It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.
My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.
Last week I was devastated by the news of Anthony Bourdain's death. So I wrote a piece about what he meant to me:
Remembering Anthony Bourdain with No Reservations
Last week I finished reading:
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Written with an incredible point of view: the collective LGBT voices who died tragically and unnecessarily as they observe modern day LGBT youths struggling and going about their lives.
Picture books that stood out in the pile:
Take Your Octopus to School Day by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Diana Schoenbrun
How can you not love a kid with a pet octopus named Thurgood?
No Hugs for Porcupine by Zoe Waring
Prickly porcupine is sad that no one will hug him, but soon one of his woodland friends will find a solution to show his affection.
Play with Me! by Michelle Lee
Nico and Pip both have different ideas of what “play with me” means. One wants to play games, the other wants to play the cello.
Valensteins by Ethan Long
Love doesn’t have to be about hugs and kisses. Sometimes it’s just sitting quietly looking at the moon together.
I Just Want to Say Good Night by Rachel Isadora
A tale as old as time: it’s bedtime and a little child does whatever she can to avoid going to bed. In this case, saying good night to everyone and everything in her village. Loved the nod to Good Night Moon. The Funeral by Matt James A lovely examination of death and sadness and how children remind us that even in death, life goes on. Currently reading:  Rebound by Kwame Alexander Currently reading with my ears:  Posted by John David Anderson |
I'll have to look for The Funeral. I think we need more ways to allow children to discuss death.
ReplyDeleteI would love to get my hands on I Just Want to Say Goodnight and Funeral. They both sound great! I really liked Posted (and see it's currently on Kindle sale for just $1.99) and Rebound, so I hope you're enjoying those. And I wanted to say that I appreciated your piece on Bourdain. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in The Funeral - I've seen some fantastic picture books in translation that look at death, but as North Americans we're traditionally much more conservative when it comes to tackling "big issues" with children, like death and sex, so finding great picture books that honestly and respectfully tackle these topics can be a bit of a challenge sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your piece on Anthony Bourdain. It's really discouraging to realize that there is so much pain, anguish, and loneliness in the world and it's often difficult to tell who is suffering. It makes us realize how much more we need to do to carry each other's burdens and make sure that our neighbors know they're not alone. I had The Funeral on my list this week, too. I think we can take comfort that we can honor Anthony Bourdain's life by carrying on that legacy of relationship building over great food just like the kids in that story honored their uncle's memory by enjoying playtime outdoors. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your books.
ReplyDeleteWow, I've only read one of your picture books! Lots to add to the TBR.
ReplyDeleteI really need to get to Rebound!
So many of these picture books sound great. I have not read any of them.
ReplyDeleteI Just Want To Say Goodnight looks gorgeous - seems like a new Rachel Isadora picturebook - looking forward to finding it in our shelves. I've been meaning to read Two Boys Kissing for the loooongest time now. I do hope I get to it soonest!
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