Monday Reading - Loving Old & New

              Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites.  Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!
          Share with the hashtag #IMWAYR

Thinking of all of you during this challenging time, hope you are doing well and finding joy in your lives every day. This continuing challenge is so hard for everyone. I'm trying to help where I can by supporting those who are virtually closed, still offering carry-out, etc. 

I was distracted last week and did not notice that I published my 2000th post! I've been blogging since 2011 and what a joy it has been to meet so many wonderful people online, like you during this Monday morning sharing, and in-person sometimes! Thanks to all of you for being online friends, rarely more important than now!

I finished Internment by Samira Ahmed. Despite wishing I had read it earlier, I'm also glad I have read it this week, sadly realizing that the issues brought up in terrifying ways feel even more prevalent, but in danger of being overlooked because of the coronavirus pandemic issues. 

on my #MustReadin2020" list

       All at once, Layla and her parents hear loud knocking at the door. Army guys, now called Exclusion Guards, are there along with the police, one whom they know. They order them to pack one bag each, are being taken to a newly opened facility. It's according to the new Presidential Order by the Exclusion authority. It's time for their relocation! Thus begins this horrifying journey as told by Layla to a place near Manzanar, that place of the Japanese Internment during World War II. They are Muslims and with the election of the new president, every part of the lives of this particular religious group are being taken away. This is the first camp, the one that must be successful in setting the precedent that all is okay. "These people" are happy and being taken care of. Layla will not accept it, and with new friends and her boyfriend she had to leave behind, an 'insider' guard, and others revealed as the story moves along, she resists. One line that made me understand how powerful Samir Ahmed has shown Layla's strength, her thinking in the midst of a scary moment: "And that's the opening. The only one I may have. At their core, bullies are cowards. He is what he always was. He can still hurt me. Kill me, even. But he will never win." And from a special author's note: "When fascism comes to America, it will come draped in an American flag." Ahmed shares the background history in her note and a Resource List. It's a book that will stay to be read in years to come. 

            I am grateful to Candlewick Press that keeps me reading wonderful new picture books. These three were published just last week!

          I can't go hiking in our Rocky Mountains now because the slopes are still snow-covered. But, Pete Oswald takes us all along with this father and son on this special hike, up early and driving, big excitement to get there, and finally, they begin. Pete delights with so many details in the colorful illustrations of his wordless tale. There is a backpack that one must click straps tight in the front, binoculars that let one see deer on a faraway slope, an animal track ID book, and one should never forget a camera! Rabbits, Rabbits, birds, flowers, and bees are all around on this long hike in and out of the forest. A bit of fright, then courage happens as they stride over a log bridge with a gorgeous waterfall in the background. They do have a purpose when they, at last, the two reach the top (you'll have to read to discover it), and a surprise in the author's note at the back. I imagine taking this virtual hike with a child, wondering if one could do it, too, or using it to remind of one's own hike to a special mountaintop. One fun addition is the family's marmalade cat at home at the beginning and at the end. It's a wonderful book!