Reading Goals for 2017

 

For 2017, I'm aiming to do many of the same challenges I've done in the past. I'm participating in the Goodreads Challenge. That one looks incredible at 550 books, but that includes the many picture books I consume so the number is misleading.

I don't know if anyone is specifically hosting the Diversity on the Shelf challenge this year, but for myself, I am aiming for 50% of the books I read to be by or about POC/Native American people. There are a few diversity challenges out there, but I am just going to do it on my own. Along with this challenge, I will be aiming to read more #ownvoices than not.

I did the LGBTQIA Challenge for the first time last year. It was a nice way to find out about some new books. I'm working my way through the children/YA Stonewall awards and honors along with some of the titles mentioned by other participants.

Another challenge is the #MustReadin2017 hosted by Carrie Gelson. I chose 24 books this time instead of over 50. I'm trying to keep things reasonable and low stress.

 

I'm going to try to jump back into the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher.I have done it in the past, but last year I wasn't participating as much the second half of the year. I like doing it because it gets me into more nonfiction which isn't something I naturally gravitate to.

 

I want to keep things relaxed, but I like a bit of a challenge so we will see how this goes. Happy reading.

Reading Wrap-Up

I popped into a branch of the San Francisco library & read this while my family patiently waited.

They had this fun art in the library in San Francisco.

We've been out in California visiting relatives so I am late to the party with my year-end wrap-up. It's fun to look at all of  the books that I got to read this year for different reading challenges, reviewing  and just because.

Overall, I read 660 books. That sounds like a lot, but many of them were picture books. 

Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge. This year I did manage to read more non-fiction picture books. It appears that I read 86 books this year that I shelved as young non-fiction. Some of them may not have been picture books, but the vast majority were. I'm glad she has inspired me and others to read more non-fiction.

I also participated in the Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge. They encouraged us to read one book a month written by Latin@s or that featured Latin@ characters or culture.  I read 88 books for this challenge. Half-way through the year I decided to read all of the Pura Belpré award books and have been working my way through them. It's been fantastic.

Another great challenge was Diversity on the Shelf. She had various levels of participation suggested. My goal was to read 25+ books this year. It looks like I read 283, if I remembered to tag all of them properly. I didn't review every single one, but posted as many as I could to Alysia's blog. She did a wonderful job with the challenge and gave out some prizes along the way. I even won a set of books!

For The 2014 Africa Reading Challenge hosted by Kinna Reads we were meant to read at least five books set in at least two regions in Africa. I read 15 for this challenge. I noticed that it was easiest to find books set in Nigeria or that were written by Nigerian authors. Other than Americanah, I didn't seek out the books and just read what came my way. This year I want to read some of the books Kinna recommended.

This #MustReadin2014 Challenge was hosted by the lovely Carrie Gelson. This is the challenge that was less successful for me. One of the reasons was that the list that I created at the beginning of the year was huge - a whopping 110 books! That was way too structured for me since I am more of a grazer. Also, it contained all of the Printz award books. Midway through the year, I decided to switch over to the Pura Belpré award list instead. I took my eyes of the list, but I still managed to finish 58 of them. This year I plan to be more deliberate about my "must reads."

I also planned to keep plugging away at the Caldecotts. This year I only read 15 of them. I stopped around the same time I started to read the Pura Belpré books. Even so, to date, I have read 158 Caldecott honor books and winners. I think there are about 300 of them (and we'll get more later this year) so I still have a long way to go. I'm not going to worry too much about them though and will just read them as I stumble on them.

Whew! Now I'll start trying to focus on my plans for this year. Happy reading!

Reading Olympics?

There are so many reading challenges that I want to do, but I would have to stop doing everything else to be able to complete them all. I am participating in several. In fact, I am not sure how many, but by the end of this post we will know.

I started out with the Latin@s in Kid Lit and Diversity on the Shelf Challenge. They overlap so it's almost like one right? Then I added the Africa Reading Challenge. Somewhere along the line I also added the #MustReadin2014 challenge and then added #50BooksbyPOC. With many of these five challenges, a book qualifies for more than one. Recently, I started the Geisel Challenge too. That one is the easiest simply because the books are so short and I have almost all of them in our school library so they are easy to locate, but this challenge doesn't overlap with many of the others since there isn't a lot of cultural diversity going on with that award. Part of that issue is that so many of the books have main characters that are animals so it makes a bit of sense.

Where am I keeping track of all of the challenges? Goodreads. I have a shelf for each of them. So here is the update:

Latin@s in Kid Lit 21/12
Diversity on the Shelf 84/25+
Africa 6/5
Must Read in 2014 26/110
50 Books by POC 24/50
Geisel Challenge 9/39

I should do okay as long as I don't add any more of them. Oh, I guess this is where I mention that I am still muddling through the 2012 NerdPrintz (43/71 since Jan 2012) and the 2012 NerdCott (100 to of ???) too. All of the Printz books that are left are on my Must Read shelf. I am also plugging away at the Caldecotts whenever the opportunity arises since I never finished it either. It's a crazy crazy reading year, but I am loving it. After all of this updating, it appears that I am actively participating in six challenges and am still chipping away at two old ones for a grand total of 8. Ooops. Wish me luck.

