summer – Peaceful Reader

Summer Books

Summer, for an educator, is the time we decompress between last year’s classes, mistakes we’ve made that give us inspiration for the next year, and to breathe deep and relax. I love the extra time to read and this year has been no exception. I’ve read a ton. Over the summer I read a lot of middle grade fiction and some where great and some I didn’t finish. This are my top eight titles from the summer not in any particular order because they were all five stars.

And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps: This novel-in-verse story is heart-wrenching as an adult because it shows the reality of poverty and absent parenting. Joe’s grandmother takes care of him after his mom disappears and even thought times are tough money-wise there is a lots of love but when she dies and his mom comes back temporarily life drastically changes for him. This is a quick read and it mirrors the honesty in her previous verse novel, Starfish. Should be an excellent conversation starter for you and your kids.

El Niño““` by Pamela Muñoz Ryan: This is a thrilling magical realism beach adventure that swept me away. Kai’s sister Cali disappeared in the ocean two years previous and his family of swimmers is trying to carry on. Kai lets himself get pulled in to a mythical story Cali left behind that has him believing she is still alive. Through this vision though he finally finds the strength to compete at the top.

Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar: This epic novel spans four generations of Jewish young women from the Spanish Inquisition to Cuba and on to America. This book shows the struggle of Jewish families through the years. Each young woman was unique in her story but shared a love of music and family from each generation.

Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu: Ursu leads us through a very subtle creepy story featuring Violet as she navigates a new, somewhat spooky attic room in an old home her mom and stepdad buy for the family. Violet falls ill in this new and realizes she may not be alone in the room. I listened to this on Libby and the narrator, Eva Kaminsky, did an amazing job of pulling me.

The Sherlock Society by James Ponti: Four kids and one hilarious grandfather undertake a decades old cold case involving Al Capone and his mysterious hideway near Miami. One mystery leads to another real-life problem and the kids, Alex, Zoe, Lina, and Yadi find out what it means to be a true detective. More to come and I’m looking forward to the series.

Gracie Under the Waves by Linda Sue Park: I love Park’s A Long Walk to Water and this new story lends itself to teachable moments as well. Gracie loves to snorkel and plans a vacation with her parents approval to Roatán, Honduras where she meets reef experts and finds that her passion leads her to friends and a desire to know more. Really well done and perfect for 3rd-5th grade.

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys: Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers is featured in this 1940 mystery with Jakob and Lizzie trying to figure out more about their missing mother. This one holds many surprises and I learned a lot about how the codebreakers struggled to break through before the Nazis invade.

Tree. Table. Book. by Lois Lowry: Eleven year old Sophie is best friends with her neighbor, 88 year old Sophie. They drink tea together and have deep conversations. When the younger Sophie learns that her friend is having memory issues she starts to give her tests. As she asks her to remember a pattern of words she unleashes three very different memories of the elder Sophie’s stories taking her back to Polish childhood.

I’m excited to share these stories with students in the first few weeks of school as they rush through the library doors, eager to find new books to read.

Right now I’m reading A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, listening to K vs J by Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft (narrated by these two authors as well) and still wading through The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.

Summer Joy

A few nights ago on the tail end of our 10 hour drive from Winnipeg I spotted swarms of fireflies in the fields of Iowa. I was entranced by their sparkly lights. After a quick internet search it seems like populations are still declining yet I saw many swooping around and it was thrilling. I hope we never see these beautiful little creatures disappear. They look like little fairies fluttering over the fields and ditches. I feel terrible that I captured them in jars when I was a child. Luckily we did always release them but we probably caused irreparable damage to the MN firefly population.

Another summer love is rhubarb. My grandmother had a big patch of it that we would pull from every summer. She’d make pies, jam, cobblers, and a variety of other rhubarb desserts throughout the summer and she’d freeze more to have in the winter. I recently made a rhubarb/strawberry galette and vegan rhubarb bread and both were so amazing. I bought a box of peaches this week so I’m making a cobbler tomorrow.

