I really liked the two articles that we were assigned to read this week. I really liked the “Here I am” article because it brought up that even though kids are kids they should still be taught at a young age that it doesn’t matter what skin color you are we all still have imaginations that can go wild through a book. I think the author brought up a good point about the cover of a book and how books with Black or Asian kids on the cover doesn’t mean that, that book is only for those kids with that ethnicity group. I was surprised by the second article and how few books there are about diversity. I do think that as the years go by more and more books about diversity are being published which I think is fantastic! I was also surprised by the author in the “Here I am” article by how early he knew about diversity and how he wanted to make a difference through his talent. I think teachers and librarians should encourage kids to read books about diversity because they are full of information that not every kid is aware of. Reading diverse books will allow those kids to become more aware of the history and present of the country they live in considering we live in a very diverse country. I know that where I went to school in Newcastle, WY we always celebrated black history month. The teachers would read us books that had to do with African Americans or Martin Luther King Jr; and I know that now they have Hispanic month as well. As I was observing for one of my classes I saw that the teachers were reading books that were bilingual so I thought that was very cool and the kids also seemed to like them.
For this weeks “its Monday what are you Reading” post I read four books. I read Take Me out to the Yakyu by Aaron Meshon, Tito Puente Mambo King Rey Del Mambo by Monica Brown, Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 by Bill Martin Jr, and Lost Star by Patricia Lauber.
The first book was Take Me out to the Yakyu this book was about a little Japanese boy whose grandparents take him to a baseball game in American and in Japan as well. Throughout the book he compares the two baseball games and how even though they are a baseball game there are a lot of differences between the two countries when it comes to baseball and celebrating. Overall I enjoyed the book and it had good illustrations.
The second book I read was Tito Puente Mambo King Rey del Mambo. This book was about Tito Puente the Mambo King and it gave a little short autobiography of Tito Puente and how he became the Mambo King. This book was a bilingual book so it gave me some practice with reading Spanish and I learned some new words as well.
The third book was Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3. This book is about numbers and how the number 0 wants to get on the tree but doesn’t think there is a place for it.
The last book is Lost Star by Patricia Lauber. Lost star is about Amelia Earhart the first female to fly around the world. Amelia was a very daring girl and didn’t agree as to why women couldn’t do everything men could do, she obviously proved everyone wrong because she was the first female to fly around the world. It also goes into the disappearance of Amelia and how the world reacted and tried really hard to find her. I liked this book it was very inspiring to see Amelia followed her dreams and how committed she stayed regardless of all the risks she knew she was taking.
The reading goal that I set for myself a few weeks ago was to read on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. I chose those three days since those are days in which I have the most amount of time to get things done such as my homework. I also decided to read small chapter books as one of my other goals instead of a bunch of picture books to fulfil the four hours of reading. I would say I am doing pretty well with my reading plan. Choosing those three days to take time out of the day for reading has definitely made it easier for me since I am less stressed about getting the hours done in time for the Monday post and I distribute the hours equally throughout those three days so I don’t have to do a big block all in one day. I have also been finding good small chapter books to read which also make it easier than trying to find a bunch of picture books. Some of the challenges I have faced are that there are times when I don’t want to read at that exact moment or I’m out doing something else that isn’t reading related. Another challenge I face is sometimes finding the right books is also a challenge for me so I spend a long time at the library in search of the right book. I think I am doing well with my reading plan I don’t really want to change anything with it though, I would maybe like to maybe add more picture books to my reading goal. I feel like I have not been reading the picture books I like to read in a while because I’ve been caught up with trying to complete the four hours of reading with bigger books.
For this week’s it’s Monday! What are you Reading? I decided to take Dr. Ellington’s recommendation from a few weeks ago and read the book Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz.
This book is was definitely had a lot of intensity to it and when I first picked it up I wasn’t sure what it was going to be about. I would say that at the beginning I thought it would be about a little girl trying to figure herself out but I never imagined all the events that would go on throughout the book. With that being said the book was about a little girl named Naomi Leon who lived with her younger brother and her grandmother. Her little brother is also disabled and her personality at the beginning of the book she is very shy and doesn’t speak out. After seven years her mother reappears to take Naomi back but the only reason she wants her back but she only wants Naomi she doesn’t want to take her little brother Owen. Her grandmother though doesn’t agree with it so they move to a place in Mexico called Oaxaca in search of Naomi’s father. Throughout the book Naomi tries really hard to keep her family together and I would say that could be a possible theme for the book, “Fight for what you want”. Naomi went from a shy girl who didn’t stand up for herself to a great role model for her little brother and a strong young lady. I really enjoyed this book, I’m glad Dr. Ellington recommended this book to me! The book made me realize how lucky I am to have the family that I do that cares about me and all of my siblings. I saw that she wrote another book called Esperanza Rising, I’m considering reading that book as well since I enjoyed Becoming Naomi Leon.
