It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share some of the titles you’ve been enjoying, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
I missed a few Monday posts, but feel free to check out my recent reviews of Balderdash, Zombelina, and Pandora, three picture books that are very different, but all great in their own way. I also wrote a post all about my writing essentials – things that help get me in the write frame of mind! Get it? The write frame of mind? Because they’re my writing essentials?
Ah well, enough of my punny humour! Here’s what I’m sharing this week!
Lots of things at the beach scare Sukie. Lots. Because she is just a small dog, and the stairs are big and sandy, and the waves are big and whooshy, and the balls are big and beachy. And besides, there might be lobsters. With endearing illustrations and a perfectly paced text that captures a timid pup s looping thoughts, here is a funny and honest read-aloud about how overwhelming the world can be when you’re worried and how empowering it is to overcome your fears when it matters the most.
Oh my goodness! As a person who has turned worrying into an Olympic sport, I can relate to dear little Sukie the dog on so many levels. Like Sukie I overthink just about everything, and my need to plan for every possible (or even impossible) outcome can be paralyzing at times.
There Might Be Lobsters offers a very sweet, very gentle message of hope for children who struggle with anxiety. The text doesn’t belittle Sukie or make fun of her worries, and the author’s description of the way Sukie’s mind leaps from the probable to the quite improbable in terms of worries feels so very real. While most of us don’t simply overcome our worries in a single afternoon, I’d suggest that the real message of the story is that, when it really matters, we are all stronger and more capable than we might give ourselves credit for, and that we can be brave and heroic when we need to be, no matter how much we might worry.
A reassuring and loving story of a little dog’s triumph over her fear, There Might Be Lobsters is a delightful story with special appeal for those of us who understand exactly how Sukie feels.
Florence in the year 1475 was the intellectual & artistic center of the flowering Italian Renaissance. Into this gem-like city-state, ruled by the patron of arts & letters, Lorenzo de’ Medici, was born one of the greatest geniuses the world has produced–Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, poet, architect & engineer. Few artists have matched the grandeur of his conceptions, or the power of his creations. To know his life is to know the history of Italy’s glory.
This biographical novel tells the life story of celebrated Italian sculptor Michelangelo, blending fact and fiction to bring an enigmatic historical figure to life. I was only vaguely familiar with Michelangelo and his works prior to starting this historical novel, and the world Irving Stone creates, of a Florence catapulting itself from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, is absolutely fascinating. Michelangelo, at least as portrayed by Stone, is a strange and intriguing character, a man so single-mindedly obsessed with his art that he is willing to sacrifice just about everything else in order to pursue it. He has absolutely no interest in wealth or superficial things, his life is totally and utterly devoted to sculpture, and to be unable to create is akin to being unable to breathe. This kind of passion absolutely fascinates me – while I enjoy my job, I’m certain I could be just as happy in another line of work, and while I love writing, my life wouldn’t be over if I couldn’t. But for some artists, being able to create is what keeps them alive, and without their creative outlet they would simply fade away, and life would lose its meaning.
It’s hard to say how much of The Agony and the Ecstasy is fiction and how much is fact, but it’s clear that a great deal of research went into its creation. Florence is beautifully and vividly realized, and the tumultuous time period is fascinatingly captured. This is a time of great upheaval in Europe, as the great knowledge and culture of the ancients was being rediscovered, and embraced. Not all in Europe were comfortable with this “return to paganism”, however, and Michelangelo’s passion for an ancient art form would cast a dark shadow over his career.
The book was published in 1961, at a time when even suggesting that a pillar of Western culture could have been homosexual would have been considered an outrage, and whether in response to this, or because he genuinely perceived the man to have been straight, Stone focuses three of Michelangelo’s female love interests. However, it has long been suggested that Michelangelo might have been homosexual (it was even rumoured during his lifetime), and Stone’s depiction of Michelangelo’s close relationships with his male friends does seem to hint at the possibility. In fact, Michelangelo’s close relationship with his best male friend comes across as deeper and more romantic than any of his relationships with women, and if I were the “shipping” type (a slang term meaning, according to Wikipedia, to “have an affinity for [a fictionalized couple] in one way or another”), I would have rooted for the two of them to eventually confess their love for each other, though unfortunately social conventions, both in Michelangelo’s time and in the 1960s, would likely not have permitted that to happen.
The Agony and the Ecstasy is a fascinating look at an enigmatic man living in an incredible period in history. I cannot attest to its historical accuracy, but as a novel at least I thoroughly enjoyed it.
There Might Be Lobsters sounds like a great book for helping kids discuss their fears. I love that the main character is a dog.
Me too! As a child whose worries could be overwhelming, I would’ve really appreciated a book like this.
There Might Be Lobsters sounds like a great book. Good message and charming illustrations. I’ll have to look for it!
It’s very, very sweet, and I could relate to that dear little doggie all too well!
Do you know the Scaredy Squirrel books. My kindergartners and first graders loved them. They are about facing fears too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Scaredy Squirrel is Canadian! 😀 Oh yes, Scaredy and I have so much in common. 🙂
Both of these books look interesting. As I read your final comments I wondered if maybe he was bisexual. That would easily account for all of his relationships.
Yes, I wondered that, too! I have also read suggestions that he was actually asexual, and that he admired the human form but only as inspiration for his sculpture. It’s fascinating to look at biographies written at different times and by different people, because the author’s perspective and their environment can really impact how the past is interpreted.
There Might be Lobsters sounds like a fun book. The Stone book definitely sounds intriguing.
It’s so, so sweet.
I loved the illustrations in LOBSTER – there was so much to look at!
I must look for Lobsters…too cute and clever. Thanks for the recommendation!
I loved There Might Be Lobsters and could totally relate to it as well!
There Might Be Lobsters looks charming. I have the Irving Stone book book somewhere in my library, and now you’ve made want to hunt it down and actually read it!
I too have worried about hidden lobsters. I will keep an eye out for this one.
I remember having a weekend in college where I didn’t have any studying to do (I’d just taken 6 exams), so of course I went to the library and checked out The Agony and the Ecstasy! Are you interested in being a judge for the Cybils awards? The call just went out if you want to read more about it! http://www.cybils.com/2017/08/the-2017-cybils-call-for-judges-we-need-you.html
I just ordered There Might Be Lobsters for our read aloud initiative at my school. After reading your review, I cannot wait to shar it with teachers and students.
I’ll have to look for There Might Be Lobsters!
These both look good. I love the story and illustrations for There Might Be Lobsters.