Reading in 2021. Not the same. And a #mustreadin2021 update - 12.31.21

 2021 started out with so much promise.  I really thought this was the year that was going to push us past the pandemic.  Yeah.  That didn't work out so much.

When the pandemic started I thought a lot about what blogging was going to look like.  Ultimately, I decided to continue blogging because it was a way to feel normal, as well as help authors and publishers with getting titles out there.

I did notice my reading changed at the start of the pandemic.  I started reading more young adult than middle grade.  I don't ultimately know why - I needed a change?  Something that felt so different?  At any rate, I continued to read steadily through the early months, especially into the summer.   Once school started and we moved to a remote setting, my reading was interrupted, but again, once I got my footing, I was able to continue.

At the start of 2021, reading was definitely slower than pre-pandemic times, but I had a flow.  When I think about life March 2020-March 2021, there was a lot of home time.  We really did not do much.  My daughter had swim practice regularly, but being home from school and not going anywhere else allowed time for books.  April of 2021 gave us our first time for travel.  We had to travel for my daughter's first round of Paralympic Trials.  The travel was fine because again, really didn't go anywhere outside of our Airbnb.  The swimming did not go well.  From April to June (official Trials), things got a little more intense with swimming so reading slowed down.  Once she officially made the Tokyo team, I had the rest of June to live the dream.  That tension was off, school was done, and I made great headway into my reading piles.  

Then came July and if you didn't hear the screeching of the breaks to my reading game, well, I'm surprised.  Training was crazy. By the time August hit, between training and Tokyo prep, there was so little time to do anything.  And school was starting.

School 2021.  Even more different than school 2020.  You would think since we were back full time in the classroom it would be back to normal.  We all know that was silly to even think that.  I'm so grateful that in IL we are mandated to wear masks and have some distance.  Our school is even tested (optional) once/week through the Univ of IL Shield test.  But even with mitigations, it's so not normal.  And it's so stressful.  Reading?  Ha.  What's that?

Did I mention we also went through an entire first floor, leading up to the second floor renovation?  Because that wouldn't be any stress??

And now my daughter is a junior in high school, returning to school for the first time in 18 months, and having to go to classes, deal with COVID 19, pretend that isn't happening and keep up with all learning expectations, and figure out college, because shocker, that doesn't just fall in your lap.

A few weeks into the school year and I knew something had to give.  I couldn't keep it all up.  

So away went blogging.  I miss it.  But here's the other problem to that, blogger keeps changing what it allows and the newest thing is it took awhile subscribing by email.  So if you got this, thank you for subscribing awhile ago, because that is no longer an option.  I'm trying to figure out a new platform, but seeing as my technology goes no further than being fancy enough to use different fonts, setting up a blogging platform can be tricky.  Still working on that.  I'm looking into different options, but I still think it will end up as a summer project.

For the rest of 2021 I read what I could and was just satisfied with what I could do.

That means the stacks piled up, but I just look the other way.

Every year I keep track on Goodreads the number of books I've read.  Since I started keeping track in 2014, this will be the second lowest number of books read in a year.  In fact, I'll have read over 100 books less than I did last year.  I knew it was less but I was pretty surprised to see the actual number.

One of the reading communities I participate in is the #mustread community.  Late last year I chose books that are written by BIPoC authors.  Given how the start of 2021 began, these are books that need to be read and shared widely.  I started out well, but as my reading tapered, so did this list.  These are still books I will get to, but not sure when!  Here is how I did:

One day I'll get to the others on this list!

I've spent the last few days thinking about 2022 and reading and blogging.  I'll share my thoughts on that soon!

In the meantime, stay healthy and well, and continue to find time to read!

Our school's Mock Caldecott list - 11.18.21

It's November which means it's time for Mock Caldecott!  Excited to be celebrating books in person this year with our young readers!  Every winter, our 2nd-4th grade readers get to listen to and then do some further analyzing of books that are worth of Caldecott consideration.  It's always so hard to narrow books down and this year was no exception!  I'm grateful to have had a Caldecott selection committee (my fabulous colleagues Laura, Angie, and Terry) to help me get the list down to 12 books.  Here are the 12 books that our 2nd-4th grade students will be taking a look at this winter!

