#IMWAYR -Sept 26, 2016

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.

So, I’ve been in a bit of a recreational reading slump recently – no reason, really, I just haven’t been able to find the right book to engage me and keep me interested. I have discovered a few new-to-me picture books that I’d love to share, though, so it’s not been a wasted week!

I also got to explore Word Vancouver, “Western Canada’s largest celebration of literacy and reading”, and I had the chance to discover some new-to-me B.C.-based writers, illustrators and publishers, which is always exciting! Maybe there will be a few new Reading Staycation posts coming up in the next few weeks…!!! 😉 So exciting to be able to support local creators and independent businesses – it’s not easy being a smaller fish in the big book ocean.

Mad About Monkeys is a mod new take on a children’s nonfiction text, packed full of swishy, eye-catching illustrations and interesting simian facts, all put together in an incredibly stylish package.

I’m in love with pretty much everything Flying Eye Books produces – they typically manage to create books that are visually stunning, without sacrifices quality for style. Like I mentioned, this is a beautiful book, but it’s doesn’t skimp on the information either, and offers your standard nonfiction text features, including a table of contents and an index. Best of both worlds, really.

On the completely other end of the picture book spectrum, we’ve got All for a Dime, which is so freaking adorable I just want to eat it all up. So cute!!

Bear, Mole and Skunk are ready for the farmer’s market, each laden with wares to sell. Unfortunately, Skunk and Mole have decided to sell products with a rather niche market, and wind up being their own best customers. In the end, Bear is the only one to make a profit at market, and he uses his dimes to buy ice cream to share with his friends. Economics 101 this ‘aint, and none of these characters are great entrepreneurial role models, but the spirit of sharing and caring is strong in this one, making for a sweet story of friendship.

Finally, I faced my fears of creepy crawlies and explored Angela DiTerlizzi’s Some Bugs (be sure to check out The Book Wars in the next few weeks for a more in-depth look).

The gentle rhyming text works beautifully as a read-aloud, and the googly-eyed little insects are just so expressive and adorable. I wish real insects were this cute….not to mention spiders…*shudder*…so not cute….

A wonderful picture book to inspire a sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world, and lots of fun to share and explore.

So, hope everyone has a great reading week, and try to stay dry if you’re in a grey, dreary, soggy part of the world like me!