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.
The good news is that we finally had the deck stained and we were able to put the furniture back. I had a great afternoon sitting out there and reading. Unfortunately, the next day the rains came. I know it's nice to have the rain make our grass and trees so green, but it would be nice to have some sunshine! Now that summer is knocking on the door, I know I can sit out there with a glass of iced tea and escape the stress of our crazy corona virus world. Hope you're finding warm, sunny places to read as well! Here's what I've been reading this past week:
The coronavirus pandemic Stay Home orders has me reaching for all sorts of reading material. Just for something different I pulled my husband's copy of this story of organized crime, specifically the Bonanno family. The book opens on a rainy night in 1964, when Joseph Bonanno mysteriously disappeared. The book follows the story of Bill Bonanno's search for his father and his fight with those that tried to take advantage of the chaos that followed. Those that enjoy mafia movies might enjoy this true, inside look at life inside a big crime family.
This lovely, wordless picture book uses gorgeous artwork to tell an enchanting story about friendship and love. A little boy and his dog walk to a pond in the woods. A flock of swans are there and they take the boy and his dog on a magical journey. The boy lets the dog of his collar to frolic with butterflies, but things take an unpleasant turn when he tries to put the collar on the swan. It brings to mind the saying, "If you love something, let it go." There could be lots of opportunities for kids to tell their own stories with this book and maybe even create their own stories of friendship.
I always wished I had a magic hat! I think it started when I was a little kids watching Frosty the Snowman Christmas special on TV. Their magic hat made the snowman come alive. This magic hat, which belongs to Hattie, the Magical Rabbit, has a bunch of surprises packed inside it. As Hattie pulls out a cat, a squirrel, and a bunch of other increasingly larger animals, young readers will have fun trying to guess what's coming out next. This would be a fun read aloud and might help young readers learn about making predictions when reading.
This cute picture book shares with young readers a great message about friendship, tolerance, and self-acceptance. The lemmings have a very distinguished and exclusive society with a long list of rules. Bertie gets a bit tired of the noisy lemming activities so he steps outside and quickly meets a bear. This bear is super friendly and the two of them become fast companions. The other lemmings meet Bear and try to educate him properly, but he doesn't measure up to any of their qualifications for entrance into lemming society. Bertie sticks with him, though, and later, when the lemmings are in trouble, Bear comes to their rescue. This book has an engaging narrative and humorous pictures that will endear it to many young readers. This book could start a great discussion about how we live in community and build relationships with all of our neighbors.
Being a rock doesn't mean that you don't have an interesting life. Old Rock has had some amazing experiences through the years - flying out of a volcano, chatting with dinosaurs, moving around in a glacier - much to the surprise of his friends. His friends think that he must be bored, but after he shares his stories with them, they have a different opinion. The clever text and bright, humorous illustrations is a fun way to talk about the changes through time in the natural world. An author's note at the end gives an illustrated summary of natural history. This could be a fun starting point for further research into natural history.
Even though Passover is over for this year, young readers will enjoy this lovely picture book detailing the celebration that has family and friends at the center of it. This year especially, we are all missing special times of celebrations and get-togethers - Mother's Day, graduations, birthdays, and many others. With a cute story that shows what happens inside and outside, between a young boy and an adorable kitten, kids can learn about togetherness and caring along with the specifics of this Jewish tradition. An author's note at the end explains in even more detail the traditions around Jewish Passover celebrations.
With our corona virus pandemic social isolation going into our second month, sometimes it's easy to feel like the little boy in the lighthouse. The little boy watches and looks way out into the sea, and he's very lonely. But with hope in his heart, he writes a message and sends it out to sea in a bottle. He waits a long time, but never gives up hope until eventually he receives a response. The simple text and gorgeously painted illustrations will warm hearts as readers see the joy of finding a friend. This could be an encouraging read aloud to help youngsters remember that we can change our lonesome circumstances if we are hopeful and creative.
An Amazon Kindle edition of this picture book was available through BookBub for free. I'm not sure how long the book is available at that price, but the other books in the series are available for $2.99 each on Amazon, so still pretty affordable. This is a cute picture book featuring a mermaid, Kaleisha, and her friend, a green sea turtle named Agwe. These two friends have a great story to tell about the importance of keeping the oceans clean, so that sea creatures aren't harmed. Agwe is feasting on some jellyfish, when he accidently ingests a plastic bag. Kaleisha helps him out, but then the two decide to learn about ways to make sure that sort of thing doesn't happen to other animals. The main message of the book is recycle plastic bags and encourage people to use reusable bags as much as possible. This book, especially if it's still free, would be nice to use as an extension of science lessons on ocean environments and ways to protect the planet. It's definitely worth checking out with kiddos that are learning from home.
There's also an animated audio version of this book on YouTube, but the animated story doesn't have the words/text included, so you may want to read the book first and then use the audio version as a helpful read along.
This lovely, wordless picture book uses gorgeous artwork to tell an enchanting story about friendship and love. A little boy and his dog walk to a pond in the woods. A flock of swans are there and they take the boy and his dog on a magical journey. The boy lets the dog of his collar to frolic with butterflies, but things take an unpleasant turn when he tries to put the collar on the swan. It brings to mind the saying, "If you love something, let it go." There could be lots of opportunities for kids to tell their own stories with this book and maybe even create their own stories of friendship
This lovely, wordless picture book uses gorgeous artwork to tell an enchanting story about friendship and love. A little boy and his dog walk to a pond in the woods. A flock of swans are there and they take the boy and his dog on a magical journey. The boy lets the dog of his collar to frolic with butterflies, but things take an unpleasant turn when he tries to put the collar on the swan. It brings to mind the saying, "If you love something, let it go." There could be lots of opportunities for kids to tell their own stories with this book and maybe even create their own stories of friendship
This lovely, wordless picture book uses gorgeous artwork to tell an enchanting story about friendship and love. A little boy and his dog walk to a pond in the woods. A flock of swans are there and they take the boy and his dog on a magical journey. The boy lets the dog of his collar to frolic with butterflies, but things take an unpleasant turn when he tries to put the collar on the swan. It brings to mind the saying, "If you love something, let it go." There could be lots of opportunities for kids to tell their own stories with this book and maybe even create their own stories of friendship
