Happy Tuesday! It’s a two book post Tuesday! I’m also sharing some new books today on my Tuesday Book Release Day post. Here on Show Us Your Books I am sharing the books I’ve read this month. I have quite a few kids’ books on here this month.

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

I haven’t read this book in a long time and wanted to revisit it to see if it would make a good schoolwide book club pick. I think it will but I am not sure if we are going to do it this year. I need to figure that out quickly!

The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods
☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

I picked up this book because it is a Black-Eyed Susan nominated book in Maryland. It’s a middle grade book and I thought it was great. The book is about a boy who discovers that an African American man in his town is a war hero and doesn’t understand why he doesn’t get the same fanfare as his white uncle. I thought Brenda Woods did a great job telling this story of racism and it was a good book to continue a racism conversation with my kids and others. I also liked Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods when I read it years ago.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

As with all Jenny Colgan books, I loved it! This book is about Rosie Hopkins who’s mother asks her to go help her great aunt clean up her sweetshop to get ready to sell and find a retirement home for the aunt. Her mother asked her aunt to have Rosie come stay for a little bit to get her away from her life in London. It is a little predictable but it was just what I wanted to read. I think this was a rerelease of the book because I got it from NetGalley but it’s been around for a while.
**Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange fro an honest review.**

Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West

Whoa! All I have to say about this book is whoa! You know I love family drama stories and this one is full of it. Alice is a suburban mom who feels like she’s hitting her stride personally and professionally, when her family starts unraveling. Her mother has a whopper of a secret and her middle school son is having social media driven problems at school and with friends. Alice is spiraling through all of this trying to keep her head above water. The social media aspect scared the pants off me as a mother, but I really enjoyed the book. Also, my kids may never get phones or social media accounts, never ever.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary ❤️
☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

When I heard that Beverly Cleary passed away recently, I instantly changed all my intermediate lessons to include a reintroduction to Beverly Cleary’s books and Ramona. I loved sharing the hard boiled egg fad with my students! I decided that it was the perfect time to reread this book and it is just as great as it was when I was 8. Beverly Cleary and Ramona forever!

Grace and Steel: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli

I almost abandoned this book because it was overdue at the library, but I just couldn’t give it up. it is a long book – 500 pages – but told in short chapters and stories through the lives of Dorothy, Barbara, and Laura Bush. The Bush family has been talked about in our family for as long as I can remember. My mother and grandmother somehow ended up in a photo op with President George H.W. Bush at and Exxon convention. My mom and her school won the contest to name reading dinosaurs in 1990 and national morning shows were at her school. The dinosaurs were part of Read America and that was a cause close to First Lady Barbara’s heart. George W. Bush was president in my first presidential election and their girls weren’t much younger than me. I am so glad I kept reading this book because I loved learning more about this American family.

This was a pretty light reading month. I found myself driving from practice to practice with the kids and not home reading as much. I also spent a lot of time moving furniture and putting the house back together. I bet next month will be better. I’m working on my Summer Beach Books post which usually comes out the first week of May and that calls for a lot of fun reading! Be sure to check out my other book post today. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!

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