Picture Book Reviews

This has been a crazy week. I've been busy with my online class which I love. I have an assignment every week and I have two weeks to finish each assignment but I like to try and get it done within a week. Partly because I'm a school nerd and also because I know that the more you put things off, the quicker it is to get behind. I also sent my baby off to Kindergarten this week. She has only been three days but so far she loves it. Friday not only did she have a fire drill, she had a volcano drill. Huh!!! It took me a minute but I finally figured out she meant a tornado drill. Gotta love 5 year olds. Anywho, those are my reasons/excuses for not posting as regularly as I should. What are your excuses for not commenting like you should? OUCH, Oh no she didn't!!!! Come on folks, show some love. Hope you enjoy the following pb's as much as I did.

Ready for Anything: Keiko Kasza is the kind of writer I would like to be. Her books are so clever and well written. After planning a picnic with Duck, Racoon decides he doesn't want to go. He tells his friend all the things that could go wrong. Duck in turn tells him the lovely things that could go right. Such a sweet message. I kind of needed to hear it myself. I also love that Racoon is just Racoon and not Ricky Racoon or something else sickly sweet. 

What Can You Do With a Paleta: Carmen Tafolla is an award winning author who brings together English and Spanish together perfectly. What can you do with a paleta? Well you can use it to turn your tongue purple and scare your brother but the best thing to do is "lick it and slurp it and gobble it all down." If you haven't guessed a paleta is a popsicle.

 I Know Here: I'm not sure if this is Laura Croza's first book but it is the first time I've ever heard of here. The book follows a girl as her family prepares to move from Saskatchewan to Toronto. The girl doesn't know Toronto she knows here. She decides to draw all the things she knows, fold it up in her pocket to take to Toronto with her. (sniffle, sniffle)

I have to read 5 pb's a week for my class. If you have any suggestions let me know. Until next time.

Book Review: Girl in Translation

 AMAZING!!!! Can I leave it at that? No, you want more details? Okay here we go. First let me just reassure you that this is no ordinary coming of age story. We meet Ah-Kim (Kimberly) as she and her mother arrive in New York straight from Hong Kong. They hardly know anyone and they don't speak any English. Kimberly's Aunt Paula funded their trip to American and now they are indebted to her. Aunt Paula intends to collect on that debt no matter what. They are forced to live in a condemned building with no heat, but many roaches. After the mother begins her new life working in Aunt Paula's sweatshop, Kimberly begins to lead a double life: student by day, sweatshop worker by night. She knows that the only way the family will survive is if she gets an education and is able to take her mother away from the sweatshop. The book takes us with Kimberly as she goes from middles school to high school and beyond. As we all know that particular time span in our lives is full of joys and pains, self-discovery and experimentation. Kimberly is no different.

It is a remarkable story for many reasons. When I opened the book, I was sucked in right away. Within the first few pages they enter their new apartment and I could feel the cold, see the roaches and breathe in the dust. Jean Kwok set each scene so well. I really feel like I have experienced the noise and heat and grim of a sweatshop. Ms. Kwok does say she spent time working in a sweatshop as a child so everything about this book feels authentic and real. This is her debut novel and I'm delighted it seems to be getting lots of buzz. I also like the cover of the book which is just simple and beautiful. I love book covers. Even though it seems that the e-book is taking over real books, you can't beat actually being able to run your hands over a picture or the smell of a book. Girl in Translation is one of those books that I will read again and will gaze at lovingly on my bookshelf. You can't do that with those silly e-readers. I look forward to more books by
Jean Kwok.

Book Review: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

 I'm a little torn about this review. It's my policy to only give positive reviews so if I don't like a book I don't review it. However, I'm on the fence with
Baba Segi's Wives so I thought I would be honest about what I liked and what didn't work for me.

These days polygamy is a hot topic. Of course we all think of the long hair, long dress wearing women of Utah , but Lola Shoneyin has written an interesting story about polygamy in Nigeria where it's a way of life. (I assume it's a way of life.) Baba Segi has four wives who are only known in reference to their oldest children, except for Bolande who has yet to produce a child. They all have secrets including Baba Segi and in the end those secrets change the trajectory for the next generation.

I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the characters especially Baba Segi who is this big business man but at the slightest stress kind of turns into a two year old having a tantrum. The most difficult aspect of the book was that each chapter was told from a different wives' point of view but you had to figure out which wife it was. This became kind of frustrating playing who's speaking now, especially at the beginning of the story when you don't really know each wife yet. This made wanting to read the book a little difficult for me, because it made me mad and what's the first rule of book club, keep your readers happy!!!Maybe you guys are smarter than me, or will read the book when you haven't been chasing naughty children all day. Check it out. Until next time.

