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Monday, January 14, 2019

Monday Reading - Fun Picture Books


           Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. 

             I'm reading Dry by Neal Shusterman and it is long! But I've enjoyed it so far! And still reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Other than that, here are a few picture books I liked this week--one brand new, some old and worth knowing. I'm also still reading for the Cybil's poetry judging so my reading life is varied and full!

              I'm also celebrating. I have one more post and that will be my 1800th! It feels as if the time has gone quickly, but then when I look back at March, 2011, that also seems a long time ago. For a few years, I also kept a blog with my class, but have now deleted it, saving a few posts only. I imagine I've written more than 2000 altogether. If you've just started, keep going. It becomes a diary of at least part of one's life. Some of you started before I did and I congratulate you for keeping on, despite your busy lives. Most of you are still in education and are marvelous mentors for students.

         Enjoy these gems!



        What if you were a child, a young boy, and loved elephants more than anything? You loved to draw them and talk about them. You loved their "hosepipe trunks and their flap-flap ears, their tree-stump feet and their swish-swish tails." But, but, you've never ever seen a real elephant. This is a story about that boy, Frank, and his adventure with Miss Fancy,  one elephant who spent some years in Avondale Park in Birmingham, Alabama. He is that boy who lived only two blocks from the park and helped collect pennies with other schoolchildren so the city could raise the money to buy Miss Fancy from a circus. 
            Wrapping her poignant story with some truth, this brand new wonderful book from Irene Latham shows the sad history of segregation years ago and the ingenuity of a young boy who only wanted to touch Miss Fancy. Finally, Frank got to see her when she came by train, but when the crowd arrived, with Miss Fancy, he walked with her all the way until he couldn't anymore. The sign said "No Colored Allowed". What if you were that boy, heartbroken? There is a reward for being that boy, and I hope you can read Irene's story in order to discover it. John Holyfield encompasses the words with his gorgeous realistic illustrations, filling the pages with color and emotion and detail of this community, its people and a special elephant. Irene adds an informative author's note about the story, the history and adds a real photo of Miss Fancy! The book will be a great start for children beginning to know the history of segregation. 

           Forty years old, a Caldecott honor. I've missed it all these years, and for those who love the music, those who wish every child yearning to play could, this is the book. Perhaps, according to the description, it could be the story of any young musician growing up in the twenties. With fabulous black and white, art deco illustrations, zigging and zagging like jazz itself, another Isadora book to love.





          "No matter how steep or tough the climb, a friend is worth it every time!" That's the mantra for this book, a cheerful 'let me help' book with a surprise you'll love at the end. Brian Lies tells the simple cumulative story and illustrates with joy, even in a snowstorm. How can one resist a duck with a stocking cap and a chipmunk named Izzy with a striped scarf? 











          Giving love in all the ways one can, unable to stop time, but celebrating the moments, "forever or a day". Gorgeous illustrations, both sweeping vistas, interesting groups of people in varied scenes, and small, wonderful moments.
       Another older book, by the author of May I Bring A Friend?, long ago Caldecott winner. Simply told, a perfect book for everyone to read, from the youngest making friends to the oldest politicians in D.C. It's all about perspective and compromise, right? Very fun book.
        I love David Almond's books and snatched this up when I saw it at my library. Levi Pinfold's work in the illustrations is both eery and joyful, ghosts of music swirl through the background as the story is told. A father wakes his daughter to walk out into the valley in the Northumberland wilds, to watch the animals, breathe in the grasses and flowers, tear off the boarded up windows of the stone homes, enter and play her music. Those pages of small pictures of all that would be gone create a poignant goodbye. The father and daughter are both celebrating the music played all throughout the years and those that danced to it, for it would soon be buried beneath a lake. The Kielder Dam was ready to be finished; the valley would be flooded. It's a gorgeous book and the author's note tells us that it is true, told to Almond by Mike Tickell, now a singer and songwriter and his daughter, Kathryn (then a young girl) who has grown up to be "one of the world's great folk musicians and composers.

more pictures
























Happy Reading!

