Doreen Cronin | There's a Book for That

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Each week I share a reading photo of the week. This week I have two to share.

I love the joy and focus these girls showcased during buddy reading.

And I appreciated being shown the best page in Ballet Cat according to this little reader.

Our #classroombookaday titles this week received lots of book love!

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. It’s the best way to discover what to read next.

I haven’t shared a #IMWAYR post for two weeks. I have been to two full day Literacy conferences (one in Bellingham and one in Vancouver) and one nErD camp in the past two weeks. I just finished report cards. And, I am writing daily for the March Slice of Life challenge. Busy, busy, busy. Not as much reading as I would like but . . . enough to share happily here!

On the blog:

A number of Slice of Life posts: The Promise of a Day, Threes and Repeats, Those Everyday people, Freedom Arms, A Mom theme, Writing Happens Here, Eyes on the Corner, Hey Little One

A Q & A post with author Tara Lazar to launch Normal Norman

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: The Way to School

Books I enjoyed:

Ribbit! written by Rodrigo Folgueira and illustrated by Poly Bernatene

Themes of connection, community and inclusivity. All of these themes are addressed in the most clever of ways. What happens when a little pink pig exclaims “Ribbit!” while sitting amongst the lily pads?

Ben Says Goodbye written by Sarah Ellis and illustrated by Kim LaFave

Losing a friend to a move is a huge loss for so many children. This title addresses those big emotions in a lovely, believable way.

Bloom written by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by David Small

I adore David Small and it was so much fun to see his work here in a fairy tale like setting. A story of mud and rolling up your sleeves to get the job done! Loved the girl power here!

If I Had a Gryphon written by Vicki VanSickle and illustrated by Cale Atkinson

Pet wishing, imagining and pondering – wonderfully off the scale! I want a gryphon!

Over-Scheduled Andrew by Ashley Spires

Spires addresses such a growing problem for so many children: schedules that take over children’s lives – leaving little time for friendships and down time.

Steve Raised By Wolves by Jared Chapman

So, wolf like habits don’t really match an elementary school setting. Or do they? Hilarious!

Skunk on a String by Thao Lam

You have probably never thought about how you would react if a skunk floated by. In this wordless tale, spy as one does just that . . . All kinds of reactions and commotion ensue. Quite delightful!

Mom, Dad, Our Books, and Me written by Danielle Marcotte and illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

A home where books and reading are treasured and reading is modelled and celebrated. This child is raised with all that stories can provide. This title also touches on all that we read – the faces of clocks, expressions, the sky . . .

Reading Progress updates:

2016 Chapter Book Challenge: 7/75 complete

Goodreads Challenge: 66/400 books read

#MustReadin2016: 5/30 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 13/100 titles

Diverse Books in 2015: 8/50 books read

Up next? I am still reading The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin and continue reading All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely with my family.

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Participating in Kellee and Jen’s meme celebrating books read from picture books to young adult selections is such a pleasure. There is so much to learn in what everyone is reading and blogging about.

This week I read a number of fantastic picture books. I had a difficult time trying to narrow my favourites to the top five to keep this post to a reasonable size! But here they are – my top 5 picture books of the week:

Sector 7 by David Wiesner. I love Wiesner’s books but for some reason I had never read this one. When I found it at the library the other day, I was delighted. I am always using wordless books in the classroom (I posted about using wordless books in the primary classroom here) and so love finding new titles to share. This book celebrates creativity, imagination and the endless possibilities in the clouds!

Footprints in the Snow by Mei Matsuoka was in a pile of books I had ordered from Scholastic last year and hadn’t yet labelled. When I read this book I was pleasantly surprised by the clever twists. First we meet Wolf who has been reading books about wolves and realizing that wolves are always portrayed as (yes, you know what’s coming) nasty, scary and greedy. He sets out to write his own book that depicts Mr. Nice Wolf acting in only lovely ways. He continuously meets animals that seem only to have met stereotypical awful wolves and they run from him. Finally a duck indulges Mr. Nice Wolf in a bit of a conversation and . . . Here’s the twist you might not have expected . . . I won’t spoil it! It’s worth finding a copy and having your own little chuckle as you read this book.

So I’ve decided that Sarah Stewart and David Small simply have not created enough picture books together. Very soon there is going to be a week where I can’t include a Stewart/Small title here and on that day, I will be very sad. This week I read The Library. All about book love and devotion. Nothing more needs to be said.

My next two favourites were sent to me in a box of “bookly delights” by a book loving friend.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce I absolutely adored this book – it fast became a favourite picture book. I love that it is so whimsical, the illustrations lure you in and you feel entangled with all of the books in the pictures. Amazing. But it also reads beautifully. I read it aloud to my two children and it was so smooth, so lyrical. Cannot wait to share this with my class this fall.

Cats’ Night out written by Caroline Stutson and illustrated by Jon Klassen. This was the first picture book that Klassen illustrated and it is so fun. I love the colours – all of the dark browns, blacks and shadows. Across each page dance cats. Cats with such serious smug expressions like they are saying, “We certainly don’t see you, dear reader, up here doing the fox trot so elegantly in evening dresses or tuxedos.” The text is rhyming and one soon realizes that this is a counting book. Counting by twos! What fun and if you look carefully you can find numbers hidden in each illustration. A book that deserves multiple readings and begs to be shared with a friend to search for numbers, marvel at the pictures and reread the poetic text.

In other reading . . . .

I read Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. This is a mystery novel that is so much more. There is definitely a mystery which keeps it fast paced and highly energized. But wow, the characters! The other story lines going on! The idiosyncrasies of a small town and its inhabitants. The power of family no matter how it is defined. If this isn’t on your TBR list, add it!

I also read The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin. Loved Kevin Cornell‘s illustrations. There were lots of funny parts in this story but I worried that it might possibly too difficult for early readers (this is an early chapter book) to follow. Different chapters are told by different characters and I didn’t think it was always clear who was who. Maybe I’m wrong. I will see how some readers handle it this fall.

I also read Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet: The Cloud Searchers (Book Three) While I am always so impressed with the art work in Kibuishi’s Amulet books, all of the battle scenes are not my thing. But if it is your thing (my son adores these) these books are pretty amazing.