Favorite October Reads Part 1

How Do You Dance? by Thyra Heder (Picture Book)

This is such a fun book with exciting and oftentimes, hilarious illustrations. There are lots of different ways to dance - while you make dinner, when you're happy, even with dinosaurs! My favorite line, "sometimes you just need to flop around...Until you feel better" is the perfect thing to hear when you're having an off day and need to dance your way out of it.

Tea and Cake with Demons by Adreanna Limbach (Adult Nonfiction)

A few moments and words of wisdom that resonated with me: 

* "The Portuguese 'Eu estou com raiva' can be expressed in the same circumstance as 'I am angry,' but it translates as 'I am with anger.' This tweaking of language gives emotions the role of guest and can help us retain the faith that the demons are not the sum total of who we are; they are just passing through." 

* "When I notice that I'm 'with' anxiety, I'll give it some recognition...'Hello, you prickly little creature, I hope you put the kettle on.' Taking a few beats to notice our thoughts, drop into our bodies, and feel the sensation of what we are with creates a friendly dialogue that neither indulges or represses our demons." 

* And my favorite moment happens later on in Tea and Cake with Demons when Limbach compares everything on our minds to the apps we keep open on our phones. If you leave all your apps open on your phone, it's going to lose battery power faster. The same happens with our mental apps. We need to make an effort to close our mental apps when we're not using them. Limbach writes, "The owner of a yoga studio that I used to work at called this phenomenon of our batteries draining, 'prana leaks.' It's the sense that our precious life force, or prana in Sanskrit, is slowly being used up by background tasks."

Llamas with Lemonade by Ariana Koultourides (Board Book)

I always flip to the letter 'X' before I read an ABC book. If the author can execute the letter 'X' in a way that makes sense I get SUPER excited. I'm pleased to say that Llamas with Lemonade does a fine job with the letter 'X' - an X-Ray fish with the xylophone. The illustrations are also super cute - all the animals are cuddly and friendly - including the vampire bat. Most importantly, there is a llama in this book and on the cover too, which opens the door to all kinds of llama possibilities during storytime.

Tell Me a Dragon by Jackie Morris (Picture Book)

The illustrations are phenomenal. The dragons look both fierce and cuddly and are easily the best dragon illustrations I've encountered. I also like the rich, poetic language - "My dragon eats sweet, perfumed flowers. When she laughs, petals ride on her breath."