#MustReadin2015

Carrie Gelson hosted this fun challenge. At the beginning of the year we made lists of the books we were determined to read in 2015. This was an attempt to chip away at our enormous To Be Read piles. You may see the 53 books I targeted if you click here. 

I was able to read almost all of them. One of them I ended up skimming. Invent to Learn was a professional book and while it was interesting, it was not riveting. Three of them were difficult to acquire. It's December 30 as I am typing this and they still haven't come via Inter-library Loan. I will probably bump them to my 2016 list because I still want to read them. 

These are the three that have been difficult to get:

The other 49 books were read and mostly enjoyed. Here are the ones that I rated five stars:

I really adored Circus Mirandus and Purple Hibiscus. Because I am doing a Mock Pura Belpré activity with some of my students, The Storyteller's Candle was another that I loved. It was nice to learn more about Pura Belpré and how she made a difference in her community. I've always been drawn to memoirs and biographies. Alma Flor Ada's Under the Royal Palms is a wonderful collection of her childhood memories and I appreciated getting to know her family. 

 

 

Many more fell into the four star category and these are also stories that will stay with me. I am glad that I finally sought out these books. Many of them were on the Pura Belpré list. I wanted to have read all of the books on the list before starting our Mock Pura Belpré activity. I thought it would help me figure out what sort of books would be most likely to win this year. Also, it is the 20th anniversary of the award so it seemed to be the perfect time to read them all.

Here are the other books from my list:

 

I've already started to compile my list for 2016 and am excited to add titles to it. I wish you an excellent year of reading.

#MustReadin2015 - September Update

The fantastic Carrie Gelson organized a reading challenge to help herself and others whittle down the books on their To Be Read list/pile. My #MustReadin2015 list has 53 books on it and is housed on a Goodreads shelf

As of April 2, I had read 12/53. When we updated at the beginning of July, the total was up to 30/53. Now I've read a grand total of 41/53. This leaves only twelve more to go for the year. If I read three each month, it should be achievable. Does it count if I skimmed one of them? It was a professional development book and I don't think I am going to ever read every word on every page, but I will deal with that issue later. :)

Most of the ones I've read lately have been in an attempt to read all of the books that have been Pura Belpré honors and winners. There are only two left now, Spirits of the High Mesa and An Island Like You.  I'm hoping that our inter-library loan service comes through for me here since those titles are hard to find. By the way, I find the list difficult to read on the ALA website, but now I have a shelf with all of them there so you can see the titles that way too.

Here are my top ten #MustReadin2015 books so far this year:

 

Happy reading!

#MustReadin2015 Update

The fantastic Carrie Gelson organized a reading challenge to help herself and others whittle down the books on their To Be Read list/pile. My #MustReadin2015 list has 53 books on it and is housed on a Goodreads shelf.

I've read 30/53 books on my #MustRead2015 list. Many of them have been simply amazing. Here are the ones that stand out from the rest.

Purple Hibiscus

90 Miles to Havana

Magic Windows/Ventanas magicas

My Diary From Here to There/Mi diario de aquí hasta allá

Because They Marched

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

The more I look at the list though, the more titles I want to say are stand-outs. I think I will leave it at that, but know that many of these were fantastic books that spoke to me.

I have two of the books on my list checked out right now. I'm currently reading Circus Mirandus and have Boarding School Blues on deck. 

I'm so glad that Carrie has this challenge going because it does keep these titles fresh in my mind so they aren't forgotten.