Tuesday Trailer: Giants Beware

This trailer has been around for quite a long time,
but I saw it today and had to post it. 

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

Picture Books

Of the picture books, I definitely enjoyed Buffalo Bird Girl and Dreaming Up the most. They were fantastic. I had read a very thorough review of Buffalo Bird Girl earlier in the year on Debbie Resse's site and was so glad to finally get to read it for myself. I really appreciated the mix of artwork and photographs to help tell her story. This is a very accessible biography and I will be adding it to our library. I reviewed Dreaming Up yesterday and loved it.

Middle Grade and YA

Hold Fast was a twisty mystery and I enjoyed the connections to Langston Hughes. It is also a good look into the issue of homelessness. It got a few tears out of me. 

Anna and the French Kiss was a mixture of things for me: annoying, funny, cute, annoying, sweet, and a little predictable. I was listening to it on audio and came close to giving up a few times since the main character was driving me up the wall with the poor me stuff. At about the second or third CD though she finally had a reality check and that changed. The predictability was also annoying, but the cute and sweet factors made up for a lot. I became more of a fan as it went along.

Vader's Little Princess was a nice shot of humor. Hole in My Life was sobering. I read it for the Printz Challenge, but also because Jack Gantos will be in town next week. Yay!

I think my favorite YA this week was The Crown of Embers. Elisa is awesome and I am enjoying seeing her grow.

The Coming Week:

I am finishing up the audio of Eli the Good (read by the author) and am starting to speak with a southern accent as a result. I have just started reading Shatter Me and have The Water Castle on deck. I will need to read something for my review on Rich in Color for Friday too. Stop by to see the new look if you have a moment and let us know what you think.

What will you be reading? Have a great week!

Picture Book Party

Fiction

Title: World on a String

Author: Larry Phifer

Illustrator: Danny Popovici

Publisher: Storytime Works

Pages: 36

Review Copy: Netgalley

Release Date: June 4, 2013

Summary: Picture book that offers a uniquely uplifting perspective on loss. 

World on a String is the story of a young boy, Charlie, who finds and befriends a big red balloon. Soon, Charlie and his balloon become best friends. They play together. They go to school together. They do everything together.Then, one night, Charlie’s balloon comes untied in a thunderstorm. At first, Charlie is very sad. He imagines that his friend is lost, tangled and all alone. However, by remembering the happy times they shared, Charlie is able to shift his perspective, deal with his loss and, ultimately, he imagines his balloon as a very important part of the starry sky. -- image and summary via Goodreads

Review: I fell in love with the playful illustrations from the very first page. They bring the words to life and add depth to the story. The soft yet vibrant colors keep the reader floating gently through to the end. The bubbly bath and pirate scenes are sure to amuse readers. The text could have been stronger without the rhyming, but it has a positive and helpful message. World on a String would speak gently to a child who is grieving the loss of something or someone. The text was okay, but the illustrations could almost carry the book alone. I hope to see more illustrations by Danny Popovici in the future.

Title: Good Night, Monkey Boy (Board Book)

Author: Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Audience: Ages 2 to 5

Pages: 36

Review Copy: Edelweiss

Release Date: May 14, 2013

Summary: Who's that eating a banana? Swinging from the shower curtain? Making faces in the mirror? Why, it looks like a monkey! 

But not to Mommy. Mommy knows it's her own monkey boy, and even monkey boys need their sleep. But first, they need to clean up their room and take a bath. Then she'll read a story. "Good night, Monkey Boy...and no more bananas!" -- image and summary via Edelweiss

Review: This is a sweet bedtime story that speaks of family love. Monkey Boy is a charmer in spite of his monkey-like behavior. Any child who has been a little too wild during the day, will appreciate that Monkey Boy still gets plenty of loving and fun. Young children will be sure to enjoy his sly banana smuggling. His facial expressions are also adorable.   It would be fun to mimic them while reading. 

Non-Fiction

Title: dreaming UP

Author: Christy Hale

Publisher: Lee and Low

Pages: 40

Review Copy: Netgalley

Release Date: October 12, 2012

Summary: A collection of illustrations, concrete poetry, and photographs that shows how young children's constructions, created as they play, are reflected in notable works of architecture from around the world. -- image and summary via Goodreads

Review: The thought that went into this book amazes me. The book highlights some amazing  architecture. What sets the book apart though, is that for every structure, there is a mixed media illustration of young children creating a similar structure with everyday materials such as stacking cubes, legos, mud or even the cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls. There is also a concrete poem that also speaks of the children's creations while it gives the reader another way to imagine or "see" the shapes that make up the two structures. There are four layers to the book: the photographs, the artist's illustrations, the text, and the shape of the text. Tracing the many shapes was a lot of fun and young readers will want to get out their building materials and get to it. This was also a multicultural work. The authors chose works from all over the world and there is a diverse group of young people in the illustrations. I was glad to see that there was a mix of both boys and girls too.

