It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share some of the titles you’ve been enjoying, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
Hello everyone! I hope you had a safe and happy April Fool’s Day on Saturday, and didn’t get pranked too much! I love seeing all the libraries who got in on the fun – the American Library Association has collected some great library April Fool’s Day posts from years past – definitely check it out for some clever bookish fun.
Here are a few of the books I’ve been enjoying this week!
Kangaroo wants to bake some cookies, but someone has eaten all the cookie dough! Who could it have been?? This picture book reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was in elementary school, “Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?”, and makes for a pretty fun read-aloud. It’s extremely simple and highly repetitive, but that’s just perfect for the kids in my younger groups! Karen Beaumont wrote one of my all-time storytime favourites, “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More”, but this was a new discovery for me. Hurray!
This elegant wordless picture book is visually STUNNING. Each spread offers a bird’s eye view of a grey and gloomy day, as readers look down on a group of colourful umbrellas that grows and grows with the addition of each new colourful umbrella. To quote from the Goodreads listing, “accompanied by a CD of original and evocative piano music, this is a book meant to be enjoyed by all people, connecting us through music and art and transcending language and cultural barriers.” Yellow Umbrella really a beautifully soothing book, filled with gentle colours that really do make you feel happier just by looking at that.
Sadly it doesn’t feel all that spring-like in my neck of the woods yet, but this incredibly gorgeous spring picture book is helping me temporarily fill the spring-shaped void in my life! This is another absolutely stunning picture book, but whereas “Yellow Umbrella” is muted and understated, “Abracadabra, It’s Spring” is a riot of joyous colour. The book is styled as a sort of before-and-after look at nature transitioning from winter into spring. The first side of each spread shows a scene in winter, and as the reader utters a magic word and lifts a flap, the scene is transformed into its spring counterpart. Now, I wasn’t a huge fan of the different “magic words” used throughout the book – it felt a bit tired after a while, and really, isn’t nature magical enough without having to add magical spell words? Still,this a really, really beautiful book, and I’m sure that young children will be fascinated as each spread’s wonder is dramatically revealed!
Breaking Into Japanese Literature
And now for an adult read! If you’re looking for something a bit different, this collection of modern Japanese short story classics is an absolutely fantastic read. The seven stories included in the anthology cover a variety of styles and genres, with historic thriller, surreal horror, and even subtle comedy represented. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of a brief biography of the different authors, whose lives were as fascinating as any of their creations. My favourite stories in the collection are those of Akutagawa Ryunoske, who, as his biography notes, created “perfect expressions of the decadent aesthetic, with the gorgeous and the grotesque, the splendid and the sordid, intertwining in highly polished prose”, and who penned the celebrated story Rashomon. If you happen to be studying Japanese, each story is presented in English and Japanese, with a clear explanation for each kanji character, and 50% of all common-use kanji covered, which is a pretty big bonus. But if you aren’t studying Japanese, and just want to experience celebrated modern literature from another culture, this is a fascinating collection to dive into. The stories are often somewhat…odd, to say the least, with even the “humorous” story having a bit of a strange surreal quality to it, and some of the stories are downright dark, but none of them will easily be forgotten. Highly recommended if you’re looking to increase the global reach of your reading life!
Yellow Umbrella looks gorgeous. I’ve added it to my wishlist.
It’s Monday, What Are you reading?
I hope you love it!
I saw a few fun bookish pranks around the blogosphere, that was kinda fun.
I almost forgot about April Fools!
That Japanese short story collection definitely looks interesting. I’d like to read some stories by Japanese authors…
I definitely didn’t know all that much about Japanese literature before picking up this short story collection, but I really want to explore more Japanese authors now!
It was me. I ate all the cookie dough. Lol. Oh wow, that Yellow Umbrella book sounds so unique and pretty!
I checked out the link of the library pranks, how fun! Thanks for sharing that
I knew it! Cookie dough thief!
Actually it’s kind of funny, a lot of parents won’t let their kids eat uncooked cookie dough now because they’re worried about the raw egg in it. Such sadness! I’m surprised I survived childhood at all, given all the things my parents let me do that kids can’t do now. 
I only had a prank happen on a goodreads group, haha.
Thankfully nobody pranked me in real life, either!
It’s not feeling very spring-like here either so I need Abracadabra, It’s Spring!
Hopefully you can find a little spring in its pages to tide you over until spring finally shows herself!
Abracadabra, It’s Spring! looks like such a pretty picture book!! It isn’t very spring like over here either though. Have a great week!!
I’m so glad we have beautiful picture books to help us survive these last few yucky weeks before spring finally returns!!
All the picture books are new to me and look wonderful, Jane. It’s interesting about the yellow umbrella and connecting to Amy Krouse Rosenthal, too. The Japanese short story collection sounds fascinating! Thanks for sharing it, too.
It gets soooo dark and gloomy and rainy here that any picture books that can make rain a bit less depressing and a bit more beautiful are much needed and appreciated!
I’m trying to diversify my reading life to include more stories from around the world, and I find that short story collections are a really fun way to explore the world through writing.
Yellow Umbrella looks so lovely, and I’d love to read that Japanese short story collection. I love reading things from people in different cultures; it really shows in their different writing styles.
Happy reading!
My Monday post
Absolutely! You can really learn a lot about a culture from its writing.
The Japanese book looks amazing (okay, the graphics on the other books look pretty stunning as well), but I love the idea of the stories within the Japanese collection. I will be on the lookout for it–thanks for sharing!
It’s a fascinating collection, I hope you can find a copy! The authors’ lives were all so interesting, too – I really like getting a glimpse into the people behind the stories.
“Abracadabra It’s Spring” looks wonderful! Thanks to this post, I just put a request in for it at my library!
Hurray! I hope you enjoy it.
Wow….I LOVE The Yellow Umbrella and the photos.
Have a wonderful week.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My It’s Monday, What Are You Reading
It’s such a stunning book, so simple and elegant.
Thank you for sharing the Library April Fool’s pranks! So much fun!
The Yellow Umbrella looks beautiful! Looking forward to it!
Happy reading this week
Yellow Umbrella looks like a book I would love. I have an adult child who has studied Japanese and has been to Japan. I think the lit book may be one we would both enjoy.
Yellow Umbrella looks awesome. I’ll have to see if I can find a copy with the CD of piano music. Thanks for the tip!
Yellow Umbrella looks just stunning. Thanks for featuring it here!
I just checked our library database and we have the Chinese version of the wordless Umbrella … hmm.. since it’s largely wordless, then I hope I still get to enjoy it. I put in my Goodreads to-read shelf.
Aww, how cute is that umbrella book? Adorable.