We participate in the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (1/4/2021-1/10/2021).
Annamarie’s Reading
Picture Books & Readers:
- Batman and Batgirl Unite!: A Book about Teamwork by Michael Dahl
- Be Mine, Porcupine by Hannah Eliot (board book)
- Big Rig Rescue! by Chris Gall
- Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis by Rebecca Gyllendhaal
- The Elephant’s New Shoe by Laurel Neme (nonfiction)
- First Day of Unicorn School by Jess Hernandez
- Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles by Michelle Meadows (biography)
- I Want to Ride the Tap Tap by Danielle Joseph
- The Invisible Alphabet by Joshua David Stein
- Kamik: An Inuit Puppy Story by Donald Uluadluak
- Mr. Posey’s New Glasses by Red Kooser
- Patrick’s Polka-Dot Tights by Kristen McCurry
- Perkin’s Perfect Purple: How a Boy Created Color with Chemistry by Tami Lewis Brown (biography)
- Rosie the Dragon and Charlie Make Waves by Lauren H. Kerstein
- Snow Is Fun by Steve Henry (beginning reader)
- Teatime Around the World by Denyse Waissbluth (nonfiction)
- There’s a Superhero in Your Book by Tom Fletcher
- This Little Pup by Laura J. Bryant
- Three Grumpy Trucks by Todd Tarpley
- What Is a Refugee? by Elise Gravel (nonfiction)
- The Wolf in Underpants Freezes His Buns Off by Wilfrid Lupano
Everything Else:
- Banana Fox and the Secret Sour Society (Banana Fox #1) by James Kochalka (graphic novel)
- Beware the Claw! (Hound Heroes #1) by Todd Goldman (graphic novel)
- Bunbun & Bonbon: Hoppy Go Lucky by Jess Keating (graphic novel)
- Closer to Nowhere by Ellen Hopkins
- The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
- Katie the Catsitter by Colleen A.F. Venable (graphic novel)
- Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes (poetry)
- The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (graphic novel)
- Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke (graphic novel)
- Serena Says by Tanita S. Davis
- Unlikely Friends by Norm Feuti (graphic novel)
Rambling Thoughts: I don’t have much to say about what I read this week–apparently I read some good stuff back at the beginning of this week, and I honestly can’t remember much of what those books were about. I remember thinking The Magic Fish could win the Newbery, but I’m stretching my brain to remember details. This has been a long week of multi-hour meetings and trainings, program prep and virtual program presentations to 700+ people, a personal covid scare, and, oh yeah, domestic terrorists breaking into the U.S. Capitol building. None of that is surprising (except having 700 people at a virtual program), and in some small ways I have a small sense of relief that the riot we have all been waiting for has finally happened and was unsuccessful. Is the world moving in a better direction from here? Probably not. What are we going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? I’m making a list. What are you going to do?
On a work level, I’ve been thinking a lot about this Library Think Tank – ALATT Facebook post that quickly got buried among all that is Library Think Tank:
Books and programs are important, but I like the emphasis here on the need to go beyond that. A lot of us tend to stop with those things that are easy–what we read, what we recommend, what we share in programs. Those things are nice and important, but they do not make real change. I especially appreciated the original poster’s response to people who shared book and program-related plans–simply reiterating that final question, again and again.
So….who’s ready for 2022?
Make sure to stop by on Tuesdays for short reviews of some of these titles!
Reading by the Numbers:
- 32 Books Read This Week
- 12 Books with Diverse Main Character (38%)
- 8 Books by Diverse Authors (25%)
- 7 Books by Own Voices Authors (22%)
Favorites of the Week:
- Katie the Catsitter by Colleen A.F. Venable (graphic novel)
- Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes (poetry)
- The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (graphic novel)
- Serena Says by Tanita S. Davis
Whew. What a great bunch of books. Nice selection of graphic novels especially. 2021 is not shaping up the way we hoped, is it? Glad that you are able to keep reading. It’s a great way to escape!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Reading has definitely been my outlet in 2020–and in 2021 too it looks like!
I have absolutely no clue how you managed to read so much during such a busy and stressful week! About the 700+ people attending your presentation, that must have been slightly terrifying but ultimately a good thing! I also appreciate the point in the Facebook post you have shared.
I’m really glad you enjoyed The Magic Fish—I definitely feel like it deserves at least a Newbery Honor, but I’m unsure if it will actually get one. (I don’t know if there have been any Newbery Medalists or Honor Books with LGBT+ characters, so this could be their chance to change things up…if they take it.) Legacy and The Girl and the Ghost also sound excellent! Thanks for the great post!
Having such a large audience was definitely a bit terrifying! Though less terrifying than it would have been in person, that is for sure. In person, I have to see everyone, and virtually, once I get into the flow of things I can much more easily forget about the number.
That is a great point about LGBT+ characters in Newbery winners or honors that I haven’t thought about before–I hope that changes sooner rather than later. (I’d love to see it happen with The Magic Fish–but with anything would be great!) I’m crossing my fingers for The Magic Fish–I called New Kid last year, maybe I could have a streak going? Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve enjoyed some of the books shared this week, but I haven’t yet gotten to The Magic Fish. I keep hearing it is fantastic, so I’m glad you brought it up today — I need to bump it on my list! You make a good point on being grateful that the riot we anticipated was unsuccessful. Though I do keep hearing rumblings about future plans. I’m hopeful that that will all be shut down immediately. And HEEHEE! to your “So….who’s ready for 2022?” question. A friend posted, today, that 2021 is just 2020 with bangs. Oh my. Will the memes every stop? *snicker*
That’s a lot of book love! Closer to Nowhere and Magic Fish are on my list to read this year. I read and reviewed Legacy last week. What a profound book!
I’m choosing to believe that last week was a wakeup call for a lot of Americans. I believe that you will manage to come together and fix this.
Lots of great books here, and also some inspiring thoughts. I also saw on your goodreads feed that you read That Can Be Arranged — I really liked that a few months ago. Thanks for all the shares.