I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t have visions, but I do have my friend and co-presenter Stacey, dozens of books read, and lists to forecast for the upcoming Youth Media Awards.
Last night I spent several hours with librarians, reading teachers, and other specialists talking about the Youth Media Awards and putting together predictions. It included a Kahoot to open, a break for dinner, then a K-12 discussion of books to put on our radars or preliminary thoughts of titles that have been read from the group. It was a good, bookish night that even after a day of work is uplifting and enriching.
We’ll follow up virtually in January to discuss the winners, honors, and losers.
Pulled from books read this month with one that hasn’t come out yet, how I think about the books in the context of Monday through Sunday.
Monday: Putting your best foot forward for the work week ahead on a Monday. Ann Lowe wanted to put her best foot forward the best dresses created by her hands every day. Only The Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe is a perfect Monday read to inspire you to tackle the week.
Tuesday: Well, did Monday run you or did you run Monday? It happens that the day doesn’t go well but instead of stewing in it for days on end, recognize it, put a rhyme to it, and move past it. Ode to a Bad Day helps you realize that it’s all temporary.
Wednesday: Hump day. Midweek. Squished, literally in the middle like Avery is squished in a family of seven kids without a room of her own. But you can be just as forceful but still sweet at she is to make it through.
Thursday: It’s the new Friday. It’s the comfort that tomorrow is Friday and you’ve made it through the week. The graphic novel adaptation of the original, the Fangirl volumes already released, one and two, are the adorably comfortable and vulnerable stories to keep you looking toward the weekend.
Friday: Friday Night Lights, synonymous with football. Greenwald hasn’t shied away from the dangers of football and in his newest, Dinged, he does it again. It’s entertainment and pride, but it’s also health and wellness. A good thought to keep in mind with the overindulgences of the weekend!
Saturday: The weekend is here and it’s all about fun and games like Jennifer Lynn Barnes skillfully does in the Hawthorne Legacy series ending with The Final Gambit. Winner does take all.
Sunday: When you need the umph to get fired up for the week, turn to characters like Perry in Warrior Girl Unearthed— she knows who she is and what she wants. Her sights are set on a way forward even if it means stepping into danger. But her internalized stickwithitness is a solid feeling to have that we can all make it!
Last week I posted about Of sleepless nights and grey hairs about our upcoming author visit. That even though we’ve been doing them for a decade, it’s still stressful each time. However, like childbirth, you forget the pain and realize that you’d be willing to do it all again. I was certainly frustrated in the days beforehand because our school is currently experiencing a spate of pulled fire alarms, the business office surprised me with additional paperwork that put the visit in jeopardy, and while advertisements were everywhere, students were still surprised when I talked to them about the visit. The Zits comic from about a week prior sums it up:
While some are expected, like the fact that most people wait until the last minute to do anything, so signs ups were fast and furious up until literally minutes before the events started, others were unpredictable. I had prepped Candace Fleming ahead of time of the possibility of a fire alarm and announced the protocols for students during the visit that when it did not actually happen, she was a little disappointed. But I’d rather lower my expectations and be pleasantly surprised than caught off guard.
Ultimately the three presentations went swimmingly. Not only were students fascinated by her topics and pictures and stories, they spent time afterward hanging around her to get their books signed, chat, and take selfies. With a small break after the first presentation, I organized a small lunch with a few female students under the umbrella of finishing Women’s History Month with our female author with female power players in our school (one from our literary magazine, one the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, and one that belonged to the Women’s Empowerment club). It came together with donations from community organizations and a little money from the school and prep work with teachers to engage the students in their classes, particularly from our science department and of course, true crime fans since Candace Fleming’s newest book is the YA Murder Among Friends about the infamous murder of a fourteen year old boy by two eighteen year olds, Leopold and Loeb.
But in the end, the impact of the visits for how few or how many students come is often unseen. I’ll use this example, serendipitously about a month ago, I received an email from a student who graduated ten years ago. He was writing to seek out the librarian to tell her about the impact an author visit at the school had on him because of the turmoil in his life that he was able to meet this author, was gifted a book to have signed by the author, and to share that the library in general was a safe place for him. He wanted to thank that librarian. To borrow a Taylor Swift line, “Hi, it’s me.” This email came a decade later.
Then, there might be the immediate results of the impact. My favorite image is one we shared on our social media after her last session wrapped up. These boys stayed after to have her sign their phone cases and take pictures and were beaming about the connection. It was unexpected. Yet, a joyous reminder that books and human connections are what we all need.
I’ll add, if you’re looking for a visit worth your while, consider Candace Fleming. Her range of picture books through YA meant that when I booked her, several other local librarians jumped on board. In three days, she went to one elementary school, one middle school, and our high school. And the majority of her work is nonfiction, which is what resonated with our students. As she said, she doesn’t have a person light a cigarette in her book, unless she knew it to be true in her research. As an obsessive reader of nonfiction, I love her attention to detail and the stories she chooses to share. She’s also a fabulous human being. We need more Candace Flemings in front of our kids sharing about curiosity and facts. She nor I will likely ever know, but I do hope one or two teens were impacted by her visit and the things she shared.
One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready and four to go.
I was thinking about this children’s rhyme when I was contemplating what type of reading goals I could set for myself for 2023. As a practice, I don’t make goals because there’s usually a committee, reviews, and general work around reading (even though it’s never really work) that I’ll always be reading anyway. And I read widely already. So I thought I would highlight each month a children’s book, a middle grade, a YA, and an adult that I read. Here’s January’s books via rhyme–
One for the money: An Immense World by Ed Yong
It made so many best lists for 2022 which is why I added it to my TBR for January and it did not disappoint. Yong, take all my money because as a lover of science titles, this one was lyrical, moving, and insightful for a general adult audience.
