It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/9/20

Beagles and Books is excited to share our latest reads in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR is a community of bloggers who link up to share what they are reading. Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Textsdecided to give it a #kidlit focus and encourage everyone who participates to visit at least 3 of the other #kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Our Recent Reads:

Ronan The Librarian by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie Illustrated by Victoria Maderna

Ronan is living his best life as a barbarian invading, raiding, and trading treasures until one raid’s pillage was unusual. Instead of jewelry and weapons, Ronan’s loot was books. Since barbarians do not read books, Ronan’s solution was to use the pages for kindling, origami or even toilet paper.  But thankfully, a picture in one of the books grabs his attention and turns this reluctant reader into a voracious reader.  Even on raids, Ronan can’t stop reading and soon he has so many books that he opened a library.  But how will Ronan convince other barbarians to love books as much as he does?

I am a big fan of the sister writing duo Luebee and Cattie and as a book lover, I can’t gush enough about Ronan The Librarian.  I especially love that all it takes is a picture to hook Ronan, which reminds me of the anonymous quote “Everyone is a reader… Some just haven’t found their favorite book yet.”  Not only does the story have a great message but also kids will be laughing out loud for the text and Maderna’s illustrations are full of humor.  I particularly chuckled reading Ronan’s library rules and advice board which reminds barbarians that swords make terrible bookmarks and no juicy meats are allowed in the library.   Thanks to Tara Leubbe for sharing an ARC with my #bookexcursion group. Ronan The Librarian publishes in April 2020.

World So Wide by Allison McGhee by Illustrated by Kate Alizadeh

World So Wide is a quiet book with a big message, which is the boundless love between a parent and child. To read my full review and enter a giveaway courtesy of Two Lions/ Amazon Publishing, click here.

Bella’s Dog Pick of the Week

Wanting to spread the dog love, Beagles and Books has a weekly feature of highlighting a literary selection with a canine main character.

A Dog’s Day: Jax Protector of the Ranch by Catherine Stier Illustrated by Francesca Rosa

A Dog’s Day is an engaging new early chapter book series about working dogs.  In the first book, a Great Pyrenees named Jax describes his job as a livestock guardian dog (LGD).  Narrated by Jax, he tells how he and puppy Stormy, a LGD in training, protect their flock of sheep from predators.

Even as an adult reader, this novel was hard to put down.  I was so interested in learning about the training and duties of LGDs which was shared in the first few chapters.  Then the plot became especially suspenseful, for Bev, the lead LGD, was injured by a coyote leaving Jax and Stormy alone.  The duo must work together to guard the sheep from a mountain lion. This task becomes even more challenging because one of the ewes gave birth to a lamb that evening.   Stier does an amazing job of explaining the training and the responsibilities of LGDs so that kids can understand.  I also appreciate all the supports for young readers transitioning into chapter books. The actual story is written in 84 pages with 10 short chapters and Rosa’s appealing black and white illustrations appear every few pages.  At the end of the book, Stier includes more information about LBDs which provides even more facts about these incredible working dogs.

Thanks to Albert Whitman for sending an ARC to my #bookexcursion group. Look for Jax Protector of the Ranch and the second book in the series, Ava Seeker in the Snow in April 2020.

Bella & I thank you for visiting Beagles and Books. Happy Reading!