I'm back! Let's talk books!
I’m Hungry
By Elise Gravel
This one is an absolute favorite of Juniper’s (2).
Who wouldn’t love a book that you get to laugh with and say no to?
We absolutely love that the monster tries to eat us too.
Take a look at the inside of it here:
Sisters In Science
By Linda Elovitz Marshall and Anna And Elena Balbusso
I headed to the nonfiction section last time we went to the library, and this one intrigued me. I didn’t know much about Marie Curie at all, and was intrigued to read about the relationship she had with her science minded sister.
This did not disappoint! It was so heartening to read about not only all the of the accomplishments both of them had, but how they helped each other reach them and supported each other throught their entire lives. What a lovely model for how siblings can support each other, and what amazingly talented women!
You know what’s also cool? Twin sisters illustrated the book!
V Is For Voting
By Kate Farrell and Caitlin Kuhwald
I went to one of my local bookstores with my kids a weekend or so ago,
and I told them they could get one book each.
I wasn’t planning on getting one for me,
but when I saw this face out, it seemed to be screaming my name.
I love the info shared in this book;
it’s a good intro to voting for the young and a jumping off point for discussions with older kids too. I love the section in the back that has more info about lots of the pages in the book, including ones that feature illustrations of leaders and changemakers.
I’m so glad we saw this one; we’ll be revisiting it every summer and fall I bet! We have elections every year in Virginia, and I do lots of volunteer work around them, so voting is a big part of our lives.
A Stitch In Time
By Daphne Kalmar
I picked this one off a library display shelf a long time ago and just found it again after reorganizing books in our living room. I read through it in a day.
Donut lives in rural Vermont in 1927, has a really tall best friend named Tiny, and as a hobby likes to look at her atlas and practice her taxidermy skills. We meet her three weeks after her aunt moves in, three weeks after her father dies and leaves her an orphan, since her mother died the day she was born. And now her aunt wants to move her back to Boston? No way. Donut will run away before that happens, and she’s got a plan to survive on her own.
This book is full of heart and is heartbreaking, like any book that centers around grief is. I could not stop reading it.
Different Kinds Of Fruit
By Kyle Lukoff
I didn’t know Kyle Lukoff had another book out! We love all his books, from picture books up to middle grade books, so I knew I had to read this one.
Annabelle is excited for 6th grade and honestly I’d be excited if I went to her school too; it sounds awesome! What’s even more awesome is that a new student has arrived who Annabelle gets along with right away! But when they come over to hang out after school, Annabelle’s parents get weird about it and she fears they don’t want her hanging out with a nonbinary kid. When Annabelle discovers that her father and this nonbinary kid have something in common, her whole view of her family changes and her life shifts. Just as she’s trying to figure out who exactly she is and how exactly she feels about this new friend who she wants to be more than friends with.
This is some great realistic fiction and I’m reading through it so fast!
And hey, I just did a video about Kyle Lukoff’s books that we love if you want to see it!
Our kids have recently fallen back in love with their Yoto players.
My Dad and his wife bought them for them for Christmas;
originally we were thinking they would be great for car rides,
which they totally are.
I also really liked the idea of them having the autonomy to choose what they wanted to listen to, and in particular for Rosemary (7) to be able to regulate herself by having quiet time with hers (we have headphones for both of them). I noticed she really likes the ability to zone out when watching a show, and we talked about how it feels so nice to just listen and watch, not even have to read.
She made the connection to her Yoto player all on her own, and has now been listening to it during the day when she needs a break. She’s also added it to her options at bedtime; she typically reads and was telling me she likes having the option to listen when she’s too tired to read.
We have had nothing but the best experience with these, even when I thought one was broken (the volume would not go all the way up so we emailed them; turns out we’d clicked something on the app to lower it! So you can control the volume on the players remotely as well!).
We are very happy with our Yoto minis, the cases (the only way to tell them apart!), and our membership. We love the make your own cards to put favorite songs on, and have loved all the cards (with stories) we got from them.
Have you seen these players?
Let’s chat in the comments (about this or anything else!)
How fast do you listen to audiobooks? (I’m 1x all the way over here!)
See you in the comments and
happy reading until next week,
Kathy Ellen
Need more book recs?