What We’ve Been Reading

So many library books fly in and out of this house each week that I usually cannot fit them all in one tote bag anymore, and of course I have a dangerous book buying habit.  Here are just a few of the more notable things that I have read on my own or with various kidlets.  I don’t even try to keep track of everything they read on their own anymore.  Half the time they are giving me book recommendations these days.

Children’s Picture Books

• Dusk by Uri Shulevitz.  I loved the book Snow by this author, and now there is this beautiful winter book!  Perhaps I love it because it captures all the colors and beauty of my favorite time of day:  dusk.  There is a brief allusion to the season of Christmas in the book, but really, it’s fun to read this all winter long, and maybe on a hot summer day too.
• Ah Ha! by Jeff Mack.  The words are simple (Ah ha!) but lend themselves to be read with tremendous drama.
• Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein.  I actually wasn’t that impressed with this book, but Mr. Trouble on Feet completely has latched onto it and believes it the funniest piece of literature to have been written this century.  He laughs uproariously whenever I read it, which counts for something, I think.
• Strega Nona Does it Again by Tomie dePaola.  I love Strega Nona.  I love this book. I love the personalities of the characters.  Read it.
• Little Owl’s Orange Scarf by Tatyana Feeney.  Mr. Trouble on Feet and I both really love this short and sweet tale of an owl who has his own opinion about what kind of scarf he wants to wear.
• Millie and the Big Rescue by Alexander Steffensmeier.  The plot of this tale is unusual and a little zany, which makes it fun for me to read out loud.
• I Like Old Clothes by Mary Ann Hoberman.  What could be better than a book with that expresses all the wonderful things about hand me down clothes?  It embraces the adventure of second hand shopping.  I adore this book.
• I’m a Frog by Mo Willems.  We have quite the collection of Elephant and Piggie books around here, and we enjoy every one of them.  Multiple kidlets will cuddle together on the couch reading for “their character” in the book.  Even Mr. Trouble on Feet has caught on and wants me to help him read what his character says.  (I read it and he repeats it).
• Ding Dong Gorilla by Michelle Robinson.  This was a find at the library that Mr. Trouble on Feet asked to read again and again and again.

Children’s Chapter Books

• Clementine and the Spring Trip By Sara Penneypacker.  I love Clementine.  So do my kidlets.  This was one of my favorite Clementine books yet.  I laughed out loud in several places.  
• Warrior Sheep go West by Christine Russell.  This was actually a reread from several years ago.  Warrior Sheep books have great, adventurous plots, with a bit of irony thrown in.  Mr. SP and The Banana really enjoy them.
• Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamilllo.  We discovered this long before it won the Newberry Medal this year, and we were so excited to find out it had won.  Everyone in the family loved this quirky book, and we talked about it for weeks.  Kate DiCamillo is one of my favorite authors, which prompted me to buy the book the moment I saw it on the new release shelf at the bookstore.  Read it!
• Evangeline Mudd and the Golden Haired Apes of the  Ikkinasti Jungle by David Elliot.  Evangeline Mudd is quite the girl!  This is a book full of adventure and exaggeration and imagination.
• The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech.  I was disappointed in this book.  It could have been so much more.  Lackluster.  It just didn’t work for me.  It tried to be realistic but wasn’t believable.  I wanted to know more about everything that happened and every person in the book.  It just felt underdeveloped to me.
• The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes.  It’s not my favorite Kevin Henkes book (another one of my favorite authors) but this book is unique in that it features a young, ordinary boy as the protagonist, and realistic books about young boys and their experiences are more rare these days, I think.  It was awarded a Newberry Honor, and for good reason, I think.  It fills an important void, and it’s worth reading.
• Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary.  This is another reread for us.  In fact, I think I’ve read it aloud at least 3 times to various children in this house at various times in their lives.  I love Ralph and have such fond memories of my second grade teacher reading this book out loud at school and being absolutely entranced.  I can close my eyes and hear her voice and smell my classroom and see EVERYTHING in such detail.
• Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman.  I read this book and immediately downloaded the audiobook for a trip, because it’s a wonderful adventure.  The book isn’t long, but it’s crazy and extremely entertaining.  The audiobook is very well read, and I highly recommend it.

Young Adult Literature

• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.  This book is edgy.  It’s painful to read in so many ways, but hidden in all the dark is a little bit of beauty too.  Sadlky, it’s one of those books that force to you pay attention to some of the cold, hard realities that some adolescents face.  Coming to terms with experiences of others and finishing a book with a better understanding of someone that you might not otherwise have encountered in a deep way is the hallmark of good literature, in my mind.  So, although this was a hard, sad, and DISTURBING book in so, so many ways, a book definitely meant for a mature young reader, I think it’s an important book.
• Heaven Is Paved with Oreos by Katherine Gilbert Murdock.  This was a bit of a disappointment.  I loved Murdock’s The Dairy Queen books, and this shares many of the same characters.  You can read the rampant criticism of this book yourself online, but basically it was a dumbed down little book that I just don’t think worked well at all.  What is more disturbing is that it is a book aimed at younger readers (middle school probably) that comes AFTER three books that are clearly more for full fledged teenagers because they deal with mature topics.  It doesn’t make any sense, and the characters have simple, underdeveloped voices.  YaYa also read it, and remarked, “It had such a promising cover, and then was so disappointing.”  Exactly.
• The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Andersen.  There’s a reason why many people consider Laurie Halse Andersen one of the masters authors of young adult literature.  This book was definitely worth reading.  For me it was a page turner, although I wanted to just give the protagonist a big hug and some love so she could loose all of that perfectly portrayed teenage angst in her voice.  Perhaps that’s the sign that I am middle aged:  the desire to hug and love teenage fictional characters and fix everything for them rather than easily relate to their problems?
• Wisdom’s Kiss by Katherine Gilbert Murdock.  I really liked this one!  I liked that the girl didn’t get to have a relationship with the boy she grew up with and loved from the start, and that he felt bad about it but ended up falling in love with a different person.  Although this is a crazy fantasy fairy tale story, that felt very real, and in the end the main character lived a life that was perfect for her even though it was different than she anticipated.
• The Card Turner by Louis Sachar.  I knew nothing about bridge before I read this account of a boy who became the card turner for his uncle, a master bridge player, and while I still couldn’t play the game, I know a lot more about bridge now than I ever have before.  This was a book with a lot of bridge in it, and that might not appeal to just every reader, but it was an entertaining book worth reading, and honestly, how often do you come across a book for teenagers about bridge?
• Small Steps by Louis Sachar.  This is the sequel to Holes (an awesome book) It is good, but not as good as Holes.  Even though there were some parts of this book that felt contrived, a bit far fetched where they maybe shouldn’t have, it was a fun and quick read.

Books for Grown Ups

• Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand.  This was on my to-read list, and then it magically appeared in my lending library!  I snatched it right up and read it.  I learned a lot about the Pacific battles in World War II with Japan, and a lot about POW camps during the war.  It sometimes felt like a lot to chew through, but it was very interesting.  I don’t read a lot of nonfiction these days, and I’m glad I read this. 
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.  I liked some of the history involved in this story  I didn’t feel that it was a spectacular book.