The Undefeated #bookaday

Choosing this book was a no-brainer.  I will read anything that Kwame Alexander writes.  (In fact, I hope to read more of his books this summer!)  And Kadir Nelson's illustrations are always amazing.  What a powerful team!  And the word I'm left with after reading this book is, indeed, "powerful."  This book celebrates strength. The strength of each person is captured beautifully in each illustration.  What is amazing is how both the author and illustrator capture that strength of African Americans through history to the present and then give hope for the future. 

Dreamers #bookaday

My #bookaday book today is Dreamers by Yuyi Morales.   What a beautiful book!   This the the author's own story of coming to America.  Of course, it pulled at my heartstrings because of the home she found in the library and the delight she found in children's picture books.  Yuyi Morales shares a more detailed account of her story at the end of the book and even a list of the books that inspired (and continue to inspire) her.   I read it digitally.  (Thanks, NC Kids Digital Library!)   But this is one I want to hold in my hands and spend more time in the illustrations. 

Front Desk #bookaday

Today I finished reading Kelly Yang's Front Desk.  I am amazed at all the wonderful stories I have read in the last few years from the perspective of immigrants.  This is another good one.  Mia and her family have come to America from China.  She becomes best friend to Lupe whose family has immigrated from Mexico.  What I love, though, is what Kelly Yang says in her Author's Note about this book: "this book is about what happens when you include, when, despite all your suffering and your heartache, you still wake up every morning and look out at the world with fresh, curious eyes." 

#bookaday and NC Kids Digital Library

Today I read Shark Lady by Jess Keating and illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns for my #bookaday challenge.  I loved the beautiful illustrations in this book.   I also love my source for this book.   The NC Kids Digital Library is a fantastic source for reading material.   With your public library card, you can check out up to 5 ebooks at a time.   I can send most books to my Kindle app (or to my son's Kindle).  Some picture books, like this one, must be read in a browser.   I also love to download audiobooks from the NC Kids Digital Library for our family to listen to on car trips.  If you haven't used this great FREE resource, check it out!

#BookADay for the summer

This summer, I am challenging myself to join in on Donalyn Miller's Summer #Bookaday challenge.   This challenge is all about using the summer months for "revitalizing our reading lives."   Donalyn Miller's guidelines for this challenge can be found on the post linked in this paragraph.   The following guidelines are my own goals:

• My reading begins today (June 17) because it is the first weekday that I've not been at school.  (Yeah for summer!) and continues through August 19.
• I plan to read a book for every day of the summer.   Per Donalyn's challenge, it may be an average, so some days I may read more than one picture book to balance out the days where I'm reading a book that takes me several days to read.  
• I may not post every day, but I plan to list every book I read.  

So today I read my first book for this challenge:  Cool Crocheting for Kids by Alex Kuskowski.  I found it on Epic!  I chose this book because I really do want to learn how to crochet!   It must be a pretty good book because here is the progress I've made so far!

I'll be honest and admit that this is my second attempt.   My first one started out good, but kept getting smaller and smaller, so I had to try again.   Now I need to figure out how to make one of the projects in the book!   I'll need to do some re-reading for sure!