Two for the show: How You Grow Wings by Rimma Onoseta
Sisters who grow up disparately loved by their mother, the choices that are made ultimately separate then reunite them in a moving story that brings them full circle. Clever, clever book for young adults.
Three to make ready: Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Short story collections are one of my favorite categories to explore and each of these short stories featuring Indigenous characters can be mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. All of the stories drew from a wealth of experience, storytelling, and heart.
Four to go: The Sun is Late and So Is the Farmer by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin Stead
This children’s book includes a cast of animal main characters, including the four pictured on the cover wondering where the sun is and thus where the farmer is. The vibe of the cover art and title exactly matches the book itself.
Middle grade needs it’s own category this year because I spent an inordinate amount of time reading the excellent selections of middle grade titles this year. It was a banner year for sure. Today I celebrate middle grade and tomorrow I’ll round out my four posts with the best of young adult.
When I look back at this titles as graphic novels, verse, manga, fiction, and nonfiction, I can’t help but celebrate the range, depth, and breadth of creativity and sensitivity for an age of transition. I should know since I have two thirteen year old boys myself. The message of perseverance; the power of individuality; the adventure; the need to remember the past and explore the future– it’s all here in these titles. If you’ve missed any one of these, you MUST pick it up.
If there ever was a month to label as “mixed bag”, it would have to be October.
This is just a smattering of the books I read either in print, digitally, or audio and they range from a true crime audiobook of two women murdered in the Shenandoah National Park to the GOAT of horror manga, Juji Ito’s Uzumaki. Then there are middle grade fiction titles like Key Player by Kelly Yang and my continued obsession with Spy x Family. All told there were sixty-three books read for the month.
It was a result of several converging events, committees, and activities:
With a conference presentation a few weeks ago, at the beginning of the month I was trying to squeeze in some anticipated titles of 2023 while also reading a few 2022 titles to be ready to talk books.
Sitting on a “Best of” books selection committee for nonfiction so I had a few nonfiction titles that I didn’t know about to read to better argue which were the best!
A little countdown to Halloween on my Instagram, I read a spooky book a day for the last week that included the wacky spirals of Ito’s imagination to reliving the dramatic 1990 movie The Witches based on Roald Dahl’s The Witches which I had never read and decided to listen to the audiobook of today while traveling in the car. Plus I discovered the delightful Ghoulia.
And of course, fitting in the general love of certain series or titles that sit on my endless TBR that I pick up based on length, topic, and format.
November is my birthday month, so I’m planning a few personal reading challenges and organizing my own readathon. Any suggestions?
If you would have told me five years ago that I would be listening to audiobooks while running or that I’d be running a half marathon and I would have told you you were lying. But here I am, running while listening to an audiobook and training for a half marathon.
This past weekend, I ran the longest I’ve ever run (well let’s not kid here, there were long pauses of fast walking) and I finished Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time before sliding into Dina Nayeri’s The Ungrateful Refugee.
I can’t tell you why I made the switch from listening to music to listening to audiobooks but I can tell you that a good audiobook keeps me running farther than music might. I’ve had that distinct feeling twice: Christina Tosi’s Dessert Can Save the World and Liz Nugent’s Little Cruelties.
If you haven’t tried walking or running with an audiobook, try it!
This past week I saw a tweet that had been passed around in which the question was “how do you read so many books?” and the response was “I avoid all other responsibilities.” For as humorous as it is and how much I’d love for that to be true, everyone has responsibilities, so my waking hours aren’t spent solely on reading (however glorious that would be), but I do try to squeeze in every opportunity to read that I can.
Plus, it’s summer! Reading is basically a requirement which means there were a lot of fabulous books for July some of which I’ve already discussed this month in other posts and on my Instagram account. Which ones were the hottest for the hottest month of the year???
Salt Magic by Hope Larson
The Weirn Books, Vol. 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova
There will always be the diamonds in the rough, there will also be plenty of average books when you read a lot. So it feels special when in a weekend, you get a few five-star books.
This retelling of the Medusa myth was a book I read in one sitting. Partly because the storytelling was engrossing as was the bittersweet romance between Perseus and the isolated Medusa and the unique addition of illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill. Without giving too much away, Burton turns the myth around and encourages deep thought about the cruelty of the gods but also about our pasts.
This is Ogle’s third memoir, the first Free Lunch was groundbreaking, the second was equally heartbreaking and hopeful, and this third one is groundbreaking, heartbreaking, hopeful, and gut wrenching. As tweeted minutes after finishing the book, of the thousands of books I’ve read I can still only count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried while reading. This is one of them by the time I got to the last page in which Ogle’s command of verse and his lived experiences collide to express the deep gratitude he has for his abuela.
I will continue to think about the book long after I’ve finished it. And thank you go Ogle for being as open and forthright about his experiences for this audience.
How did I miss this superhero graphic novel when it came out several years ago? Either way, I’m glad I read it and everyone needs to get themselves a copy of the swapped bodies trope. Two very different girls end up in each other’s bodies and have to learn to collaborate in order to both 1) fix the current situation, and 2) attain their goals as superheroes.
The entertainment factor is high as is the colors and character sketches. Also a book I read voraciously in one sitting.
Readers Be Advised 