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. One of the very best ways to discover what to read next!
My favourite picture books (both fiction and nonfiction) reads of the week:
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Again, Sweet just slays me. Everything she does is vivid colours and spectacular details. This fascinating biography of artist Horace Pippin is an inspirational tale of an artist with everything stacked against him who makes art despite it all. Loved the back story of how Bryant and Sweet collaborated on the research to create this book.
The Invisible Boy written by Trudy Ludwig and illustrated by Patrice Barton
This is such an important book with themes of exclusion, kindness and friendship. I shared what this book was like as a read aloud experience in my classroom in this post.
Dream Boats written by Dan Bar-el and illustrated by Kirsti Anne Wakelin
Lyrical text. Illustrations full of folklore, magic and dreams. Fall asleep and ride through dreams and history on a dream boat. A title that must be read, reread, examined and explored. It sails you through many legends and cultures around the world.
Lost Cat by C. Roger Mader
Come and see the world from the perspective of a little lost cat, left behind when her owner moved. I shared my students’ reviews here.
The Very Brave Bear by Nick Bland
Bear and Buffalo square off in a battle of bravery. I am completely charmed by the silly antics revealed in the illustrations. Not sure how much of the text I even paid attention to – the pictures are hilarious!
Noisy Poems for a Busy Day written by Robert Heidbreder and illustrated by Lori Joy Smith
Busy, bustling poems perfect for the preschool set. Full of sounds, fun to say and lots of silly . . .
Twisty-Twiggle.
Jump-up jiggle.
Undies backward!
Wiggle-giggle.
Hee! Hee!
Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World by Lita Judge
I learned an incredible amount about dinosaurs in this nonfiction title and thoroughly enjoyed all of the details and comparisons to modern day creatures. Amazing illustrations.
I read some other fabulous nonfiction picture books which I shared in my Nonfiction Wednesday Post: Animal Stories
I also read:
Forgive me, Leonard Peacock written by Matthew Quick
A perfect book to sit down with when you don’t have to get up for hours. I found myself pulled quickly into the world of Leonard Peacock and not wanting to put the book down and abandon him for even a moment. Raw. Vulnerable. Hurting. What a character. This is the story of a teenage boy who begins his last day on Earth because by day’s end, he’s planning to be dead. How did he get to this place? He will tell you, unravelling details of his history and his pain. This was one of my #MustReadin2014 titles – the second Matthew Quick title I have read this month. Definitely YA.
Next up? I am reading The Living by Matt de la Pena and then plan to read Marie Lu‘s The Champion to finish the trilogy.
Reading Goal updates:
2014 Chapter Book Challenge: 6/100 novels complete
Goodeads Challenge: 61/650 books read
#MustReadin2014: 4/30 complete
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 24/65 complete
Happy Reading to all!