May Favorites
I have read almost all of Konigsburg's books, and I didn't know whether to expect this to be one of the weird ones or not. It turned out to be excellent in every way. I loved all the scenes that took place in heaven (even if the author's understanding of Purgatory was a bit unusual) and I loved the ironic tone, the different voices of the different narrators, and the personality of Eleanor of Aquitane.
Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
This author is so talented. This isn't just a romance, but also a story about caregiving for a relative with dementia. It was handled so well, and I was so invested in every single character.
The Wondrous Nature of Being Alive, edited by Ali Noel
A bunch of my friends have poems in this beautiful collection of nature poetry. I enjoyed almost all of these, and I hope there will be more like this from Twenty Hills!
George Weigel was a lector at the church we attended pre-Covid, and I've always wanted to read something by him. This ended up being a great choice for me, as it talks about all my favorite Catholic things: Flannery O'Connor, St. Peter, Brideshead Revisited, etc. If I knew a young Catholic couple, I'd give them this and Emily Stimpson Chapman's Letters to Myself from the End of the World to read together.
I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living by Josie Balka
I saw this poet read one poem on social media, and I was skeptical that the rest of the collection would be just as good. But it was! These type of relatable, everyday poems are so accessible and fun to enjoy.
KissMet Quarterly: Spring Issue by Micromance Magazine
I was so pleased to see this finally out in the world! Micromance is a year old now, and it has been such a fun part of my writing life. It was an honor to be in the inaugural issue of its print publication.
Read-Alouds
- Blue Ridge Billy by Lois Lowry
My children united in their love for this book and their hatred for supporting female character Sarey Sue. (She was kind of a know-it-all.) This ended up giving us a great opportunity to learn more about Appalachian dialect and music. - The Wheel on the School by Meindert deJong
I should have re-read my review before reading this aloud. It was a slog as a read-aloud and would have been better for the girls to read independently. - The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
We technically finished this in June, but we read most of it in May. I remembered hating this book in 7th grade, and my Goodreads rating was set at one star, but I quickly amended that to five. This is a lovely book. - Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal by by Robert T. Reilly (with Dad)
- The Woolpack by Cynthia Harnett (with Dad)
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (audio in the car)
This was a good one to finish on Memorial Day, since it's about the Civil War.
Family Reading Lists
M. (11 years, 6 months)
- Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott (still in progress)
C. (9 years, 8 months)
- Down to the Bonny Glen by Melissa Wiley
- Burying of the Sun by Gloria Whelan
E. (7 years, 7 months)
- No Flying in the House by Betty Brock
R. (5 years, 2 months)
- Eddie series by Carolyn Haywood
- Chime Travelers series by Lisa Hendey
A. (5 years, 2 months)
- Who's a Pest? by Crosby Bonsall
- Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
- Bears on Wheels by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Old Hat, New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire
- Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
- Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss
Picture Book Review Copies
*All of these were sent to me for review from Simon & Schuster.
This is not as strong as previous titles (by other authors) illustrated by this artist. The pictures are fine, but the rhythm and rhyme of the text feel off. I was sad to read the author's obituary from Publisher's Weekly.
She was only 47.
Where Are You, Bronte? by Tomie dePaola, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
This is another posthumous book written by the late Tomie dePaola, and illustrated by McClintock in his style. It's a tribute to his dog, told as a litany of memories interspersed with the question: "Where are you?" I was worried this was going to be an "all dogs go to heaven" situation, but instead it focuses on how our lost animals live on in our memories. We don't have pets, but if I were a Catholic looking for a book about the loss of a pet that didn't get into the question of heaven, I'd put this on my list. I'm probably not going to keep it, myself, but it was better than I expected.
Bear Feels Sad by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
All of my kids were excited to see this show up. In this installment, Bear is sad because all of his friends are busy doing other things. It follows the exact same formula as many of the other titles, and didn't feel especially fresh or new to me. It also bothered me that Bear couldn't find any ways to amuse himself that didn't involve other people. Learning to be comfortable alone now and then is a valuable skill, and this book missed its opportunity to talk about that.
This is a very straightforward animal sounds book for babies and toddlers. The highlight for me was the illustrations, which are just huge faces of each animal mentioned. If I were doing a baby story time, I'd put this in the mix for sure. My youngest (A., the girl twin) who is an emerging reader was able to sound out most of the text, so it was good for us in that way, but I'm probably going to pass this on to someone with a younger child.
Cows and Sheep and Chicks That Cheep by Douglas Florian
This is a new farm-themed poetry collection from an author with many picture book poetry collections. I have to admit that this isn't his best. A lot of the rhymes are obvious, and he reuses the same twist ending for multiple poems. I also felt like the artwork was more childish than childlike this time.
The Monarch by Kirsten Hall, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
This is a nature picture book with some comic book elements (speech bubbles, etc.) that details the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. I feel like we've seen a lot of books like this, and there isn't anything especially remarkable about this one, and it would be hard to read aloud with the way the text is spread across the page and uses speech bubbles. It's a nice book, but probably not one we will keep.
Into the Deep Blue Sea by Joel Stern, illustrated by Vivan Mineker
I requested this pop-up book for my ocean-loving son, and I was right to predict that he would love it. Most of the information he already knew, and the text was a bit babyish for a 5 year old, but he absolutely loved the pop-ups and tried to stay up reading it at bedtime.
