Happy Monday, friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer, even those of you who are melting in record-breaking heat waves!
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.
Sometimes You Fly – Katherine Applegate, Jennifer Black Reinhardt
Sometimes You Fly has been compared to Dr. Suess’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, and I can clearly see the similarities Both are illustrated poems aimed much more at adults than at children, and often marketed as graduation gifts for high school or college students. Sometimes You Fly even notes this on its inside flap, describing the book as “perfect for new parents, recent grads, or anyone reaching for the sky”. And to be honest…I’m just not that much of a fan of either book. They just feel…well…a bit too obviously inspirational for my taste, like extended Hallmark greeting cards or really long fortune cooking sentiments. I feel like I’ve been told “follow your dreams”, “be yourself” and “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” more times than I could ever count, and while I know these are important messages, after a while they all start to sound the same. This is a sweet book, and nicely illustrated, and a natural gift item, but it just isn’t really my cup of tea.
Source: Raincoast Books
The Book of Mistakes – Corinna Luyken
At a school visit, a teacher once shared with me her concern that students’ were becoming increasingly ill-prepared to handle failure. The children in her classes seemed to lack resiliency, or the ability to handle negative experiences or outcomes. She supposed that well-meaning parents and caregivers (sometimes referred to as helicopter parents) wanting to protect their children from negativity or disappointment, were sheltering them from failure to the extent that they rarely had opportunities to make mistakes or experience disappointment in safe, supportive environments. This is where stories like The Book of Mistakes can really come into their own. The Book of Mistakes is about not only accepting and coping with mistakes, but embracing them, and above all, making the best of them.
The Book of Mistakes follows an artist as they make mistakes, work with those mistakes, and carry on with their project. The unnamed artist never stops creating, no matter how many mistakes they make. They don’t let their mistakes define them, or diminish their passion for creation. It’s a simple message, but a beautiful one that’s neatly shared through example. Telling children to work through their mistakes is one thing, showing children how to actually do that is far more powerful. Much like another book I enjoyed, Accident!, The Book of Mistakes is a great story for encouraging creative expression, perseverance and resiliency.
Source: Penguin Random House Canada
The Golden Glow – Benjamin Flouw
Fox is an avid botanist, and when he comes across a fascinating entry in one of his books that doesn’t have a corresponding photograph, he sets out on a journey to find the mysterious golden glow and add it to his collection. Along the journey, Fox meets up with good friends, explores stunning scenery, and is rewarded with a stunning flower that he realizes deserves to be left in its natural surroundings for everyone to experience and enjoy.
The Golden Glow is a beautiful, beautiful books, filled with gorgeous illustrations and fun little educational moments that celebrate the wonder of the natural world. It’s a whimsical ode to the great outdoors, charming, endearing, and absolutely worth picking up and experiencing.
Source: Penguin Random House Canada
Unicorn is colourful and sparkly and spreads joy and sprinkles wherever he goes. Horse is brown and plain and….doesn’t spread either of those things. The two are about as polar opposites as you can get, and while Unicorn tries to befriend Horse, Horse pushes Unicorn away, because deep down in his heart he’s jealous, and wishes he could be as awesome and popular as Unicorn is. But when Unicorn is kidnapped, Horse must put aside his jealous and head off to the rescue. The relationship between Horse and Unicorn kind of reminded my of Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea, which features a goat as the counterpart instead of a horse. Interestingly, in both cases the unicorn is presented as male, which I quite like – why can’t a male horse be rainbow-coloured and sparkly and go tra-la-la!
I love the illustrations in this one – they are awesome. And the humour works pretty well, too. The story is fine, though we’ve seen the “I hate him because I’m secretly jealous of him” storyline done before, even with Unicorns. But it’s the illustrations that really make this one a guaranteed kid-pleaser that’s sure to fly off the shelves. Also, although the story repeatedly calls Horse and Unicorn friends, some of the illustrations come across as downright romantic, with the two sharing cupcakes and giggling shyly and walking off into the sunset together, and dang it, if I want to ship Horse and Unicorn, then I’m going to ship Horse and Unicorn!
Source: Raincoast Books
Little Beaver and The Echo – Amy MacDonald, Sarah Fox-Davies
Little Beaver is sad and lonely, wishing he had a good friend. When he cries out and shares his sadness aloud, he hears a strange voice crying out from across the pond. It seems there’s someone out there who feels exactly the same way as he does! Little Beaver sets out to find the owner of this mysterious voice, and along the way he makes all sorts of wonderful new friends. With the help of a wise old beaver, Little Beaver discovers the identity of the mysterious voice (kind of given away in the spoiler-y title) in this delightful older title. I adore Sarah Fox-Davies’ illustrations – Little Beaver is just so adorable, and every page is wonderfully detailed and honestly just beautiful. If you can find a copy of this one, I highly recommend picking it up and taking a look.
Source: Library
So, have you read anything good this week? I’d love to hear your thoughts, reviews, and suggestions! Have a great week, friends!
Oh my… I don’t think there’s a book in your reading this week that I don’t want to read. They all look fantastic, so I need to make sure they’re all on my list. I can’t remember if I’ve read Little Beaver and the Echo, but it’s not available locally. That may require an ILL. And I was already giggling at your Unicorn (and Horse) review when I came upon “…if I want to ship Horse and Unicorn, then I’m going to ship Horse and Unicorn!.” LOL!!!!! Love it. Have a fantastic reading/writing week, Jane!
I’ll have to look for the unicorn book! The only firm thing on my to do list today was “Avoid sweating.” I failed miserably, but got other things accomplished!
The art in The Book of Mistakes is amazing! I’m not familiar with Unicorn and Horse, but it sounds like one to look for!
I love picture books with unusual art, and The Book of Mistakes is just so striking!
You always find the prettiest books. Every time I come here, my TBR list grows. Have a great week!
That’s the best compliment a book blogger can hear!!
I felt the same way about Sometimes You Fly. The Book of Mistakes went over really well with my students. They loved the creativity of it. It also helped connect with other lessons we’d had about having a growth mindset (I didn’t use those specific words though).
That growth mindset is so important! I always tell my kids that “I can’t do it” is not part of our vocabulary here – “I can’t do it yet”, “I need some help to do it”, “Can you show me again how to do it”, “I’m not sure how to do it”, or “I’m nervous about doing it”, those are all much better things to say!
I love the cover of Little Beaver and The Echo and the sneak peak you’ve given look like the entire book will be beautiful to look at. The Golden Glow was on my want to read list but I had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder. Unfortunately, my library still doesn’t have it!
Nice. Especially The Book of Mistakes. The beaver one feels familiar.
The Book of Mistakes is one of my favourites. It’s the first I am hearing of Sometimes You Fly, I shall try to find that one in our library.
I need to read The Book of Mistakes with my oldest (he is almost 9 years old). He has such a hard time getting things wrong or not being good at something right away. If he thinks he won’t be good at it then he won’t even try which can be very frustrating.
I know that feeling all too well! So many of the kids I work with struggle to even start on a project for fear of not getting things just right, it’s heartbreaking!
I fall in love with The Book of Mistakes a little bit more with each reading!
I have also been a fan of The Book of Mistakes. Your other picture books are new to me and look great. Thanks for sharing.