Balancing My Reading Life

So 2017 was not my best reading year. I set my Goodreads Reading Challenge at 200--same as last year but a a low number for me. I knew the year would be busy and I knew that 200 seemed doable. And I did it (although December required a big stack of books..). But when I look at the reading most of the books I read were picture books. Don't get me wrong I LOVE picture books and they are always a huge part of my reading life but they don't always make up the bulk of my reading year. I read fewer middle grade novels, fewer adult fiction titles, fewer nonfiction books and almost no professional books. Even though I met my Goodreads Reading Challenge, I don't feel great about my 2017 reading.

As I've been thinking about this, I read Katherine Sokolowski blog post,  Lessons from Romance Novels and Kristen Ashley. She talks about her recent reading life and her binge reading of 47 romance books.  She says, "Overall, my five month reading binge of forty-seven of Ashely's books (many over 500 pages) have reminded me of the lesson from the flight attendants when you get on the airplanes - we need to put on our oxygen masks first. For at least the past seven years my reading life has been completely geared toward my beautiful students."  

Mary Lee and I started this blog 12 years ago today. (Happy Birthday Us!). 

via GIPHY

We started it as a way to share with each other the books we were reading as we predicted Newbery titles. But we also read other books. Since we started the blog, I read so much more--connecting with other readers has totally enriched and expanded my reading life. But this year felt different. I am not sure when I started to feel like every book I read was an assignment and I am not sure when I started reading middle grade fiction almost exclusively but I know that I have lost any type of balance in my reading life in the last few years and that I miss the balance and the joy that comes with reading lots of things--not only things that my 5th graders might like, not only books that may win the Newbery, but just books.

So 2018, I am going to give myself permission to balance my reading life--to choose some books just because I want to read them. Like Katherine, I love keeping up with books that my students might enjoy and I think middle grade novels are the best books out there-I enjoy them as a reader. I also know it makes me a better teacher. But I can do that and also read other things across a year I think. My friend, Kristen Turner wrote this great piece  on her blog, Twin Life: Having It All --It is called Handling It All and it reminded me that I have learned to let go of things in my life because other things are more important. I can certainly let go of some imaginary reading requirements I have for myself to make room for a more balanced reading life.

So in 2018, I'll set my Goodreads Reading Challenge because I like the way it tracks my year of reading. But my real goal will be rediscovering a balance in my reading life by giving myself permission to do that.  Hopefully in 2018 my Goodreads list will include more adult fiction, more professional books, more YA and more nonfiction.  Or maybe I'll go on a binge like Katherine and stick with one genre that I totally fall in love with for a bit.  Who knows! Just hoping to read and enjoy a lot of great books in 2018.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

via GIPHY

Some Books that Changed My Heart and Mind in 2017

I just went to see Wonder, the movie. So good. I read the book as an ARC years ago and loved it immediately. We just finished reading it aloud in our classroom two weeks ago. The conversations changed our community, I think. Needless to say I was TOTALLY unprepared to see RJ Palacio just sitting in the audience of Auggie's graduation scene near the end of the movie. Like totally unprepared. I got so teary (okay crying) --I was so happy to see her sitting there being part of this next phase of Auggie's journey-so thankful to her for this story. And then I realized how lucky we are to be part of this community of teachers, authors, publishers, children. RJ in that final scene reminded me of the impact one story can have on a world and how lucky we are to be people who share stories like this with children, not knowing how they will change their lives.  

That scene with RJ reminded me how much books and stories can change lives. I was lucky to be part of the NCTE Charlotte Huck Committee for 3 years. During that time I read with a specific lens based on the award criteria. The Charlotte Huck Award "recognizes fiction that has the potential to transform children’s lives by inviting compassion, imagination, and wonder."  So as I read for this award I was always looking for books that had the potential to transform a child's life in some way.  I am no longer on the Charlotte Huck Award Committee but that lens seems to be a part of the way I sometimes reflect on my reading.  Seeing Wonder today and thinking about the power of a single story in a life,  made me think a bit about my 2017 reading and those books in my reading life that really changed me in some way. I believe almost every book changes the reader in some way, but some books stand out a bit.

