Award & Book Lists for my Reading Log

Last week, I shared my new reading log and the printable pages I'm using to track my reading in 2018. I really enjoy sitting down with paper and pen to do this, so I'm quite happy with how it's working out so far. I still log some basics on my Goodreads account, but there's a lot more I can keep track of this way without spending extra time on my phone or computer -- so that's a win for me.

I already covered my book budget, book clubs, reading challenges, and tracking categories (book type, source, format, recommendations, etc.) in that last post, so today I just want to focus on my final two sections. I've made one section for awards lists and another for recommendation and "best of" lists that have caught my eye. I had a ton of links cluttering up my browser's bookmark folders -- and let's be honest, I hardly ever looked at them! So I did a big clean out, deleted a whole bunch, and just printed the ones I'm most interested in. 

Each person will have their own taste in book lists and awards, but below are a few of the ones I put in my binder if you want to check any of them out. Whatever type of list you like, I highly recommend printing them out if you are able. I think it's much more likely we will read more from these lists if we can actually see them, refer to them, and mark them up than to have them hidden away in a digital folder -- or maybe that's just me :)

Recommendation Lists:

Gretchin Rubin's 81 Favorite Children’s & Young-Adult Books (PDF available)

Scholastic Parent & Child 100 Greatest Books for Kids (PDF available)

Read-Aloud Revival's Booklists
(free registration to access PDF lists of lots of great categories!)

NPR's Top 100 Teen Books 

NPR's 100 Must-Reads For Kids 9-14

Brightly's Best 50 for 11- and 12-Year-Olds

Brightly's Best 50 for 9- and 10-Year-Olds
Brightly's Best 50 for 7- and 8-Year-Olds
Brightly's Best 50 for 5- and 6-Year-Olds

NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Verse Novels Lists

Award Lists:
Note: Most award links are to Wikipedia since they're the most streamlined for printing purposes

E.B. White Read Aloud Award + 2017 winners

National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
(full-length novels by female authors, written in English, & published in the UK)

Jane Addams Children's Book Award
(children's books advance the causes of peace and social equality)

The 2018 winners for the following ALA awards will be announced soon, so I'm holding off on printing them for now!

Michael L. Printz Award
(YA book of literary merit)

Odyssey Award
(children's & YA audiobooks)

Alex Award
(adult books with appeal to YA audience)

Coretta Scott King Award
(outstanding African American authors & illustrators; books about the African-American experience)

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Do you have any favorite awards or recommendations lists? Please share in the comments! I just might need to add a few more pages :)

A Poem for Every Night of the Year

I can hardly believe it, but I actually finished this doorstop of a poetry collection I started last January!

I was really terrible about keeping up with it daily and often would play catch-up a few weeks at a time. At least once, I had more than a month of poems backlogged! And while I'm glad I did finish the whole thing and I enjoyed a majority of the poems, it definitely was not the ideal reading experience the way I did it. By not sticking to one poem each day, I often found myself reading too hurriedly, impatient to catch-up to the current date. I'm sure I would have understood some of the poems much better if I took the time for multiple readings -- and while I did sometimes re-read, other times I just moved on. I was more likely to re-read poems that really resonated with me, but others that didn't strike me right away or that I had trouble following I didn't always give a second chance to sink in.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and (parts of) Slow Reading in a Hurried Age have inspired me to slow down and savor my reading more. For someone who is a fairly slow reader of novels, it's ironic that I have a tendency to speed through poetry and other shorter works -- the very pieces that generally benefit from more time, attention, and contemplation. But lucky for me, I can try again in 2018 with this lovely new companion collection :)

I know life happens and the likelihood of never falling behind is slim, but I'm going to make sure this volume stays on my nightstand this year. I had gotten into the unfortunate habit of catching up, getting a few days ahead, and then sticking the volume back on the shelf -- where I promptly forgot about it until I was behind again! So in 2018, I'm going to make a sincere effort at a establishing a daily(-ish) poetry habit. I'm not going to beat myself up if I miss a few days, but hopefully I won't get a month behind this time around!

