It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. The best way to grow your TBR list!
Hoping all Moms had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday! Here is one of the gorgeous bouquets that went home to Moms and Grandmas in my class:
My own children made me lovely cards. How well my son knows me! 🙂
I read a variety of picture books this week. Here are my favourites:
The Girl with the Brave Heart: A Tale from Tehran written by Rita Jahanforuz and illustrated by Vali Mintzi
Readers will notice similarities to well known folktales and fairytales. An important story that highlights how our true spirit shines through when we trust our heart. I imagine this story would be very popular in my classroom. Students love to learn from tales from around the world.
Baby Bear by Kadir Nelson
These illustrations are powerful – some pages almost overwhelming in their intensity. Baby Bear is lost and finds his way home through the wisdom of his fellow forest dwellers. Advice is soothing sometimes more than specifically helpful – “Hug a Tree” but Baby Bear manages to find his way.
Missuk’s Snow Geese written by Anne Renaud and illustrated by Genevieve Cote
A beautiful story of a little girl who wants to be a carver like her father. When he is lost in a storm, it turns out that Missuk’s creations helped bring him home.
A Packet of Seeds written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by Bethanne Andersen
Historical fiction with much melancholy. A family travels west to settle in a new place and new home on the prairie. This book highlights the physical and mental courage and energy it took to be able to make a home in a new place. The promise of a flower garden and the memories the blossoms might evoke makes all of the difference for one Mom.
The Apple Orchard Riddle written by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas
A riddle weaves its way through this story all about a visit to an apple orchard. Much to learn and much to wonder.
Every Day is Malala Day by Rosemary McCarney with Plan International
This book is a photographic thank you letter to Malala Yousafzai for her courage and her determination to speak up for the rights of girls to have an education. Both text and photos (of girls all over the world) are powerful. I highlighted how I shared it in my class in this post.
The Troll written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by David Roberts
I love David Roberts as an illustrator. This story is very amusing. It mixes some pirates up with the Troll from the Billy Goat’s Gruff story in very delightful and silly ways. Comical and creative.
Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan
I started to smile on the first page and I was more delighted and amused with each page I turned. Beautifully odd and quirky. Rich images. I am of course convinced that I must own this book. I want to make my way through the pages time and again.
In other reading . . .
I am pages away from finishing Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee
I adore being lost in the other worldly ways of this novel. Magical. Mystical. Mysterious.
Up next? I plan to start Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin
Reading Goal updates:
2014 Chapter Book Challenge: 36/100 novels complete
Goodeads Challenge: 239/650 books read
#MustReadin2014: 15/30 complete
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 61/65 complete
There's a Book for That 
Every week, you give the greatest collection of book recommendations–your children do know you well! I want to talk about Rules of Summer–I loved that book– and I want the Malala book in my personal library! Thank you, Carrie!
Thanks Melanie! Rules of Summer is pretty fantastic. Yes, Malala is a must own I think. Such a springboard for rich discussion.
Wonderful list and I need that Troll book! I tell my students a troll lives in the machine room closet down the hallway because it rattles on windy days. I tell them to tip toe quietly so not to wake him. It’s fun.
Oh, then you absolutely need this Troll book! It is very amusing!
Lots of people have been reading the Shaun Tan book the past couple of weeks. I am quite intrigued by this one. Can’t wait!
It is visually so so interesting. I will likely be heading back to the bookstore to buy a copy for our house! We are big Tan fans.
Ack! New books to buy! Thanks for the heads up on Julia Donaldson, Shaun Tan, and Every Day is Malala Day looks fantastic…
Glad you found some new titles!
I read Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan this week too. He is very odd but I love him.
As do I – all the more because of the odd!
Gosh – lots of great books! I ended up buying The Rules of Summer. 🙂 Malala certainly is an inspiration, isn’t she?! I’ve been wanting to read her autobiography. She is an important hero, especially now with the plight of those Nigerian girls. I have Ophelia and Nightingale’s Nest on my end table, waiting….
