31 books!

I have read thirty-one books so far this year.  Rather than try to write a post about each one, I decided to post a list.  Here’s the list, in no particular order.

• Loot by Jude Watson
• West of the Moon by Margi Preus
• Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
• El Deafo by Cece Bell
• Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
• Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell
• The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
• This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
• Jessie Elliot is a Big Chicken by Elise Gravel
• Prisoner 88 by Leah Pileggi
• Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson
• Road Trip by Gary Paulsen
• Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
• Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl
• The Dumbest Idea Ever by Jimmy Gownley
• Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine
• The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
• Shadow by Michael Morpurgo
• The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Fever 1793 by Laura Halse Anderson
• The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel
• What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren
• My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak
• She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
• This is Not a Drill by Beck McDowell
• Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

Fourteen books to go!  Will I reach my goal?

Welcome to my Blog!

During the summer of 2014, I had the pleasure of reading Donalyn Miller’s Reading in the Wild and attending her presentation at Lord Fairfax Community College.   Her book and presentation inspired me to be a wild reader and to encourage my middle school students to be even wilder readers.  I set a personal goal to read 45 books between the first and last days of school, which requires me to read more than one book a week.  I told students about my goal, and encouraged them to set their own reading goals.  One student is determined to read more books than me this year.  I hope she does!

As I finish each book, I tell students about it and post a picture of the cover art to a bulletin board in the library.  Students often look at the bulletin board during check out periods and ask about books I have read.  “Is Loot in?”  “What is the book you read about the boy who goes on a road trip to pick up a dog?”  “Which is your favorite book?”  and “How many books have you read?” are common questions heard in the library.  My reading goal, and the bulletin board, are helping to foster a culture of reading.

Then the wheels in my brain started turning.  What if students could see what I have read at any time?  This blog seemed to be the perfect answer.  I plan to post short summaries of books I have read (possibly with a few personal opinions).  

Keep checking back to see if I reach my goal!