It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share titles, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
I’ve got another great selection of picture book reviews coming up on the blog this week:
A very sweet where-did-I-come-from? picture book about a donor-conceived child in a same-sex family.
Cute! So cute! Look at those bears! Cuteness levels at maximum!!
A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting
A hilarious tongue-in-cheek story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but has a bit of a surprising edge.
My library had a sidewalk book sale recently, and I kind of made off like a bandit – $0.50 per book, how could I possible resist?!? You’ll probably be seeing a few of the (many….) purchases I made at the sale on the blog in the coming weeks.
As for Tulip Fever, I’d heard that it was being made into a film, and I read a lot of historical fiction, so I was intrigued. It tells the story of a wealthy merchant, his much younger wife, and the handsome painter she falls in love with. It’s a quick read, and I have to agree with the very mixed reviews it’s received on Amazon. It’s not a bad novel, and I breezed through it pretty quickly, but it didn’t really wow me in any way. The characters are pretty standard, and I’m not a big fan of insta-love, which these characters experience in an almost laughable way. There’s a review on Amazon that pretty much sums up my feelings exactly – “Because this novel is plot led, it is easy to get the story simply by reading three words on every page.” It’s not terrible read, and it’s very quick to flip through, but I’ve read better. I would definitely recommend borrowing it from the library if you’re interested (or buying it for $.50) rather than buying it, as I don’t think it’s worth a full-price purchase.
That’s it for now, hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend, and check back in for picture book reviews throughout the week!
Raincity Librarian 
Ha, love the concise Amazon summary you found! Isn’t it interesting when someone else can exactly articulate what you were trying to say? Thanks for sharing about Zak’s Safari too, looks interesting!
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I can definitely learn a thing or two from Amazon reviewers – I agonize over every word, and rewrite posts over and over. I could really use that wonderful brevity that some reviewers have mastered!
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I ordered Bears In a Band and A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting from my library. I’m a sucker for cute bear books! Have a great week!
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Bears are certainly having a picturebook moment, aren’t they?!
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What a diverse amount of literature this week! Zak’s Safari sounds interesting, hadn’t heard of it!
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I hadn’t heard of it either before a colleague of mine shared a Pride-themed booklist she’d been working on for our library. Having come from a pretty mainstream family dynamic, I never realized just how skewed our picture books are in their representations, so I’m glad to see some changes coming!
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I need to check out that Bear Spotting one. My nieces and nephews could totally play that at Grandma’s house. She loves to collect bears.
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Bears are everywhere! Better to play bear spotting with stuffed bears than actual ones… 🙂
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Oh, love that ‘Bear Spotting’, another bear book! Thanks for the honest reviews, Jane.
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Thanks, Linda! Reviews always help me find new things to read, so I’m happy to share with others. 🙂
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I’m not familiar with A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting so I’ll have to check that one out.
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It’s a funny little British import, hope you can find a copy, the illustrations are pretty great. 🙂
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I laughed when I read the Amazon review. I’ve read books like that! I sometimes browse the sale books at the library, but honestly, I already have too many books in this house. That is why I love libraries!
Zac and Bear Spotting look like delightful reads.
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Oh yes, pretty much everything I read comes from the library, and the second-hand books I buy typically end up being re-donated back to the library to be sold again. Otherwise I think I’d be drowning in books in my teeny apartment… 🙂
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Tulip Fever looks really good. Enjoy!
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Zak’s Safari is one I’ll want to read. The bear books look fun. 🙂
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Funny how bears have always featured prominently in children’s books, when most of us wouldn’t actually want to get too close to a real one! 🙂
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