The weekly post where I recap some of the KidLit books I’ve been reading. Ocasionally, I’ll also talk about some adult fiction books as well.
Be sure to check out Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to see what other Kidlit readers are reading. Because, you know, we can never have too many books in our TBR piles.
Currently Reading
Just Finished
written by Shelly Anand
illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
(Kokila, 2021)
This books has been on my radar for quite some time and I could not wait for it to come out. I by no means have a ton of facial hair, but my hair is quite dark and what I have seems to show up easily. My younger sister named the caterpillar (my eyebrows) that lives on my face “Jeffrey” when I was a teen and my family still lovingly jokes about it. Now it doesn’t bother me a ton, but I know that there are many girls–both young and old–who are self conscience about any tiny hairs–just look at all the products marketed to women for hair removal. So I absolutely love this book. I had a great time reading this with my kiddos, and it led to a discussion with my 11 year old daughter about where beauty esthetics come from and why some things (like facial hair on women) is used to shame. My 4 year old son was quite proud of his tiny peach fuzz and can’t wait to have a full beard like Daddy when he grows up.
by Vicky Fang
(HarperAlly, 2021)
I didn’t know that they were making easy reader comics/graphic novels until very recently. My son has been enjoying flipping through older comics and graphic novels lately, so I thought I’d give this a try. He is 4 and has a very hard time just sitting still. He will listen when we read books, but he rarely will just sit next to me and follow along visually like he did with this book. We have read it many times over the past week and he has been engaged the entire time. The story is cute and sweet about making friends and there is even a tiny bit of robot backmatter at the end. I will be checking out more in I Can Read Comics series.
by Brenna Thummler
(Lion Forge/Caracal, 2021
I very much enjoyed this graphic novel. It is the sequel to Sheets, which I read a few months ago. I liked the first one, but I think that I enjoyed Delicates a bit more. Both deal with death, but I feel like this one was a bit heavier in tone and content as it talks about suicidal thoughts. I do think it is an important book and would have felt comfortable with my 11 year old daughter reading it, but I would have made sure to check in with her and see if she had any parts she wanted to talk about. I also really liked the art style in this series.
Sloth Reads 
Have you seen the Oscar winning Hair Love short film? It’s a delight!
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I haven’t seen it–I will have to check it out! Thanks for stopping by!
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Worth the watch. I think it predates the book.
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I love the easy reader graphic novels that have been published recently. I’m glad to have more options to hand younger readers who want to read graphic novels.
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I agree! I can’t wait to check out a few more of them.
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Oh, that hair on face stuff. Love the idea of Laxmi’s Mooch. There is a “need” for such a book. I’ll look forward to hearing your opinion of Ghost Girl, looks fun! And I’ve never heard of Sheets or Delicates, so thanks for those, too, Becky!
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What a great set of books! I read Sheets a while back and thought it was a little depressing but definitely original—and the art style is absolutely gorgeous! I’m glad to hear Delicates worked better for you. Laxmi’s Mooch sounds great as well—I’ve heard good things about it. And I really enjoyed Hair Love, Story Boat, and Memory Jars as well! Thanks so much for the great post!
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Memory Jars was already on my list. I’ve added Friendbots to my list as a potential purchase for my grandson since yours seemed to like it. I’ve added Sheets to my for later list, but honestly have no idea when I will get to it.
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