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.

Last week I reviewed the book Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed and said that it might be fun to cook up a batch of daal and try it, since there's a recipe printed at the back of the book.  

My husband really enjoys cooking new and interesting ethnic foods. So he copied the recipe, dug out the crock pot and got to work. It was definitely interesting! He was careful not to make it too hot/spicy, but there was plenty of spice in there to give it flavor. If you're making it for young children, you might want to go easy on the spices or just give really small portions to try. Anyway, it tasted fine BUT even after a big dose of Pepcid and many glasses of water, I still had indigestion from it. So while it was fun to try, I probably won't be having it again. My husband, on the other hand, LOVED it and had no digestive issues at all. 

At any rate, after all of our culinary adventures and all of the walking in the fabulous summer weather, here is the round-up of picture books that I managed to read this week:

Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

When you're little, it seems like it takes forever to grow. And it's easy to become very impatient. Little Juniper is tired of everything being too big for her - the toilet, the car seat, movie seats. At school, she makes a new friend, Clove. Clove is a little squirrel and so much smaller than Juniper. When Juniper visits Clove's house, everything seems so small there. This is a good story to talk about perspective - Clove feels small in her own house but feels huge in her friend's house. It's also got a good message about being happy with who you are and self-acceptance.

Turtle and Tortoise Are Not Friends by Mike Reiss, Ashley Spires (Illustrator)

The beginning of the school year is a great time to share this story about tolerance for differences and living in relationship with each other. Turtle and Tortoise are born in the same pen and right away embrace misinformation about themselves and use that as a reason to reject the idea of friendship with each other. Because these creatures live so long, they go many years without talking to each other or helping each other in any way. But an unfortunate accident leaves them both stuck on their backs and they're going to have to figure out a way to redeem their relationship and move past it in order to help each other get back on their feet. Sometimes young people have a hard time moving past misinformation and prejudices to realize that we all are more alike than different and that differences should be celebrated rather than letting them close us off to terrific friendships.

Little Unicorn Is Angry by Aurélie Chien Chow Chine 

This cute picture book helps young readers learn a breathing strategy to deal with anger. Little Unicorn is usually happy, but there are days when nothing seems to go his way. Sudden rainstorms interfere with his outdoor plans, his dad won't carry him to school, his mom makes him take a bath when he'd rather keep playing. The colorful illustrations along with the simple, relatable text make this a nice way for young people to learn that their emotions are normal and there are good strategies for dealing with them.

Little Unicorn Is Scared by Aurélie Chien Chow Chine 

This companion book to Little Unicorn is Angry, has the same character, who is normally just fine, experiencing fear at bedtime. Little Unicorn loves the daytime and all the fun things to do in the sunshine. But when it's nighttime, he eats his dinner super slowly and brings a big stack of books to bed so his mom will take a long time reading them all. When the lights are finally turned off and Little Unicorn is in bed, he practices breathing techniques to help him deal with his fear.

Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin, Ebony Glenn (Illustrator)

Anyone who's ever auditioned for a play, especially a musical, knows how stressful and vulnerable it can make you feel. Tameika loves to sing, act, and dance. When the auditions for her school's production of Snow White are announced, she is so excited. She attends both days of the tryouts, but then overhears the unkind and hurtful words of some of the other children - she's too tall, too chubby, too brown to be cast as Snow White. These words have a huge impact on Tameika, and she becomes very discouraged. Her parents help her to remember that she is tall enough, chubby enough, brown enough and good enough to be whatever she wants to be. This book has an awesome message about kindness, acceptance, and not buying into the stereotypes that others place on people. This would be a great book to share at the beginning of the school year.

I Can Write The World by Joshunda Sanders, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)

Gorgeous artwork along with uplifting text come together in this picture book that helps young readers see that everyone's story is important and everyone has the power to share theirs with the world. The little girl in the story is growing up in the Bronx and her world is filled with amazing colors, sights, sounds, smells that all come together to make her home uniquely wonderful to her. But when she watches stories on the news, an all together different picture takes shape - one that's told through a negative lens. A school writing assignment gives her the opportunity to tell her story and present her neighborhood's story from her own experience. This would be a terrific book to inspire young writers, especially at the beginning of the school year.

Count on Me by Miguel Tanco

This sweet picture book shares the experience of a little girl who loves math. Sometimes that's hard for the others around her to understand, but she sticks with her passion and tries to share it with her family and friends. I think this would be a good book to share with young readers at the beginning of the school year as it could serve as a springboard for kids to find what their passions are. There's also some fun geometry information at the back of the book that might have young mathematicians finding their own examples of math in the world around them.

Max Attacks by Kathi Appelt, Penelope Dullaghan (Illustrator)

Cat owners will definitely be able to appreciate this fun, rhyming picture book. Gorgeous illustrations and bouncy text show a day in the life of a house cat and his attempts to get to the tantalizing bowl of goldfish. As Max gets ready to pounce, though, he is constantly distracted by other fun things to attack - a small lizard on the window screen, a laundry basket full of dirty socks, an untied shoe string under the dining table. I can think of several cat owners that would LOVE this book!

Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris 

This fun picture book shows what happens when, instead of overthinking things, everyone decides to go with the flow. Living in community with others requires us to trust others and appreciate the diversity of experiences and ideas that make us richer. The animals in this story go along with bear on a wild ride, but come to realize that they're all in it together. This might be a good story to share during the first days of school when classroom communities are beginning to build relationship.