79. Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior

read on my iPhone
2019 Bantam Press
288 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 8/17/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 813 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting:  Exmoor, England

First line/s:  "A woman came to the barn today.  Her hair was the color of walnut wood.  Her eyes were the color of bracken in October.  Her socks were the color of cherries, which was noticeable because all the rest of her clothes were sad colors.  She carried an enormous shoulder bag, canvas.  It had a big buckle (square), but it was hanging open.  The woman's mouth was open too.
She was shifting from one foot to the other by the door so I told her to come in.  The words came out a little bit mangled due to the fact that I was wearing my mask.  She asked what I'd said, so I took it off and also took off my earmuffs and I said it again.  She came in.  Her socks were very red indeed.  So was her face."  (What a great way to understand Dan's thinking process!)

My comments:  Ellie and the Harpmaker was not at all what I expected.  Written in two voices, Dan's and Ellie's, it's the perfect way to get into Dan's head. He was the harpmaker.  He lies somewhere on the autism spectrum, I'm guessing he has Aspergers.  And he is delightful.  Exmoor and harps and a pheasant pet; nature and counting anything and everything; crustless geometrically shaped sandwiches; innocence and vulnerability and gullibility; relationships between spouses, siblings, parents, friends, and children ---- these things and so many more shape the body of this story.  (It was much heavier than expected, too.) Excellent.

Goodreads synopsis:  In the rolling hills of beautiful Exmoor, there’s a barn. And in that barn, you’ll find Dan. He’s a maker of exquisite harps - but not a great maker of conversation. He’s content in his own company, quietly working and away from social situations that he doesn’t always get right.
          But one day, a cherry-socked woman stumbles across his barn and the conversation flows a little more easily than usual. She says her name’s Ellie, a housewife, alone, out on her daily walk and, though she doesn’t say this, she looks sad. He wants to make her feel better, so he gives her one of his harps, made of cherry wood.
          And before they know it, this simple act of kindness puts them on the path to friendship, big secrets, pet pheasants and, most importantly, true love

77. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

listened on Audible borrowed from the library
read by the author
Unabridged audio (6:44)
2019, Knopf
252 pgs.
Adult Memoir
Finished 8/15/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.99 - 16,455 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary

First line/s:   "When I was a girl I would sneak down the hall late at night once my parents were asleep."

My comments:  A memoir, read by the author, which is pretty cool.  I've always understood that the difference between a memoir and an autobiography is that in memoir you reflect on the things that happened in your life.  This memoir seemed to have a great deal of reflection, and had I been reading instead of listening I might have abandoned it.  I guess I'm not a philosopher.  However, the weaving of story and philosophy IS extremely well done.  And although I realize that I'm still not a nonfiction fan, I finished this and enjoyed both the story and the writing (though perhaps not quest so much the philosophical stuff, lol)

Goodreads synopsis:  The acclaimed and beloved author of Hourglass now gives us a new memoir about identity, paternity, and family secrets—a real-time exploration of the staggering discovery she recently made about her father, and her struggle to piece together the hidden story of her own life.
          What makes us who we are? What combination of memory, history, biology, experience, and that ineffable thing called the soul defines us?
          In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father. She woke up one morning and her entire history—the life she had lived—crumbled beneath her.
          Inheritance is a book about secrets—secrets within families, kept out of shame or self-protectiveness; secrets we keep from one another in the name of love. It is the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity, a story that has been scrupulously hidden from her for more than fifty years, years she had spent writing brilliantly, and compulsively, on themes of identity and family history. It is a book about the extraordinary moment we live in—a moment in which science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover.
          Timely and unforgettable, Dani Shapiro’s memoir is a gripping, gut-wrenching exploration of genealogy, paternity, and love.

78. Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

listened to Audio, borrowed from Library
read by Taylor Meskimen
Unabridged audio (7:43)
2019 Viking Books for Young Readers
320 pgs.
Mid Grade CRF/Transgender female
Finished 8/15/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.08 - 203 ratings
My rating:4
Setting:   Contemporary (Portland?) Maine

First line/s:  "She had that new kid look."

My comments:  A captivating story about a trans girl who, after being orphaned, moves from Arizona to Portland, Maine to live with her aunt and her aunt's wife.  For the first time in her life she is able to dress like a girl and, without telling anyone her backstory, begins middle school in Maine.  What we discover here is a large community of LGBTQ, oodles of questioning, self-hate, extreme bullying, and finally, acceptance -- not only be her community, family, and friends, but by herself.

