It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/6/17

The weekly post where I recap all the KidLit books I’ve been reading. Occasionally, I’ll also review some adult fiction books as well.

Be sure to check out Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to see what other kidlit readers are reading. Because, you know, we can never have too many books in our TBR pile.
                                         

Board Books

Rapunzel (Once Upon a World)

written by Chloe Perkins 

illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan

I loved the illustrations in the book. I also like the idea of these fairy tales taking place in different countries around the world--India in this one. The story is true to the original Rapunzel story. I do feel like it is a bit text heavy for a board book, however. 

In My Tree

written by Sara Gillingham

illustrated by Lorena Siminovich

My son absolutely loved this book. The owl is a finger puppet and he loved that interaction. He would giggle and giggle as we made the little owl play in the rain and shake off the raindrops afterwards. There are few words so it was easy to read this one over and over in one sitting. 

Picture Books

Town is by the Sea

written by Joanne Schwartz
illustrated by Sydney Smith

This is a hauntingly beautiful story. The illustrations are wonderful and do a great job to convey the story. This book opened up a dialogue for my daughter about hope, tradition, and individual circumstance. She had a hard time grasping why someone would choose to work a dangerous job just because that's what their parents did. This would be a great text for older children as well.

Dear Dragon: A Pen Pal 

written by Josh Funk

illustrated by Rodolfo Montalvo

A cute story about how our perceptions and reality can be different from one another. I liked how the boy and the dragon would interpret what the other was writing based on their own experiences. The illustrations were fun too.

Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing

written by Leda Schubert 

pictures by Raúl Colón

I am always surprised at how engaged my 7 year old can get with nonfiction. She loves to learn and especially loves to read about real people. This book does a fantastic job of bring Pete Seeger to life. After reading, we looked him up on YouTube so she could see him talk and sing in real life. She has a basic understanding of some of the things happening in the country right now, and she was able to make connections of how we can make things better by working together, which is the message of this book.

Non-KidLit

Deadlands: Boneyard
by Seanan McGuire

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The premise was amazing and definitely worth the read. You can see my full review here.