P.S. I wasn't planning on reading through the "Every Night" collection again in 2018, but picked it back up around January 3rd -- I shall have to see if I stick with both or revert to just the new collection -- either way is OK by me :)

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Have you ever tried to keep up with any kind of specified daily reading? Do you have any tips or tricks? I'd love to know!

Review: Slow Reading in a Hurried Age

Slow Reading in a Hurried Age, by David Mikics
Date: October 2013
Format: Hardcover
How did I get this book? Borrowed from the Library
Goodreads | Publisher

I don't write many book review posts these days, so it's a bit ironic that I'm reviewing a title I didn't even finish! I didn't finish it on purpose though and when I started writing this up on Goodreads, I got a lot more long-winded than I expected. So here we are.

The idea of slow reading appeals to me -- partially because I am a slow reader by default and always have been. The idea of speeding up the "movie in my head" has really not ever appealed to me, despite the fact that I would be able to read more books in the same amount of time if I did. So I guess when I spotted this title, I was really just curious about the benefits of slow reading since I felt like it was something I was already doing. In truth, Mikics' "slow reading" means much more than just a literal slow pace and it was interesting to see what "rules" he has come up with. He very clearly states these are really only guidelines and that he has no intention of ruining the reading experience with mandates -- he feels the "rules" should help readers enjoy books more, not less, and that each reader should only take what he or she can use -- which I feel is important to point out because I have seen other reviews criticize the very idea of reading "rules."

All that said, I really enjoyed and got a lot out of the Introduction, The Problem, and The Answer chapters. After that I skimmed and skipped (which is rather the opposite of what the author is advocating!) because the examples were mostly classics I have not read. I was honestly not interested in another person's analysis of books based on the advice given, just the advice itself. I think a lot of the ideas here can apply to any kind of book, it was just way beyond me to have so many points of reference I was unfamiliar with. At some point, I'd like to discover some of the books discussed for myself rather than read Mikics' analysis of various snippets.

I think the strongest part of this book was the discussion in those first few chapters of reading in the digital age. I don't want to be alarmist, over-dramatic, or demonize technology, but I could completely relate to many of the descriptions of distraction and discontent related to too much screen time. It is making me rethink my relationship with screens and validating the feeling that I really need a break from it all sometimes -- and that break is well spent if I take the time to read instead.

I'm glad I borrowed this from the library instead of purchasing it because the book as a whole didn't work for me. But I'm very glad for the parts that did resonate with me and I copied a TON of quotes into my reading journal. Those first chapters are definitely worth a read if slow reading appeals to you in any way -- or if the distractions of technology are leaving you feeling a little frazzled or sapping your concentration. But if you'd like to take a peek at the "Rules," check out this Huffington Post article which abbreviates those 130 pages very nicely.

Reading Journal #1 Complete!

It's been almost two years since I first mentioned starting a journal of quotations from books I read and I've finally filled it up!

Scribble courtesy of a certain small someone :)

Last pages -- it's full!

To the best of my memory, I had only started using this first book journal a few months (at most) prior to that blog post in January 2016. In the beginning, I only used it sparingly. I wasn't very consistent about marking passages as I read or copying them over after finishing a book. Even though I wanted to record memorable quotes, I wasn't in the habit of doing it, so it didn't always happen. I would be reading as usual and then something would really stand out and I would remember: "Oh yea, that's the kind of thing I want to record in my journal!" And then I would immediately get this feeling that I had surely missed other lines I should have recorded from my recent reading. I didn't want to turn my reading into homework, but I just knew this was a record I would love to have and look back on in years to come, if only I could figure out a good way to do it.

So this is pretty much how it went -- in fits and starts -- until quite recently. I had tried various things including marking down page numbers on a note pad (digital and paper) and snapping a photo of a page on my phone to return to later. Theoretically these methods should have worked just fine, but I still had a hard time following through. I also went through a big audiobook phase and while I love that format, it's not well suited to noting and marking quotes. Sure, it can be done, but it's certainly more complicated without a printed text in front of me and audio bookmarking proved to be a real pain for this purpose.

Book darts!

