alibrarymama

Someday soon, I will have some reviews to share – but I’m working a Sunday at the library, and that means it’s time for me to take a look at what’s in our library book basket, in between helping frantic teens find a quiet table where they can study for their exams.

My daughter and I are listening to The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder in the car.  We’ve been doing assorted picture books at bedtime, including The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak (specifically requested by herself), Hoot Owl: Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor and Jean Jullien,and Last Stop on Market Street  by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, this last checked out for a second time so I can share it with her class at school.  She’s been having a great time reading A Pig, a Fox and a Box by Jonathan Fenske to us. We have a couple more picture books that we haven’t gotten to yet – Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi and Mango, Abuela and Me by Meg Medina and Anglea Dominguez, as well as an early chapter book that I think she feels is too scary for her, Cybils Finalist Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale. I just realized that somehow we missed reading Lulu and the Hamster in the Night by Hilary McKay, so I’m bringing that home with me today. She has a handful of Rainbow Fairy books out from her school library, which she enjoys looking through on her own even though she can’t really quite read them yet, as well as an Alice in Wonderland pop-up book.

We’ve been exploring Alice – I’m not quite sure how it came up, but she asked to listen to the book, and then watched the Disney version of the movie.  Oh, Alice!  That early attempt at fantasy has never really worked for me as a story, but a love for it is so firmly woven into the texture of children’s literature and especially children’s fantasy, that I’ve now listened to the audiobook with both of my children.  We’ve had good conversations, though, about how the book doesn’t work for us and why it was written in such a way, as well as enjoying the poetry.

My son and I are still working our way slowly through The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. (And I’m sending her good thoughts – she’s been having such a rough go of it.) We’re listening to The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman in the car. He’s reading lots of Cybils finalists to himself – mostly The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson, which is a really long book for him, so he’s taken little breaks to read some of the graphic novel and nonfiction finalists, including Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCool and Emily Carrol, Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm, Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes, and Kid Presidents by David Stabler and Doogie Horner.  He’s been re-listening to some favorites while in his room, including The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex and Winterling by Sarah Prineas.

My love has been listening to Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce in the car with the kids and The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold for himself.

For myself, I have the usual pile, even if it seems smaller after the massive amounts of Cybils reading.  I’m reading Speculative Fiction 2014 edited by Rene Williams and Shaun Duke and Serpentine by Cindy Pon in print, with Secret Coders, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, Ms. Marvel vols 2 & 3 by G. Willow Wilson, The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard and Winter by Marissa Meyer all waiting their turns after them.  I’m listening to Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett in the car and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (for the second time) in the house, in between podcasts.  I feel like I’m doing pretty well with my diversity goals with this current batch, and now need to figure out what middle grade speculative fiction has come out recently that might be fun for me.

What are you reading?