Let's Celebrate 2016 Challenges and Un-Boring Fun!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating school-wide collaboration!

*throws confetti*

*offers glass*

*clink*

Happy 2016! I'm looking forward to soaking this year up. My one little word for 2015 was grace and I had quite a few opportunities to practice grace. I hope I did a good job, I feel great about how I handled some tough situations last year. But this year, I'm all about cherishing all the moments and celebrating all the comes my way. I'm going to REVEL in all that 2016 brings my way (and anything I invite to come my way). 

I also have a few bookish plans for 2016. I signed up to do the Sixty Books in 2016 challenge. This shouldn't be a problem but I like the idea of joining in with others. I started to put covers of books up in my office window and I'm excited to add to it! We'll see how many I can finish before the end of the school year!

For some non-reading fun, I decided to join Nerdlution and practice yoga everyday and also some mindfulness by joining the Listers Gotta List challenge. There is a topic for a list everyday that I'm going to write up. For yoga, I'm hoping to make it to a few classes at my favorite local yoga place, Total Body Yoga, but otherwise, I'll be doing Erin Motz's 30 Day Yoga Challenge with Do You Yoga. Erin is the Bad Yogi and I kind of love her for it. 

And finally, I'm bringing back the Un-Boring List! I did Un-Boring Lists in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and I missed it in 2015, so here it is again!

Create paper mache book art 

like they have at Reading Reptile book store 

that Mr. Schu visited on his 2011 book roadtrip

This year is really going to be the year!

Still need a bookish subject though...help, ideas?!

Celebrate World Read Aloud Day

We usually host a picture-book-themed party!

I'm seeing a ninja-themed party...

or maybe a Star Wars-themed party...

Book Pic Fun
In 2013, I tried for a picture with a book everyday.
This year, I'm hoping to grab some book pics in fun spots
and maybe while doing some yoga poses. Something fun!


Book Swap
I've always wanted to have a book swap party!
Not sure if this will be adult book swap fun or kiddo book swap fun,
but either way a book swap sounds pretty un-boring to me!

More Indies!

I'm excited to visit old-familiar and new-to-me Indies!

Over the years, I've visited Indies that I might not have ventured out to visit if not for this challenge. We'll see what stores I manage to slip into this year!

Again, happy 2016, friends! 
I hope you have much to REVEL in and lots of bookish un-boring fun in 2016!What are you celebrating this week?

Rude Cakes

Title: Rude Cakes 
Author: Rowboat Watkins 
Illustrator: Rowboat Watkins 
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2015 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Who knew that cakes were so rude?! In this deliciously entertaining book, a not-so-sweet cake—who never says please or thank you or listens to its parents—gets its just desserts. Mixing hilarious text and pictures, Rowboat Watkins, a former Sendak fellow, has cooked up a laugh-out-loud story that can also be served up as a delectable discussion starter about manners or bullying, as it sweetly reminds us all that even the rudest cake can learn to change its ways. 
What I Think: We usually think of cakes as sugary sweet...but not this cake! I love the choice to play with words this way. As a parent, I also love how the author uses some examples of kids being rude that we might not always take the time to talk through with kids. The illustrations are super sweet and support the text perfectly. This is a great text to use when talking to student readers about paying attention to the words and the illustrations. If you don't slow down to look at the illustrations, you miss out on all the interactions between the characters that truly bring the story to life.
     As a mentor text, this is a great book to start a discussion on manners and how we treat each other. So many of the examples of the little cake being rude could be acted out. And students could think about what the rude cake does and then what the giant cyclops does in contrast. This could even lead to a lesson on compare and contrast - looking at how the characters act similarly or differently in different situations. Students might even have ideas for what they do in similar situations that might be different from either of the characters.
     I would also use this book to look at commas in a series and to think about story arc. Throughout the story, we see how the main character changes and it is clear that a majorly significant experience causes the character to change. We want to see characters change or grow in stories but knowing how to make this happen isn't always easy. This book makes for a nice mentor text for inviting student writers to first recognize what life-or-death type moment happens in Rude Cakes and then to think about their own writing.
Read Together: Grades K - 2 
Read Alone: Grades K - 2 
Read With: My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown, You Will Be My Friend! by Peter Brown, Don't Play With Your Food by Bob Shea, Wolfie The Bunny by Ame Dyckman with illustrations by Zachariah Ohora
Snatch of Text:  

"Rude cakes never say please

and they never say thank you,

and they sometimes take things

that don't belong to them."