But over the last few months I finally started using my journal more consistently and the vast majority of this first one is filled with quotes from 2017 (which isn't even over yet!) And during the past two months I really hit my stride thanks to book darts -- which I have Modern Mrs. Darcy and the Read Aloud Revival to thank for. Book darts are exactly what I didn't know I needed to make this whole reading journal thing a success. They are easy to use, don't interfere with or interrupt my reading experience, and make it super simple to return to marked passages later on. Book darts are sort of like fancy paperclips that don't damage my pages and allow me to bookmark a specific line so I don't have to go scanning and searching for what exactly I wanted to remember on a particular page. They're great! If you have any desire to keep a reading journal, I can't recommend book darts highly enough.

The secret to successful book dart use -- thank you RAR!

Since I have a toddler, I was a little worried about having tins of small metal bits around the house. But one final tip from Sarah Mackenzie in her recent masterclass solved that problem too -- putting a bunch of book darts on my book's title page before I start reading. Eureka! Now I don't have to tote the tin from room to room, it's not just sitting around waiting for my toddler to crack open, AND it's easier than ever to grab a dart when I come across a line I want to mark. Now, I don't delude myself into thinking my son couldn't figure out how to pull them off the pages if he really wanted to, but they are a lot less enticing while attached to the pages of a closed book than sitting in a tin that makes a really cool noise when you shake it.

I used so many book darts in this one!

I don't want to overthink this whole process as I am reading, so I often mark more passages than I actually end up using. But that is the beauty of it -- when I am done reading, I can simply go through dart by dart and decide what I really want to remember from that particular book. If I decide not to copy a particular quote, I just remove the book dart and move on. And what I like best now that I have a "system" in place is that I have built in some time to reflect on and think about what I have read as I decide what I most want to remember and what has really resonated with me. Of course, I always want to dive into a new book, but this new little ritual has helped me slow down just a bit which is definitely a good thing for me.

New journal!

So, now I'm onto a brand spanking new book journal which is so exciting to me! It's kind of like that new-school-supplies-in September feeling when I was a kid (or was that just me?) Now that I've been doing this a while, I've figured out what works best and am making some minimal changes for this second journal. This time around I'm including page numbers and creating a heading for each book instead of noting title and author after every single quote -- which can get really tedious if I have a lot of quotes from a single book.

Slightly new format!

I never imagined I would need more than the 50 darts that come in the cute What Should I Read Next? tin, but I often have a couple different books going at the same time and I used nearly all 50 when I read The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction! So I figured it would be nice to have an extra and ordered a tin of 125 on Amazon. The Modern Mrs Darcy ones are adorable, but the Amazon tin was definitely more economical. And truthfully, if I had bought a tin with 125 the first time, I probably wouldn't have bothered with a second!

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Have you ever kept a book/reading/quote journal of any kind? Have you tried book darts? Do you have any other tips or tricks? I'd love to know!

The Stories We Shared: A Family Book Journal (Review + How I'm Using It)

I got a peek at this family reading journal while watching a free master class by Sarah Mackenzie of the Read-Aloud Revival. It was only mentioned briefly because endorsing a specific product was not the point of the class at all -- a commenter brought it up, so Sarah held hers up to show viewers what it looked like. Boy, am I glad I caught that brief glimpse! This is basically the family reading journal for my son I never knew I needed. So I bought four. (Yes, really!) One is for us, two were gifts for the kids of friends from book club, and the last one is still TBD. It's definitely going to become a future go-to gift for anyone I know who likes to read aloud. There is also a distinct possibility I'm going to fill ours in sooner rather than later -- even with room for nearly 400 entries! -- and move onto a second one.

So what's in this thing and why is it so great?

109 pages for Journal Entries

Most pages have 4 entries, with some drawings and quotes interspersed to reduce some pages to 3 entries. Each entry has a line for title, author, illustrator, # of pages, date finished, who shared the story, star rating, and an empty spot for notes, doodles, etc.

A Feature Lists section to record...

New Words We Like! (86 entries)

Our Favorite Quotes (71 entries)

Most Memorable Characters (51 entries)

Most Surprising Story Twists (38 entries)

Books That Made Us Laugh (41 entries)

Books That Made Us Cry (41 entries)

Books That Changed Us (37 entries)

Our Very Favorite Books! (38 entries)

10 Adventure Quests to complete

Each of these include a Quest, a Sub-Quest, and an Arch-Adventurer Quest depending on how challenging or in-depth you would like to go with each topic. A few of them also have an additional Bonus Quest.

