Book Sharing Monday :: Exclamation Mark; Louhi Witch of North Farm; High as a Hawk

Book Sharing Monday is back! I've decided to start the weekly posts again. You can see all the posts from my old blog Canadian Home Learning here.

I created Book Sharing Monday in December 2008 and put out an open invitation. The idea was to share our favourite children books, with a quote from the book and photos if desired. You could share as much or as little as you wanted. I saw it as a sharing of our favourite books of the moment. We shared a lot of picture books, and also novels, non-fiction books, or even books related to children (parenting or other). 

Celeste and I love books and so often we both want to share with others the great books we discover. This time, Book Sharing Monday will include a book that Celeste chooses to share and one from me. Sometimes we might share more than one each...

We hope you will enjoy these weekly posts and if you like to share books on your blog, please leave a comment with your blog so we can visit! 

Celeste chose to share a book suggested to us "Exclamation Mark" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld. 

Celeste thought it was cute. I did too, and also because it felt like a story about fitting in and finding yourself. As the jacket of the book says "This is a story about an exclamation mark. And this exclamation mark's story is really everyone's story." 

One of our favourite pages was the one I have in the last photo of the mosaic: 

"And as he pushed himself a bit more, Wow! he discovered a world of endless possibilities."

You can visit Tom Lichtenheld's website and print your own exclamation mark bookmark. 

Two other books we both enjoyed this past week that I chose to share with you are Louhi, Witch of the North Farm and High as a Hawk. 

Louhi, Witch of the North Farm is a story from Finland's epic poem the Kalevala. It is retold by Toni de Gerez and illustrated by Barbara Cooney. 

I really enjoyed this story of the witch that was looking for some "Witch-Witch-Witchety things to do". 

She encounters Vainamoinen and his sweet music. Many forest creatures came to listen to him, even the moon and the sun. The witched then turned herself into an eagle and stole the sun and the moon! 

There is an author's note (I really like these) at the back of the book that explained more about this tale. It explains that Louhi, Witch of the North Farm, explains "the struggle of light and dark, the need for order in the primeval world, what happens when it is disturbed, and how Vainemoinen the Knower and Seppo the Smith carry out their cosmic task of returning the sun and moon to their planetary duties." 

The second book I am sharing today is "High as a Hawk: A Brave Girl's Historic Clim" written by T.A. Barron and illustrated by Ted Lewin. 

This story is inspired by actual events. It is the story of an eight year old girl that climbs Longs Peak in Colorado in September 1905, with the help of her guide Enos Mills. Enos Mills is known as the father of Rocky Mountain National Park. 

The little girl is making this climb for her mother, who died before being able to do it herself. The struggles associated with making such a big climb (14,255 feet!) are told through the story. 

"Below me stretched a whole world of rock ridges, cloud ridges, and more. A string of lakes, gleaming like a great blue necklace. A sea of endless light, washing over the mountain. And then, soaring out of the sky - a pair of shining wings." 

The little girl is very brave and reaches the top just as she is about to turn back. It's a beautiful story of bravery and the scenery is breath taking through the illustrations. The author includes a note at the back of the book (I told you I liked those!) with more information about Harriet Peters and Enos Mills. Very interesting! 

See you next Monday for more Book Sharing! Don't forget to add a comment if you are sharing books on your blog. Happy reading!