I know this is a little late, it’s been a pretty crazy week, but for this week’s It’s Monday What are You Reading post I decided to read three chapter books the first one is Words With Wings by Nikki Grimes, the second book is A Coyote Solstice Tale by Thomas King and the third book I read was Love You, Soldier by Amy Hest.
Words with Wings Nikki Grimes was an interesting book about a little girl named Gabriella. This little girl is a daydreamer and that is all she ever does. Her dad and she would daydream about many fun adventures and her mom didn’t like that she would always tell them to stop daydreaming. Their parents eventually split up and Gabby and her mom have to move to a new town and Gabby has to go to a new school and make new friends, which she is nervous about. At her new school she always got in trouble by her teacher because she was constantly getting caught daydreaming and not paying attention in class so she tries absolutely everything to not daydream. One day she succeeded and her teacher noticed and he didn’t really like that so he told her to keep daydreaming but to pay attention at the same time. It was an alright kind of book there wasn’t much plot twists or actions in this book so I personally wouldn’t read it again.
The second book I chose was A Coyote Solstice Tale by Thomas King. This book is about a coyote who lets a little girl come into his house and he feeds her and lets her take a nap on his couch then he eventually realizes she’s probably lost and goes back to retrace the steps and the end up at the Mall! He goes on a “shopping spree” but when it comes to paying he doesn’t have any money so he has to leave everything behind. I liked this book it was cute.
The last book I read was Love You, Soldier by Amy Hest, this was a very sad book about a seven year old girl whose dad gets sent off to war and it is just her and her mom at first then her mom’s friend moves in with them and she is pregnant and the little girl has to walk in the blizzard to find the nearest hospital when the mom’s friend is ready to have the baby. The ending is really sad because they get a letter in the mail with stars on it which meant that her father had died in the war.
For this week’s its Monday What are you Reading post I read a couple of picture books and a small chapter book.
The first book I read was All the Way to America by Dan Yaccarino. This book was about an Italian family and a little shovel that gets passed down to each generation of children. The story started off with Michele Laccarino who decided to move to America in search of better opportunities. When he arrived to America he worked at a bakery where he used his little shovel to measure out flour and sugar. That little shovel was given to him by his father to help tend the vegtables; that same little shovel got passed down to his children and their children, and so on, until it got to Dan Yaccarino who is the author of the book.
The second book I read was Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan. This book is based off of three songs and the author turned them into a book with very colorful pictures. I really liked the illustrations in this book.
The next book I read was Diego Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand. I overall liked this book because it is like a biography of Diego Rivera but with pictures and not a long and boring article. I learned a lot about Diego Rivera by reading this book he had an interesting life and many wives.
I also read Diego Rivera His world and Ours by Duncan Tonatiuh. This book left aside all the negatives that Diego Rivera had in his life and only portrayed Diego Rivera as the great artist of Mexico. I really liked the illustrations in this book as well as the comparison of the world he lived in and the world we live in now.
The sixth book I read was Martin de Porres the Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt. This book is about a boy who was born to a slave and Don Juan de Porres an important man in Ecuador. Martin de Porres became a saint because he could heal people, was humble towards the poor people. I really liked this book.
The last book I read was one of my favorites, and that book is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This book is about a middle school boy that writes in a journal or “diary” about everything that goes on throughout the school year. He is kind of a “loser” kid so he tries to become “popular” but isn’t very successful at it. I like all these books because they are easy to read and the writing makes me actually want to read it because it’s not small and a lot of word on each page.
For this week’s blog we were asked to choose our own meme; so for my blog post I decided to the meme “Sundays in Bed With… “ The meme is to share what book you’ve been reading or what book you wish you would have had time to read. For the book I was “curled up in bed reading” I chose to read Diego Bigger than Life by Carmen Bernier Grand.
I really enjoyed this book it was about Diego Rivera the Mexican artist born in 1886. The book was an autobiography of Diego Rivera. The author did a good job writing the autobiography about Diego Rivera in a fun and short way. It wasn’t like a long and boring article type of autobiography that makes a person bored by just scanning it. I also really liked all the pictures and illustrations she incorporated into the book, it made it easier and more motivating to read. At the end of the book she also added three pages with the title “The True Life of Diego Rivera” and in those three pages she goes over the book but takes out the parts where they were myths and clears all of that the author also added in some more information about Diego Rivera. The author also included the resources she used for the entire book. I liked that because it lets the readers know that the author didn’t make up any of the information provided in the book. She also included a one page section called “In His Own Words” in which she lets the readers know what parts in the book Diego Rivera actually did say.
Overall I enjoyed the book I learned a lot about Diego Rivera that I did not know about him before reading this book. It was definitely worth my time reading and the book does a great job showing Diego Rivera’s life past all his beautiful art pieces