World Explorers

Time Travelers

Genre Hoppers

The Serial Bookworm

The Literary Zookeeper

High Adventure

Myths & Legends

Brainstormers

Newbery Quest

Caldecott Quest

You guys, this thing is gorgeous and if you have any desire to keep a reading record for your family, I can't think of anything more perfect. 

Even though it has a very specific set up, there were still quite a few decisions for me to make regarding how exactly I want to use this journal. First of all, since I discovered it when my son was nearly two and a half (and it's only been published since November 2016 anyway), the biggest question has been how to handle all those books from the last 2.5 years. Thanks to Goodreads, I do have a record of them all (barring any accidental omissions), but there were just way too many. So I decided I would only record books I loosely call "favorites" -- basically anything that's been on repeat that my son, myself, my husband, or any combination of us has really loved. So basically that eliminated: 1. books we read but didn't keep because none of us loved them, 2. books we read only once or twice and returned to the library, and 3. books still in our collection that have not yet stood the test of time or that the jury is still out on because they're still too advanced, out of season, etc.

I also made the decision to print out book covers to paste onto the entry squares. I know this is going to add bulk to the journal and the more we use it, the more it will start bulging with the extra thickness they add, but at least for the picture books, I really wanted to include that visual element. The artwork is such a vital part of picture books, I wanted some representation of it in our journal. Also, at this point, I don't have a whole lot of notes for most of these books. I've placed the covers in such a way that I still have a little room to write and have only just started adding in a few notations. I've been working in stages and this has been a really fun project, even if I'm a little impatient to have it all caught up to our current reading!

For the time being, I decided to leave the "story shared by" line blank. I know my son and I have shared every single one of these books. My husband has also read the vast majority of them aloud or has been in the room with us when I read them aloud at bedtime. A lot of them have also been read with his grandparents and various other relatives. I don't want to box us in by trying to figure out who did or didn't share a particular picture book one of the many, many times it has been read aloud. Someday when we move on to novels that won't get re-read a zillion times, I will definitely use this line. I feel much the same about the "date finished" line -- I also decided to leave that blank because picture books are never really finished if we keep reading them over and over again!

I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do about the Quests and Feature Lists. On the one hand, if I start them now, they would really be more for me than for my son. I think these sections will really shine once he is old enough to listen to chapter books and novels, have more input and opinions about the books we read, and can help find the various books needed to complete the quests. On the other hand, since I'm fairly certain I'm going to be filling in more than one of these journals, I still may go ahead and start working on them with books from these early years anyway.

So, have I convinced you yet? This journal is awesome, really. If you need a Christmas, holiday, birthday, or baby shower gift (any kind of gift really!) for a bookish friend or family, I can't recommend it highly enough!

Goodreads
Amazon

The Rabbit Room
(I got our first on Amazon, then ordered the others through my local indie)

Podcast Love: Read-Aloud Revival

Hi everyone! If you have kids in your life, I am recommending a favorite podcast today I hope you will check out, the Read-Aloud Revival. The show is all about "building a family culture around books" and "making meaningful and lasting connections with kids through books." The show focuses on stories, reading, and literacy with a special focus on the value of reading aloud with older kids who have already learned to read to themselves. The host Sarah Mackenzie talks a lot about how it's second nature to a lot of parents to read to little kids, but that practice tends to fall off once those little kids can read on their own. My toddler clearly still falls into the "little kid" category, but I still find this podcast very inspiring and it is downright dangerous for my own TBR with all the awesome middle grade titles that get recommended.

For the current season (#11), it has become a more frequent weekly show rather than biweekly as it was in the past. And let me tell you, those "extra" mini-episodes that have been airing in between longer interview episodes are some of my absolute favorites and I've listened to all of them more than once. I also think they give a really good idea of what the show is all about without a huge time commitment which is what inspired this post! If you like any of these, I think you'll find the Read-Aloud Revival a worthwhile addition to your podcast listening.

RAR #66: Do Audio Books Count as Read-Alouds?
RAR #70: How to Find Time to Read as a Busy Mom

RAR #72: How to Save a Bad Day

RAR # 74: One thing you won’t regret ← my #1, if I had to choose!