The beach, boating and being at the lake are also high on my list in the summer. Last weekend I ventured to my brother’s house for that exact reason. I knew he and his wife had a busy weekend but they reserved Sunday for boating on Lake Minnetonka. I love crashing over the waves, feeling the sun on my face, listening for loons, and diving into the cool waters. We boated as kids and those are definitely some of my happiest memories.

Each time a make a post with JOY in it I can’t help but reflect on all that is terrible in the world as well. I can’t help it. I feel all the pain from Gaza and the Palestinian people, the Ukrainian population still fighting this war against the behemoth Russia. I’m an empath so I think about this everyday but I also am appreciating my summer, time with my kids, reading, writing, and enjoying the sun. Terrible things are part of life but what we are experiencing with children starving and bombs crashing down as people reach for food is a new kind of horror and we can find ways to help. I donate as much as I can to a variety of causes and make phone calls to our blind/deaf representatives. So while we go about our daily life, remember how many people are experiencing horrific acts and force yourself to make phone calls, donate, and talk about your fears and thoughts with others.

What I’m reading: The Anxious Generation, Kindred by Octavia Butler, El Niño by Pamela Munoz Ryan. All excellent.

Looking for a good book

I have five chapter book suggestions for young people that I’ve read myself this summer. With everything happening in the world around us it might be safest to stay home and read. There is plenty of summer left to enjoy a few more great chapter books!

1. Maya and the Robot written by Eve. L Ewing (2021): A delightful tale of a forgotten robot that finds its way out of the closet and into Maya’s life. She figures out how to get it to work just in time for the 5th grade science fair. This is a great story about friendship and overcoming fears of losing all that is familiar. It should be noted that the robot originally belonged to a young neighbor who was killed in a neighborhood shooting is touched on briefly.

2. Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds (2021): Portico Reeves has an amazing imagination and he protects those around him with his superpowers as he tries to deal with his parents arguments and impending divorce. Jason Reynolds has a gift of speaking the truth from a young person’s opinion. Get a taste of Stuntboy as he reads the first chapter to you.

3. Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca (2021): an #ownvoice novel in verse about a young Indian American girl whose life is forever changed when her mother is diagnosed with leukemia. Reha is working so hard to balance her Indian identity and traditions with her American school self~it is a lot to handle until the only thing that matters is her beloved mother.

4. 365 Days to Alaska by Cathy Carr (2021): Eleven-year Rigel loves living in the wilderness of Alaska with her family so when she finds out her parents are divorcing and her mom is moving with the Rigel and her two sisters back to Connecticut to live with her mother, their grandmother she is mad. Getting used to suburb life compared to the wilds of Alaska is a difficult feat and it’s hard to make friends and still feel like the strong nature-loving person that she is. This is a fantastic debut novel! Listen to Colby Sharp’s review.

5. The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga (2021): This one hurt my heart with everything happening right now with gun violence. Something needs to happen because it’s scary for adults and children. This book, told in alternating chapters is about a school shooting. Parker, Quinn’s older brother took a gun to school and killed Mabel, Cora’s older sister as well as three other people. We learn this in details as Cora and Quinn, former best friends and neighbors don’t talk anymore until Quinn comes up with a plan to go back in time to change what happens. This is a loving story about a frightening and all-too-common situation. How do the girls deal with their guilt, their grief over what happened and find a way to make peace with each other? I cried at the end. This would make a great read aloud so key discussions could take place.

I didn’t read all day long, I also made some delicious food:

I picked up two crates of peaches from the Tree-Ripe Fruit Company and they are so delicious as is but I succumbed this afternoon to take a few of the extra soft ones and make this Peach Crumble from Pioneer Woman. It’s bubbling in the oven right now.

I made a wild mushroom risotto last week and had some leftover mushrooms to use up and even though it is blazing hot outside for Iowa I made soup: Hungarian Mushroom Soup – it is creamy and delicious and I know I will enjoy it with a slice of sourdough tonight for dinner.

Sweet corn! My husband brought home 6 ears of corn from one of the many pickup trucks around town and I shucked and boiled them in a little salted water and the flavor is the taste of summer for me. I could probably live on sweet corn and fresh peaches for at least the rest of July!

