#MustReadIn2016, My Reading Life

        You can write a slice for the Two Writing Teachers community today. Join us now at the beginning of 2016. It's always good to read what everyone shares.  Thank you Stacey, Tara, Anna, Betsy, Dana, Kathleen, Beth, and Deb. 

Tweet at #SOL16

          Happy New Year. I hope if you've retuned to work that the week has started beautifully.  I'm posting two places today because a big slice of my whole life, even when some dear family member or another read to me before I could read, is reading. I spent many summers reading book after book, in the early years mostly checked out from a bookmobile. I read avidly through high school and college, early marriage, then added reading to my children. When I taught, I read to and with my students, and that has never stopped.

#MUSTREADIN2016

Carrie Gelson of There's A Book for That and Maria Selke of Maria's Melange started some of us down the path of giving love to all the books that came before, the ones we have on shelves, but still haven't read! There is a small group of us who began sharing lists titled #MustReadIn2014. You can view that list if you click on the title on the bar above. I've read 13 of the 26 I listed. Someday I may read them all, but maybe not. For whatever reason, I haven't taken the time for them. In my list for 2015, hashtag #mustreadin2015 (see above also) I read 10 of 21!  I have moved a few of the books from previous lists to this one!

Thanks for the nudge to carry on, Carrie!

            These are not all the books I'll read this year. I'll also read picture books, new middle and YA books, and ones for adults too. I want to read more books by diverse authors, too. But these are books I don't want to sit too much longer on the shelf! Perhaps you'll discover one or more that you've forgotten you want to read, too!     

        from previous lists - Still want to read!

Middle-YA

Navigating Early - Claire Vanderpool

Seraphina - Rachel Hartman

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets - Evan Roskos

March - Lewis, Aydin, Powell

All The Answers - Kate Messner

for adults

Quiet - Susan Cain

 new books added for 2016

Middle-YA

Rooftoppers & Wolf Wilder - Katherine Rundell 

Blue Birds - Caroline Starr Rose

Glory Be & The Way to Stay in Destiny - Augusta Scattergood

Stella by Starlight - Sharon Draper

The Meaning of Maggie - Megan Jean Sovern

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Nightingale’s Nest - Nikki Loftin

The Marvels - Bryan Selznick

All American Boys - Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely

non-fiction

The Prisoners of Breendonk - James M. Deem

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War - Steve Sheinkin

for adults

Unbroken - Lauren Hillenbrand

A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler

for professional development

What We See When We Read - Peter Mendelsund

        I'm just beginning my reading as a Round Two Judge for the Cybils Awards. You can find all the finalists HERE! This includes three verse novels, one anthology and three poetry collections by one author. I do love to read, and I enjoy and celebrate authors and their expertise. I think it's why I love writing, too, and loved reading with students, and helping them become better writers. 

        Because I'm writing about my reading as passion, I'll finish with a favorite quote from a favorite book about reading: “Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” 

― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

What's on your reading list this year?