We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (6/29/20-7/5/20).
Annamarie’s Reading
Picture Books & Readers:







- Are You Eating Candy Without Me? by Jenny Darling, Angel Chang
- A Cauldron of Bats by Michael Buxton
- Citizen Baby: My Vote by Megan E Bryant, Daniel Prosterman, Micah Player
- Come Out and Play: A Global Journey by Maya Ajmera
- Counting Kindness: Ten Ways to Welcome Refugee Children by Hollis Kurman, Barroux
- Dinosaurs Can’t Roar by Layla Beason
- I Promise You by Marianne Richmond









- The Last Marshmallow by Grace Lin
- Lia & Luís: Who Has More? by Ana Crespo, Giovana Medeiros
- The Little Girl Who Gave Zero Fucks by Amy Kean, J. Milton
- Our Animal Neighbors by Matthieu Ricard, Becca Hall
- Plymouth Rocks!: The Stone-Cold Truth by Jane Yolen
- Snoozapalooza by Kimberlee Gard, Vivian Mineker
- Spring: Up to My Knees by Grace Lin
- Summer: Circle! Sphere! by Grace Lin
- Ten Fat Sausages by Michelle Robinson, Tor Freeman
- What Will Fit? by Grace Lin
- Wonderful You by Lisa Graff, Ramona Kaulitzki
Everything Else:








- Alabaster Shadows by Matt Gardner, Rashad Doucet (graphic novel)
- Black History In Its Own Words by Ron Wimberly (non-fiction)
- Forget Me Nat by Maria Scrivan (graphic novel)
- InvestiGators: Take the Plunge by John Patrick Green (graphic novel)
- Just a Little Blue (Owly #2) by Andy Runton (graphic novel)
- Pea, Bee, Jay #1: Stuck Together by Brian “Smitty” Smith (graphic novel)
- Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott (poetry)
- Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim
Note: I’ve been using my free time to dig into my own privilege and see what I actually do to promote BIPOC voices. I pride myself on reading a lot of books with diverse characters and featuring diverse characters in my book talks in particular-but do I really? Or do I just read a lot? I’ve also been learning that quite a few of my regular book talk titles feature diverse characters, but are written by white authors. I’m planning to dig into my 2020 reads and these topics in this week’s “substance” blog post (what I think of as my not-storytime and not-what-I-read post).
I was hoping to have my post on non-white kids musicians for this week, but I don’t think that is going to be done yet, and I don’t want to half fast that project. I’m trying to collect artists, CDs and singles (including digital exclusives), and also pull out standout storytime songs (based on my personal preferences). I know for me, doing the work to actually listen to the albums and find songs I would use is a big step that takes a lot of time. I’m hoping doing some of that legwork for this post helps get these songs into other librarian’s hands faster. I also like to think there are more localized non-white kids artists that don’t have a national recognition, but do have music–I want to track down as many of those as I can.
I don’t do many flannel or magnet stories featuring people (of any color), but I’ve also been thinking about this post on the Mouse in the House flannel and inclusivity. Also, I realize that most of what I have been thinking about is storytime-related, and I need to be going beyond that.
A lot of reading time this week was replaced with TV watching (Good Omens; Love, Victor; Agents of SHIELD; Handmaid’s Tale; and Babysitter’s Club if you’re curious). This week’s reading highlights:
- Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott (poetry)
- Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim
- InvestiGators: Take the Plunge by John Patrick Green (graphic novel)
- Plymouth Rocks!: The Stone-Cold Truth by Jane Yolen
- Lia & Luís: Who Has More? by Ana Crespo, Giovana Medeiros
- Dinosaurs Can’t Roar by Layla Beason
Michala’s Reading






- Superbat by Matt Carr
- Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus illustrated by kadir Nelson
- Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh
- To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin
- I am Princess X by Cherie Priest
- The Starspun Web by Sinead O’Hart
Note: And once again I am light on reading because life takes over and I’m garbage at budgeting time lately. I need structure to be functional, but I need less people interactions for health safety.