Keyword Reading Challenge

Here we are the seventh day of the new year and I have finally decided to join a reading challenge.  Several years ago I would participate in all kinds of reading challenges. Then I started writing. It became too much to handle along with my full-time teaching job.  I noticed this last year that I struggled to reach my Goodreads reading goal.  As I sat and thought about what had changed over the last few years the answer came to me. I was no longer participating in reading challenges. See I do very well when I have time constraints put on me. It pushes me. So I looked through lots of reading challenges and decided I was going to participate in a few. For some of them, the books can count for other challenges. However, I am so backlogged on books I need to review and books I purchased to read for me, both physical and for my kindle. So the solution was easy, join some reading challenges. I actually went through my list of books to see if they would fit in the challenges I have chosen. I am happy to say that I had more than enough books to fit.  The first challenge I chose to participate in is a new one for me. I am real excited for this one. 

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This Can be found on the blog My Soul Called Life. Just click on the name of the blog to be taken to her site. This is a unique challenge. For each month she has a list of keywords. You find a book with one of the keywords in the title and read it.  She has instructions for joining the challenge on her site so I won't put it here. Like I said, click on the title of her blog to be taken to the instructions.

I did snag her keyword list from her blog, so here they are:

Here Are Your 2017 Keywords 

JAN- Court, Fall, Of, Way, Deep, Thousand 

FEB- And, Rose, Promise, Every, Deception, Blazing 

MAR- Shall, Go, By, Silence, Her, Saga 

APR- From, Trigger, Tale, His, Crown, Mist 

MAY- Four, Wind, All, Fury, Days, Shade 

JUN- Without, Know, Good, Watch, One, Have 

JUL- Before, Final, All, Freedom, Life, Dream 

AUG- Sun, Infinite, Big, My, Wherever, Most 

SEP- Sand, From, Between, Ever, Reasons, Clash 

OCT- Darker, You, Ashes, Out, House, Sea 

NOV- Place, War, Heart, Why, Give, Meet 

DEC- Forget, Twilight, Only, Crystal, On, Will 

Here is the list of books I will be reading for this challenge. Each month I will come back to this page and create a link to the review of that book.

JAN- Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman

FEB- Waves of Deception by Hope Callaghan 

MAR- The Saga of the Brothers Mountain by Michael W. Mountain

APR- The Tale of Crucified Blunt by Areesh Fatmee

MAY- A Righteous Wind by Janice Daugharty

JUN- The Chosen One by Nicole Storey

JUL- Out of a Dream by Rosemary Hines

AUG- My Daylight Monsters by Sarah Dalton

SEP- Smugglers at Whistling Sands by George Chedzoy

OCT- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

NOV- A Monstrous Place by Matthew Stott

DEC- Don’t Forget to Breathe by Cathrina Constantine

Five More Wonderful Books by Chris Stead

Genre: Children's Picture Books

Source:  I purchased copies

  

A Very Strange Zoo by Chris Stead

This is a very cute and creative book. On an island faraway lives an inventor. He was so noisy that all of the other people who lived on the island moved away. He became very lonely. As he walked along the shore he saw a lot of garbage that had floated in. One item in particular sparked his imaginations. It was a book about zoos.  How could this young inventor solve his problem, clean up his island and start inventing again.  The drawings are wonderful.  For me the idea of having a conversation with my grandkids about what they can create our of junk lying around is more valuable to me because it causes children to use their imagination, which is something I see as a middle school teacher that many of my students don’t know how to use.

Trouble At the Zoo

Bernard the zookeeper had a very tough job. He had to clean the cages, feed and play with the animals. When he was finished he laid down and took a nap. It was at this point that the baby elephant took his keys and let all of the animals out so that they could go on an adventure.  What will happen when Bernard wakes up?  The fun thing about this book is that if you ask that question of children and then read the rest of the story to them they get a big surprise. Things don’t end the way you would predict they would.  I liked the unpredictability in this book.

My Birthday Cake Needs a New Home

A young girl celebrates her birthday. She gets lots of presents. Her mom bakes her a ginormous cake. When there is so much left over she must find it a new home. It won’t fit in the refrigerator. She can’t put in on her shelf, or in her dad’s car. She tries to push it into her body because her mom said she can’t eat anymore. Will she be able to solve this problem and find her cake a new home.  This was such a cute book. You could imagine this young child trying all of these things to give her cake a new home. She is quite the problem solver.  I absolutely loved the ending of this book.

Follow the Breadcrumbs

This is the second book in the Willy Nilly Series. I really enjoy Willy Nilly. He has a lot of cool ideas, but like most kids he doesn’t think them through all the way. This seems to get him into trouble. Willy wakes up one morning and his mom tells him he has to clean his messy room. Once he has done that he can go to the lake and feed the ducks.  This is something he loves to do.  Once there he gets a bright idea. What if he had a lake in his own back yard. Then he could feed the ducks in his own back yard. Willy goes to the bakery and gets all of their stale bread and creates a trail of bread crumbs to his back yard. Then he digs a lake. When he wakes up in the morning Willy realizes he has created a problem and he is I so much trouble with his parents. How will he get out of this situation?  I think I like this character because he is so genuine. I could see his wheels turning in his head and it made me think of my own grandkids and how they think of things like this without thinking of consequences.

The Fastest Kid in the World

This is the third book in the Willy Nilly Series.  Willy loves to pretend to drive his dad’s car. He pretends to go really fast and do lots of jumps. One day his dad bursts into his room and asks him if he would like to build a billycatr. When they finish building the car they take it to the park. Unfortunately, his dad can’t push the car fast enough for Willy.  Willy’s dad tells Willy they will go to the real car races the next day. During the night Willy gets a bright idea about how to make the billycart go faster.  Will this end well for Willy? How much trouble can he get into with his billycarT?  Another fun and adventurous book about Willy’s adventures.  These books are so fun. I do hope the author continues with this series.

To find out more about the author go to his website Old Mate Media  there is so much there to learn.

Two Fabulous Books by Murielle Bourdon

Genre: Children's Picture Books

Source: I purchased copies

This is just two of the books in this series.  This is a wonderful series that should be read by parents, grandparents and teachers to their youngest children. Such positive and powerful messages within, without preaching.

Sami the Magic Bear: No To Bullying 

 Bullying is and always had been a problem. In this book we meet Thomas. He is very smart. For this reason he is picked on by Victor and his friends. On his ninth birthday Victor takes Thomas’s birthday hat and pushes him down. Thomas is so embarrassed that he lies to his parents. He is surprised to see his grandparents have come to celebrate his birthday. After dinner he opens their present and finds a stuffed bear named Sami. Will Sami be able to help Thomas solve his bullying problem?  This is a wonderful book on the effects of bullying, why bullying might occur and the proper way to handle it.  Highly recommended to all parents and lower elementary teachers.

Sami The Magic Bear: A Trip to the Hospital! 

Laurie is a young girl who is very active. She has trouble sitting still in class after she finishes her work. She is captain of her soccer team. One day she doesn’t feel as energetic. She gets so sick she can’t go to school. Her mom takes her to the doctor and they discover she has leukemia, a blood cancer.  She ends up in the hospital for a long time. Her class makes her a giant card and a gift. Sami the bear.  She is so tired she just wants to give up. Can Sami help her learn to fight?  Great message of never giving up. It is a lesson kids need to learn whether they are fighting an illness or fighting to learn something new.