So seeing Wonder and being so thankful for authors like RJ Palacio, I went back through my reading life this year and found so many books that changed my heart or mind. Here are those that stood out to me--some books that transformed my heart or mind in some way in 2017. 

Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Love

Towers Falling

Little Fox in the Forest

Long Way Down

Windows

When We Were Alone

Her Right Foot

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G vs. Inequality

Refugee

Forever or a Long Long Time

Joy Write

The Hate U Give

Orphan Island

Smart Cookie by Elly Swartz

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Elly Swartz's upcoming book, Smart Cookie. First of all, it is almost never that I get to read a book with a female protagonist named Frankie so that was a real treat.  But even without that added perk, I LOVED this book.

There are some authors who write realistic fiction perfectly for middle graders.  It is not an easy thing to write for this age. The combination of depth and humor, big life issues and daily struggles is tricky and Elly Swartz seems to have this age of reader totally figured out.  I am always amazed when authors get writing for this age so perfectly.

Smart Cookie has lots for readers to think about which is really important. These things are embedded in things of daily life. They are very real. And the book deals with several things at once, just as in life. Grief, family, secrets and friendship are things many middle grade students deal with day in and day out.  This book captures all of this. This book also made me laugh out loud and cry a little. And then there is a little bit of a mystery that is perfectly woven into the story.

The characters are fabulous.  I loved Frankie (I mean, how could I not?). But I loved Frankie's dad, her grandmother, her friends and her town.   I wanted to live there or at least visit while I was reading Frankie's story.

This book seems perfect for grades 4-5. And I can imagine a few of my 3rd graders (from last year) reading it later in the year when they were ready for more realistic fiction with real life stuff.  I have not read her other book Finding Perfect, but have heard great things and will move it up on my stack. I am so glad to have discovered Elly Swartz!

So thankful I got to read this book early and I can't wait to share it with my students next week!

Poetry Friday -- Nerdy Poetry and Novel in Verse Winners

I wrote the post, but I didn't pick the winners...READERS did! Congratulations to all of the winners, and the rest of you -- hold onto your credit card because you will want every single one of these for your classroom, school, or home library!

Heidi has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at my juicy little universe.

Happy Reading!! Happy Poetry!! Happy Poetry Friday!! Happy New Year!!

Oh Yes I Did

Because what good are you as a teacher of reading if you don't occasionally read the books your students are most excited about?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
by Jeff Kinney
Harry N. Abrams, 2017

A humorous look at everything that could possibly go wrong on ditch-the-holidays family vacation, with a little bit of arachnophobia thrown in for good measure.

Dog Man and Cat Kid
by Dav Pilkey
Graphix, 2017

You can just about hear Dav Pilkey laughing out loud to himself as he writes these. I mean, really. Allusions to Faulkner? A robot named 80-HD? (say it out loud so you, too, can get the joke)

And in case you think Dog Man is all light fluff with no redeeming qualities, consider how Cat Kid reprograms his robot 80-HD (I can't even type that without cracking up) so that it has free will. "From now on, you can choose your own path." He tells it, "Thou mayest," so that it can choose whether or not to be loyal to Cat Kid. (It does.)

And then there's the part where Cat Kid admits he hasn't been perfect and, in a direct quote from Faulkner, the Italian actress tells him, "...now that you don't have to be perfect...you can be good."

Sure, there's Flip-O-Rama, but there's deep stuff, too.

Poetry Friday -- Winter Solstice

solstice sunset --

skeletal sycamore

backlit by autumn

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Happy Solstice! Welcome back, Kachinas, who come bearing gifts.

We're at the end of a dark, dark year, but we need to remember that it is the darkness that helps us appreciate the light.

