Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.
Now: IntoThe Woods, Tana French, for my book group.
Soon: that new book Last Day On Mars, thanks to Kellee.
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I took a long time reading this book, one by James Herriot I'd never read. I've read all the others a long time ago but needed something sweet and gentle from the past to offer some respite from today's news. This fit my wishes beautifully, stories by Herriot about his early days as a vet and the days of courtship with his future wife, Helen. If you need a bit of a pick me up, this is one that will help.
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It’s amazing that this book has arrived this year. Did they know how much the story is needed? Be careful what you wish for is one message, but the other shows the courage of one, standing for all and speaking up, regardless of the outcome, the punishment. There is that town of La Paz and happy people were so noisy, singing and gadding about talking and laughing. They could hardly think or sleep. They wanted peace and quiet. So they voted out their mayor and voted in someone who promised “peace and quiet”. Law by law was passed, until “Even the teapots were afraid to whistle.” But then, a saucy gallito (a rooster) came to town and roosts in a mango tree. He wakes up singing “Kee-kee-ree-KEE!” Unfortunately, that tree is right under the window of Don Pepe (the mayor), who yelled that it was against the law to sing. That merry gallito said he would sing anyway, that it was a silly law. And he did, even after that mango tree was cut down! Eugene Yelchin’s illustrations brighten the pages with color and broad emotion and action. I adored the expressions on people and animals. You might guess how this story will go, but you must read till almost the end where it says: “But a song is louder than one noisy little rooster and stronger than one bully of a mayor,” said the gallito. “And it will never die -- so long as there is someone to sing it.”
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