Monday, More from my Book Buddy

        Thanks to Jen at Teach.Mentor.Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers for hosting our Monday Reading community. I discover so many wonderful books here.

         I’ve completed only a few picture books this week, and have nearly finished A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (with a group).  Both good, both different, but have more commonalities than I originally thought. I highly recommend both.

Fossil – written and illustrated by Bill Thompson (also authoring Chalk)

           I should have read this a while ago, but never got to it. Thank goodness my book buddy brought it to me. A young boy, about middle school age, discovers a interesting rock on the beach, but stumbles and when the rock falls, it splits open, revealing “a fossil”. The boy looks up, and there is the fern-like plant, growing near the water. The adventure begins there, as the boy discovers more, and unfortunately “more” come to life. This is a wordless picture book that ignites the imagination. Seeing what is discovered, and then realizing it may appear is exciting. I’m sure a spread of ages will enjoy this.

And this too loaned by my friend: Old Bob’s Brown Bear - written and illustrated by Niki Daly

            I love circle stories, ones that begin with one premise, and circle round again after a detour. An old man says he’s never had a teddy bear to love, and is given one for his birthday. His granddaughter Emma can tell he really doesn’t know how to love a bear, and since she’s young, she nearly throws a tantrum so she can take the bear home. Each visit is the same until finally Emma gets to take the bear on a little vacation. The story shows the love that “can” be given if one only knows how. You’ll need to find the book to get the rest of the story.

Baba’s Gift – written by Beverley & Maya Naidoo and illustrated by Karin Littlewood

            This is a sweet story about a couple of kids who are so excited they get to go with their Gogo (I discovered it means grandmother or elderly woman) to the sea. In this culture, that means the Indian Ocean. The authors are from South Africa and are mother and daughter. Their Baba (father) has carved and created a sailboat for them to take along since he has to work and cannot go. The joy of playing in the sea is beautifully shown in the story, and the need for some prediction will occur as the children concentrate so much on their sand play that they don’t notice the tide is coming in. When readying to go home, they discover the boat has disappeared. There is a happy ending, also because of the sea. I enjoyed that children can learn how different children go on a day trip, and what foods they take on a picnic. It’s fun.

              Poetry

The Doubtful Guest - written and illustrated by Edward Gorey

            I don’t know how many of you like Edward Gorey, but my daughter and I loved reading his work when she was growing up. This book has the strange and wry sense of humor of Gorey. I’ve used it with my poetry students (older middle school) to show them another side to poetry, creating an imaginative, but interesting, story.  This is about a strange bird-like creature who arrives uninvited one day and does unexpected things. It’s rather hard to describe. I hope you’ll find the book and enjoy it.

Next: I still need to read Miss Emily by Burleigh Muten.  And I’m going to read some NetGalley books for a while. I’ve been ignoring them too long. Finally, I have The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin and hope to start it. It sounds good.