• Watercress - illustrated by Jason Chin, written by Andrea Wang

• Mel Fell by Corey Tabor

• Strollercoaster - illustrated by Raul the Third, written by Matt Ringler

• Have You Ever Seen a Flower by Shawn Harris

• Wishes - illustrated by Victo Ngai, written by Muon Thi Van

• Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

• Shy Willow by Cat Min

• Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

• Bright Star by Yuyi Morales

• Milo Imagines the World - illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de la Peña

• The People’s Painter - illustrated by Evan Turk, written by Cynthia Levinson

• We Shall Overcome by Bryan Collier

Our school will have a school-wide book celebration following the ALA Youth Media Awards where they will learn the winners of our school-wide vote and what the actual Caldecott committee selected.  Yay for books!

Odd Beasts - book review - 11.16.21

Want to introduce your young readers to some fascinating animals?  While the tagline of the book refers to these animals as being nature's weirdest, I found them to be truly fascinating!

Odd Beasts:  Meet Nature's Weirdest Animals

written by Laura Gehl

illustrated by Gareth Lucas

published by Abrams Appleseed

The rhyming story inside this board book names an animal and an interesting part about them.  For example, did you know there is a spider with horns?  Yup, the long-horned orb-weaver spider has two long horn-like parts coming out from the end of the spider.  Or maybe the size of an ocean sunfish will find you inspired to learn more.  Because really, how big can a fish be?  No worries, you can get additional information about each animal in the backmatter of this board book.  That ocean sunfish is about a ton, or 2,000 pounds!  

I love that this book introduces young readers to these animals.  And the illustrations by Gareth Lucas are fantastic!  Bright, geometric patterns will draw the reader's eye to study these animals.  Want to see a photograph of each animal?  That's in the backmatter!   Yes, this is a board book, but one that is full of information that will appeal to many young readers.  I love that board books are being published with important information for so many young readers.  And they hold up well for lots of readings!

Whether you're gifting this book to your favorite toddler or making sure it's in the library for your littles and kindergartners and first graders to read, it's one that will be met with a lot of enthusiasm!

More about author Laura Gehl:

Laura Gehl is the author of more than two dozen popular picture books, board books, and early readers including One Big Pair of Underwear, the Peep and Egg series, and Except When They Don't. A former science writer and teacher, Laura holds a PhD in neuroscience. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband and four children. To learn more, visit lauragehl.com.

Twitter: @AuthorLauraGehl

Instagram: @authorlauragehl

Extra! Find coloring sheets for Odd Beasts on Laura Gehl’s website. 

As always, happy nonfiction reading!

Susie B. Won't Back Down - review - 10.08.21

Writing books for kids can be tricky.  Generally, it's adults writing the books.  But if they try to get too "adult-like" it really doesn't work.  Kids want to read about real kid things and kids acting like real kids.  That means sometimes the kids aren't going to act the way adults want them to act or react.  That means sometimes the plot is going to be focused on what kids want to read, not the adults (ok, that should be all the time...).  That means sometimes friendships are going to get messy and not all endings are going to be sunshine and rainbows.  This is a book I think kids are going to enjoy because it will feel real to them.  Especially the main character, Susie B.

Susie B. Won't Back Down

by Margaret Finnegan

published by Atheneum

Summary (from Goodreads)

Roll with It meets Absolutely Normal Chaos in this funny, big-hearted novel about a young girl’s campaign for student council president, told through letters to her hero Susan B. Anthony.

Susie B. has a lot to say. Like how it’s not fair that she has to be called Susie B. instead of plain Susie. Or about how polar bears are endangered. Or how the Usual Geniuses are always getting picked for cool stuff over the kids like her with butterflies in their brain. And it’s because Susie B. has a lot to say about these very important things that she’s running for student council president!

