the book shares some of his Korean heritage, but also shows how things from his community also blended with that to create something wonderful and new.

Speaking of blending, the art is a mix also. Since this is a book about street food, they invited a street artist to illustrate the book. The art has a graffiti look to it at times and shouts city.

This would be a great book to use when talking about persistence or that failure doesn't mean everything is over. It's great for teaching resilience too. One of the pages is talking about his career as a fancy chef. "Roy was a success--until he wasn't." That was when he got the nudge to open a taco truck which ultimately was a more fulfilling job for him.

Since our community is seeing an uptick in food trucks, this is a book I am happy to have around. It has many great things going for it. It would also work well paired with the middle grade fiction book Stef Soto, Taco Queen which centers around a family who owns a taco truck. It's a lovely book that like Chef Roy, features a comittment to food and community. I haven't read it yet, but there is also a fun looking picture book called Food Trucks! by Mark Todd I might have to get.

Roy maintains a Twitter account so you can find out what he is up to. He has expanded way beyond one simple food truck at this point.

Monday, August 14, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Celebrate!

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - Creekfinding: A True Story

Last Week in Books:

My favorite picture book this week was Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner. It's another great nonfiction nature book that is engaging and informative. I also really enjoyed The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana. I had looked forward to this book after interviewing the author for Rich in Color. The story is rich and lovely in so many ways. Braiding Sweetgrass was phenomenal. I loved this nonfiction book that shares about science and nature from a Native perspective. Young Frank Architect is cute. Pete with No Pants was amusing, but just okay for me. I don't often read celebrity books, but I grabbed The Adventures of Abdi by Madonna because I am interviewing an author on Rich in Color whose name is Abdi. He happens to be a Madonna fan so he mentioned the book in a video he made with Epic Reads. It's not geographically specific, but is said to be far away. It's a fantastical tale of a boy and a jeweler and a king. It wasn't outright horrible, but I wouldn't likely buy it.

The Coming Week:

I'm reading The Star-Touched Queen right now and had to pause my audio book due to scratches on the 5th CD. Ack! I may get back to it someday in print instead. I'm not sure what I will tackle next, but I'm sure to pack as many books in as possible in these last few weeks before school begins. Have a great week!

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 388/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 172/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 16/30

#OwnVoices Challenge - 103/125

#MustReadin2017 - 20/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 71/100

Sunday, August 13, 2017

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.

This weekend it is difficult to celebrate. The events in Charlottesville remind us all that there is a lot of hate in our country even though we often don't acknowledge it. The White supremacists who were protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue were not chanting anything loving or up-lifting. If there is anything to celebrate, it is that there are also people in our country who speak out and want to disrupt this kind of thinking.

Yesterday the Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) group in our area organized and held signs along one of our major streets. The signs said things like "Hate has no home here," "We stand against White supremacy," "Reclaim humanity" and "No hate." There were a few jeers and shouts, but it was encouraging to hear more cheers and many honks and see lots of thumbs ups. Tonight there will be a candlelight service down by the river. People are finding ways to show we value everyone and to stand up against this injustice and evil. Yes, I said evil.

Call it by its name. pic.twitter.com/kYwQjCOW2U
— Mo Willems' Pigeon (@The_Pigeon) August 12, 2017

Some people are saying this is not their America, but I am sorry to say it is. This is exactly the America we have right now and it won't change until we face that. I watched I Am Not Your Negro last night. James Baldwin had so many wise words to say about race. One thing stood out to me in relation to this weekend. He said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." This is the America we have and saying it isn't won't change a thing. I want to be a part of that change.

There shouldn't be families mourning this weekend because a city has decided to remove a statue honoring Lee. Heather Heyer was run down and killed by a White supremacist. Her FB photo says, "If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention." Today I celebrate those who are paying attention and will act because they care about others. I have a voice in my community and with my family and I plan to use it.