On The Bookshelf: What We’re Reading (May 2017)
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.” –Neil Gaiman
It’s time to share some more dreams with you…
Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color
I love this beautifully colourful book about a girl who loved to collect and tame colours.
It’s a gorgeous story and the illustrations really captivate.
My favourite part, that I feel especially speaks to our life, is this…
“Swatch had never asked if a colour wanted taming.
“Yellowest Yellow,” she asked politely, “would you like to climb into this jar? You could sit on a shelf, right next to Blue. You could make green together all day long if you wanted! I’ll poke holes in the top, and I’ll feed you dinner.”
But Yellow, knowing that was no way to live, said “No thank you.”
And Swatch, who could have scooped it up anyway, said, “OK.”Given that small but kindly allowance…
It GREW and YAWNED and STRETCHED and TWIRLED.
It BLOOMED and WHIRLED and LEAKED and SWIRLED…”
Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs
One for the dinosaur lovers! This is a story about Neffy the Microraptor on the day she takes her first flight, and all the dinosaurs she encounters along the way.
Along with the story, each page includes some facts about the dinosaurs she meets. Keeps it a little more interesting for my 6-year-old but also satisfies her questions!
The Barefoot Book of Children
This is a lovely book about diversity! A look at the many different ways people live, and how we are all unique but also connected. It’s beautiful.
It covers lots of topic including language, appearance, families, homes, clothing, religion, etc.
“Every life is a story. It’s easier to understand someone when you know their story.”
At the end of the book, you can find more detail about each topic covered. This book has sparked so many questions!
Illuminature
This book is stunning, and very unique. It was a gift for my nature loving girl but I feel like we need 4 copies because everyone wants to use it at the same time.
It comes with a 3-coloured lens that you use to look at each page and reveal different things, depending on which colour you’re looking though.
The red lens shows you what animals live in each habitat, the green lens shows you the plants, and the blue lens shows nocturnal creatures.
The pages look like this!
Here is the same page viewed through the red lens…
…through the green lens…
…and through the blue lens! Hard to photograph but you get the idea. Pretty cool right?
There’s also more information about each habitat and the animals found there of course. A really fun book!
The Road Home
I adore this book. I can’t explain completely why, it just has that something about it. Maybe it’s my Mama heart, or that I’m a sucker for rhyming books, but it gives me goosebumps. Also, the beautiful illustrations of course.
The road home is a poetic story about nature, and love.
It tells the story of animals preparing for winter, and travelling the long journey ‘home’…
…of Mama’s protecting and caring for their babies. 
Ultimately, home is wherever you are together.
“This road is hard, this road is long,
but we are not alone.
For you are here, and I’m with you,
and so this road is home.”
If… A Mind-Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers
Mind-bending is the right word! This book explains big concepts that are hard to understand (even for adults!) in relatable terms.
Unbelievable right? This book is fascinating!
It covers so many topics including the galaxy, history of the earth, major events, inventions, continents, water, species, money, energy, population, food, and more!
A really great and interesting book!
The Journey
Beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful, challenging, timely, relevant, thought provoking. I feel like this is a must have book for children right now. Some topics are so hard to talk about and understand, but if we don’t talk about what’s happening then who will care? I want my kids to care. This book is a beautiful and gentle way to inspire conversation and understanding of the refugee crisis.
The illustrations are wonderful.
Such a beautiful depiction of a mother’s love.
A definite must read.
I hope you enjoyed, and found something helpful! As always, leave a comment with what you’re currently reading. I LOVE a good book recommendation!
If you’d like to discover more wonderful books, you can find the rest of the posts in this series here. Happy reading!
Comments
I just did a booktopia order this week after I added to your last book list! And to think Iv just added these to my list! Thanks for sharing….!!! I noticed that the author of’ in my heart’ has a new one out too…!!! Love all your recomendations! Do you have a book budget?!? Haha
Yay! Hope you enjoy them. LOL I NEED a book budget. My wish list is soooo long. So many beautiful ones!
These are gorgeous! Time to start pestering the San Francisco Public Library 🙂
We’ve had a lot of luck getting the books Sara posts from our public library 🙂
Hello, Do you buy these books or do you rent them from a library? How do you chose what books you are reading? These are all lovely selections!!
Hello! I buy them from Book Depository 🙂 I just browse, get recommendations from others, and get ones from authors I know we love!