Goodreads synopsis:  The critically acclaimed author of Felix Yz crafts a bold, heartfelt story about a trans girl solving a cyber mystery and coming into her own.
          Zenobia July is starting a new life. She used to live in Arizona with her father; now she's in Maine with her aunts. She used to spend most of her time behind a computer screen, improving her impressive coding and hacking skills; now she's coming out of her shell and discovering a community of friends at Monarch Middle School. People used to tell her she was a boy; now she's able to live openly as the girl she always knew she was.
          When someone anonymously posts hateful memes on her school's website, Zenobia knows she's the one with the abilities to solve the mystery, all while wrestling with the challenges of a new school, a new family, and coming to grips with presenting her true gender for the first time. Timely and touching, Zenobia July is, at its heart, a story about finding home.

76. Three Mages and a Margarita by Annette Marie

#1 Spellbound: The Guild Codex
listened on Audible
read by Cris Dukehart
Unabridged audio (7:14)
2018 Dark Owl Fantasy Inc
312 pgs.
Adult Fantasy
Finished 8/13/2019
Goodreads rating:  409 - 5609 ratings
My rating:3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Vancouver, CANADA

First line/s:  "Keeping a job involves a few simple rules:  Arrive on time.  Work hard.  And don't assault customers."

My comments:  Listened to this in one day.  Forget the fantasy/paranormal element; the mystery, action and adventure alone is simply a story of four really good friends.  With humor and a teeny, teeny, tiny bit of sexual tension, this romp through the secret paranormal world of psychics, fire throwers, sorcerers, telekinetics (etc!) is clever, cute, and just the right length.

Goodreads synopsis:  Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.
          It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview—to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?
          I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they… offered me the job?
          It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-shit bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.
          So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course—with a pay raise.
--Note: The three mages are definitely sexy, but this series isn't a reverse harem. It's 100% fun, sassy, fast-paced urban fantasy.
          Tori has no problem getting herself into trouble in every book in the Guild Codex series, but each one is a complete adventure—no cliffhanger endings.

75. Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

#1 Detective Josie Quinn, Denton, PA cop
listened on Audible, also have on Kindle
read by Eilidh Beaton (do not listen to anything she reads again!)
Unabridged audio (11:40)
2018 Bookouture
334 pgs.
Adult Police Procedural/Murder Mystery
Finished 8/12/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.24 - 6246 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary Denton, PA

First line/s:  "There was a man in the woods, she was sure of it."

My comments:  OMG, I can't believe the audio company hired this particular reader for this particular book.  The almost 30-year-old rural PA protagonist sounded like an 18-year-old valley girl and mispronounced so many words that I really wondered what her background was (Scottish?).  It was unbelievably disconcerting and totally took away from the setting and this important primary character, making her almost laughable in places where she definitely should not have been!
     The story was fast paced, but the aforementioned discrepancy re: character and setting just threw the whole story itself off...
     Josie (who ends up becoming Denton's chief of police, yeah, right...) is impulsive, screwed up, on probation, and continues to work nonstop while her fiance lies near death in the the hospital, seemingly without much thought of him at all.  And the, bad guys start spilling their guts after keeping their mouth shut for years..... The combination of horrible narrator and implausible happenings make this one an eye roller.  It didn't give me any sense of rural Pennsylvania AT ALL.
     Here are some of her frustrating pronunciations (remember, this is supposedly in Pennsylvania!
          been = bean (do you know how many times people use this word?  LOTS!)
          ate = ett
          anything = ehn ih thinn
          taco = (pronouncing the a as in apple)
          everything = ev ra thinn
          hovered = haw - verd
          tel - uh - VIZH - un
          process:  proe-sess
          die-rector
          mo-bile
          temporary - temp-ree
          Maryland = merry-land!!!!!
          tousled = tousuhld
          protest = praw-test
          cemetery = sem eh tree

Goodreads synopsis:  She was close enough to see that the girl had written a word on the wall in bright, warm red blood. Not a word, actually. A name…
          Everyone in the small American town of Denton is searching for Isabelle Coleman, a missing seventeen-year-old girl. All they’ve found so far is her phone and another girl they didn’t even know was missing.
          Mute and completely unresponsive to the world around her, it’s clear this mysterious girl has been damaged beyond repair. All Detective Josie Quinn can get from her is a name: Ramona.
          Currently suspended from the force for misconduct, Josie takes matters into her own hands as the name leads her to evidence linking the two girls. She knows the race is on to find Isabelle alive, and she fears there may be others… 
          The trail leads Josie to another victim, a girl who escaped but whose case was labelled a hoax by authorities. To catch this monster, Josie must confront her own nightmares and follow her instinct to the darkest of places. But can she make it out alive?
          Fans of Angela Marsons, Helen Fields and Robert Dugoni will be utterly gripped and sleeping with the lights on once they discover the first in this unputdownable new crime thriller series.