Yes, sharing and reading about Malala’s story is very timely. Just heartbreaking about these girls in Nigeria. I can’t imagine their fear and the helplessness of the parents. Sigh.
I loved Ophelia and The Marvelous Boy-so glad you like it, Carrie. I haven’t read any of the picture books, but have heard of some. Of course I want to see the Malala book, but The Packet of Seeds just looks and sounds wonderful. Glad you shared it! Love the Mother’s Day cards too. I got one similar from my granddaughter! And she added in a stuffed stegosaurus! Fun!
The Packet of Seeds is one title I think you would really like Linda. And yes, this title about Malala is a great one – makes the story and talking about her accessible to younger students. Nice to have grandchildren sharing their love in cards!
This is the second list that has RULES OF SUMMER! I must have missed the boat by not reading that one this week. 🙂
I appreciated your review of BABY BEAR. I saw it at my library and didn’t grab it, but now I want to get it! I hope you have a great reading week this week!
Some people were really bothered by Baby Bear because of the illustrations and the eyes of the bear. I can see it being somewhat unnerving but there are beautiful sections to this book and I look at the illustrations as intense. A definite mood.
Baby Bear’s illustrations just amaze me every time I read it! I have Ophelia and I need to get to it by the end of summer! It’s a goal! I read Rules of Summer and I just didn’t get it. I’ll have to try and pick it up again. Have a great reading week!
Rules of Summer is wonderfully wild. Sometimes, I think we try to hard to get books that seem to be complex. I like the idea of just falling into them and taking from them whatever speaks to you.
Ah! So much I want to read!
I teared up just reading about the Malala book, and I love Shaun Tan & Kadir Nelson so I definitely need to read those.
You are always sharing such great PBs–thank you.
Happy reading this week! 🙂
So pleased you found some titles here Kellee. This book about Malala was very powerful – huge impact in my classroom.
I just borrowed the Apple Orchard Riddle from the library – will be featuring it for our foodie theme in the next few weeks. I am so envious that you finally read Shaun Tan’s most recent picturebook, I just know that I will fall in love with Rules of Summer. I am glad you enjoyed The Girl with a Brave Heart – a story that transcends cultural boundaries. I just searched for Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy in our online database, and we do have it! Planning to read that one next after Snicker of Magic. 🙂
I loved The Girl with the Brave Heart and that is thanks to you featuring it on your blog! I requested it at the library after your review. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is such an intriguing read.
You’re making great progress on your Must Read list too! I loved Ophelia, and I enjoyed the Tan book (though it also left me scratching my head)
I love that Tan shares what is in his head – whether it makes perfect sense of not, no worries! So visually enjoyable!
Julia Donaldson is one of my favorites–one of the few authors who does rhyme in a way that I actually enjoy. I will have to find this one for my kids. A Packet of Seeds is one that really stuck with me. I love “westward expansion” stories; I live on the edge of the prairie and commute across 60 miles of prairie to work, and I often find myself marveling at the pioneers who settled here and really feeling for them, because so much about the landscape and climate must have been so horrifying and depressing! Baby Bear’s ending confused me and my son. Beautiful illustrations, but I didn’t love the writing. I must get my hands on this Shaun Tan title! I periodically include The Arrival on the syllabus for Adolescent Lit, and it also made the rounds this semester in Children’s Lit.
I can’t believe the length of your drive – wow! I hate to tell you that I walk to work everyday – not close – it is a 35 to 40 minute walk so also serves as my daily exercise – but still very lucky. I agree with you about Julia Donaldson and rhymes! And this title is particularly fun.
How wonderful to walk to work! I walk for 45 minutes a day, but I don’t know if I could be organized and timely enough to walk to work. I would probably always have good intentions but more often than not, would end up driving. So I admire your organization and time management! I will say that I get through a lot of excellent audio books on my commute.
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