Our last day of school is on Monday, June 2. We are having lots of conversations in our classroom about summer reading and the joys of having extra time to read. Even by 3rd grade, some of my students already see summer reading as a chore so they looked a little confused the first two times I shared my excitement for the 2014 48 Hour Read and Summer Book-A-Day (#bookaday).
Mother Reader started her 48 Hour Book Challenge many years ago. Although I have never participated as a challenger, I have participated many years just for fun. For me, it is like a Hallmark Holiday--if Mother Reader says that June 6-8 is the 48 Hour Read, then I have a great excuse to read. You can read more about the challenge in the link above. Mother Reader also posted 48 Hour Challenge FAQs last week. If Donalyn challenges me to read a #bookaday, I give myself the gift of reading time each day.
I think one of the reasons I love the 48 Hour Book Challenge is that it is a great way to kick off summer reading and #bookaday.. No matter how much I read in the winter and spring, there is less and less time to fall into a good book during the last few weeks of the school year. With all of the end-of-the-year things there are to do to close out the school year and to focus on the classroom community's last few days together, taking time for my own reading, always takes a backseat for a while. So, the 48 Hour Read and the #bookaday challenge help me make time to jump back into my reading life.
Another reason I LOVE the 48 Hour Read is that we often kick the weekend off with a Central Ohio Blogger Breakfast and Book Shopping Spree. (If you are a Central Ohio blogger and would like to join us, email one of us and we'll give you the details!) We started this little tradition a while ago and it is amazing how it has evolved. Funny thing is that many of us have become great friends through blogging and the fact that we all live close enough to get together once in a while is quite fun. The morning is always filled with great talk, lots of laughing, delicious food and very heavy bags of books! In 2008, I began the 48 Hour Read alone, getting my hair colored. In 2009, we decided that in Central Ohio, we might need to change the name of the challenge to the 48 Hour Shop! And in 2011, we discovered the fortifying power of granola, thanks to Bill Prosser. I am sure 2014 will bring lots more fun and great books!
Now on to the reading plan. I don't feel like I have a lot of 3rd grade-ish books to catch up on. I spent lots of last summer reading transitional chapter books and feel like I can keep up with new ones easily. I've also kept up on lots of great new nonfiction as I've been trying to build my library in that area. But I seem to have fallen behind in my middle grade, YA and adult reading. I have already created a mental TBR stack that is bigger than anything I can read in one summer alone. But I do have a stack that I want to read early on in the summer.
These are my summer MUST READS so far.
Lots of great books in that stack! We'll be driving to Disney, but I know I'll squeeze in some reading time. :)
ReplyDeleteIt all sounds like so much fun. The only time I might wish I lived in Ohio. (Sorry, southern through and through) I have started my summer reading today with Moon over Manifest.
ReplyDeleteYou are going to love Where'd you go, Bernadette. I look forward to hearing about the others that I have not read.