Stay safe out there…

The lazy days of summer

I like to do yoga in my pajamas. I do. Before the pandemic I went somewhat faithfully to a yoga studio with other like-minded folks and I enjoyed the camaraderie. I did. But when the pandemic hit I discovered the joy of doing yoga right upstairs in what used to be my child’s room. That child now owns a home of his own and only sleeps over on Christmas Eve so I turned it into a yoga/meditation home studio and reading corner. I love to wind my way from my bed to bathroom and then take a sharp right over to my studio all while still happily sporting bed head and soft pink pajamas. It’s a beautiful thing. I bring up Adriene’s monthly calendar and pick that day if I seem drawn to it or any of the other amazing videos she has on her YouTube channel and I just get down to it. After heart surgery it took me awhile to make it back to that room to specifically do yoga but I’m back there and I appreciate it all the more for the break.

I like to read in my pajamas. I do. Even on my patio which is in the back of my house and no one can see me except for the chickens and the dogs. They don’t judge. My reading time right now is on elementary-middle grade fiction for the state award books. I have to mix it up with a few adult books over the summer as well. On my Kindle app I’m reading Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I just finished That Month in Tuscany by Inglath Coooper. A friend lent me her copy of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill and another friend highly recommended The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick. And on a recent lunch date my husband and I wandered into our local Barnes and Noble. We found quite a few books I’d like to read in my pajamas but we “only” walked out with three; All the Broken People by Leah Konen, The Promise by Damon Galgut, and The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay. Also on my list to read are Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment, Justin Baldoni’s Man Enough, and Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer.

What else am I doing this summer while I am healing and on break before school begins again in August? Walking the dogs, cooking, and thinking…just processing all that is around me. I’m doing a lot of that in my pink pajamas.

Healing Everyday

As anybody knows healing takes time and it’s slow. I’m walking more with less heavy breathing and I’m doing some simple exercises that move my muscles around. I am anxious to get back to real yoga that includes downward dog, the “home” base for all yoga practices. I started driving last week which was exciting because we purchased a new car right after surgery. We thought the car was going to take a year to get to us but it arrived sooner and it made for a very smooth ride home from the hospital. Thank you to our son Tristan for finding the car and leading us through this process. We bought a Hyundai Tucson because its a good looking hybrid and will give us more space than our 2004 Prius.

While it is a sure sign of great freedom to drive out my driveway and run some errands I have to check myself while I get groceries, for example, that I can only carry small amounts to my car and cannot fill my cart up with boxes of sparkling water. And I love walking outside in my neighborhood but I can’t take my dogs with me unless someone else walks with me or I go on solo walks, leaving my dogs stunned as I walk away. I’m missing my daughter Japhy/Groovy Girl who headed back to Iowa City this week to her roommates and work. She was an amazing amount of help everyday while I recovered.

In between walks and driving about town I’ve read books and gathered more at our local library. I finished Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse and Love Medicine, both with same characters and I read them out of order. I do love her writing but both books have so many characters to keep up with and I had to flip to the family tree every other chapter. Right now I am reading Run River by Joan Didion for book club. I went to the library the other day with my husband while he browsed Playaway books and naturally I found two to read: Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson, one of my favorite authors and Simi Liu’s We were Dreamers; An Immigration Superhero Origin Story. I loved him in Kim’s Convenience and am interested in his story. I also have a large book bag filled with books from my school library to read for Iowa Children’s Choice nominees, our state award books.

In between reading I’ve caught up with some streaming. I finished This is Us and Bridgerton and am working on Julia (Child) and The Great with Elle Fanning. Japhy turned me on to Jane the Virgin and she and I watched a ton of that before she left. Now I have to wait for her return to watch more. Atlanta with Donald Glover and Black-ish are my go-to short shows that are easy to fit in as a break. I try to keep my binge watching to a minimum so that I can get lots of reading done but it’s a tough balance with so much good stuff out there. What are you reading and watching?

