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. This weekly roundup is a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share recommended (or not so recommended….) titles, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
Title: My Heart Fills With Happiness
Author: Monique Gray Smith / Illustrator: Julie Flett
A gentle, beautiful board book celebrating the simple moments that fill our lives with happiness. Julie Flett is one of my favourite children’s book illustrators, her creations never fail to make me smile. This wonderful book is made even more special by its focus on First Nations families and cultural traditions, mentioning drumming, bannock, and sharing stories with elders. A quietly lovely book for young families of all backgrounds, but of particular joy to to Aboriginal children and families.
Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (that’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to you yankees)
Author: J. K. Rowling
So, I bit of a reread, this. I read through the entire Harry Potter series in college, and was pretty meh about the whole thing. Kind of charming, sometimes boring as all anything, not a bad read but nothing really to write home about.
I just could not understand the rabid obsession this series seems to encourage in so many readers. And you know what?
I still can’t. I’ve finished the first book, and I intend to read the rest of the series, but really? Meh. I still don’t get it.
Oh well. At least I can say I tried. 😉
So, what have you been reading this week?
I adored the Harry Potter series but I have found that fantasy books are a hit or miss for many people.
So true!
What an adorable Harry Potter cover! I’m a bit of a Potter addict myself, but I can understand how people would have trouble getting into them, especially reading the books for the first time as an adult. I started the series toward the beginning of high school and read books four and on as they were released. I think there was something special about getting caught up in the frenzy of the book and movie releases. I’m not sure I’d be as enthused if I read them now for the first time — I can’t even get into YA books three-quarters of the time! Still, HP will always be near and dear to my heart! 🙂
I think I just never really got swept up into the Potter world at the right time, I was 14 when the first book came out, and fancied myself far too grown up for “kids” books – little did I imagine what I’d one day be doing for a living. 😉
I loved Harry Potter, and perhaps it was because of two things: I was reading along with quite a few students through those years, and my daughter-in-law was also so enthusiastic (as an adult) about them, has a signed copy of every one. But there are also other fantasy series I like too, so perhaps it’s a fantasy thing. Your first book shared looks wonderful, Jane. Thanks for that, too!
One of my friends actually did a university thesis on Harry Potter! And “My Heart Fills With Happiness” is very lovely, I have a soft spot for gentle, sweet books. 🙂
Heh, I wasn’t obessed with HP either and was really scared off by the hype. But now I really enjoy especially the first 4 books and they’ve become comfort reading. But there’s tons of other wonderful series to love 🙂
I think that might have been part of what put me off reading them for so long, I didn’t like all the hype and buzz. I definitely have my comfort books too. My mother actually reads the entire LOTR series every year, it’s her little ritual, like visiting old friends again. 🙂
I too love Julie Flett’s work! I’m so happy to find another person who isn’t really a Harry Potter fan. I read the first one when it came out and was so so about it. Then I started the second, but just couldn’t continue. A friend gave me a copy of Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass and I devoured it overnight and came back to get the rest of the series. I haven’t read a Harry Potter book since. (I haven’t even seen the movies)
Yay! Sometimes I feel like a bit of an outcast in the children’s lit world, certainly not disliking the Harry Potter series, but just not getting all that swept up in it. I remember devouring the Golden Compass series too!
I adore Julie Flett’s artwork. I have been eager to get my hands on this one. Harry Potter has a spot in my heart. They aren’t perfect writing, but the books make me laugh and I shared them with my children. We have a lot of great memories with them. I read the series all in a row for the first time about two years ago and fell in love with them once again, but I get that they don’t work for everybody.
I completely agree, sometimes the stories are more important even than the writing when it comes to connecting us with certain books. I have favourite books from my childhood that I look back on fondly because the characters and the story stayed with me, even after all these years.
I love this board book too! My wonderful friend just got me a Julie Flett print. I am so excited!
How wonderful!! Her illustrations are just so warm and lovely.
Will definitely check out Julie Flett’s work – a largely unfamiliar to me artist. You may want to consider reading the Jim Kay illustrated Harry Potter novels – it might add more to the reading experience. 🙂 Hope the series gets better for you.
Julie Flett is based in my home city! She is a Cree-Metis (Canadian First Nations) author-illustrator, and her work often celebrates First Nations culture and traditions. I hope you can find some of her work, it’s distinct and very lovely.
Haha, I love your honesty about your Potter feelings…not I understand them 😉 That board book looks sweet, I have my second little boy on the way…maybe I will add that one to our collection to offset all the truck books around our home!
Ha, I should talk about Harry Potter every week, it definitely gets the conversation going! 😉 Trucks and trains, such reliable subjects for board books. 🙂
Harry Potter was great fun when reading it with students or my own children. It was also fun to read as they were coming out. Not sure now as an adult with out kids around if they would hold up. My have to read the first one again and see. Thanks for sharing.
My mum discovered Harry Potter in her sixties and quickly fell in love, so they can definitely appeal to grown ups too! 😉
What a charming board book! Thanks for sharing this with #diversekidlit!
Thanks so much! The more love for this book, the better! 🙂
I’ve read kidlit all my life, so I read the Harry Potter books. I liked them alright, but I didn’t find them outstanding or groundbreaking. I had fun reading them to my son when he came along, although I remember finding Order of the Phoenix particularly hard-going — Rowling really captures an annoyingly loud and unwittingly clueless male adolescent. Reading it I could skim through the all-caps shouting, but reading it out loud really tried my patience, even with an eager boy hanging on every word.
You know…I never got into Harry Potter….I keep that a secret, though, in case they revoke my children’s librarian license for not being a Harry Potter fan… 😉