Best Reads T2 2018-19

Here's what I read and loved this winter. Click on the titles to read plot summaries. If you'd like to see all of my books, you can follow me on Goodreads.

Picture Books

Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

GORGEOUS. Will use with PreK.

The Wall in the Middle of the Book by Jon Agee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Could be used in high school as an example of metaphor / allegory. And it's timely.






Night Train, Night Train by Robert Burleigh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The text rhythms sound like a train chugging along, and I liked how the colors were introduced gradually. Perfect for those 3-year-old train fanatics.


Dear Substitute by Audrey Vernick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked it but got mad that there was no librarian and therefore they couldn't go to library. Hmpf. Buy for any friends you may have who are elementary subs.



Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometimes you just need to be a grump. Take it from me ... approximately 25 years ago my baby brother threw me out of his family play because I was being too grumpy.


The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fabulous artwork. I liked the book better after reading the author and illustrator notes at the end.




Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Little Hoot and I would get along so well ... I'm so good at pondering, staring, and going to bed early.

Early Readers

Fox the Tiger by Corey R. Tabor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So cute. Could be used as part of my Not a Box lesson with PreK.

Middle Grade Fiction

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some very strange things happened near the end, but all in all an original story that kept my attention. I loved how Inkling took on the mannerisms of his latest meal (e.g., "I am in the depths of despair" and "You is looking like a whopsy butterflapper!").



Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, the Dickensian squalor! Fantastic protagonist and OH! Charlie! Loved him and all of his quirks, like leaning in to the paper to hear the sounds the letters made.

I need a Nothing Room, "for being quiet, and things like that." And maybe some napping parties.

Young Adult

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the kind of book that can save a person's life. Should be stocked in every high school library. A novel in verse that was actually poetic.

p. 65: "Just because your father's present / doesn't mean he isn't absent."

p. 107: "He is not elegant enough for a sonnet / too well-thought-out for a free write, / taking too much space in my thoughts / to ever be a haiku."

p. 283: "It almost feels like / the more I bruise the page / the quicker something inside me heals."

For Grownups

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

AKR was a genius. Before her death, I only knew her as a children's picture book author. ("Exclamation Mark" is one of my favorites.) But when I read her Encyclopedia, I realized that she was a quirky, deeply sensitive, inventive, funny person. Textbook is even better. I'm so sad to know that she is gone, and we won't get anything else from her brain. The Art chapter and the Science Experiments were amazing - she was kind of a performance artist as well. Using words mostly.

Definitely go to the web site https://www.textbookamykr.com/ and read the Serendiptiy stories and look at the Blue/Green gallery. Oh, and watch the Beckoning of Lovely video. I am sitting here in tears after viewing it myself.



View all my reviews Goodnight Trump: a parody by Erich Origen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's funny yet super depressing because it's true. This book should be read at Trump's trial as evidence. (Please let 2019 bring a trial, please let 2019 bring a trial.)


The Adults by Caroline Hulse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun read full of imperfect people in a fraught situation ... even though it takes place over Christmas, would be a great beach book.