Best Reads of T1 18-19

Back to school is always busy and chaotic, but I have still managed to read some great books. Here are my favorites from the past three months. 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

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gorgeous. Make sure to look at all of the book spines in the illustrations.




The Bad Seed by Jory John
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I need a copy of this for my guidance counselors to use.




Giraffe Problems by Jory John
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Love!





The Rough Patch by Brian Lies
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lovely illustrations, although I thought it was kind of odd for a fox to own a dog. Why not make it a person? That said, even though I usually go for hilarious books for Mock Caldecott, this one definitely has a place on my 2019 list.


Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lovely. Just recommended to my principal who has school-wide reads each month.




The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sob!




A Dog with Nice Ears: Featuring Charlie and Lola by Lauren Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A better-than-average I-want-a-pet book. Because Charlie and Lola.




Allie All Along by Sarah Lynne Reul
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Will definitely recommend to my RSPs.



Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Non-schmaltzy book about kindness.

Early Readers

I Lost My Tooth! by Mo Willems
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Makes kids in grades K-2 laugh out loud.

Melonhead by Katy Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Delightful. I may submit a DonorsChoose project to get the entire series for my schools.





Fly Guy and the Alienzz by Tedd Arnold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Imagination!

Middle Grade Novels 

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Extra star for the narration. I looked forward to driving places so I could listen to this in the car. Great main character and original plot.

Nonfiction

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain by Cheryl Bardoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Talk about grit and perseverance! Will request when I post my next DonorsChoose biography project.

For Grownups

Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finally, a solution that made sense and was hinted at with normal clues! It took me a while to figure out the family relationships, but overall this was the most logical of the series so far.





Broken Harbor by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A tad overlong with very strange behavior revealed ... maybe the house needed a CO monitor? Can't you go cuckoo from it? And I didn't buy the way the culprit shared their story with so many details and poetic language. Not as good as #3 but better than #2. On to #5.