Buffy has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week, and I'm happy to announce that the January-June 2018 Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule is complete!

Two New Seymour Simon Books

Horses (Updated Edition)
by Seymour Simon
HarperCollins, 2017

Water
by Seymour Simon
HarperCollins, 2017


"Simon may have done more than any other living author to help us understand and appreciate the beauty of our planet and our universe." -- Kirkus Reviews

Not only that, but he can teach our students to write with clarity and organization. Look no further than one of Seymour Simon's books and you'll find great introductions and conclusions, and paragraphs that contain ideas all on one topic.

Dream Big Dreams

Dream Big Dreams: Photographs from Barack Obama's Inspiring and Historic Presidency

by Pete Souza

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017

Inspirational is the best word for this book.

The introduction explains the job of Official White House Photographer. The table of contents say as much as the photos and their captions about our 44th President:

Be Kind and Respectful
Work Hard
Make Time for Family
Show Compassion
Have Fun
Dream Big Dreams

Would that we all lived lives that could be outlined with those topics.

Poetry Friday -- My Heart Is So Full

Unsplash photo by Tim Marshall

My heart is so full. This Poetry Friday community is a wonder of the modern world. We've been at this (some of us) since 2006. That's more than 120 roundups, countless comments, and, recently, an upwelling of friendly challenges and exchanges.

Which brings me to the Winter Poem Swap, offered and organized by Tabatha (The Opposite of Indifference).

My heart is so full. There was much joy in digging into another's blog for inspiration, then creating a poem/gift combo that was just right for her.

And then I got my gift from Linda Mitchell (A Word Edgewise), and my heart ran over. Linda wrote not one, but FOUR poems all stemming from my November Poetry Friday post in which I "poemized" the words of Seth Godin. She took the theme of "maps" and ran with it, writing a response to that Seth Godin post, a found haiku from Ted Kooser's "Map of the World" (which was shared that same week by Little Willow), a ditty written at an AASL workshop, and, my favorite, an echo to Jane Yolen's "Always A Poem." Accompanying the poems was a hand-decorated map-themed clipboard that is going to school with me to remind me to keep the compass of my heart set to the True North of friendship, creativity, thoughtfulness, and joy that Linda's gift exemplifies.

An Always Poem

Again winter follows fall,
stick arms of trees wave
furiously, turning our clocks.

Again a freeze follows fall,
crystals bloom in weak light
leaving a mess of our map.

Again stillness follows fall,
we seek direction,
home at every compass point.

Again dark follows fall.
A chair, a fire, story warms
despite a season that strips bare.

Again follows
fall, a winter.


by Linda Mitchell, ©2017



Diane has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Random Noodling.

May 18 is still available on the Jan-June 2018 Roundup Schedule. Thanks to all who have taken a slot!

I'm only halfway through commenting on last week's roundup, but I vow to complete that round before beginning this week's! While we're on the subject of not keeping up, I am on track with #haikuforhealing on Twitter, but I still need to fancy up a week's worth over at Poetrepository.

On the subject of commenting: I've tried to figure out what's causing your comments to disappear. The best I can tell is that for some reason, our blog continues to load long after you arrive at the page and even though everything appears to have loaded. If you stop the loading, I think that will prevent the comment drops. I think. Those of you who have re-commented multiple times, thanks for persevering.

Poetry Friday -- Pomegranates

This is one of my favorite #haikuforhealing for the week, and I thought it would make a perfect visual for our Tumblr Roundup Host, Lisa at Steps and Staircases. Don't be afraid to submit your link. It's really easy! Click on "SUBMIT" at the top of the post and you'll get what looks like a comment form. Give it a title, put in your name and email. Drop your link in the box. It's moderated, so Lisa will harvest out your link and add you to the roundup. You can't mess up! Go for it!


The Roundup Schedule for January - June 2018 is nearly complete. Would you like to snag THE LAST slot? May 18 is still available!!