Best Reads T3 2018-19

Here's what I read and loved this spring. 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

When Sadness Is at Your Door by Eva Eland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Simple and stunning.




The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gave me chills



There Are No Bears in This Bakery by Julia Sarcone-Roach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I will order for next year and do a lesson on similes, I do believe.


Hands Up! by Breanna J. McDaniel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Took me a while to realize it is the same character throughout. Really liked the idea, but it was the afterword that made me make the connection to the rally cry. Powerful and joyous.


Because by Mo Willems
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Save for Mock Caldecott? Use now for a lesson in cause and effect? Give to the music teacher for her to use? Hmm.


The Bell Rang by James E. Ransome
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautiful paintings. Visceral text. Would recommend as an upper-grade readaloud tied into history lessons v. me reading it to first graders with no context.


Hey, Water! by Antoinette Portis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Could pair with "Water is Water" for a lesson.



Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

May pair with "Horrible Bear!" for a K lesson on handling righteous indignation.





Tomorrow Most Likely by Dave Eggers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kind of random, but I liked it.

Middle Grade Fiction

Sweeping Up the Heart by Kevin Henkes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully written. We are completely in Amelia's head for a week.

p. 11: "She was moving quickly because she was eager to work, but more to the point she was reinventing her walk, trying to make it faster and more graceful. Purposeful. Her legs had grown so much lately that she felt out of sync, as if her body belonged to someone or something else. And she'd recently decided that she hated her knees."


Nightbooks by J.A. White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loved the structure, with all of the truly creepy short stories interspersed with the main plot. The big reveal was cuckoobananas. RICBA nominee.





The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not sure the reasons for the haunting were explained completely satisfactorily, but nicely spooky for the middle grade set. RICBA nominee.





Margot and Mateo Save the World by Darcy Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nonstop action. And Dr. Smalls looking up "foot cancer" made me lawl. This will be an easy sell to get kids reading RICBA books.

Graphic Novels

The Epic Origin of Super Potato by Artur Laperla
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So incredibly silly. I laughed out loud twice.




New Kid by Jerry Craft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Much stronger than a lot of the offerings in its category, I thought. Although I sometimes had trouble telling all the kids apart and tracking their personalities. Page 108 where we think Gran'pa is a ghost made me laugh. Collin's banishment perplexed me. How do they know who paid for what? Chapter title spreads were great.

Nonfiction

Beware of the Crocodile by Martin Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! Perfect for the kids who want more animal books. Lots of facts presented with drama and sometimes a little bit of gruesomeness. Too bad neither creator is American, so I can't use it for Mock Caldecott next year.


Rocket to the Moon! by Don Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish the entire series were already available.






An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster's Spelling Revolution by Beth Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm going to do more with alphabetical order in library class next year, because the kids just do not know it. I wanted to cry this week when second graders were playing an online guide words game. HOW CAN A WORD THAT STARTS WITH M COME BETWEEN APPLES AND BANANAS??????


Sea Bear: A Journey for Survival by Lindsay Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Moore creates sky, ice, and sea with a blue watercolor palette. The "tossed by a tempest" pages are particularly strong.



Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I need to get her books for my libraries.

For Grownups

On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SUCH fun! Crazy plot points and a sweet little love story. Agree with this quote: "Dinner can be one lamb chop, or scrambled eggs, or a bag of potato chips. I'm content. Everything on the DVR playlist is mine."




The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am really liking Flavia and Dogger as partners.




Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Armand, you hold so many secrets ... some of which were total fakeouts because Penny gave us characters' interior monologues which then were not quite accurate. But I shall allow for entertainment's sake.

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.

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.