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! This is always my favourite way to discover what to read next.
Officially I have 30 minutes to write a post of my favourite reads of the week. It is report card pressure weekend and so I must stay on track if I am going to be finished on time. But I don’t want to miss out on the joy of sharing in the #booklove, so here goes . . .
Briefly a few words about my five favourites 🙂
Grumpy Little King by Michel Streich
Brilliantly exposes the futility of war. And reminds us that when we feel little, we act little. A wonderful title to spark discussion.
How to Train a Train written by Jason Carter Eaton and illustrated by John Rocco
Fancy a pet train? Well if you do, this is the book for you! Just the whole concept is so out there and so fascinating for kids to consider and then, John Rocco’s illustrations – wow! My favourite part though might be the Dear Readers message by Rocco at the end of the book.
Picture Day Perfection written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Santat
Have you ever wanted your school picture to be perfect? Read about a little boy whose idea of perfect is not what you might expect! Lots of laughs and hilarious illustrations! My students wrote book reviews here.
Time for a Bath by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
I love this series by Jenkins and Page – (also Time to Eat, Time to Sleep) and just picked this up on sale at one of my favourite bookstores. Fascinating to me is how many of the creatures featured here don’t venture into the water at all but rather, take a bath in the dust or dirt to remove parasites.
If you Find Me by Emily Murdoch
I could not put this title down. A tragic, compelling story of two sisters forced to raise themselves hidden out of sight but not really so far away. This is the story of how they, in effect, “reenter” society and more importantly, family. Features a character with selective mutism which always fascinates me as it is becoming increasingly prevalent but I rarely see it in fiction.
Next up? I have just started The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (yippee!) and cannot wait to hand these reports in and then reward myself with time in the library taking out a bunch of new picture book titles.
Happy reading everyone!
There's a Book for That 
Thanks for all the recommendations, Carrie. As usual, you have several that I have not read. Have a great week.
Thanks for stopping by. Happy you found something new to you!
I’ve added a few to my to read list. I’m a big Dan Santat fan, so I have to get a hold of Picture Day Perfection! Thanks for sharing.
It is a LOT of fun and the end pages are particularly brilliant.
Must read-If You Find Me-sounds fascinating, Carrie! And didn’t know about the Steve Jenkins series-how wonderful they sound! Thanks, & best wishes with the grade cards!
This series by Jenkins is very special. So many little things to learn and the kids connect because it is also about everyday things for them – sleeping, taking a bath, etc. If You Find Me was compelling.
The picture books look delightful!
Absolutely!
How to Train a Train! I am captivated by its cover. I really would like to take a look inside this book.
I saw the cover and was also wowed! Pretty incredible concept.
Good luck knocking out those report cards! How to Train a Train sounds perfect for my nephew who is currently obsessed with trains! And I love anything illustrated by Santat, but have yet to get to that one!
Would be a lovely gift for your nephew. Illustrations are amazing!
Love anything Steve Jenkins does. Everything else you mentioned is new to me and looks awesome! Adding them to my TBR list right now!
Glad you found some new titles!
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I know what you mean about marking. Same time here at the university. While I’ve been technically done with mine, I have to collect all the other marks from other professors as the coordinator of the programme and another required course (with 155 students), so I know what you mean about crazymarkingtime. JOHN ROCCO! Love him. I would be featuring one of his picturebooks for our current theme, very excited about that. Picture Day Perfection also looks really nice! 🙂
Oh yes, the marking and the reports. Sigh. So let’s talk books! I also love Rocco! His illustrations are just so beautiful.