Sometimes as an adult reading to a young child, I wish that the authors provided more information in simple non-fiction texts. Happily, I discovered that there are fantastic endnotes. They included brief, but interesting biographies of the architects and details about each work of architecture. Two of the fourteen were female, but there is a gender imbalance in that profession so this may just be a reflection of that reality. I loved this book and will definitely be adding it to our collection to inspire our future engineers and architects.

Tea Cakes for Tosh

After reading Tea Cakes for Tosh, I knew I wanted to taste them. Fortunately, the author provides a recipe on her website. 

With all of my ingredients together -- including my audio book -- I was ready to begin.

And then, YUM, they were finished. Give them a try sometime.

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

I am strapped for time so will let the stars speak for themselves today. 

1=did not like it, 2=eh, 3=liked it, 4=really liked it, 5=it was amazing

The Past Week:

Picture Book

Middle Grade

Young Adult

The Coming Week:

I was listening to Eli the Good on audio, but the 4th CD is messed up, so if I can find another copy, I will finish that. Then I started Anna and the French Kiss, but I have to say I am not loving it so I may not finish. I requested The Crown of Embers from the library and it is "in transit" so that is up next. Jack Gantos is coming on May 20th, so I am going to try to get my hands on Hole in My Life that I need to read for the Printz Challenge anyway. I will also need to pick something to read for my next Rich in Color review. What will you be reading? Have a great week!

Screen Free Week

I am typing this on Sunday as I plan for Screen Free Week. Matthew Cordell's book hello! hello! is the perfect way to kick off the week too. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you pick it up.

I will be laying low on the Internet and hopefully only using screens as necessary for my job. At home, I plan to be studying for my Hmong class, reading, enjoying music, walking my dog, spending time outside and hanging out with my family. I love my screens, but taking a break and disconnecting for awhile will be refreshing. Have a great week and I will see you here again next Monday for It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

The Past Week:

Picture Books

I read quite a few picture books this week since I got to go to the CCBC book presentation and I got a new order in too. My favorite one this week was Please, Baby, Please. The illustrations are beautiful and the situations are completely hilarious from a parent perspective. I think children will love it too though. They also managed to put a little clock in each picture so it could be used to help when teaching time. Two others that really captured my attention were the ones about Tea Cakes. I am going to have to give at least one of the recipes a try soon. The best part about them was not the tea cake recipes, but the wonderful glimpse into the relationship with the grandmothers. Just wonderful family love.

Young Adult

These three are completely different books. Legend is a sci-fi adventure that has some intense action scenes and is focused on two very smart and strong characters. Eleanor and Park is a sweet romance set in the eighties. The characters have way less physical strength than those in Legend, but they have emotional strength that helps them through their difficulties. Jasper Jones is historical fiction/mystery and is set in Australia. This caused me some comprehension trouble as it features several cricket games. This is not a sport I can follow, but fortunately there is more to the story. I'm reading it for the Printz challenge. That is what I like about challenges. It pushes me into books I wouldn't normally pick up.

Middle Grade

The main character in this story was actually middle grade age, so it seemed odd to place it in the YA category. I understand why some people do though. The themes it deals with are tough. A family is still working through the death of one of the children at the hands of a terrorist. Sudden violent death is a tricky subject and the father's racism is also really in your face. I appreciated the voice of the younger brother who is trying to make sense of it all and live his life without the shadow of this sister he barely remembers. It provides the reader with a lot to think about.

Ash Mistry was a cool fantasy book and it was fun to see a bit into the world of the mythology of India. It seems the author was trying to do something like the Percy Jackson series with Indian gods and goddesses instead of the Greek and Roman ones. Fortunately, it worked. It's not a copy, but it does have a similar flavor of action, humor and seriously evil beings battling it out with the heroes. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.

The Coming Week:

I think I will finally be diving into The Summer Prince and then will get to more of the books that were in my stack last week. I am listening to Lucky Breaks on CD and I plan to get to Yaqui Delgado. With it being Screen Free Week, I will probably get to a few more too. What will you be reading this week?