#MustRead2014

The fabulous Carrie Gelson over at There is a Book for That has started a reading challenge called #MustReadin2014. Since it fits in with my reading plans, I have added it to my list of challenges. As part of the challenge, we each created a list of books that we "must read" in 2014. These lists are very individualized. I have included the Printz books since I started that challenge last year. I also added the books that were on the Best Multicultural Books of 2013 list created by The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature. Since the challenge was designed to whittle down our To Be Read lists, there are also books on my list that have been waiting for years. One has been on my list since the summer of 2010. My To Be Read shelf on Goodreads has well over 1,000 books on it, but I kept only 110 for by #MustRead2014 shelf.

I have not been very good about reporting on my #MustRead2014 accomplishments on the blog or on Twitter, but I have been making steady progress. In January I read 17 books on the list.

Some of my favorites (in age order) were the gorgeous and sweet board book Little You, the funny and adventure-filled Shadow Hero and the downright amazing Kindred. There were many pages of fun, emotion, mystery, and enchantment throughout the month. I reviewed The Shadow Hero on Rich in Color.

In February, my numbers went down significantly as my reading has become a little less focused. I did manage five books on the list though.

The illustrations in The Tortoise and the Hare were fantastic. All five of the books were really standouts. I was excited to finally read How I Became a Ghost. It is quite a unique story. I reviewed Open Mic here.

For March, I have finished four books from the list. These were four books that will be in my mind for quite some time. I reviewed Akata Witch here. It was a fantasy that captured my attention and I didn't want to leave it. I am very eager for the next one in the series. A Long Walk to Water was just as fabulous as Holly Mueller and David Etkin had led me to believe. I knew that March and Diego would be engrossing and they were. Too funny that I read March in March. I hadn't noticed that until now. ;)

So far, this list has been a fantastic journey. I am hoping that my numbers don't keep dropping though. I have finished 26 and still have 84 more to read. With summer break I should be able to get to quite a few of those titles. I will also try to tweet more often as I finish books - especially the ones that are blowing my socks off. Let me know if you are participating.

Reading Challenge Update

I am participating in several reading challenges this year. The one hosted by Latin@s in Kid Lit fits nicely with Diversity on the Shelf. They both help to keep me on track to tackle my "Must Reads for 2014" too. In addition, I am also slowly plugging away at the Printz and Caldecott winners.

Here's what I have read so far:

Latin@s in Kid Lit

I reviewed all of them on Goodreads. I am looking forward to continuing this challenge. There are some great books out there and it is cool that Latin@s in Kidlit rounded up all of the books we read in January so we can see more titles to choose from and they recommended several that work for this challenge and Black History month too. 

Diversity on the Shelf (including the ones above) 

I reviewed these on Goodreads too except for Shadow Hero since it won't be released until July. The Diversity on the Shelf link up for January is here. I did not link all of mine since that would be craaaazy and I don't know if she meant to deal with picture books either. Kindred, Shadow Hero, Inheritance, Little You, and Maria had a Little Llama were my top five.

Must Reads

I have 110 books on my "Must Read" shelf and so far I have gotten to 18 of them. Some of them were for the challenges above.

Printz Award

I wasn't a big fan of either of these, but they both had serious subject matter. Do happy books ever get the Printz? 

Caldecott

These books were captivating. I have read Owl Moon many, many times and it always takes my breath away. Golem was very cool and totally reminded me of Frankenstein, but I think that this book was based on a story that pre-dates Shelley.

Overall, I am clicking along and am having a great time diving into these books. I can already see a change in my reading habits and it's a good one. You are welcome and in fact encouraged to join in any of these challenges at any time. 

New Year - New Goals

I have been reading New Year blog posts all day. So now it is finally time to set some of my own goals.

Reading
1. Read 650 books as part of the Goodreads Reading Challenge 

2. Participate in John Schu's Newbery Challenge (read all Newbery award books by Dec. 2013)

3. Read all of the Caldecott books (including honors) as part of the Caldecott Challenge at LibLaura5 with Laura and Anna at AtoZ Library

4. Finish the last 29 Nerdy Award Nominees that I have not yet read

5. Read at least twice as much non-fiction this year than last (about 50 books)

School Related
1. Arrange for Skype Author visits for every grade level

2. Read more non-fiction with every grade level using some of the info from Passport Nonfiction from Sarah and Amy

3. Have my first Technology Petting Zoo like @pageintraining

4. Collaborate and connect with teachers, librarians, and students beyond our district

Personal
1. Complete a graduate class Library Services for Children and YA

2. Remain calm and at peace as much as possible in spite of son's graduation from High School

Yikes. As I sat here, the list just grew and grew.  This is not a list of resolutions, but a hopeful list of things to accomplish over the next twelve months.  Here we go.  Off on another adventure.  Happy New Year!