Reading Abounds

Title:  The Boundless Canadian Author :   Kenneth Oppel Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 97004 Description:    Aboard "The Boundless," the greatest train ever built, on its maiden voyage across Canada, teenaged Will enlists the aid of a traveling circus to save the train from villains. Rubric Rating:  Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It:  Read aloud with my son.  First read aloud that he, as a dyslexic, read to me.  Notes:   William Everett is an artist.  However, his father doesn’t want him to study art – he wants him to work on the railway in a good paying job.  Will has lived both poor and privileged – growing up poor as his father worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and as a child of privilege going to private school after his father is promoted within the organization after saving the life of Cornelius Van Horne, the owner of the railway.   Van Horne’s greatest creation is the Boundless, a 13 mile long train that is a rolling community and Will’s fathe

 Title:  The Girl and The Bicycle  Author/Illustrator:  Mark Pett   Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 80407  Description:  A wordless picture book in which a  girl sees a bicycle she wants to buy, works hard  for a kindly neighbour to earn the money for it,  then gets a pleasant surprise. Curriculum Links:  Art: Pencil Illustrations, Lines Character Education: Kindness, Perseverance, Responsibility Math: Financial Literacy Reading: Inferring Science: Daily and Seasonal Changes Social Studies: Our Changing Roles and Responsibilities Notes: Design:  This book is slightly wider and shorter than an average picture book.  The cover and title alone made me want to pick up this book.  A little girl and her younger brother are on the cover with the girl looking at a green bicycle in a toy store window.  The pages in the book are done in taupes and greys so the pages seem soft and aged (rather than stark white new).  The end pages are covered in little bicycles and the im

Title:  365 Days of Wonder {Mr. Browne's Precepts} Series: Wonder Author:  R. J. Palacio Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 127343 Description:    A book of precepts, with one saying for each day, from Auggie's teacher Mr. Browne. Rubric Rating:  Level 4 - Love It  Why I Read It:   I’m a bit of a fan of precepts and it looked like a very quick read. Notes:   I really enjoyed reading this book.  Interestingly, I had this book and Wonder delivered at the same time.  Usually I would have read wonder first but I ended up sticking my nose in this one instead and couldn’t put it down.  While it did give away some of the plot points of Wonder I find I’m more interested in reading the book now than I had originally planned.  If the book is written with the same tone and care as this book I think I will find it delightful. While I had heard/seen/read many of the precepts before I did find ones that were new to me.  But more than the precepts I enjoyed Mr. Browne’s not