It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey as a way to share what you have read and/or reviewed in the past week. It's also a terrific way to find out what other people are reading.

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers have given this meme a children's literature focus: picture books, middle grade novels, etc. They "encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting the other bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Summertime is in full swing. There's so much to do with graduation parties, holidays, festivals and fun lazy days when you can just kick back and relax with your books. Here's what I have been reading this past week:

Middle Grade Fiction

Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis

This middle grade novel tells the story of an eleven year old girl who has spent the last several years in and out of foster homes. When we meet December, she’s jumping out of a tree. Readers learn that December, in order to cope with her traumatic past, believes that she is really a bird. She believes that one day her wings, which are hidden underneath a gruesome scar on her back, will unfold and she’ll be able to fly away from everything.

December is placed with Eleanor, who runs a wildlife rescue center. Her affinity for wild animals and her easygoing nature allow her to build a relationship with December. There’s a lot of pain for December to work through in order to be able to trust someone like Eleanor.

At school she becomes friends with Cheryllynn, a transgender who has her own history with an abusive parent. Cheryllynn is the target of bullies at school, especially a mean girl called Jenny, but she helps December get back her private bird book that Jenny took from her.

This book has a lot to say to middle grade kids about kindness, the effects of trauma on a person’s mental health, and learning how to face the world as the person that you are rather than pretending to be someone or something that you aren’t. For young readers that are facing their own battles as foster kids or transgender kids, the worries about bullies and the struggles with anxiety and depression are very real. It may be empowering to read books with characters that are also fighting for the right to be themselves in their homes, schools, and communities.

Picture Books

The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown by Mac Barnett, Sarah Jacoby (Illustrations)

Lots of young readers have included Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny and The Little Fur Family among their favorite story books. This fascinating picture book biography takes a look at the life of the famous children's author by relating little-known, unusual facts about her - like the origins of her penchant for rabbit fur, her habit of swimming naked in cold water, and her peculiar (and perhaps dangerous) architectural choices. The book is 42 pages in length, one page for each year of Brown's life and includes gorgeous illustrations to complement the narrative. This could be a terrific mentor text for young writers looking for ways to highlight interesting and unusual facts in their own informational writing. It could also be great inspiration for those that want to become writers themselves.

Brave Molly by Brooke Boynton Hughes 

This sweet, wordless picture book tells a story of overcoming fear and anxiety to build relationships and live in community with our friends and neighbors. With easy to follow illustrations, we follow a little girl from her bedroom, to a group of children outside her house, and catch up with the monsters of fear and self-doubt who follow her all the way to school. Young readers will be able to relate to the difficulties this girl has in finding the confidence to speak up to her classmates. This might be a good one to share with kids at the beginning of the school year.

Luca's Bridge/El Puente de Luca by Mariana Llanos, Anna Lopez Real (Illustrator)

The story of Luca and his family going to Mexico to stay with his grandmother because his parents have received deportation notices seems to jump right out of the headlines of any newspaper today. The efforts of our government to deal with immigration issues affects many families. The family in this story has two parents who are undocumented immigrants and their children who are citizens of the United States. In order to stay together, they must leave the country together. Luca is having a difficult time leaving his friends, school, and home to go to an unfamiliar country where he doesn't even speak the language. This book is written in English and Spanish. It's very relevant and timely and great for a discussion of the effects of immigration issues on families.

The Cloud Princess by Khoa Le 

This charming picture book tells the story of a beautiful cloud princess who longs to get a closer look at all of the interesting and beautiful things on Earth. When she comes low enough to see everything, she's blown away by how wonderful everything is. But then she realizes that she has to go back up to the sky or she'll become rain. The cover of the book has an iridescent 3-D design that makes it fun to hold and look at. This would be fun to share with other folk stories that describe how things in nature came to be.