RAR #76: How to make reading aloud the best part of the day

And here are 7 of my favorite full-length episodes if you'd like to check out the archives and don't know where to start!

RAR #12: The Reading Promise

RAR #43: Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham ← I want to read his books!

RAR #49: Why We Should All Be Reading Aloud to Children

RAR Bonus Episode: The Most Important Part of Teaching Kids to Read

RAR #53: Can a Children’s Book Change the World? Linda Sue Park

RAR #56: What’s at Stake and Why Stories Matter, Jonathan Auxier

RAR Bonus Episode: Some of the Best Books by Living Authors ← ← TBR beware!

One thing worth noting, especially if you do a deep dive into the podcast archives, is that Sarah and many of her guests are homeschoolers. There is a ton of great information and inspiration even if you don't homeschool, I just think it's good to be aware that some of the advice and discussion comes from that perspective. Also, I really hate to admit this, but I personally am not a huge fan of the short final segment of each episode where kids call in to recommend a favorite book -- I feel like a horrible parent for admitting this, but I usually skip those!

Reading by Award List

Reader friends, I have a question for you today. Have you ever finished a really great book, realized it was the recipient of an award, and then felt the sudden desire to go read ALL THE BOOKS that have ever won that award? Most recently this happened when I read and loved A Northern Light which was my pick for our August book club meeting and it has won: a Printz Honor, a Carnegie Medal, and a Young Adult Literature Los Angeles Times Book Prize as well as several other lesser known awards. I must admit, it took a good bit of willpower to not promptly dump a truckload of new titles onto my TBR from the archives of those prizes.

So now I have a second question for you. Has anyone ever actually read (or attempted to read) through a prize list?! I am currently making my way through the Caldecott Medal and Honor books, and let me tell you, it is taking a LOT longer than I thought it would considering these are *just* picture books (with the odd graphic novel and longer illustrated work thrown in). The Caldecott stretches back to 1938, so we are talking a rather large quantity of books, even if the page count for each is relatively low.

First, I started with all the featured titles in Reading the Art in Caldecott Award Books. Then, I made a point of finding winning titles based on season and holidays throughout the year, as well as reading some of the newer winners once they were announced. For many months now, I've been browsing through the library stacks and tucking any books with a shiny Caldecott medal into my checkout pile whenever I spot them. And while it feels like I've read a TON of Caldecott books, there are still so many more remaining to be read! It is getting harder to locate those remaining ones, so I'm making a point to consult the master list and seek out (or place on hold) books that will fill in the gaps. As tempted as I am to try reading from other lists, I can hardly imagine doing this with novels -- especially with a well-established award. Still, one can dream, right?

Some other lists I have considered reading through:

CHILDREN

Newbery Medal/Honors

Most distinguished contribution to American literature for children (ALSC)

E.B. White Read Aloud Award

Picture books and books for older readers excellent for reading aloud (The Association of Booksellers for Children)

Charlotte Zolotow Award

Outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States (Cooperative Children's Book Center)

Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA)

4th, 5th, & 6th graders vote for their favorite books (found this one thanks to Top Shelf Text!)

Jane Addams Children's Book Award

Children's books of literary and aesthetic excellence that effectively engage children in thinking about peace, social justice, global community, and equity for all people.

Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Poetry for Children

Honors an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of children's poetry (Pennsylvania Center for the Book)

NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children

Honors a living poet + curates lists of notable poetry books and verse novels

YOUNG ADULT

Alex Award

Books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults (YALSA)

Odyssey Award

Best audiobooks for children/young adults (YALSA)

Printz Award

Literary excellence in young adult literature (YALSA)

ADULT

Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction

Celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing in fiction written by women. Previously  named the Orange Prize for Fiction

There is certainly no dearth of award-winning books if you go looking for them! I am well aware a more rational approach is to use these lists as inspiration rather than a checklist, but don't we always want to read ALL THE BOOKS? Yes, yes we do.

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Are there any other book awards you like to keep tabs on? Have you ever read from an award list yourself? Do you have a favorite award-winning title? Or a title you don't think deserved an award? I'd love to hear about it!