Day of the Dead

"On the Day of the Dead" poem by Rene Saldana, Jr. & Take-5 activities to go along with it.

Picture books:
Calavera Abecedario - Jeanette Winter
Dia de Los Muertos - Roseanne Greenfield Thong
Funny Bones:  Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras - Duncan Tonatiuh
Ghost Wings - Barbara Joose
Gift for Abuelita, A - Nancy Luenn
Just in Case - Yuyi Morales

My Altars:
2008
2010

Postcards I've Received

PICTURE BOOK - Ojiichan's Gift by Chieri Uegaki

Illustrated by Genevieve Simms

2019, Kids Can Press (HC $16.99)

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.19 171 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:solid pale sage

1^st line/s:    "When Mayumi vanHorton was born, her grandfather built her a garden.  It sat behind a tiny brown house nearly half way around the world, and it was unlike any other garden she knew."

My comments:  Every summer North American Mayumi spent two months with her Ojiichan in Japan.  He'd made a garden for her, a sand garden, with rocks, and shrubs to-be pruned, and a rake to make patterns in the sand.  And then Ojiichan gets too feeble to take care of the garden and Mayumi makes a miniature one for Ojiichan to enjoy.  Great themes, lovely story and illustrations.

Goodreads:  When Mayumi was born, her grandfather created a garden for her. It was unlike any other garden she knew. It had no flowers or vegetables. Instead, Ojiichan made it out of stones: ?big ones, little ones and ones in-between.? Every summer, Mayumi visits her grandfather in Japan, and they tend the garden together. Raking the gravel is her favorite part. Afterward, the two of them sit on a bench and enjoy the results of their efforts in happy silence. But then one summer, everything changes. Ojiichan has grown too old to care for his home and the garden. He has to move. Will Mayumi find a way to keep the memory of the garden alive for both of them? 
          This gentle picture book story will warm children's hearts as it explores a deep intergenerational bond and the passing of knowledge from grandparent to grandchild over time. The lyrical text by Chieri Uegaki and luminous watercolor illustrations by Genevieve Simms beautifully capture the emotional arc of the story, from Mayumi's contentment through her anger and disappointment to, finally, her acceptance. The story focuses on an important connection to nature, particularly as a place for quiet reflection. It contains character education lessons on caring, responsibility, perseverance and initiative. It's also a wonderful way to introduce social studies conversations about family, aging and multiculturalism. Mayumi lives in North America with her Japanese mother and Dutch father, and visits her grandfather in Japan. Some Japanese words are included.

74. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

read on my phone - purchased Kindle (so now own)
2019, Gallery Books
400 pgs.
Adult CRF Romance
Finished 8/6/19
Goodreads rating:  4.04 - 31,253 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Hawaii, for the most part

First line/s:  "In the calm before the storm -- in this case the blessed quiet before the bridal suite is overrun by the wedding party -- my twin sister stares critically down at a freshly painted shell-pink fingernail and says, "I bet you're relieved I'm not a bridezilla."

My comments:  A trite but mostly-fun ride.  It's about twin sisters, big families, misunderstandings big and little, lies, and attraction.  Although you absolutely know what's going to happen in the end, it's fun watching the route in which it takes to get there.

Goodreads synopsis:  Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
          Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
          Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

73. The Others by Jeremy Robinson

read on my Audible
read by R. C. Bray
Unabridged audio (10:15)
2018 Breakneck Media
314 pgs.
Adult SciFi
Finished  August 6, 2018
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 801 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:  Contemporary AZ & NM

First line/s:  " 'You know I don't like coming here, Harry.' Sheriff Godin dusted off his hat, despite its being clean.  'Especially for something like this.  Even more so at this time of night.'"

My comments:  About 40% of this book, maybe more, was horrible gunfighting, hi tech gun fighting.  Yuck.  But the other half was full of building relationships and thought-provoking interpretation of aliens and nano bits that burrow into people's heads (making them capable of all sorts of high technology).  Set in Arizona and New Mexico, driving through the desert in all sorts of crazy vehicles, we accompany a ragtag group of people that are trying to discover the secrets of "the others" who have inhabited the earth secretly for a couple of millennium. I liked that part a lot.  And, believe it or not, this book was full of one man's love for family and kids.