21 comments:

  1. 1800 posts! Wow! I am fairly new to blogging and I admire your dedication! Congratulations! I have not read Miss Fancy yet and I agree it would be a great picture book to teach the history of segregation. I am a big fan of Brian Lies and recently read Got to Get to Bears for #classroombookaday. They loved it! Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks, Laura, fun to hear how your class loved Got to Get to Bears. It is a sweet story! Enjoy Miss Fancy when you can!

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  2. I love seeing some of the older PBs show up in Monday posts! Ben's Trumpet is so good. I may have to revisit my Caldecott challenge and get the remaining books I haven't read through ILL.

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    1. I've enjoyed finding some of the older ones, too. Did I find Ben's Trumpet from you, Elisabeth? It is wonderful!

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  3. Oh my GOODNESS! I have had The Dam on my TBR list, but I haven't yet found a local copy. I have to read this book!! Our family (great grandparents) owned thousands of acres of land that they ranched for many years before the government told them they were going to dam up the three nearby rivers and that it would cover a large portion of the family ranch. So they made an offer to my great grandfather and he sold off a huge chunk of the land, which is now under water. This book might made a wonderful gift to my family in memory of that life-changing event. I just wish my grandmother was still alive to read it. :( Thank you for the shares this week, Linda!

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    1. And WOW at 1800/2000! I totally agree on just starting with blogging and keeping at it. I've had a couple different blogs and websites starting during the 1999-2000 school year. After losing my entire personal website two years ago (with family photos/videos, book reviews, and important data from every year of my teaching career), I cried and stormed around my house for a long while before I finally admitted defeat and started over with Wordpress. I don't blog daily, but this #imwayr community has been a nice way to start over and get accustomed to making time to write. Maybe I'll eventually branch out and join other communities. :)

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    2. Thanks for sharing your own blogging experiences, Shaye. I'm so glad you're back. But especially thanks for telling about your family's connection to this book, The Dam. As I wrote, I love David Almond & adored this picture book by him. I hope you do get it for your family, OR write your own story!

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  4. Wow that's a pretty amazing blog achievement! I think I've been blogging since 2014, which feels like forever ago, but I'm nowhere near 1800 posts!! And wowowowowow The Dam looks incredible!

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    1. Thank you, Jane. I've enjoyed the blogging very much, and yes, The Dam is wonderful. Hope you enjoy many of these.

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  5. Your books are all new to me this week. I loved Brian Lies' The Rough Patch, so I'm really looking forward to reading Got to Get to Bears'. Thanks for sharing these. I'll start looking for them at my library before the next snowstorm hits! Have a great week!

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    1. Terrific, Jana. Yes, Brian Lies writes some wonderful books. Hope you find & enjoy them all.

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  6. Sadly, my library doesn't have Meet Mis Fancy on order yet. I placed a hold on The Dam, because it reminded me of a similar event from when I was a young girl and huge swathes of land were flooded in the Arrow Lakes region for the Hugh Keenleyside Dam. Many of my aunts, uncles and cousins lost their homes because of it.

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    1. Wow, another story about a dam. I have no personal connection but one mountain reservoir near our condo was once a town & there are history books about it and when everyone had to move. The book is beautiful and poignant, Cheriee. Enjoy Miss Fancy when you can, Cheriee. Maybe soon? Thanks!

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  7. Joe the Bear and Same the Mouse is not a book I'm familiar with. It sounds interesting. Have a great week!

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    1. It's old, Lisa, but thank goodness my library still had it. Great example of compromising.

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  8. Congrats on your 1800th post. and what great reads you bring to us in this one.. Each and everyone of them sounds wonderful and I am going to look in our library for them..

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    1. Thank you. Hope you have some fun reading them.

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  9. I've seen so many people talk about Got to Get to Bear's, I need to look for that one. I have Miss Fancy in my pile to read, looking forward to it!

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    1. Thanks, Michele. Both are terrific and entertaining in their own special way.

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  10. I have missed stopping by your place, but life has been different this past year. Now that I am done, I hope to stop by more often. Congratulations on your 1800th post! I saw a recent post somewhere of your books, and I remember thinking they had a common theme by the covers...friends, as they all had two people on them. Reading your descriptions, seems I may have been right!

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    1. Thanks, Leigh Anne. It is an apt observation.

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