If she’s president, she can advocate for the underdogs just like her hero and fellow Susie B., Susan B. Anthony. (And, okay, maybe the chance to give big speeches to the whole school with a microphone is another perk.) But when the most usual of Usual Geniuses also enters the student council race, Susie realizes this may be a harder won fight than she thought. Even worse, Susie discovers that Susan B. Anthony wasn’t as great as history makes it seem, and she did some pretty terrible things to try to help her own cause. Soon, Susie has her own tough decisions to make. But one thing is for sure—no matter what, Susie B. won’t back down.

My thoughts

This is a book I think you can hand off to kids and they are going to love meeting the main character and they will appreciate the storyline.  As I read the story, I kept thinking about how much kids will enjoy the book, even if I wanted to jump in and share my two cents with the characters!  The characters act just like kids today act.  The problems they face are problems are kids are facing today.  And that will make the story REAL to the readers.

The characters are real.  They talk like fifth graders.  They have problems - including unnamed ADD - like a lot of kids.  They will know the kids in this book.  They'll know the "usual geniuses" - the same kids who are chosen for everything (yeah, you know they exist at your school too).  They'll know the kids who aren't the nicest, but probably deep down have a reason why they act the way they do.  They'll know the kids who aren't the popular ones, the ones that are not chosen for everything, but are just nice kids.  This is a story that kids will be able to see themselves in.

The problems are relatable.  There are friendship problems.  And what I liked about them is they didn't get the "can't we all just get along" resolution.  That made it feel real.  There is discussion of sexism and racism and how they are not ok.  And Finnegan explores the big idea of how do you get what you want without having to compromise who you are?  Readers of this book are all figuring out their identities and who they want to be.  Figuring that out becomes more complicated as you grow older.  The exploration of this idea will resonate with readers.

I also enjoyed how the entire book is a series of letters written to the main character's hero, Susan B. Anthony.  The idea of heroism is explored through these letters.  It's also impressive to see how the letters move the entire storyline along.  Because Susie B. is writing to a historical figure, there is a piece of history that is explored throughout the book.  Just something that adds to the story!

Finally, this is a perfect book to read with students if you use Beers' and Probst's Notice and Note Signposts.  I found so many great ones to talk about!  You could use this as a read aloud or in a reading group.

Check out the fun mock newspaper, The Susie B News--available for download here!

Praise

Kirkus Reviews had this to say about Susie B.: “Susie is energetic, breathless, enthusiastic, and genuinely, charmingly funny.”

And it's a Junior Library Guild Selection!

More about author Margaret Finnegan

Margaret Finnegan is the author of the middle-grade novels Susie B. Won’t Back Down and We Could Be Heroes. Her writing often focuses on themes on inclusion, hard choices, and being true to yourself. She also makes a really good chocolate cake. To learn more, and to download free discussion guides, visit MargaretFinnegan.com.

Twitter: @FinneganBegin

Instagram: @finneganbegin

* thank you to Barbara from Blue Slip Media for the review copy *

Would you like to include this book in your library?  Atheneum/Simon and Schuster has generously donated a copy for a giveaway (US addresses only).  Enter by Friday, October 15th for your chance!

review of Pony by R.J. Palacio - 9.24.21

I'm still on a blog break (oh, you should see my downstairs... torn up and dust everywhere), but I had to jump on and tell you about this wonderful story!

Like so many of you, Wonder was a book that stayed with me long after I closed the pages.  Auggie and his family and their journey was one that made me want to be different in life and always choose kindness.  Since Wonder, author R.J. Palacio has given us more stories from Auggie's world, but now we finally have a new story.

Pony

by R.J. Palacio

published by Random House Children's Books

publishes September 28th

You might be like me and not want too much information about the book.  You might want to discover all of the book on your own, without preconceived notions.  Before starting the story, I really didn't know much about it.  I wanted the story to unfold before me.  If that's you, then continue on with this paragraph.  I'll give you plenty of notice when I'm going to tell more.  For those of you won don't want to know more, here's the little bit I'll give you.  Like the covers of the books, this story differs from Wonder.  The writing is beautiful, but in a very different way.  It takes place in a different time and setting, and while the characters will stick to you, it's in a different way.  The careful planning that went into the writing is shown in the meticulous way the story unfolds.  It's a historical setting, without it being a historical fiction novel.  I can't wait for you and your readers to meet the beautiful characters in this story and fall in love with Palacio's writing all over again!