Building a Library or Losing My Mind?

So. I went to another community garage sale at a local church the weekend before last. And I also took a nice long walk through a neighborhood yard sale. The deals were great -- $0.50-$1 per book (and one that was even free!) The church sale had an even better deal -- fill a bag for $5. Did I fill a bag? Of course, I filled a bag. I was there towards the end and even though the books were likely pretty well picked over, I still found some great stuff. And since my bag wasn't quite full, I even threw in a few extras we already had because I know a local literacy organization those titles would be perfect to donate to. I can't say for sure that any leftovers from the sale would end up in a dumpster or recycling bin (hopefully not!) but I didn't want to leave those few behind knowing I could pass them on somewhere they will be used and appreciated.

As fun as it was to go treasure hunting and find great titles to add to our home library, I do sometimes wonder if I've gone overboard with the whole thing. My philosophy has always been that a book never has to be wasted. If I change my mind or decide I don't want to keep something, there are so many places to pass books onto. A large percentage of my books are bought used, as overstock, and/or inexpensively. My biggest book splurges are when I buy at my local indie bookstore, but I very much like supporting a local business I want to stick around for years to come, so I call it money well spent. And I love lending out books to friends and family -- so I always like to think they are not just for me, even if they are mostly for me (and my son). I'd like to think that someday I'll be that mom who'll recommend/lend books to my kid's friends. If my kid won't take my suggestions by then, I hope there will be another trusted mom (or dad!) he will take recommendations from. Because, you know, it's cooler when it's not your mom (or so Anne Bogel tells me!)

But I'm out of shelf space. Again.

I did a pretty big culling a while back and it felt great to have space on my shelves again. But I only went on to fill that space with books that are a better fit for my family right now and in the foreseeable future -- namely, picture books, children's novels, and middle grade. And they're awesome! But I enjoy and connect with so many book/reading/literacy blogs, sites, and podcasts -- that I get all jazzed up about new-to-me titles on a regular basis. The excitement of the teachers, educators, and parents who run these things is truly infectious. This is absolutely a good thing, but I do sometimes wonder if I've gone overboard. I know that when I'm tired and can't concentrate very well, a browse at a bookstore or on Book Outlet's website is such a fun thing to do. It certainly takes less brain power than, you know, actually reading. I stock up on all those great books I've been hearing about, but then realize I've potentially squandered some of the time I could have spent reading them.

So what's a bookworm to do? Reading and literacy are so very important, so I know the answer is not to quit listening to inspiring podcasts or to cut back on reading time (the horror!). But for now, I'm trying to use my limited options approach to help guide me -- if it's not a book I want to add to that small stack, I'm trying to pass on the purchase. The community garage sales ($5 a bag!) throw a bit of a monkey wrench in that plan, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to feel guilty about used books -- whether they are fill-a-bag-cheap, or even more typically priced at a used bookstore. But I do know that I need to spend less time overall browsing, researching, and shopping -- both online and offline. In fact, this was one of my 2017 Bookish Goals and I think now is a good time to recommit to that. In fact, with almost five months left in the year, I think I should re-evaluate and check-in on all those goals (post soon!).

So, to make a long story short: Read more, browse/shop less. It's not really that hard, right?

Random New Books

Over the past few months, I've added a few completely random books to my shelves. These are books that were never on my radar prior to taking them home. Quite a few of them, I'm not even sure if I want to read. I know that sounds really strange, but bear with me, I shall explain! Given this odd state of affairs, I thought I would share these random finds to see if anyone has any thoughts or opinions on them.

Used bookstore freebies!

In the fantastic kids section of our local used bookstore.
He sat like this for 20+ minutes while Mommy browsed :):)
And yes, we bought that book!

For every $20 you spend at my local used bookstore, you get to pick a free book from a specific shelf near the register. I'm not one to pass up a free book, but it's not often I spot something there I was already interested in reading. I'm often browsing this hodgepodge shelf with one eye (and hand) on my climbing toddler and making sure he pets the bookshop dog gently. Or at least that's what happened the last time we went! (And thank goodness the owner likes kids!)