Farewell to September

I can’t believe October begins tomorrow. Summer is my favorite weather season because I like the heat of the sun, the warm days on a boat or patio, and easy summer foods and beverages. Many people love all that about Fall; the pumpkin spiced everything, the sweaters, the leaves falling. We’ve had amazing weather throughout September and I hope October brings more of the same. Truthfully all the seasons provide something to love but when we veer towards winter I dread feeling chilled all the time. As with every month I’ve done a fair amount of cooking and reading this last week. Right now I’m enjoying Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the 2nd in the series.

Last weekend I cleaned up an area of my living room and went through a stack of books. Weird right, that I would have a stack of books sitting right on the floor in any of the rooms in my house? As I sorted this particular stack of books I found a note from a friend inside the front cover that said “I’m going to want this one back” which is code for “this was very good!” so I promptly started to read it.

The Plot was amazingly good and written by Jean Hanff Korelitz, an author I was completely unaware of until now. I read the book in 4 days and while it has some creepy moments it isn’t over the top because I can’t handle scary. It has great plot twists and interesting characters. Now I want to read other stories by this author. She is a playwright and started an online book group, Book the Writer, that pairs authors with readers. Check out the EventBrite page to see upcoming authors. I would love to sit in on one of these sessions even though technical they all take place in NYC apartments. (After browsing the list I signed up for the online group with Jhumpa Lahiri and her new book Wherabouts. I’ll have to check if the library has a copy as I made a promise to myself about book buying after I moved that stack of books from one spot to another.

{Half-Baked Harvest image}

Sometimes my brain works overtime and I try to prepare something for book club that relates to the book we read. This is not always easy but reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman the food question was very clear. The characters all eat pizza together in the apartment with the bank robber/kidnapper and so I made Roasted Mushroom Kale Pizza from Half-Baked Harvest and it was delicious. There were no leftovers. Last night I made Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna and it is amazing. We had it for dinner tonight with a salad and we had to force ourselves to stop picking at what remained in the pan. Two pieces is plenty…but oh, so good! I do want to make her Vanilla Chai Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew soon as well…I mean tomorrow is October after all.

Now I’m off to do a little bedtime yoga with Adriene and get myself mentally prepared for Friday.

BLM book list #2

I started a list on this post – Books give insight– and I have more to add after another few weeks of reading plus a stack that I look forward to reading soon. While protests are still happening across the country our own community has hosted a few community events and peace walks where people are allowed to share their stories. It’s good to listen as a person and as an educator yet I feel like the real people that need to hear the message are in our city councils, police departments, and other government positions. Our Black mayor was at the last organized Peace Walk. I’m sure he has his own stories from before he took office and during as I know just from reading the paper he has a few foes that stand in his way.

We have two sister sisters close together and while I happily have my feet in both communities the one I live and teach in does not seem as pro-change and I’m personally trying to figure out how to create good trouble for our new and so far ineffective Mayor Green.

But let’s segue back to books! For people interested in BLM stories this list gives you a great place to start. Some of my book choices come from The Brown Bookcase an independent bookstore run by 9-yo Rylei and check out The Brown Bookshelf for more inspiration.

1. Dear Martin by Nic Stone (2017) : This YA novel recounts Justyce’s story as he tries to be like his hero Dr. King and finds himself in several unnecessary situations with police including one off-duty officer when the music volume is in question. “Stand your ground” is a terrible law because it gives credence to any average G.I. Joe wannabe who carries a gun. If you have this mentality that someone is infringing on your own well-being and claim you feel unsafe or just simply anger for being disrespected. Ugh. This book! Too real. Justyce is pre-judged as gangster instead of the good student that he is. We see this happen all the time when we are shown “thug” photos instead of high school grad photos. I’m a new fan of Nic Stone and look forward to reading the next book in this series.

2. Clean Getaway by Nic Stone (2020) : After reading Dear Martin I quickly put this one on hold at our local library. This story, more for elementary/middle school, shares Scoob’s journey with his grandmother as she retraces her steps through a few Southern locations using Scoob’s grandfather’s Green Book. His G-ma picks Scoob up for an impromptu road trip leaving Scoob’s dad in the dark. This would make a great read-aloud to help students understand Jim Crow laws and other not-so-subtle rules to keep Black people segregated.

3. Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes (2020) : Donte, a mixed-race middle schooler, is getting used to a new prep school filled with mostly white students and staff. The first chapter has Donte in the principal’s office defending himself against a teacher who sees him as trouble. His sibling Trey presents as white and has a much easier time at school. This book is not my favorite JPR chapter book but I appreciated the issues raised. It’s maddening as an educator to hear how Donte is treated by people who should be supporting him. This would make a great read-aloud for 5th-7th grade to discuss the inequality of experiences.

4. Ways to make sunshine by Renee Watson (2020) : I’m in love with Renee Watson’s writing. What I love about this particular story is that while it is realistic fiction; it isn’t a “problem” story. The biggest “crisis” that happens is that the family has had to move to a new/old rental house because her dad’s postal job was eliminated. So relatable at this time. Ryan has fun with her friends, she goes to a pool party, her grandmother spends hours straightening her hair, she gets into trouble yet she loves her brother, her parents, and her extended family. This is the beginning of a series and I am so excited to read more about Ryan!

and one adult book-

5. A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Anne Fowler (2020) : Valerie Alston-Holt, a professor of forestry and ecology, lives in a beautiful older neighborhood where she raises her mixed race son. While her son, Xavier, was very young he husband died in a tragic accident. Enter in the Whitman family who’ve built a new home and pool and perhaps avoided a few property line codes along the way. Brad Whitman is new money and he’s not concerned about the environment like his neighbor. He only wants to make the three women in his life happy. His downfall is that he has a crush on his teenage stepdaughter Juniper. When Brad and Valerie collide major problems abound. I really couldn’t put this book down. I felt for Valerie as she stands up for what she believes in yet those decisions come with a price.

Books I’m looking forward to reading soon:

1. Take the mic: fictional stories of everyday resistance edited by Bethany C. Morrow (2019) : A compilation of major authors contributed stories to this book and I’m excited to see what they have to say.

2. Count me in by Marsha Bajaj (2019) : This one is about finding an unexpected friendship and how to deal with a hate crime when it happens to you and your beloved grandfather.

3. Love like Sky by Leslie C. Youngblood (2018) : Another teacher read this and offered it to me. This is a realistic fiction story set in Atlanta.

And two adult books:

4. I’m still here: Black dignity in a world made for whiteness by Austin Channing Brown (2018) : This is one I ordered early in April and it took until end of May to arrive. I heard Reese talk about it on her book club website and had to read it. Hopefully I will get to it soon.

5. Behold the dreamers by Imbolo Mbue (2016) : A friend passed this on and the story which takes place right before and during the Lehman Brothers collapse is about a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem.

Ahhh, so many good books, never enough time. School schedules are starting up. Groovy Girl heads off to college on the 20th. We are all hoping Covid-19 doesn’t affect schools but really I’m just worried. WORRIED MAMA.

**None of these books are linked to a store. I cannot promote Amazon and hope that you can find any of these at a local bookstore, bookshop, or simply from your local library. Have you read any of these on my lists or have other suggestions for me? Let me know via email or a comment.

July Ramblings

I’m taking a BLM class through Iowa Safe Schools-what an amazing organization this is! The class is great, learning a lot, and I’m almost finished. The homework keeps me busy though as I worry about school openings and life surrounding Covid numbers rising all over including Iowa.

I”m still reading Ibram X. Kendi’s book and I realize I have a bad habit of setting nonfiction down in order to pick up fiction. I had a turn to stroll around our public library last week (by appointment only) and picked up the first in a mystery series by one of my favorite authors William Kent Krueger. He wrote Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land. He has 17 books in this mystery series started in 1998 and they feature an Irish/Native detective named Cork O’Connor and are set in northern Minnesota.

