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.
Middle Grade Fiction
Sixth grader Jade Levy lives in a town near Denver that sees many residents come and go. Jade has lost several best friends who moved away and never kept in contact. Making her friendless circumstances even more difficult, her father was diagnosed with liver cancer two years prior and her family has been focused on his recovery.
Unwilling to reach out to make any more friends who will probably just be gone tomorrow, Jade turns to her notebook in which she writes about a perfect friendship with a girl named Zoe. In her stories, she and Zoe always have so much fun together and everything is wonderful all the time.
But when one of her classmates figures out a way to bring Zoe out of the pages of Jade’s notebook and into real life, everything changes. Zoe moves into the empty house across the street from Jade and everything that Jade has ever written about her friendship comes true. As exciting as this situation is at first, Jade is uncomfortable when Zoe starts making friends and decisions on her own.
I like that Jade learns so much about just what makes a good friendship and a good relationship. She learns that she can’t be a good friend when she’s trying to control every aspect of Zoe’s life. She has to learn to let go of her controlling attitude, but she also has to let go of fear – fear of losing her friend, fear of losing her dad, fear of not being good enough on her own.
Thomas Merton wrote, “The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” This really sums up this awesome middle grade read.
Picture Books
I received a review copy of this awesome picture book, which uses a fun story about a trip to an amusement park to teach basic concepts of coding. This book, along with How to Code a Sandcastle, is part of the publishing program Girls Who Code. According to Reshma Saujani, the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, "by introducing core concepts of coding to children now, we're helping prepare them for a future of changing the world through code." These books are definitely good choices to have on the STEM shelf in an elementary classroom, and great resources to share with all children.
The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard Funeral by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic
I received a review copy of this sweet picture book that serves as a gentle guide to saying goodbye to a beloved pet. Nearly every reader has experienced this sort of loss at one time or another. Through the years I've held backyard funerals for several cats, a dog, and a goldfish. It's never easy, but I think it's necessary to say goodbye as part of the grieving process. The book covers topics such as choosing the right burial box, arranging for music, flowers, and so on. This might be a good resource to help a young reader who is freshly experiencing this sort of loss, and definitely a book that many children will be able to relate to. It might even serve as a good mentor text for young writers who wish to write practical guides for other topics. A note to teachers and grown-up care givers: even though many people flush small pets (like goldfish) down the toilet, this might cause a clog in the plumbing that could lead to a big mess. Remind young readers to check with parents before digging holes or disposing of pets down drains or the toilet.
I received a copy of this picture book from the publisher in exchange for a review. Moving to a new community is tough, especially when it's completely different from what you've always known. Harpreet Singh loves wearing bright, splashy colors when things are going well. But when his mother gets a job in a new city in a snowy location, Harpreet gets out the more subdued colors and mostly wears white in order to feel invisible. Ultimately he makes new friends and begins to wear his bright colors once more. This book will definitely help young readers consider how important it is to welcome newcomers into our communities by building relationships with them. But it also helps readers see into cultural traditions that may be unfamiliar to them or it may be perfect for young readers who long to see themselves represented in storybooks. At the end of the book, there is a note from an expert of the Sikh religon and culture that explains more about the Sikh religion and the traditional headwear worn by those who follow that faith.
I received a review copy of this picture book in exchange for a review. Just in time for Halloween, this fun picture book plays on the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears with a spooky (but not TOO spooky) twist. The Scare family decides to go for a walk while waiting for their alpha-bat soup to cool off. Along comes Moldilocks, a zombie, and tries their soup, breaks their chairs, and falls asleep in Baby Scare's bed. The fun ending might be a good reminder to young readers that there are all kinds of families, and sometimes families get to choose new members by adopting them. This would be a good addition to a Halloween collection of books and it also might be a good mentor text for young writers trying to create their own twist on traditional fairy tales or "fractured fairy tales".
