MONDAY FUNDAY – June 10, 2017

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.

In case you missed it, last week I reviewed the incredible graphic novel Mighty Jack, pitted myself against the Vancouver Public Library’s most borrowed Canadian titles (spoiler alert – I didn’t fare particularly well), and shared my love of trees through verse.

Now on to the books!

I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda

Now, while I enjoyed Please, Mr. Panda, I wasn’t necessarily its biggest fan – it was just a bit too mean-spirited for my liking. I found this entry in the Mr. Panda saga much more to my liking. Mr. Panda is baking, and everyone wants to know what he’s making. Mr. Panda insists that it is a surprise, and most of the other animals are too impatient to wait until the surprise is ready. A little penguin has the patience to wait until Mr. Panda is ready, though, and the result is well worth the wait! A fun little reminder of the importance of patience.

Pete the Cat: Five Little Ducks

Books like this really make me miss Eric Litwin. This entry in the seemingly never-ending collection of Pete the Cat books isn’t terrible, but it’s really meh. The rhyming text is really awkward at times, and just doesn’t have the rhythm and flow I look for in a read-aloud. Also, there’s really very little difference between this and any other version of the classic children’s song. Pete the Cat just isn’t the same without Litwin.

Laundry Day

Tic and Tac are two bored little badgers who can’t think of anything fun to do. When their mother suggest they help with the laundry, they discover a hidden talent for hanging things on the wire. When they run out of clothes, they begin to turn the house inside out looking for new things to hang. And when mother discovers the mess they’ve made, well, you’ll just have to see what she does! While certainly not as impactful as Boast for Papa, this is still a sweet little story about two charming rapscallions getting into some good-natured trouble.

The Last Kingdom

Unless you’re entirely new to my blog, you’ve probably heard me sing the praises of historical fiction before. I love it. Love, love, love. Bernard Cornwell is a master of English historical fiction, particularly when it comes to recounting major battles and epic confrontations. This tale of early England is pretty gripping, filled with larger-than-life characters and dramatic events taken from the history books and infused with life (and more than a little bit of creative license). The time period covered in the book, around the 800s, is one that I am less familiar with, but which is extremely fascinating. The culture and language of the period are so different from modern day England that it’s hard to imagine that they’re the same country! It’s neat to think that I had ancestors living in England at this very time, likely experiencing these events (or at least their repercussions) in some way. I don’t really think of myself as English, but in a way, this is a fictionalized retelling of my family history, too. In fact, my last name can be traced back to the 800s! The Last Kingdom is the first book in a series recounting the exploits of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, loosely based on Uhtred the Bold, and has been made into a television series.

Have a great week, everyone!