Best Reads T3 2021-2022

Here are my favorite books that I read during the final trimester of the year. 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

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Should be required reading in every school.

The Treasure Box by Dave Keane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I sobbed. SOBBED.

Can I get through this as a readaloud without frightening the children? Not sure.



Kat Hats by Daniel Pinkwater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've got my first Mock Caldecott 2023 nominee! So crazy and fun, I grinned the entire time I read it. Even if I don't want to wear a cat on my head. Reminded me of Maira Kalman's stuff. And, of course, Pinkwater's books of yore ... oh, Tooth-Gnasher Superflash!

Show the World! by Angela Dalton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Will use for Mock Caldecott but also maybe with upper grades to go along with PBL. How do they want to show their learning?

 

This Book Is Not for You! by Shannon Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some of my male students get teased for reading Owl Diaries and Babysitter's Club. Will use this at the start of the year.

Middle Grade Fiction

Pony by R.J. Palacio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not usually one for Westerns, but this was written beautifully and had supernatural elements. Totally fine that it won the RI Mock Newbery.

 

Dear Sister by Alison McGhee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So sweet! Although dear brother would probably throw up at that assessment.

A Song Called Home by Sara Zarr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this a lot more than I expected to. Especially because God showed up by p. 9, and religion makes me nervous. But every time I meant to just read a chapter, I kept going. Good flow, realistic depictions of family drama and questionable decision making.

p. 224: "For the first time in her life, she wondered if a book could be TOO sad. Maybe she would like more stories where good things happened. As long as they weren't fake. As long [as] they were the kinds of good things you could believe in and imagine happening to YOU, not just to a perfect person in a book."

Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid portrayal of middle-school rivalries and poor choices. Two nitpicks:

1. Why did Kelly have to include the term "junkie prostitute"? Junkie I don't have a problem explaining, but I'd rather not have to tell any elementary students about sex for money.

2. The cover / frontispiece illustrations make all of the kids' faces look indistinguishable.

Maya and the Robot by Eve L. Ewing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We need more books like this! Fast pace, illustrations, non-white characters, large type, just over 200 pages. Extra star for checking these boxes.

 

Young Adult Fiction

   
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll cut myself some slack for being in high school and not quite attuned to world events, but JFC, I had no idea how bad it was in Romania! I had heard of the untouched orphans and there was a song that came out on the alternative station called "Blues for Ceausescu," but other than that, nada. I have now been schooled. Riveting book. I devoured 100 pages at a time in three sittings.

Also, I did NOT realize the reasons for all the abandoned children: "Believing that a larger population would beef up Romania’s economy, Ceaușescu had curtailed contraception and abortion, imposed tax penalties on people who were childless, and celebrated as "heroine mothers' women who gave birth to 10 or more. Parents who couldn’t possibly handle another baby might call their new arrival 'Ceauşescu’s child,' as in 'Let him raise it.' Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

Nonfiction

She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had always heard of Shirley Chisholm, but never knew that much about her. What a role model!

 


Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The slavery part is upsetting, but I think I'll still read it to 2nd grade next year and see if the art teacher and I can collaborate on something related.

For Grownups

The One by John Marrs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Insane, ridiculous, filled with the twistiest of twists and turns. So fun.

 


Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started this as an ebook but switched to audio for a long car ride. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the narrator's voice. Loved the story, though ... although it veered into melodrama territory too often for 5 stars. Have already downloaded #2, which has a different narrator whose delivery I like better.




Taste: My Life through Food by Stanley Tucci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

By the time I hit the halfway mark, I had started only reading one chapter at a time, because I wanted the book to last. His style is so entertaining. He did lose me a tiny bit near the end with mentions of yachting around the Amalfi coast and $2,200 chairs, but hey, he's worked for his money.