Goodreads synopsis:  UFOs and alien abductions remain one of the most hotly debated and mysterious subjects of the twenty-first century. In the decades since 1960, with reports of strange encounters on the rise, thirteen million people have gone missing worldwide and never been found. The Others takes a fast-paced, unique, and moving look at the phenomenon that has fueled Jeremy Robinson's imagination since several sightings, strange happenings, and visits with renowned UFO investigator, and family friend, Raymond Fowler.

TO SAVE A MISSING GIRL...
          Dan Delgado is a private investigator. When it comes to finding cheating spouses, corporate thieves, or runaway teenagers, he's unenthusiastic, and unmatched. As a former San Francisco detective, he misses more meaningful work, but he hasn't had the heart for it since his wife's death five years prior. That is, until a phone call from a distraught mother. An illegal immigrant who can't go to the police puts him on the hunt for a missing little girl.
          By the time he reaches the mother's small home, she's missing, too. The circumstances are strange, but when a team of heavily armed mercenaries arrive, Delgado is convinced there is more going on than a simple kidnapping.
          Joined by his elderly assistant, a gun-toting pastor, and a UFO enthusiast Uber driver, Delgado follows the clues west, to Colorado City, a town cleaved in two by the 37th parallel, also known as the UFO Highway. In a town infamous for fundamentalist Mormon cult activity, they uncover evidence of a massive child-trafficking ring, whose ringleaders might not be human.
          Delgado and crew are plunged into a dangerous world of corporate competition, UFO lore, and government cover-ups. While they hunt for answers, they're pursued across the Southwest by high-tech mercs, brainwashed cults, and beings whose true identity has been concealed since 1947.

...HE MUST RISK THE WORLD

PICTURE BOOK - We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

Illustrated by the author

2018, Disney/Hyperion

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.51 - 3829 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  drawings of dinosaurs drawn by Penelope's classmates

1^st line/s:  "Penelope Rex was nervous.  It's not every day a little T. rex Starts school."

My comments:  This has been my favorite book so far this year (it was written last year, 2018)  It's funny, creative, and has a fantastic theme:  treating each other fairly, lovingly, appropriately.  I can't wait to read this aloud to kids.  And I love the illustrations, the diversity in the classroom, and Penelope's innocent reactions to everything that happens to her.

Goodreads:  Penelope the dinosaur starts school, but it’s hard to make friends when her classmates are so delicious!
          It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. . . . Readers will gobble up this hilarious new story from award-winning author-illustrator Ryan T. Higgins.

72. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

listened to on Audio, borrowed from the library
read by Amy Melissa Bentley
Unabridged audio (11:23)
2018 Simon Pulse
421 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished before 8/5, but forgot to write it down
Goodreads rating:  4.04 - 8750 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: contemporary Melita Hills, CA (just outside SF) and in the national park wilderness/high Sierras just north/northeast

First line/s:  "Spontaneity is overrated."

My comments:  I greatly disliked the beginning of the book, so much so that I almost put it down.  It took forever to get to the "roughing it" in the wild.  I couldn't believe that Zorie would be friends with a girl like Reagan (et al.) or that her father was such a JERK and she hardly rebelled at all.  Also she'd been best friends with Lennon since she was quite young and she drops him like a hot potato without looking into what was really going on.....  And although she lost her birth mother when she was 8, she'd taken on loving her stepmother incredibly (which is good), but the infrequent mention of her birth mother is weird, as if she didn't remember her  (or even care) much...but she was EIGHT!  Not a baby. And again, she had an incredible dirt-bag father. Quite a few aspects that bugged me.  But the second half of the book was pretty decent, for the most part.  Not as good as The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, which is also recently read.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.
          But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.
          What could go wrong?
          With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.
          And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

71. Reasonable Doubt by Whitney G.

Volumes 1 - 3.25
Listened on Audible (purchased)
read by Sebastian York and Erin Mallon
Unabridged audio (8:46)
2014 for book, 2015 for audible
313 pgs.
Very Adult Romance
Finished 8/3/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 7013 ratings (Vol. 1, 2, 3 each have over 26,000 ratings well over 3.10 - amazing!
Steaminess rating:  4/4
Setting:  contemporary Durham, NC and NYC

From the first page:  "My rules are simple.  One dinner.  One night.  No repeats.  This is casual sex, nothing more, nothing less.  At least it was until Alyssa....  She was supposed to be a 27-year old lawyer, , a book hoarder, and completely unattractive.  She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades."