Now, for the blog readers who want to know a little more without any spoilers... Read on!

This is a story about how love transcends and comes to us in ways we cannot imagine.  It's about how life endures and carries on even when you think all is lost.  It's about how the connection between humans and animals can be lifesaving.

Do I have you hooked yet?  Let me tell you a bit more about this story.

In this story, we meet Silas.  Silas lives with his Pa, a loving father, and a very intelligent man.  Silas' mother passed away in childbirth, but Pa has nothing but beautiful and loving things to say about her.  When we start the story, some unsavory men have come to their house to take Pa away.  They keep calling him by a different name and tell him that their boss has a job that only he can do.  The men have two extra horses, one for Pa to ride and one for Silas, but Pa convinces them to leave Silas out of this.  Pa leaves and gives Silas firm instructions to stay at home.  Not long after, the pony that had been meant for Silas to ride comes back to their home and Silas takes it as a sign to go find Pa.  Silas has a friend that only he can see, Mittenwool, who tries to convince Silas not to leave.  However, Silas is determined and he leaves with the pony.  Mittenwool travels with them.  Their first task is to make it through the Woods.  Silas has history with the Woods and we discover that Silas can actually see ghosts of people who have passed, and the Woods are full of them.  Silas meets an older man in the woods, a US Marshal named Enoch Farmer.  It turns out Marshal Farmer is actually looking for the same people that took off with Pa.  Marshal Farmer reluctantly agrees to take Silas with him.  This sets off a chain of events that ultimately leads Silas onto a journey that will impact the rest of his life.

While this story takes place in the past (1860s), it's not a book about the past.  The setting and time period is important to the plot of the story, but it's not meant to be a historical fiction novel.  Yet another decision by Palacio that makes perfect sense for this story.

The book is separated into eleven parts.  People who remember the quick chapters in Wonder will also like the fast chapters in this story.  I kept saying "just one more part"!  At the beginning of each section, there is a photograph, or what I thought were regular photographs.  Part of the story has to do with photographs and how they were developed and created at that time.  It was another unique and interesting part of the novel.

This book will appeal to fans of Dan Gemeinhart's Some Kind of Courage.  This is a book that I sincerely hope the Newbery committee is looking at very closely right now.  It has all the feels for me!

Pony publishes this coming Tuesday, September 28th.  I highly recommend preordering this one and probably having multiple copies on hand!  

Cat & Dog: A Tale of Opposites - book review - 9.14.21

Concept books used to be books - often board books - that would be all about a concept that is important for young readers to learn.  Alphabet and numeral books, books about colors and shapes, opposites and preposition words and phrases.  There weren't stories included in most of these books, usually they were more about the illustrations in order to make the concept be very clear.  However in recent years there has been a shift in these stories.  They are still usually very clear in teaching a concept, but as the reader goes through the book, a story emerges through the illustrations.

Cat & Dog: A Tale of Opposites

by Tullio Corda

published by Red Comet Press

In Cat & Dog: A Tale of Opposites, each layout has two words that are opposites (inside, outside and slow, fast).  However, as the reader goes through the story, we see there is more that is happening with our main characters - a dog and a cat.  It starts with introducing them as being awake (the cat) and asleep (the dog).  But as the brave cat wakes up the afraid dog, we see their personalities start to emerge.  The dog isn't thrilled with the cat's decision, but the cat clearly wants someone to play with it.  My favorite page shows the dog quite upset and the opposite side of the layout has the cat licking it's paw and the word is "unconcerned"!  But when the animals eventually go outside, it's the cat who gets a little scare and the dog that ends up the hero.  So even though the entire story is told in single or two word phrases, there is actually a story line within the illustrations that creates an actual plot line for the book. I also appreciated that the author didn't stick to typical opposite words, but has some unconventional ones inside, like the above example of "upset" and "unconcerned".  I'll let you discover some of the other fun ones!

