April Reading Recap

Wow, was April a busy month! And I can't believe we're at its end. My aspirations and predictions for April were fulfilled exactly, so much that I'm a bit in shock. Lots of picture book reading? Check. Updating the blog less frequently? Check. Still reading fantasy? Check. Sunny afternoons on the porch reading and rainy ones in bed with a book? Check. Huh, I like this goal-setting thing.

Books Read in April:

1. The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd - review - read 04/03/10 
2. What Happened to Marion's Book? by Brook Berg - review - read 04/07/10
3. Duck on a Bike by David Shannon - review - read 04/07/10
4. Hansel and Gretel retold by Rachel Isadora - review - read 04/07/10
5. Blankets by Craig Thompson - read 04/10/10
6. The Dream Stealer by Sid Fleischman - read 04/10/10
7. No, David! by David Shannon - read 04/15/10
8. David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon - read 04/15/10
9. David Goes to School by David Shannon - read 04/15/10
10. Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas - review - read 04/15/10
11. The Squeaky Door by Margaret Read MacDonald - review - read 04/15/10
12. Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton - review - read 04/15/10
13. It's Spring! by Jimmy Pickering - read 04/15/10

14. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan - review - read 04/16/10
15. Strega Nona Meets Her Match by Tomie dePaola - read 04/18/10
16. Big Anthony and the Magic Ring by Tomie dePaola - read 04/18/10
17. Koi and the Kola Nuts: A Tale from Liberia by Verna Aardema - read 04/18/10
18. Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye - read 04/18/10
19. Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa by Niki Daly - read 04/18/10
20. Luba and the Wren by Patricia Polacco - read 04/18/10
21. What Kinds of Seeds Are These? by Heidi Roemer - read 04/18/10
22. Flip, Float, Fly!: Seeds on the Move by JoAnn Early Macken - read 04/18/10
23. Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards - read 04/18/10
24. Jack and the Beanstalk retold by E. Nesbit - read 04/19/10
25. Jack and the Beanstalk retold by Richard Walker - read 04/19/10
26. Jack and the Beanstalk retold by John Cech - read 04/19/10

27. Zeus: King of Gods by George O'Connor - read 04/20/10
28. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - review - read 04/25/10
29. Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell - read 04/25/10 
30. Waynetta and the Cornstalk: A Texas Fairy Tale by Helen Ketteman - read 04/27/10 
31. The Princess and the Beggar: A Korean Folktale by Anne Sibley O'Brien - read 04/27/10
32. How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long - read 04/27/10
33. Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long - read 04/27/10
34. Bear and Bunny Grow Tomatoes by Bruce Koscielniak - read 04/27/10
35. Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup by Tomie DePaola - read 04/29/10
36. Tony's Bread: An Italian Folktale by Tomie DePaola - read 04/29/10
37. Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie DePaola - read 04/29/10
38. Tom by Tomie DePaola - read 04/29/10
39. The Art Lesson by Tomie DePaola - read 04/29/10
40. Papa Gatto by Ruth Sanderson - read 04/29/10
41. Beastly by Alex Flinn - read 04/29/10

Yes, I know, there are 41 of them, and that seems like an insane amount of books to read in one month, for me. I assure you, it's only because of all those picture books. Here's a breakdown:

33 picture books 
6 MG/YA novels
2 graphic novels

So, I actually did read less novels this month. Oh well, I have three that I'm currently reading and will probably, hopefully, finish in May - like this weekend.  

April Favorite - Picture Book: Hansel and Gretel retold and illustrated by Rachel Isadora

April Favorite: Blankets by Craig Thompson

April Challenge Progress:
41 Library books (79 total)
2 Graphic novels (10 total)
3 Middle grade novels (7 total)

April # of Pages: 3,636 (12,973 total)

May Aspirations:
With 41 books read in April, somehow I managed to write only 9 reviews. I have a stack of books waiting to be returned to the library, if only I could find the time to review them! So, I hope to definitely catch up on some reviews, and if that's not possible, then to just make a better effort to review immediately after finishing a book because that's the best time for me to do it anyway. I'm hoping to also explore some more mythology since I went folktale crazy this month. I really liked the Zeus graphic novel I read, so I'd like to go more in that direction. But I celebrate my birthday for about a week in May, so I know that my reading time will be cut short. I take birthdays very seriously!