Admittedly a strange topic, these two picture books found their way onto my shelf at different times, and they both happen to feature seniors. One is a look back at a life well-lived as it comes to a close, while the other is a period in time of an older gentleman who lives alone but…
First in this (admittedly vague) grouping of picture books is My Self, Your Self by Esmé Shapiro. As you can tell by the gorgeous cover above, the illustrations are the true highlight of this book. I can’t quite pinpoint what each creature / character is, but I’m going to guess they are a mixture of…
Before I get any Canlit lovers TOO excited, I should mention straight away that this is a middle grade novel meant for kids aged 9-13, Lawrence Hill has not written another adult book yet. But for those who are fans of his, perhaps reading this book may scratch that itch for a little while. I…
I’ll admit that the suggestion of ‘treats’ in the titles of these books appealed to me, as I’ve got an insatiable sweet tooth. And the dynamic author and illustrator duo Jory John and Pete Oswald have a popular streak of books behind them, so without even flipping through the pages of this picture book I…
There is never a shortage of Christmas books to bombard children with, but what if you took this time to teach them about other ways families celebrate as well? My kids love to see their favourite cartoon characters in a Christmas-themed story, and we have plenty of those at home too, but I love how…
Anything Cale Atkinson writes and/or illustrates tends to go over well in this house. His graphic novel series for early readers is a new favourite of my kids because it’s not too text-heavy and the pictures are super cute. Simon and Chester first appeared together in the picture book Sir Simon, and now that they…
As soon as October 1st hit, we were decorating our house orange and black. Not only do we bring out the ghosts and spiderwebs, we focus our reading on Halloween books to get the kids excited (in a sugar-free way) about the coming holiday. Below I summarize the 4 books we received, and my kids’…
I know I’m not the only one with fond memories of racing through Nancy Drew mysteries as a young reader. I always loved mysteries as a kid, and still do as an adult, but I now recognize the Nancy Drew series as my introduction to cozy mysteries, which then led to my love of Murder…
This may be a first for my blog. In the 8 years I’ve been writing ivereadthis (yes, it has been that long!), I believe this is my first review of a middle grade work of fiction, which is books written for 8-12 year olds. Although I don’t plan on making this a habit, I just…
This past holiday season, I took advantage of all the beautiful Christmas pictures books we have and used them as decorations mixed in with our little twinkly lights and santa figurines. Although we didn’t have any guests over to comment on my clever use of books (because Covid) I was quite chuffed with my creativity,…
I am a big believer in always having markers, crayons, and basic art supplies easily accessible to my kids at all times. For one thing, it makes it much easier to tell them to ‘play on their own’ when they have this kind of stuff handy, but more importantly learning to express oneself is an…
How did we get here so quickly? I know everyone may not feel the same way, but this year flew by for me and my family. My kids are near to bursting with excitement for Christmas so I’m trying to calm them down by doing some quiet reading with them. And what better to read…
