It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

These are memes started by Teach Mentor Texts and Book Journey, and I'm excited to participate, along with many other bloggers, in reviewing books I read the previous week. I'll be reviewing picture books through adult books. 
  

 

This is what I read last week:

PICTURE BOOK

 

Outfoxed by Mike Twohy

 

2013-book, animals, character-traits, humor, picture-book   This was really cute. A fox ends up with a clever duck after raiding the chicken coop. The duck comes up with an idea. It will be a dog! Funny illustrations- both duck and fox have hilarious expressions, and a great book to talk about character traits.   YOUNG ADULT     The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson   014-book, arc, character-development, coming-of-age, divorce-or-separation, drug-and-alcohol-use, flashbacks, mock-printz2015, ptsd, realistic-fiction, resiliency, strong-girl-character, war, young-adult-book NPR Interview: http://www.npr.org/2014/01/11/261414341/healing-the-wounds-of-memorys-impossible-knife

 

 

I was very happy to get the ARC of this book at the NCTE convention. Anderson takes on so much in her young adult novels, and she does it again in this one. Hayley is an incredibly strong but confused teenage character who has to deal with her dysfunctional father who is ridden with PTSD, the loss of a mother who died when she was very young, and the abandonment of her stepmother; all the while trying to figure out her complicated relationship with her maybe boyfriend, Finn, a difficult transiti...more I was very happy to get the ARC of this book at the NCTE convention  (its book birthday was last Tuesday). Anderson takes on so much in her young adult novels, and she does it again in this one. Hayley is an incredibly strong but confused teenage character who has to deal with her dysfunctional father who is ridden with PTSD, the loss of a mother who died when she was very young, and the abandonment of her stepmother; all the while trying to figure out her complicated relationship with her maybe boyfriend, Finn, a difficult transition to a new school, and her future. Pair this one up with ELI THE GOOD. It's important that there are books out there like this for teens that struggle. Hayley shows them that they can still triumph in the midst of suffering, and that there is value in every life.

 

 

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

 

adult-nonfiction, art, food, graphic-novel, memoir, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014,  young-adult-book

 

I really enjoyed this love letter to food in graphic novel form. Knisley looks back at her adventurous life through the lens of someone who relishes eating and cooking, but she also explores her relationship with her parents, friends, art, and home. It's funny, entertaining, inspiring, and completely compelling. I'd highly recommend this book for adult and young adult readers!   POETRY     What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, & Blessings by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski 2013-book, adult, intermediate-kids-book, poetry, young-adult-book   This slim, captivating book of poetry has such treasures inside! I won this copy from Stacey Shubitz, and I'm so glad I did. Zagarenski's illustrations are perfect for the chants & charms, spells & invocations, laments & remembrances, and praise songs & blessings - sad, hopeful, and even funny, these poems are special. Joyce Sidman tells her readers, "They're about repairing friendship, slowing down time, understanding happiness, facing the worse kind of loss. They are words to s...more This slim, captivating book of poetry has such treasures inside! I won this copy from Stacey Shubitz and Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, and I'm so glad I did. Zagarenski's illustrations are perfect for the chants & charms, spells & invocations, laments & remembrances, and praise songs & blessings - sad, hopeful, and even funny, these poems are special. Joyce Sidman tells her readers, "They're about repairing friendship, slowing down time, understanding happiness, facing the worse kind of loss. They are words to speak in the face of loneliness, fear, delight or confusion." She goes on to say, "I hope they work for you." Rest assured, Ms. Sidman, they most certainly do! From "Sleep Charm": Forget anything you ever wanted,/hoped, or feared./One by one, those cares will drop/from you like stones/into deep water./Slip from your dayskin/and swim, shimmering,/into the dream beyond the dream. Isn't that beautiful? I also loved "Song in a Strange Land" and "Blessing on the Smell of a Dog." I loved them all, though, and you will, too! CURRENTLY READING   CURRENTLY LISTENING TO   MY FAMILY IS READING                                                                                                    Katie, 17                                   Libby, 20                                                                                                                                   My dad                                  My mom                           What are YOU reading this week?