If you are thinking about using this book in your classroom, be sure to check out this downloadable activity kit!

Check out this YouTube video of the author explaining more about this fun book!

Thank you to Barbara at Blue Slip Media for the review copy!

Happy - and definitely not sad - reading!!

Once Upon a Camel blog tour - 9.01.21

A story about the power of story.  How telling a story can save a life.  How a story can pass time.  And how a story can make a difference.

Once Upon a Camel

written by Kathi Appelt

illustrated by Eric Rohmann

published by Atheneum

publishes 9.07.21

Summary (from Goodreads)

An old camel is out to save two baby kestrel chicks during a massive storm in the Texas desert.

Zada is a camel with a treasure trove of stories to tell. She’s won camel races for the royal Pasha of Smyrna, crossed treacherous oceans to new land, led army missions with her best camel friend by her side, and outsmarted a far too pompous mountain lion.

But those stories were from before. Now, Zada wanders the desert as the last camel in Texas. But she’s not alone. Two tiny kestrel chicks are nestled in the fluff of fur between her ears—kee-killy-keeing for their missing parents—and a dust storm the size of a mountain is taking Zada on one more grand adventure. And it could lead to this achy old camel’s most brilliant story yet.

My thoughts

Usually when I start talking to kids about books I'll ask about their reading preferences.  It's funny how readers are often definite realistic fiction readers or fantasy readers.  Personally, I gravitate towards realistic fiction, but I can be a sucker for fantasy.  The kind of fantasy I don't usually pick up?  Animal stories.  Especially if the animal is narrating it.  However, there are a few that hold my interest.  I'll be adding Once Upon a Camel to that list.  In fact, I'll go as far as saying author Kathi Appelt is a queen at writing animal-narrated-fantasy stories.  I really think this one may be her best.  I love that it featured a camel as the main character, such a different character from what we typically see.  When the story first started and the haboob was coming, I really didn't understand how she was going to feature an entire story with this as the problem.  I love the way she wove Zada's past history into stories that literally helped the baby kestrels stay calm and survive.

The book is a trim size - it may seem like a long story, but because of the size of the book, you'll find you get through the book much faster than you may have thought.  I also loved seeing Appelt's humor come through in this story.  I laughed out loud several times!  The chapters are relatively short and despite it taking place in the past and in locations that are probably not as widely known, Appelt makes everything feel comfortable no matter what the background knowledge the reader comes to the book with.  I think this book would make an excellent read aloud.  Short chapters, action, heartwarming and touching story, with some humor... yes, kids are going to enjoy this one!

The story is also full of illustrations by the immensely talented, Erik Rohmann.  No surprise but his illustrations really made the story come to life!

Using it with novel study groups?

• doing a closer look at settings?  Track how the setting affects the story.  What details did Appelt use to show this story takes place in the past?
• study the cause/effect plot lines
• there are three storylines to follow: Zada's current trek, Pard and Perlita's journey, and Zada's stories from the past.  How does the author keep them different?  How do the storylines intersect?
• think about the concept of story.  What stories are told?  Why are they important?  How did the author use this concept within the story itself?

I am so excited to get this story into the hands of readers next week (Tues., Sept. 7th)!  I know readers are going to fall in love with Zada... they'll laugh with her and perhaps even shed a tear.  Make sure you have this one on your release radar!

More about author Kathi Appelt:

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award Finalist, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the National Book Award Finalist for The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. Some of her award-winning books include Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee), Keeper, and Max Attacks to name just a few. She lives in College Station, Texas. To learn more, visit her website at kathiappelt.com.

Find Kathi Appelt on Facebook and Pinterest!

Would you like to own a copy of this gorgeous story (the answer is yes!)?  Atheneum has generously donated a copy for giveaway (US addresses).  Fill out the form for your chance to win.  A winner will be selected on September 8th.