It's Monday! What are you reading? 10-26-2020

 

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 read and loved:

What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illustrated by Kass Reich

This book had my heart. A little girl named Grace likes to help her neighbor Larry with his beautiful backyard garden and throughout their friendship, they find ways to problem-solve not only in the garden, but in the community as well.

This Old Dog by Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo

A succinct, yet stunningly written and heartfelt book that reminds us all what a privilege it is to love an old dog.

Saturdays are for Stella by Candy Wellins, illustrated by Charlie Eve Ryan

George loves that he gets to spend every Saturday with his Grandma Stella. They do all sorts of fun (and sometimes not-so-fun) things together. Until one day Stella is no longer there to spend every Saturday with. And now George has decided to cross out all the Saturdays on his calendar. That is, until a new Stella enters his life. A story that is a testament to the beauty and heartbreak of the cyclical nature of life. The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros It's really difficult to explain the emotional impact of this story without reading it for yourself. It manages to be lighthearted while also possessing a gravitas that is not overly didactic when it comes to how we should treat refugees and asylum seekers. This story is going to linger in my mind for a long time. Peanut Goes for the Gold by Jonathan Van Ness, illustrated by Gillian Reid Jonathan Van Ness, of Queer Eye fame, has created a lovely story about a guinea pig who identifies as nonbinary and marches to the beat of their own drum. This isn’t so much a teaching book as it is a book that seamlessly utilizes the singular they pronoun as a way to normalize it in speech and writing for kids and adults alike. There is no direct instruction here about what it means to use the singular they. it is just used in the story and is therefore normalized. I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith A moving poem about a boy with a stutter. The writing uses accessible figurative language to give the reader an opportunity to better understand what it means to live with a stutter. Currently (Still) Reading: I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph\ Currently (Still) Reading with My Ears: Parkland by Dave Cullen