It's Monday! What are you reading? 8-1-22

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Last week I read and loved:

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

I'm obsessed with this book. I spent a better part of yesterday making a bittersweet Spotify playlist and a TikTok review because I am currently in ADHD hyperfixation mode. Cain's book Quiet changed my life by giving me permission to embrace my introversion. And this book equally changed my life by giving me permission to embrace my melancholy side. 

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega, illustrated by Rose Bousamra

An important middle grade graphic novel about a young girl who wants to embrace her natural curly hair rather than being forced to go to the salon every week with her mami to straighten her hair. This book is an important mirror for young Black girls who want to embrace their natural hair and a window for white readers who are used to seeing their physical features as a cultural default.

Currently reading:

Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile

Currently (still) reading with my ears:

Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

Purchasing books from any of the above Bookshop affiliate links support independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

It's Monday! What are you reading? 7-25-22

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Last week I read and loved:

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

A really lovely and important middle grade book that tackles a difficult topic but isn't heavy-handed about it. It is a book about family history, family secrets, and indigenous identity. It's also a great entry point to discuss the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 that is alarmingly being brought again before the Supreme Court this fall. 

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

This book’s premise can be distilled down as New Kid meets Bring It On but with swimming instead of cheerleading. It’s a story that imparts a lot of hard truths about why so many Black Americans never learned or teach their kids to swim, but it’s mostly a page-turning story of friendship, teamwork, and overcoming adversity. Yes We Will: Asian Americans Who Shaped This Country by Kelly Yang Wonderful book that connects narrative elements along with peritext and backmatter to tell the story of inspiring Asian Americans. I love that each page spread featured a different Asian American illustrator, further highlighting the accomplishments of Asian Americans. The Surprise by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, illustrated by Magenta Fox What a delightfully odd and heartwarming story about a guinea pig that does Judo and doesn't know her place in a family of pets that are very dedicated to their schedules. The delightful oddness of the story puts me in mind of Phil Stead's picture books.  Currently (still) reading: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain Currently reading with my ears: Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

It's Monday! What are you reading? 7-18-22

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Here are some fun book-related TikToks I made last week:

@bibliophilebeth #booktok #PrimeDayDreamDeals #selfcare #mentalhealth #librariansoftiktok ♬ Reading when the world is a dumpster fire - Frankie Love

@bibliophilebeth #LetMyPeopleRead ♬ original sound - 👑 King Moe 👑

@bibliophilebeth When this is the weather in July, you mark yourself as unavailable in your calendar and sit outside and read #librariansoftiktok #schoollibrarian #booktok ♬ original sound - catherineoharasbebe

Last week I reviewed:

Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma by Galit Atlas, PhD

Last week I read and loved:

Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd

There’s a teacher in the story that says a pen is a direct line to a person’s heart. Well, Natalie Lloyd’s pen draws a whole lot of lines to readers’ hearts.

The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newman

MJ, with her tiara and rainbow-colored braids, absolutely slays on her first day of kindergarten... by being helpful and kind and having a great time while doing it.

Like by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Leo Espinosa

A picture book that brilliantly sets up the thesis that humans are more alike than different by showing the ways we are alike/different to other objects. A great read aloud for Preschool-1st grade classes.

Currently reading:

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

Currently reading with my ears:

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

Purchasing books from any of the above Bookshop affiliate links support independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma by Galit Atlas, PhD

"When we learn to identify the emotional inheritance that lives within us, things start to make sense and our lives begin to change. Slowly, a door opens, a gateway between present life and past trauma." 

I wasn't planning on reading AND finishing this book in one day. I was just going to sit down and read the introduction to see if this was a book I wanted to keep reading or if I would take it back to the library. But before I knew it, I was on page 100 and couldn't stop reading. The only reason I didn't finish it in one sitting is because I needed to come up for air since the subject is so intense. Otherwise I would have finished it in one sitting; I was that riveted.  

Emotional Inheritance was not what I was expecting. When I picked it up, I fully anticipated a book full of psychological jargon and written in expository format. Instead, the book is written entirely in narrative format, and each chapter is the story from one of Atlas' clients as it illustrates anecdotally how someone inherited the trauma they are currently wrestling with in their lives. While many people will say the anecdotal nature and lack of cited research discredits this book, I would argue that Atlas' intended audience means she used this format to compel the reader to seek out more information in the field of epigenetics and inherited trauma. The page-turning nature of this book will mean that the reader likely will seek out more information about this field and want to learn more.

But speaking of lack of citations, my only issue with this book is Atlas' frequent references to Freud which, I get that Freud got some things right, but given his lack of credibility in our present day, it feels like there should have been more context to citing his work since many people now find him so problematic.  

Overall though, I thought what made Emotional Inheritance an effective read is how it compels the reader to learn more about the way trauma is baked into our DNA. 

Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma by Galit Atlas, PhD
Published: January 25, 2022
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
Pages: 288
Genre: Nonfiction/Self-Help
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Library Copy

Purchasing from the above Bookshop affiliate link supports independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

It's Monday! What are you reading? 7-11-22

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

I recently reviewed:

Run: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell

I recently read and enjoyed:

Don't Eat Bees: Life Lessons from Chip the Dog by Dev Petty, illustrated by Mike Boldt

Chip is a very smart dog. He knows all of the things dogs should and shouldn't eat. Maybe. A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman, illustrated by Peggy Collins A heartwarming story about a young girl who struggles at school sitting on the floor every day due to her disability so she decides a bench for herself. There Was a Hole by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Carrie O'Neill A conversation-starter about what grief and loss feels like Ice Cream Face by Heidi Woodward Sheffield This book takes you on quite the journey -- one of love, excitement, anticipation, observation, impatience, savoring, devastation, and then a heartwarming conclusion. All done over a scoop of ice cream. I adore the joyful, bright illustrations, particularly the ice cream scoops which are actual photographs. Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home by Zahra Marwan Zahra Marian’s unique story of immigration is told vaguely enough in the main story itself to keep readers curious and asking questions but then more specificity is given in the backmatter. Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Frank Morrison A stunning and emotionally charged book that takes a classic African American spiritual and modernizes it. Currently reading: Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd Currently reading with my ears: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain Purchasing books from any of the above Bookshop affiliate links support independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale.

Run: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell

 

"First you march, then you run." 

John Lewis' story doesn't end with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Run Book One is the story of tension within the membership of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, that John Lewis was the leader of. What stands out most in reading this first book in the series are the comparisons the reader can make to what was happening in the 1960s to what is happening now -- how despite the progress that African Americans have made, white Americans always find a way to push back in an attempt to continue their oppressive behavior, both systemic and on an individual level. 

I've been thinking a lot lately about how difficult it is to live in these turbulent times, thinking that every time you turn around something horrible is happening in our country or the world, but reading Run was a good reminder that this era does not hold a monopoly on continuous terrible events. The difference is, we just have instantaneous access to those events, therefore flooding our brains with constant anxiety and existential dread. 

This book ends on a cliffhanger, which makes sense because it is intended to be a trilogy just like March. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book and if it were already available, I would be picking it up immediately. 

Run: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell
Published: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Pages: 152
Genre: Memoir/Graphic Novel
Audience: Young Adult/Adult
Disclosure: Free copy received at ALA conference 2022

Purchasing from the above Bookshop affiliate link supports independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

Blog Tour: The Hurricanes of Weakerville by Chris Rylander

Publisher description:

All his life, Alex Weakerman has had one passion: baseball. Specifically, the Hurricanes of Weakerville, Iowa—the scrappy independent-league team owned by his Grandpa Ira.

Even as team and the town have fallen on tough times, there’s no place Alex would rather be than at the ballpark—a hot dog in one hand, a pencil and scorebook in the other, keeping track of each and every statistic. Alex has never been all that great at playing baseball, but that doesn’t matter. For someone as painfully awkward as Alex, being a fan—and a wiz with baseball stats—is all he needs.

When Grandpa Ira passes away, though, Alex is crushed. He’s lost his best friend, and he doesn’t see any way that the team will survive. But Ira, it seems, has one last trick up his sleeve: his will names Alex the new manager of the Hurricanes.

Alex is as excited as he is terrified at the chance to finally put some of his fantasy baseball genius to use. But as he sets to work trying to win over the players, he soon learns that leading them to victory is about more than just stats. Will he be able to save his team, his hometown, and his family legacy?

The Hurricanes of Weakerville by Chris Rylander is The Sandlot meets Field of Dreams meets A League of Their Own. As someone who is not a lover a baseball the sport, but loves a good baseball story, this book fills all the satisfying notes of a good baseball story: quirky characters, a David vs. Goliath trope, and a satisfying resolution. 

About the Author:

Chris Rylander is the author of the acclaimed and bestselling “Fourth Stall” saga, the “Codename Conspiracy” trilogy, and co-author of book three in the New York Times bestselling “House of Secrets” series. He lives in Chicago, where he eats a lot of raspberry jam and frequently tries to befriend the squirrels on his block.

Publishing June 28, 2022

The Hurricanes of Weakerville Blog Tour Stops

6/21 Nerdy Book Club @nerdybookclub

6/22 A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust @bethshaum

6/23 Teachers Who Read @teachers_read

6/27 LitCoachLou @litcoachlou

6/28 Bluestocking Thinking @bluesockgirl

6/29 Walden Tumblr @waldenpondpress

7/1   Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers @grgenius