Love That Dog!

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Old Yeller by Fred Gibson

Sounder by William H. Armstrong

Marley and Me by John Grogan

A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin

A Dog So Small by Philippa Pearce

Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight

Dogtown by Katherine Applegate

Love That Dog! by Sharon Creech

Top Ten Lists from the Past about Love

♥♥♥Love Stories I Love♥♥♥

159 Love Books I Have Read

Romance Books I'd Recommend to People Who Don't Like Romance Books 

Best Love Stories in Books You'd Never Call Romance Novels 

Eleven Favorite Love Stories in Books

Love Stories for People Who Gag on Romance Novels

Love Stories I Love (and Hate)

Top Ten Romances That Would Make It In the Real World

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.     

  

The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez: Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

The Circuit

by Francisco Jiménez

Genre: Graphic Novel; Memoir; Children's Book

Published: 2024

Page Count: 233 pages

Summary: 

An honest and evocative account of a family’s journey from Mexico to the fields of California—and to a life of backbreaking work and constant household moves—as seen through the eyes of a boy who longs for education and the right to call one place home.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The Circuit is a graphic novel made from a book of short stories about the life of the author, Francisco Jiménez. When he was a boy, his parents decided to come to the United States for a better life. The family worked as day laborers on farms in California, moving from cotton fields to strawberry fields to fields of grapes, moving from tents to shacks to tenant houses, moving from school to school.

I've wanted to read this book for years, and what better time than now to learn about the life of an immigrant?

Now that I have read the graphic novel of this memoir, I plan to go ahead and read the author's original book and the sequels.

Jennifer of Introverted Jen is sponsoring the 2026 Immigration Reading Challenge. Jennifer notes, 'I firmly believe that a little empathy and understanding can help us put aside our differences, stop seeing people as “other” or “less than,” and find common ground and ways to live together peacefully.' You can find a list of books you might consider reading for the challenge here, and you can join in the challenge yourself here.

#2026immigrationreading

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Do you struggle to start a new read after finishing a truly amazing one? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

Yes! Do you?

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book for Banned Book Week: 

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (Picture Book)

written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson

illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: November 16, 2021

Page Count: 48 pages

Summary: 

A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders.

But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

My teacher gives us an assignment. "Who are you?" she asks. "Trace your roots. Draw a flag that represents your ancestral land."

Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 1). Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

How to Make Home  

After a long day’s work plantig tobacco in the fields,  after brutal treatment, after nothing to show for their hard work,  sadness would come, a longing for Ndongo,  for the mommas, for the daddies, for the friends  they could no longer hug and talk with under the warm sun.  We are in a strange land, they said.  But we are here and we will make this home.  We have our song, our recipes, our know-how.  We have our joy. We will love, laugh, sing,  and hug our children as tight as you can hold a child.  We wil survive because we have each other. 

Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 72). Kindle Edition. 

To mark Banned Book Week, I reread a wonderful children's picture book first published in 2021, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson. It begins with a question I remember asking first myself and then my parents and grandparents when I was a child: Who are you? We all want to know where we came from, I think, who our people are and were, and what brought us to where we are today. Looking at the truth of the past is the first step in moving forward into a future of living with others in a world where all are equal under the law. 

Here is my original review.

Velshi Banned Book Club: The 1619 Project: Born on the Water takes a thoughtful look at banned books, and especially notes the importance of not banning books for children.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

October 10th - How often do you enter Goodreads' Giveaways? And how many have you won over the years? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I am not interested in entering giveaways for books. I want to read the books I want to read, and I would rather buy or borrow the books myself.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book: 

How to Train Your Dragon

by Cressida Cowell

Genre: Children's Fantasy 

Published: January 21, 2014

Page Count: 241 pages

Summary: 

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb? Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons—and becomes a hero.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

Long ago, on the wild and windy isle of Berk, a  smallish Viking with a longish name stood up to his  ankles in snow.  Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the  Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans,  had been feeling slightly sick ever since he woke up  that morning. 

Cowell, Cressida. How to Train Your Dragon, p. 1.  Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The boys were hanging about the village gates,  taking the opportunity to show off the dragons that  they had caught. Hiccup had tried to walk through  without being noticed, but Snotlout had stopped him.  ‘Let’ s see what pathetic creature Hiccup has  got, ’ said Snotlout, and took off the lid.  ‘Oh, this is BRILLIANT – look at it!’ said  Snotlout, when he finally got his breath back from  laughing.

Cowell, Cressida. How to Train Your Dragon, p. 56. Kindle Edition. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

October 3rd - Would you rather accidentally set your favorite book on fire or drop it in the ocean? (submitted by Snapdragon @ Snapdragon Alcove)

Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Neither!

Children's Picture Books About Jobs

True stories of people with various occupations

Lives of the Athletes: Thrills and Spills by Kathleen Krull 

Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes the French Chef

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George

Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White

Nellie vs. Elizabeth: Two Daredevil Journalists' Breakneck Race Around the World by Elizabeth Hannigan

In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage by Alan Schroeder

The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau (Oceanographer)

One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Story of Charles Darwin (Naturalist)

A Librarian from Basra by Jeanette Winter

Preaching to the Chickens: The Young Life of John Lewis (Activist)

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakeable Mathematician Sophie Germain

What Do You Do With a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan

The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall's Life, Leadership, and Legacy (Judge)

Hello, Neighbor! The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers (Children's Advocate)

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Monsieur Marceau: The Man Without Words (Mime)

Fiction stories of people with various occupations:

How I Became a Pirate

The Little Barbarian 

The Storyteller

Ada Twist, Scientist

Doctor De Soto by William Steig (Dentist) 

Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman

The Toughest Cowboy

Knight Owl

The Water Protectors (Environmentalists)

The Last Zookeeper 

And, because these are children's books, don't forget this occupation...

Professional Crocodile by Giovanni Zoboli

These are all books I've read and I recommend, though I didn't add links to my reviews.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.