View somewhere on Whistler or Blackcomb Mountain
Canadian Geographic Dec/Jan issue - I really enjoyed the most recent issue, and loved the cover articles - on owls and also the grasslands of Canada, and the health of that ecosystem over the last 200 years. New Kid by Jerry Craft - This was a fun and easy comic I finished in about two days. It's about a ...yes...new kid to a new school and the friend group he makes. The pictures are done well, and the story has a really nice flow. I don't even know if I've ever read comic books before this year, but it's quickly becoming a fun 'beach read' for me when I need a break. YA Comic Book I can finish in 2 hours? Why not!? Especially when this one won the 2020 Newberry Medal.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo - This book was created in little niche that I love, also-books in verse (poetry). This book won the 2018 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, and it's well deserved. The poetry is engaging and emotive and it thrusts the plot along really well. You'd never know you didn't read a novel with the amount of information the reader picks up just by short poems. So good!
The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - This was our November book club pick and I really enjoyed it. I didn't love The Glass Castle that was so hyped (and turned into film) because I felt it was very predictable. This book was a weird and wild ride through hundreds of years, different planets, and characters, and the way they end up coming together was...bizarre and really interesting. I likened this to a candy book-something fun and a needed reprieve from all the classics I was reading aloud with my kids.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell - I found myself with a bit of a Rainbow Rowell craving since I haven't read any of her fan-fiction or comics (what she's producing these days) so I found out that this short and sweet comic was at my local library. This story is about two seniors finishing up the last day of their season work at a pumpkin patch, and what ensues. The fun part, for me, was envisioning them working at Vala's (Rainbow Rowell's likely 'home' pumpkin patch, if one has such things), because the fictional one was certainly big enough to be based on it.
Cast Away by Naomi Shahab Nye - I first heard about this poet from my poetry dealer- Padrig O'Tuama, on the Poetry Unbound podcast. It was a poem that was delightful, surprising, and humorously irrevrent, so I quickly looked her up. She mostly writes poetry and fiction for children, and the first book I read was Cast Away-poetry about (literal) trash. She's a trash-picker, and a lot of her poetry are 'found objects', as it were. This book is accessible to both youth and adults, is funny, poignant, and overall hopeful.
Read Alouds:
The Hidden Life of Trees (Illustrated Version) by Peter Wohlleben - This book was excellent. Although I'd have preferred to read the full book, I knew the illustrated version would be a great introduction for Anikka with her Tree study. We paired this with a 5 week Environmental Studies workshop (with a focus on trees) and it was the right amount of information along with illustration/photography. The information I learned in this book was astounding. Highly recommend!
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate - This middle grade novel was sweet and a lovely edition to Anikka's science study this year (Trees), as it gave basic information about a tree as a habitat, where wish trees are from (Ireland), all woven together with a sweet story about friendship and the history in a family.
Renaissance & Reformation Times by Dorothy Mills - This classical textbook is a nonfiction anthology of essays about the Renaissance, reformation, and age of discovery and the people who influenced these world events. Very little of it was dry, but some of the chapters are VERY long. I read this book aloud to the kids as part of their Socials text and while Mills is an engaging writer, some of the information seems a bit obsolete. This was one of the few texts I could find that would give a good overview of this time period (roughly 1500-1750), which is the time period we're studying this year in Socials and Literature.
I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino - This historical novel was excellent. It won the Newberry award in 1966 and you'd never know it was a book published nearly almost 60 years ago! It's very well-written, and the character of Juan, famous Spanish painter Diego Velazquez's slave, comes alive through the pages. This novel was an excellent pairing with the years we're studying (see above) along with the Art history we're studying. 4.5 stars.
I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino - This historical novel was excellent. It won the Newberry award in 1966 and you'd never know it was a book published nearly almost 60 years ago! It's very well-written, and the character of Juan, famous Spanish painter Diego Velazquez's slave, comes alive through the pages. This novel was an excellent pairing with the years we're studying (see above) along with the Art history we're studying. 4.5 stars.
Stories from Don Quixote by James Baldwin - This abridgement of the 1,000 page Spanish classic was perfect for our uses. There's no way I would read--or make my kids read -- a thousand page novel that meanders here and there. We have 20+ books to read for this year, so finding this abridgement was perfect. James Baldwin is a fantastic writer because he's clear, concise, and his talents lie with keeping closely to the original. This story is ridiculous and hilarious but the kids found it a bit tiresome just how ridiculous it was.
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