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 titles, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
Wow, it’s almost September, can you believe it? Where did the summer go?
This past week…
I talked about a new-to-me picture book that’s toddler time GOLD. If you haven’t seen Tiptoe Joe yet, definitely pick it up and take a look, it’s simple and sweet and very fun.
I shared a very pretty rhyming picture book that looks like one of those adult colouring books that’s been coloured in by an actual artist. Some Birds is pretty, pretty, pretty, and I think it could inspire some fun artistic classroom activities.
My Reading Staycation project continued with one of my all-time favourite illustrators, the wonderful Julie Flett. Her bilingual alphabet book Owls See Clearly At Night is a loving celebration of the critically endangered Metis language Michif. If you only take a look at one book from this post, I highly, highly suggest that it be this one. Elegant, heartfelt, beautiful and powerful.
Australia month is coming to an end on The Book Wars, and I shared a lovely little picture book called Mr. Huff. Mr. Huff is all about a little boy whose sadness follows him around like a giant cloud, getting in the way and just ruining everything. It’s a sensitive exploration of childhood emotions, and a great means of introducing discussions on mental health and emotional wellness.
I may have also sneaked a Kiwi picture book into Australia month…shhhh….Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy is a bestselling New Zealand picture book that has become a treasured bedtime story for countless Antipodean kiddies. This classic story has recently been translated into Maori, allowing even more children to join Hairy Maclary on his silly adventures.
I recently finished The Gold Eaters, a sweeping historical epic set in the New World of Francisco Pizarro. Our protagonist Waman is a young Inca boy who is kidnapped by the Spanish and forced into servitude as a translator. The longer Waman spends as a prisoner of the Spanish the more out of touch he becomes with his traditions and his culture, and the more he becomes a spiritual wanderer, torn between cultures, feeling like he belongs to neither.
The back copy write up for this one is a bit misleading – it talks about our hero Waman seeking to be reunited with his “true love”, when in reality the romantic story line is perhaps the weakest aspect of the story. Still, it’s set in a period in history I’m not that familiar with, and I did enjoy being able to explore a different world. I did wish the story had focused more on the Inca culture and characters than the Spanish, though – I feel like the Inca characters would been far more interesting than their Spanish counterparts.
Being on a bit of a historical fiction kick, I also read Blood and Beauty : The Borgias, which recounts some juicy periods in history that perhaps not surprisingly were glossed over in my Catholic high school history classes. Unfortunately, this novel takes fascinating historical figures and salacious actual events and makes them…well…pretty meh. The book is long, and you feel every page. It just kind of drags, which isn’t something you’d expect from a book recounting the lives of the scheming, scandalous Borgias. Not a terrible book by any means, and obviously thoroughly researched, but unfortunately a bit too dry for my liking.
Interestingly enough, both stories were told in the third person present tense (James goes to the door. He pauses. He opens the door. He is eaten by a dinosaur.”), which I can never quite seem to get into.
So, how has your reading week been?
Third person present is not my favorite either, it can just be too jarring. And Blood & Beauty does look like it could be fascinating- sorry to hear it was dry. I think Some Birds looks cute.
I just can’t seem to get into third person present, and it gets even more jarring when shifting from events in the past to the present. ARGH not my fave, ha!
I love Hairy MacClary good on you for sneaking it in, I gave this one to a grand niece to make sure she had at least one! Love the look of Tiptoe Joe!
Awww, yay! Yeah, had to sneak a little Kiwi into the blog’s Aussie month, maybe one day I’ll convince the group to do a New Zealand month! 😉
Wow… a bit of an array there! I don’t review too many kids books though have one at the moment I’m trying to finish but my co-reviewer has just had his 5th birthday and is far too distracted!
I read a lot of children’s books for work, and I like to throw in a few adult books into my Monday posts, since that’s what I read recreationally. Ha, a fifth birthday would be very distracting! 🙂
I wish I read more picture books from around the world. Thanks for sharing these.
http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/08/my-twentieth-first-day-of-school-as.html
There are some great books here, I might have to look into using a few of these in my classroom. Thanks for sharing. I am a big fan of Hairy Maclary. I just read my son the slinky malinki book tonight!
Have a lovely reading week
Amanda @ mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
Too cute! I love rhyming picture books, and it was tough to choose between Hairy and Slinky for the post! 🙂
Love the illustration of Owls sees clearly at night. Gorgeous. The Gold Eaters seem interesting! Hope you will have a good week! Here’s my link: http://marelithalkink.blogspot.co.za/2016/08/the-sunday-post-double-up-to-100.html
Julie Flett is an amazing Canadian First Nations author/illustrator, definitely check out her books if you get a chance!
My kids LOVED TipToe Joe!
Sarah Dunant is one of my favorite historical novelists, but I remember not enjoying “Blood and Beauty” as much as her other books.
I can’t believe it took me so long to discover Tiptoe Joe, it’s such a great story time book!
I adore anything Linley Dodd’s books – from Slinky Malinki to Hairy Maclary and back again! They are so much fun to read out loud. I’m also a fan of Julie Flett’s work. I love the cover of some birds. Mr Huff reminded me of Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. One of our grade 5teachers took time to read it at the end of the school year last May/June to initiate a conversation about grief and leaving. It really helped to calm down the emotional frenzy and that ensuing behaviour from her grade sevens.
It’s so important to be able to start those emotionally-charged conversations with children – emotions can be so confusing and even frightening, and it’s so important that kids feel comfortable and confident expressing themselves.
And yes – I love rhyming books like Slinky Malinky and Hairy Maclary – so much fun to read and share!!
So many new to me and they look wonderful, Jane! I will see if my library carries some. I may have to purchase or request Owls See Clearly At Night-sounds wonderful! Thanks!
Ooh yes, I hope you can get your hands on Owls See Clearly At Night – I never know how easy it is to find Canadian books outside of Canada, which is a bit of a shame, our independent publishers publish some pretty unique stuff!
All of your picture books are new to me this week! I’ll definitely have to check them out at the library. Have a great week!
Yay, I love being able to share lesser-known titles! Tiptoe Joe should be pretty easy to find, but the Aussie and Canadian books might be a little harder to source, but they’re well worth the search!
Some Birds does look like one of those new coloring books! I do enjoy them, wish I had more time!
My mum bought me an adult colouring book for Christmas, and to be honest I found it so stressful, my inner kindergartener was just obsessed with making sure everything was coloured in the lines…!! 😉
I added Owls See Clearly at Night to my wishlist! Thank you! I hadn’t heard of this book before, and it looks fantastic!
I’m glad I was able to share it with you! It’s such a beautiful book, and such a powerful message. Preserving our indigenous languages is so important.
Tiptoe Joe’s cover makes me giggle!
Thank you for sharing all of these books! I didn’t know any of them 🙂
Happy reading this week!
Thanks for stopping by, I’m always glad when I can share some lesser-known, but no less awesome, books with my fellow kidlit enthusiasts!
I don’t really like third person present either, it’s so weird to try and slip into. The whole style really makes the story feel sort of rough. Tiptoe Joe looks so cute! I’ll definitely have to find a copy.
3rd person present is just as awkward as 2nd person to me. lol My reading week has sucked so far. *sigh*