Disclosure: Book courtesy of Harper Collins. Thanks and keep em' coming!!

Back to School

For most of you it is still easy breezy summer vacation. For my family it is the one week countdown until my daughter starts Kindergarten(year-round school). Things are kind of hectic so my posts have not been as regular as they should be. Sorry.

Anywho, people always ask me how I find good books for my kids. First things first, you can't possibly find the books you want when you are chasing kids around the library or yelling at them to keep their shoes on. I look online at the library catalog before and put the books I want on hold. That way when I get to the library the books are already waiting for me in a neat little stack and I can spend that time helping my kids learn how to pick good books for themselves. How do I know what books to put on hold? Well, I always go to the award winners and I also check out the different reviews. Sometimes I just stumble upon a book that looks good. But starting with the award winners is always a good first step. I've listed a few just to get you started. I hope to also encourage you to share these books with your child's teacher. They are so bombarded with making lesson plans, discipling and testing that they don't have the time to roam through the library looking for great books. They might be reading the same books they've been reading for years. Do those books reflect the diversity of the class.of our world? Often times not. Don't just give the teacher the list, actually go to the library and get the books for her. Offer to come in on Fridays and read the class a story. The teachers can't do everything and since we are the lovers of books, this is an area that we can easily help fill in the gap. So as I head off to buy my daughter pencils and crayons and glue sticks, take a look at the lists and find some books that you can share with your child's class this year. 
  The Horn Book
The Caldecott Medal
The Coretta Scott King Book Award
The E.B. White Read Aloud Awards
The Giverny Award
Jane Addams Children's Book Awards
Pura Belpre Awards

The Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) has an extensive list of awards posted on their site.

PS: Just because a book doesn't win an award or is not on the NYT Bestseller list does not mean it's a bad book. A lot of times really great books fall under the radar. If you find a good book show some love and tell someone about it. Until next time.

Beach Reads

My name is Jeannine and I'm a book snob. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I have survived (barely) 9 days on my own with the kids. The hubby has been off on a mancation.(don't ask) In honor of myself, I'm taking myself, by myself to the beach for the day. Looking forward to just relaxing and reading. The books that are usually considered good beach reads are generally not books I'm interested in reading.Good beach reads for me are books that aren't too heavy, can make you laugh out loud or are so engaging that you block out the rest of the world. So here is my list for acceptable beach reads. Until next time.

Foreskins Lament
Water For Elephants
The Irresistible Henry House
This is Where I Leave You
Hold Love Strong
The Help
Blue Boy
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
Shanghai Girls
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Tales of  Female Nomad
Rapture of Canaan

Take 2

I sent off my second agent package last week. Send me good vibes folks!!! Tomorrow I start my on line class which I'm very excited about. I may have to get up at 4 am to get any work done. My kids seem to be getting up earlier and earlier. Stay cool folks!! Until next time.

Free Books Rule

Just got a shiny new book in the mail courtesy of Harper Collins Publishers. Kick-ass!! Can't wait to read it and write a review. Free or not, I only review books I like so if I don't like it, you will never know what book it was. Seems like it will be a good read so I'm ready to dive in. Speaking of diving in, I'm off to take the kids to the pool. Until next time.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

A few posts back I called the hubby an idiot in big, fat capital letters on the blog.(Dear Hubby, if you don't want to be called an idiot on the blog, don't do idiot things. Love Wifey.) I figured if I tell you the stupid stuff he does than I should also tell you the good stuff he does.

Bloom where you are planted has been my mantra the last few months. When you are up to your eyeballs in dirty laundry and a two and a half year old having tantrums and a five year old who thinks she is 25, sometimes you feel like you're wilting more than anything else. I've been trying to sign up for Anastasia Suen's online class for awhile but every time I've tried real life has got in the way.(car breaks down, big dentist bill etc) I finally just signed up and will start the class next week. (kick-ass) Like I said a few posts back motherhood is not all lollipops and popsicles, and marriage is not all champagne and strawberries. In fact a lot of times it's not even kool-aid and saltine crackers. But when you have a spouse who is supportive and encouraging, that is pretty special. It's nice to have someone who is always on your side. He thinks I'm the next J.K. Rowlings!! (If only)He allows me to bloom where I'm planted and I'm very thankful for that support. Check out Anastasia's class. I have lots of writer friends who say it has been really helpful.  Until next time.