Blue Willow, by Doris Gates 

I had never heard of this author or title before and this old, tattered copy definitely didn't catch my eye at first glance. But then I spotted "A Newbery Honor Book" on the cover and knew it was going to be one of my picks!

Trouble River, by Betsy Byars

Betsy Byars is a Newbery author and I heard Gretchen Rubin recommend her books on a Kidlit For Adults episode of the What Should I Read Next? podcast (FANTASTIC episode that was part of a 5-day mini-series dedicated to KidLit; episodes #49-53, FYI.)

Anastasia Has the Answers, by Lois Lowry

I knew nothing about this book, but it's by Lois Lowry, so it was my freebie pick a few months ago. And it turns out it is part of a series Anne Bogel and Sarah Mackenzie talked about on their WSIRN KidLit episode that kicked off that 5-day mini-series.

They Sent Me The Wrong Book!

The Dunderhead War, by Betty Baker

This one is super random because it landed in my mailbox as the result of an ISBN mix-up when I ordered a different used kids book. The seller refunded my money and told me to keep it, but I really have no idea if I want to read it or not! I haven't even found a good description of it because the summary on Goodreads is for that other book I thought I was buying. So odd!

Community Garage Sale Finds

During the spring, I went to two different community garage sales run by local schools as fundraisers. I really wanted to pick up some clothes and things for little man (which I did), but you don't think I passed by the books without looking do you? Since they were run by schools, most of the items donated for sale were from families and sure enough there were some gems to be found. I figure this is because lots of kids (and parents) clear out books they've outgrown or books they read for class and don't want to keep. So there were lots of Newberys and classic authors which are right up my alley these days! They were all selling for $0.50 - $2 each at most, so I brought home quite a few.

Catwings, by Ursula K. LeGuin

I read The Wizard of Earthsea for a Sci-Fi and Fantasy Lit course in college, but I had no idea LeGuin also wrote a chapter book series. I was intrigued!

The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame & illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard

I know Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows and Shepard illustrated the Winnie the Pooh books, but I had never heard of this collaboration before. Again, intrigued!

To Be a Friend: Sayings and Verses Celebrating the Beauty of Friendship

This is really pretty Hallmark gift book that caught my eye. I was amazed to open it and realize it was printed in 1967!

Jack and Jill, by Louisa May Alcott

Obviously, I know of Alcott, but I had never even heard of this title previously. The actual book cover (shown in the photo) is so much prettier than the dust jacket, which I thought was unusual for an older book (but correct me if I'm wrong!)

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The rest of the books I found at the used bookstore and community garage sales recently were not so random and I will share those in another post soon. Since I want to read more from my own shelves (as always!) as I move forward with my limited choices TBR approach, I thought it would be fun to share some of the books I have to pick from. And the results of these little treasure hunts always seem more interesting to me than plunking a book in my Amazon cart (not that I don't do that too!)

Have you come across any random bookish finds lately? Please share in the comments!

The appeal of limited choices... and the irony of my overflowing bookshelves

Last week I was away on my family's annual summer beach vacation to Ocean City, NJ. It's not as well-known as Ocean City, MD, but it holds a special place in my heart. I was there for my first birthday (not that I remember it!) and in my (almost) 32 years, I think I've only completely missed the trip one summer. To be honest, there's nothing fancy or even terribly unique about it, it's *just* a family-friendly beach town far enough from home to be a getaway, but not so far that the drive is miserable. And while it may not particularly stand out compared to any number of other beach towns along the coast, I absolutely love it. For me, it really doesn't get much better than sitting by the ocean with my feet in the sand and a book in my lap (and hiding under the umbrella, thank you very much). 

The beach photos aren't current, but it pretty much looks the same :)

My husband knew Ocean City is pretty much my favorite place on the planet which is why he chose to propose there (10 years ago!) And while I love lots of beach "activities" as my brother likes to call them, this year was all about the relaxation. Little man had lots of people to play with and look out for him, so mama got a much needed break (even if we were up at the crack o' dawn every morning.)