Writing Prompts: Write about a time when you remembered to use your manners and how it helped you or made a difference in your situation. 
Topics Covered: Family, Manners, Kindness, Caring 

I *heart* It:

*Thanks to Chronicle Books for 

a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!*

Let's Celebrate 2013 and 2014 Challenges!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating 2013 and 2014 Challenges!

*throws confetti*

In 2013, I had a few challenges I set for myself and am excited for 2014 challenges! Here's a recap from 2013 and new challenges for 2014. 

Donalyn proposed a Book Gap Challenge on Nerdy Book Club and I jumped in. I read almost all of my book gap books! I just missed The Princess Bride. 

Here are books I'm challenging myself to read for the Book Gap Challenge:

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - read 7/27/2013

2. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - read 9/23/13

3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - read 10/9/13

4. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen - read 9/24/13

5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - read 06/30/2013

2014 Book Gap Challenge!
For 2014, I'm going to keep filling in my book gaps! Here's my 2014 list!
1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
2. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

I'm joined Alyson and her Kid Lit Frenzy's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge  with the goal to continue to review a non-fiction book every Wednesday. I definitely discovered some great non-fiction picture books and plan to continue this for 2014. If you are looking for great non-fiction, I recommend checking out Kid Lit Frenzy and all the bloggers who link up with their non-fiction reads!

Well...I said my challenge was a little crazy for 2013 when it came to the number of books I hoped to read...and it ended up being crazy because I just didn't get there. I challenged myself to read 365 picture books - one a day - and then to read 213 non-picture books this year for a total of 578 books. It just didn't happen. While I read every day with my kids, it's hard to keep up with a new book every day and we just didn't get there. We did read a lot of books though! Here's a slideshow recap of my book pics from 2013...for as long as I kept up with the book pics at least! 

2014 Reading and Running Challenge!

In 2013, I read 234 books. I actually think I read more but I don't think I did a good job of recording all of my picture book reads on GoodReads. It's kind of hard to pick a number now! I know I can do more than 234 this year. The question is, can I do 400? 400 seems like a good number. I hoped to read 578 last year but read 234...so 400 seems kind of in the middle and enough of a challenge PLUS, Franki challenged people to run 400 miles in 2014. I'm thinking 400 miles of running and 400 books...which kind of reminds me of Colby's running/reading challenge last year. I think it'll be fun and even if I don't get there...at least I can say I tried! Another part of Franki's #runteacherrun challenge is to run 4 races this year and I've already signed up for one. I have two more I'm hoping to run and then I'll have to find one more. 

As a side note, if you are interested in sponsoring me, I'll be running in the Race to Wrigley 5k and raising money for Lurie's Children's Hospital in Chicago. I'm going to run in honor of my (former) student, Michelle, who you might remember from my post about meeting RJ Palacio, author of Wonder. Michelle is such an inspiration and I'm so glad to have her in my life. I can't believe that she's a sophomore in high school now! She's amazing and I'm happy to celebrate her by running and raising money for Lurie's. To donate on my fundraising page, click here.

Latinos in Kid Lit is hosting a challenge to explore books that feature latino/a characters. I've thought about diversity a lot lately so when I saw Linda Baie talking about this, I thought it would be great to join in. I'm excited! The goal is to read one book per month. I'll add the books I read to my 2014 Challenges page.

I'm super excited for these challenges and for everything I've planned on my 2014 Un-Boring List! Do you have any books to recommend for my Latinos in Kid Lit challenge? I would love to hear your favorites!

What are you celebrating this week?

Let's Celebrate!

I'm so excited that Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build. is hosting CELEBRATE This Week! What a fun meme where we celebrate one thing or many things from the week. I've loved participating in the Slice of Life Challenge that Ruth started with Stacey at Two Writing Teachers and now am really looking forward to this! 

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This week I'm celebrating a few things!

