Missing the Mocks

This is the first time in a quite a few years that I've neither hosted a Mock Newbery at school nor helped out with one at the public library.

I've been consumed by my committee reading, and not in a bad way.

Just in a way that I've invested in a lot of adult audio books.

So, I feel weird moving into what would be the month of power reading before our first official voting round. Here we would pick our top books and then release the list, assign students to champion some books, and make sure we've read all the books put forth so that we can discuss and discuss in January. SIGH!

Bright side: Beyond my second round CYBILS duties, I don't have any official committee work next year! This may mean a return to NerdPrintz, Batty About Books, the Mock Printz Goodreads Group, and other bookish things! HOORAY!

Monster by Walter Dean Myers - Nerdprintz

For some odd reason, I kept putting off reading this one. Even though I started the Nerdprintz Challenge, I wasn't doing the reading. Basically because the older books looked so boring. And, with the exception of Sunrise over Fallujah, I'm really not a WDM fan.This year though I got a request to do some specific book talks and this was one of several books the teacher wanted me to talk about.  I reluctantly took it home and was pleasantly surprised.

We open with a few pages from Steve Harmon's notebook. He's in jail awaiting trial on robbery and murder charges.  He talks about how scary jail is and how he's going to document his time by writing a screenplay - something he did in classes he took in high school. The book then alternates between Steve's journal and this movie of the trial. 

Monster is interesting because Steve is an unreliable narrator. His journal entries don't quite line up with the flashbacks that he put in the movie. In the end, you are unsure of what should happen to him.

It's a good book for students who don't like to read because the format makes it easy to read. The subject matter is also interesting as you get sort of an inside look at a trial as well as an idea of life on the streets.

I'd recommend it to 8th grade students, boys and girls, but especially those who aren't particularly fond of reading.

The Sunday Salon - 2012 Wrap Up

It's been an unusually "challenging" year for me both professionally and personally. I tell you, this is the first year I’ve actually FELT like I was getting old! No worries, though, I will overcome! In the meantime, here are some wonderful things I enjoyed this past year and some activities I look forward to in 2013!

Summer Throwdown
Joining forces with Sherry (@LibraryFanatic), Jillian (@heisereads), and Bryan (@brianwyzlic) to put on a month-long reading challenge between Teachers and School Librarians was phenomenal! We had over 150 participants who read almost 3,000 books! We had our own hashtags AND our very own T-Shirts! And don't forget the blog buttons! Oh, and it was super fantastic when the League of Librarians won that first round!







Batty About Books

This was another big reading highlight for me! Maria (@mselke01) and I would choose a science fiction or fantasy book to read and discuss almost monthly. We did most of our discussion through Google docs then posted them on our blogs. We each had a different part of the story since my posts consisted of my thoughts and her reactions while hers were the opposite. The fun grew out of just responding to each book in whatever way the book moved us.  We'll be guest posting over at the Nerdy Book Club blog to talk more about this! I'm hoping we can continue reading together in 2013!




Reading Challenges

Weirdly, the only challenge I completely failed at was my own #NerdPrintz one! I look forward to picking up the mantle again this year! Realistically, due to committees and other club reading I've already committed to, I'll have to spread this out. But, look forward to some write-ups of at least 1/3 of the titles.










Blog Redesign

I'm still getting used to it but Lori at Imagination Design re-did the blog. It's a total departure from designs I've had in the past. It's even a departure from what I originally thought I wanted! Lori stuck it out with me as I fumbled through the process and always responded quickly, despite the looming holidays! I've got a few new features I had her create buttons for and can't wait to share them!

PS: If you previously branded yourself - don't forget to update your favicon, gravatar and profile pics.







I look forward to lots of exciting reads and reading activities next year! I’ll be assisting with a Battle of the Book team, overseeing our 3rd Annual One Book, One School read complete with AUTHOR VISIT, and possibly creating my very own multi-school Mock Newbery book club!!! So, just keep calm, things will work out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The Sunday Salon - Printz of the Past Challenge

A few days ago I came up with my own personal challenge: I was going to read all the American Library Association Michael J. Printz Award and Honor books. That I haven't already read.  @LeaKelley mentioned that she wanted to do an #nerdprintz challenge and I told her what I committed to, bada bing bada bam - this post was born!

We were inspired by @MrSchuReads and @Colbysharp who have committed to read all the Newbery Award Winners from 1922 - present!

Since this is personal - I get to make up the rules! And so do you! Just wanna read the award winners? Do it! Just wanna read the honor books? Do it! Want to read from present to past? Do it! Take two years, 3 years, 4 YEARS??? DO IT!

Make this challenge one you can live with! We'll be tweeting about the challenge using the hashtag #nerdprintz and I'll be posting my thoughts as I read each book - wondering why THIS book won and award or honor and can I predict the next winner????

If you are interested in joining - please sign up below!!

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I Challenge Thee, er, Me 2012

from art.com

It's that time of year. Challenge time.  How will I grow as reader and a reviewer? Each year, I attempt something new and usually abandon it about 1/4 of the way through.  Not.This.Year. I am going to do this. I have two official sign-up challenges and then some personal challenges I will be tackling this year.

The Classic Double Challenge
This challenge intrigues me because you pair contemporary fiction with classic fiction. Something that I think could lead more students into choosing and reading classics outside of the classroom. I'm going for the LARGE level - 3 pairs of books

The 2012 YA/MG Fantasy Challenge
I enjoy reading Fantasy and Science Fiction. I'm not sure what attracts me to these titles and I want to find out. This particular challenge will pair nicely with my own personal Cybils challenge listed below.  For the YA/MG Fantasy challenge, you need to read 10 YA/MG Fantasy books released in 2012.

Cybils 2011 YA/MG Nominated Fantasy/Science Fiction Challenge
This challenge definitely needs a shorter name! There were too many books on the Cybils F/SF nominations list that I had NOT read.  So, I am going to remedy that by trying to read 15 books off the YA list and 15 books off the MG list.  Some of these will be decided when they release the finalist list on January 1!

My Printz of the Past Challenge
I became interested in the ALA Printz award back in 2006 when I became a middle school librarian.  I've been into it pretty much nonstop. In 2010 I formed the Goodreads Mock Printz group. This started as a part of a book group I was hosting at work and has grown from there.  I've been trying to at least read the winners of the award but decided this year to challenge myself to read all the Printz Award/Honor books for the past 11 years.

2012 MG/YA/A Genre Challenge
Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, has a book requirement in her classes.  She challenges the students to read 40 books in a variety of genres, to stretch themselves, to become better readers.  I take up her challenge with #bookaday and want to participate in this one too. Although her exact numbers to read in each genre may change with her students, I'm going with the original one published in The Book Whisperer.

I also want to read a variety of adult books so, I'm adding a component for genre books written for adults. Hence, the "A" in the challenge title.

2012 Battle of the Kid's Book Reading Challenge
Every year School Library Journal hosts a Battle of the Kids' Books to find the best book of the previous year. They get celebrity judges, authors all, to read two  of 16 books and determine which will move on until only 1 is left. I discovered the challenge in 2010 and read 11 of the 16 books.  Last year I read 15.  My goal for 2012 is to read all 16 and try to pick the winner!

I'm creating a challenge page that will list a combination of books I want to read or have read for challenge.

Are you up to the challenge?  What are your reading goals for 2012?

UPDATE: Adding a Newbery Awards challenge that will cover three to four years! Check out Watch.Connect.Read for details! Totally "stress-free" #nerdbery challenge! Yay, Mr. Schu and Mr. Sharp!
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