My comments:  Triple X rated for the most part, though there is some actual story mixed in mostly near the end.  These kinds of stories are incredibly unratable for me and I do wonder why I read/listen to them.  You have to be in just the right mood, I guess  I couldn't get past the fact that he was 32 and she was 22, because he acted older and she acted younger, so it seemed like the age difference was even more than 10 years, which was really quite disconcerting...

Goodreads synopsis:  The complete New York Times Bestselling serial, now available in one book! 
          My cock has an appetite. 
          A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar...(Although, that's a story for another day.) As a high profile lawyer, I don't have time to waste on relationships, so I fulfill my needs by anonymously chatting and sleeping with women I meet online. 
          My rules are simple: One dinner. One night. No repeats. 
          This is only casual sex. Nothing more. Nothing less. 
          At least it was, until "Alyssa"...She was supposed to be a 27 year old lawyer, a book hoarder, and completely unattractive. She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades. 
          But then she came into my firm for an interview--a college-intern interview, and everything fucking changed...

70. Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

listened on Audible
read by Brittany Pressley and Kirby Heybourne
Unabridged audio (10:16)
2017, Bloomsbury
391 pgs.
Contemporary YA Fiction
Finished 7/29/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.36 - 15,403 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary America

First line/s:   "I need to stop staring at this letter."

My comments: This was a pretty intense story about the relationship between two high school seniors who poured out their hearts to each other via anonymous letters and then emails.  Both had baggage.  Lots of baggage.  And very weird home lives, sad for one, debilitating for the other.  Their correspondence was better than therapy, and it was fun to watch as they discovered each others' real identity.  Definitely more intense than lighthearted, an interesting thought-provoking read.

Goodreads synopsis:  Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother's death, she leaves letters at her grave. It's the only way Juliet can cope.
          Declan Murphy isn't the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he's trying to escape the demons of his past.
          When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he's opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan nor Juliet knows that they're not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart.

Recipe - Baked Parmesan Chicken Tenders

Found this recipe, by "celebrity chef" Ayesha Curry, in People magazine while I was waiting for my car to be inspected at Midas today.

Ayesha Curry's Baked Parmesan Chicken Tenders

1 c. Panko
2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 t. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. black pepper
1/4 t. smoked paprika
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. onion powder
cooking spray
1 lb. (about 8) boneless skinless chicken tenders

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Stir together panko and parmesan.  In another dish, stir together mayo, mustard, parsley, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powders.

Insert a rack in a large rimmed baking sheet; spray with cooking spray.  Coat chicken tenders in mayo mixture; then gently roll in panko mixture, pressing to adhere.  Place coated tenders on rack.  Spray with cooking spray.

Bake for 15 minutes, until cooked through and golden.

Poetry PICTURE BOOK - Sweet Dreamers by Isabelle Simler

Translated by Sarah Ardizzone
Illustrated by the author

Published originally in France in 2017
America, 2019 by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

HC $19.00

72 (thick) pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.26 - 135 ratings

My rating:  5 - for the artwork alone, but the translated poems are great, too
Endpapers:  Moon over mountains and water, two different views
ARTWORK:  Digital!  Scratched picture.  Incredible.

See Betsy Bird's outstanding review, description, and discussion of the digital art here.

My comments:Wow.  Just wow.

Goodreads:  A gorgeous bedtime book from an award-winning creator
          From the celebrated creator of Plume and The Blue Hour comes another enchanting animal book. Countless cozy animals are settling in for the night, but they all sleep in different ways. A bat dreams upside down, a hedgehog snuggles into a pile of leaves, and a humpback whale spins in its sleep like a ballerina.
          With its poetic language and lush illustrations, Sweet Dreamers will dazzle young readers as they drift off to sleep themselves.

    Slung like a hammock,

        the sloth dreams

  of spring-loaded sprinters,

      of rockets blasting off,

of pump-action spinning tops,.

  When the stopwatch starts,

          our dreaming racer

              doesn't move

                  an inch.

   The horse dreams standing up,

           in the middle of the herd.

       She never loses her footing,

    although her thoughts break free.

          Puffing up her feathers

              in a quilted hollow,

  the grouse dreams under the snow.

         She spends the night in secret

       beneath that great white sheet.