My book club this month is reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Murial Barbery. I’m barely half finished and it’s got a lot of big words in it and I’m not really pulled into the story yet. It’s interesting mind you but not like “ooh, I don’t want to stop reading…” I’m also reading a book for school, Lalani of the distant sea by Erin Entrada Kelly. I’m also still reading to a group of students using Google Classroom. I upload videos of my reading in my backyard and they listen at some point in the day. I just finished Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers by Shauna Holyoak and I just started Carl Hiaasen’s Squirm, which is on our state award list for this coming year.

When I need a mind break I’ve been catching up on HBO’s Insecure with Issa Rae. It’s one of my favorite shows because I connect with her humor, her awkwardness, and the shit she goes through on a daily basis. I get her and I think of her like a friend. This is the perfect reason for watching shows outside of your regular comfort zone. You can learn things about people.

I’m still pretty much hunkered down at home. I venture out to the grocery store every once in awhile, fully masked up and disappointed in a world of people that can’t seem to do the same. What the heck people?!? Ridiculous-we could lower our numbers if you all would just get on board. I also go to work because I’ve got three boxes of new books to process before school starts (if? Yes, I’m looking at you mask-less people) and I want to get them finished and do a massive clean-up there. I’ve only spent a couple hours total just reading away in my beloved orange hammock~I trust there will be more before the summer is over…

School Bells are ringing…

My seniors!

As August draws to a close I’m celebrating not only the beautiful summer I had but the new school year that is upon us. The happy small faces filled our clean hallways last week on Backpack Night and you could feel their excitement. Hugs were tossed about like confetti, hellos and high fives passed up and down. They were ready to be back in their routines. Students were happy to announce all the books they read and I had about five former students stop by to say hi and get a quick hug.

Now we’ve had a full week back and it’s been the same excitement level as that first night. Students were thrilled to be in the library, checking out books, and seeing some changes. I purchased a large colorful story carpet from Scholastic, I’ve created a puzzle corner, and added an iPod/iPad corner so students can listen to podcasts. Our TedTalk Wednesdays will begin again next week. Lots to look forward to in the year. There’s a lot of fun mixed with important messages. Our school theme is “Adventure Awaits!” And my library theme is manners. We’ve already had one very telling conversation about cell phone use and how hard it is to get a parents’ attention away from their phone. We’re going to delve into all this deeper as we go about our regular library business.

Our 5th and 6th graders are soon to begin a collaborative graphic novel project between the library and the art room. We are super excited to start this first time project and the students have no idea yet! Our graphic novel section is popular and I’m thrilled to be able to introduce this project to them.

What has you excited for the coming year?

How is it August already?

This summer is flying by…

Even when I was a young school girl I knew that as soon as August rolled around it wouldn’t be long before school started again. I love summer. I like to have equal time to relax and get things done in a very balanced summer way. This summer I’ve not had as much downtime as I would have liked. The one day I had time to lay in the hammock and read I broke the hammock trying to get Ruby the dog in with me! Luckily the crash was soft as the tree trunk timbered slowly down and didn’t hit me.

I spent my birthday weekend with Groovy Girl, her BFF Katy and Katy’s mom, Beth in St. Charles, IA for Hinterland Music Festival. We saw Hozier, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, The Wood Brothers, Jade Bird, Maggie Rogers, and St Paul and the Broken Bones just to literally name a few. I had so much fun listening to music under the sun and the moon.

(Hozier)

We camped and thankfully it didn’t rain. Camping in the rain is just not fun yet the weekend was super sunny and we all about suffered from heat stroke. Sunday afternoon we took a little break and headed into Winterset for a little lunch and a lot of air conditioning. We found a wonderful Mexican restaurant open and then found the Winterset Cidery where we relaxed with a flight of delicious ciders and a game of cards with the girls. Once we soaked up enough cool air we headed back to the festival to hear the last 4 musical acts. Maggie and Brandi were the last two singers and they were both amazing performers. Brandi is a natural storyteller and I love how she openly shares about her family.

I’ve had two teacher-librarian meetings this week and have a bunch of projects to work on before school begins. I’m going to have to cut out my summer naps from now on I guess. I still have a lot of books on my to-read stack (but really – who am I kidding-that stack grows more than it dwindles!)

Happy last weeks of summer..