This is all basically a long-winded way of saying that I read a bunch of books last week! I had a bag packed with Newberys, novels-in-verse, a poetry collection, and a couple of really beautiful chapter books. I chose all of them from my own shelves and focused mostly on ones I'd excitedly acquired recently, but hadn't gotten around to reading yet. I did make a last minute stop at the library on our way out of town (literally) to pick up my hold for book #4 of The Naturals series, but that was the only library book I had with me. I was really looking forward to reading it after finishing book #3, so I couldn't resist diving into that one first on vacation. Despite it being a real page-turner, it did take up a big chunk of my vacation reading time. (And this means I actually FINISHED a whole series! You guys, that's kind of big for me. Anyone else feel me on this?)

But what I really want to talk about is what happened on the last few days of my vacation after I finished that library book. First, I picked up the two chapter books (My Happy Life and Princess Cora and the Crocodile knowing something light was just what I needed after a dark and twisty mystery. They were beautiful and delightful and I couldn't believe I hadn't read them sooner after buying them. Next, I picked up the poetry collection (recommended on Orange Marmalade!) and was treated to 21 gorgeously illustrated poems. I took my time with them and read many of them more than once -- and while they may not all be new favorites, I enjoyed the reading experience immensely.

Next up was Inside Out & Back Again, a Newbery Honor novel-in-verse inspired by the author's real life experience as a refugee during the Vietnam War. It was a beautiful and inspiring book full of both sadness and hope. Being able to read it straight through in a single afternoon without distractions was such a gift. Next up was a lighter middle grade anthology, Funny Girl which was a bit hit or miss for me, but do yourself a favor and read/listen to some Carmen Agra Deedy (like her Scholastic Reads podcast episode or TEDx Talk) -- she's such an amazing storyteller and her contribution was my favorite by far. Lastly, I picked up Newbery Medal winner Sarah, Plain and Tall. Admittedly, I chose it over others in my bag because it was so slim (and I didn't quite finish it while I was away), but it certainly qualified as a book I owned and had been meaning to read.

I ended my vacation thinking to myself: Reading from my own shelves is so great! They may have been short and easy, but I read almost six of my own books in three days! I can do this reading-from-my-own-shelves-thing! I'm going to keep this ball rolling when I get back home for sure!

And then I got home. And I saw the library stack(s).

Riiiiiight. That's why I always have so much trouble reading from my own shelves most of the time. Hmmm.

So I've been home almost a week now and I have read from those library stacks. I've ordered the Sarah, Plain and Tall sequels because I really want to read the rest of the series straight through. I've visited the library, but (so far) only borrowed picture books. I've visited both of my local bookstores (looking for the Sarah, Plain and Tall sequels, which they didn't have, but you don't think I left empty-handed now do you?) I have not picked up any more books from my own shelves (yet). But I have been thinking it all over and trying to figure out how to better balance my reading. And I think it all comes down to the appeal of limited choices. It was so easy to read from my own shelves on vacation because I had one bag of books to choose from. Simple as that.

Continuing with that logic, you'd think the public library with its thousands upon thousands of titles would leave me with too many choices, but once I take a stack home... I once again have limited choices. It's easy to read from my library stack partly because due dates help me prioritize, but also because I'm picking from only a handful of titles -- far fewer than when I take a peek at my own overflowing bookshelves and don't know where to start.

So where does this leave me? It's pretty embarrassing to admit I have so many books it's hard to decide what to read next. It's pretty embarrassing to admit that having so many books hasn't stopped me from getting more when I hear great recommendations on podcasts or blogs or find a great deal or go down a rabbit hole with a new-to-me author/series/topic/award. It's pretty embarrassing to admit how many books I get (mostly children's) with the intention of building a home library for our family, even though so many are far above my son's level and I can't possibly keep up with them all myself. BUT I think I do have a solution.

Book buying bans don't work.

Library bans don't work.

Making reading into a chore or a job or a thing to check off a to-do list doesn't work.

But what does work? Filling a bag with books (mostly) from my own shelves that I'm really excited about and letting those be my "short-list" when it's time to pick my next read. I can't be on vacation all the time, but just maybe I can approach my reading as if I were packed for vacation all the time. I think it's worth a shot!

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P.S. I love Jade's idea for seasonal reading lists and it strikes me as sort of a variation of what I'm trying to do here.

P.P.S. Can I go back to the beach now? Pretty please?