Lost and Found (Oliver Jeffers)

I thought the illustrations in this book were beautiful. It's a lovely story about friendship and caring and reunions. The penguin is adorable. I love the idea that fate seemed to bring them together. One of my students said that she has lots of "those" books. Oliver Jeffers books are lovely and creative and even though they're silly, totally logical, it seems!

I didn't realize he wrote The Day The Crayons Quit. I have now put every one of his picture books on hold. Can't wait to read more!


Goodreads says:

From the illustrator of the #1 smash hit The Day The Crayons Quit comes a humorously warm tale of friendship. Now also an animated TV special!

What is a boy to do when a lost penguin shows up at his door? Find out where it comes from, of course, and return it. But the journey to the South Pole is long and difficult in the boy’s rowboat. There are storms to brave and deep, dark nights.To pass the time, the boy tells the penguin stories. Finally, they arrive. Yet instead of being happy, both are sad. That’s when the boy realizes: The penguin hadn’t been lost, it had merely been lonely.

A poignant, funny, and child-friendly story about friendship lost . . . and then found again. 

The Wonderful Towers of Watts (Patricia Zelver)

Kids love REAL stories. This one is a true story of a man with an interesting hobby (fettish?) for building towers. It turns out there really was a Simon Rodia and he built so many amazing things there is now a center called The Watts Towers Arts Center. I want to visit it the next time I'm in LA!

Goodreads summary:

One man's monument to his neighborhood.

Mitchell Goes Bowling (Hallie Durand)

Topics:
Persistence
Learning

There are great illustrations this book. The illustrator captured bowling and its ups and downs perfectly.


Battle on! Head to the lanes for another hilarious, high-energy story as four-year-old Mitchell and his obliging dad strike a winning deal.

Mitchell liked to knock things down.
That’s just how he rolled.

One Saturday, when Mitchell almost knocks down his dad, his dad catches him and puts him in the car. And when they step into the bowling alley, Mitchell feels right at home. Pizza! Giant crashing noises! Special shoes! But as Mitchell picks up the biggest ball and quickly learns the word gutter, and when Dad does a little kick with his leg and earns a big X on the scoreboard, Mitchell starts to get peevish. How can Mitchell get a chance to do a steamin’-hot-potato-dance too? With wit, warmth, and comedic charm, Hallie Durand and Tony Fucile roll another strike with this tale of a lovably rambunctious child and his doting dad. 

The Bears We Know (Brenda Silsbe)

This might be a good friendship story. We could talk about how we need to get to know people rather than make assumptions.

I think we all actually wish we were the bears. However, the narrator seems to be like an old grandma clucking her tongue and shaking her head at these bad neighbors...and she doesn't even know them.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book.

Goodreads says:
Does anyone really know the bears next door?

Every neighborhood has its black sheep... but this one has bears. Well, nobody has actually seen the inhabitants of the house at the end of the road, but that doesn't stop the gossip about The Bears We Know.

In colorfully mischievous illustrations, readers are invited to see for themselves these ursine neighbors living life as they see fit. They sleep late every day, and their house is a mess. They eat bagfuls of chips, and they jump on the furniture. They sing songs that make them cry, and they stay up way too late. Also, they growl if anyone gets too close, so nobody visits. But you don't need to visit to know all about these bears... right?

Originally published as a mini-book, The Bears We Know is back in a full-sized format with new illustrations that highlight the hijinks of these unsavory neighbors. This playful story promises to charm even as it challenges with the question "Does anybody really know their next-door neighbors?"

The Pigeon Needs a Bath (Mo Willems)

The pigeon saga continues. Kids love these books!

I have to read this to my class and see if we can start using "purely coincidental" and "that is a matter of opinion" to our repertoire.  


This is from Storytime with Ryan and Craig



Goodreads says:

The Pigeon really needs a bath! Except, the Pigeon's not so sure about that. Besides, he took a bath last month! Maybe. It's going to take some serious convincing to try and get the Pigeon to take the plunge.

Coyote's New Suit (Thomas King)

This story is long, but really fun. Kids with the ability to listen to a long story will love it. There's lots of silliness (animals taking off their "suits") and trickery on the part of Raven. Coyote, who is often in the family of sly foxes, isn't sly. He's not that bright. He is greedy and starts taking off with all the animals suits.


Goodreads summary:

Coyote’s mighty pleased with his soft, brown suit — until Raven slyly hints it’s not the finest in the forest. Now, Coyote is obsessed: Bear’s suit is much more impressive. Porcupine — sporty! Raccoon is chic, while Skunk’s suit is perfectly elegant. Perhaps he could just borrow the suits? The missing suits send the forest into an uproar. How can naughty Coyote make amends? 

Small Great Things (Jodi Picoult)

I haven't done a great job of reading this summer. One reason is I seemed to have this sub-conscious need to stay focused on my husband, which meant I couldn't really get lost in a book. I tried, but I was reading a book that I couldn't quite get into and I was dragging myself through it. I finally put it aside and decided to read Small Great Things. It was a great break!

Goodreads says:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

My thoughts:

Right now there is some awful racial issue stuff going on in the states that totally parallel this story. It was surreal to be reading it at the same time.

It was crazy to see inside the mind of a white supremacist. Crazy.


I had to stop and take a break after this bit:


p. 377: Ruth talks about helping a mother who has just had a stillborn baby: Then I handed her a damp cloth I pressed it into her palm water shocked her into awareness, or if it was the baby. But with my hand guiding her she washed every fold and curve of her baby.She wrapped him in the blanket. She held him to her breast. Finally, with a Saab that sounded like she was tearing a piece of herself away, she offered the body of her child back to me.

.....speaking of the room in the hospital for grieving parents of newborns: I think I know now why it is called the kangaroo suite It's because even when you no longer have a child, you carry him forever