*throws confetti*

1. It's the first official CELEBRATE This Week Link-Up! I have loved Slice of Life and sharing more about what's going on in my life here at Teach Mentor Texts and I'm a completely optimist who loves to celebrate all the good things going on in the world so I'm thrilled for this meme. 
2. Tomorrow Peanut and I are sharing his love of reading over on the Nerdy Book Club blog. I'm so excited that he did a post with me. It was a lot of fun and I can tell it had him thinking about how the Internet works and how it means other people will be reading his story. We have been making lots of loom band bracelets lately and we are fans of a girl named Ashely who posts how-to videos on YouTube. Some of her videos have 1 million and 3 million views. We've talked a lot about what that means and how many people that really is. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure we'll get a million views on our Nerdy post but it's still fun to think that we're sharing with a lot of other people.                                                                                                              
3. I've been cruising along on my Book Gap challenge! I actually only have one book left to read! I wasn't sure how far I was going to get because I felt kind of behind but it's October and I have one more book to read. My last book to read is The Princess Bride. The book I've loved the most so far and finished recently was Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I really loved Anne. She's such a spunky, imaginative character who reminds me a lot of Hattie from Hattie Big Sky and Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson and Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. 
4. One last thing to celebrate: I've started a free-writing notebook. Since the beginning of the school year, I have been meeting with a great group of eighth grade students to talk about writing and share what I've learned from Teachers Write. Every day, they have sacred writing time where they free write. They've been building their stamina and write for 3-4 minutes now. I usually see them once a week but I haven't been keeping up with my free writing when I'm not in their classroom. Over the summer, I had a great experience with free writing and remembered how much I love free writing so I decided to start a free-writing notebook where I can free-write every day. So far it's been three days and I've done a free write every day. Finding 3-5 minutes to just let my mind wander seems like a great investment. I'm still working on revisions of my novel but also have a new idea that I want to draft so my plan is to free write about either of these stories - or something new that catches my attention - every day. I shared this goal with my eighth grade students so they hold me accountable and also to show that writing isn't always easy, we all have to set goals and work at it if we're actually going to write. 

Thanks for stopping by to celebrate with me!

What are you celebrating this week?

Wuthering Heights

I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte in July because I have it on my list for the Book Gap Challenge...and so far, the only other book I have read it The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Two out of six isn't bad but I have to get back to reading some of the other books on my list. Hopefully, the other books are more enjoyable than Wuthering Heights.
I know there are tons of people who love Wuthering Heights but I have to be honest and say that I am not one of them. It's been a little over a month since I finished it and I've had time to think about it a little more objectively. When I was listening to it, I was definitely over it but I can see maybe a little bit how it can be appreciated to a certain extent. 

While I was listening to it, I felt like the story was going on and on. I remember getting about halfway in and wondering what else could possibly happen next. It's kind of a sign to me that I'm not a fan of a book if I desperately want to stop reading it but keep reading just so I can say that I finished it. 

Since finishing it, I've been able to realize how I can at least appreciate it based on how it represents life for Emily Bronte. It really made me think of what life might have been like for her, with her family and living on the moors. It made me think about how having a context to go along with books can make such a difference to a reader. Two years ago, one of my students was asked to read Of Mice and Men for his class. I provided a lot of scaffolding to be able to help him get into and understand the book. I had worked with him in 8th grade so I knew he had studied the Dust Bowl and knew about the Great Depression. I was able to help him make the connection between that knowledge and relate it to the book. Of Mice and Men makes a lot more sense when the reader understands the context of the time period that the book is set in. The same applies to Wuthering Heights for me. I think it gives readers an understanding of some of Emily Bronte's life or experiences. 

I really wonder how my perspective might have been different had I read it as part of a class, being able to discuss it with others and analyze as I went. It definitely would have helped me to hear what others think of it so that I could expand my own thinking and try to see other perspectives. 

I can't say that I liked Wuthering Heights, but I can say that I read it and I can say that I learned something from reading it. That counts, right? Please chime in and tell me what you think of Wuthering Heights...and if you loved it, share why! 

WRAD Read It Forward Blogging Challenge!

I'm ecstatic to be a WRADvocate for World Read Aloud Day this year! All over the world, people will be celebrate reading and reading aloud on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013. It's really easy to participate - grab a book and share it with friends and family. Take the day to celebrate your favorite books with others. If you want to join the movement, visit the LitWorld website to register as a participant, then get others involved! The theme this year is Read It Forward. Read It Forward represents the effective infectiousness of reading aloud - share reading with family and friends and it spreads!

To celebrate this year, Litworld has challenged bloggers to answer the following writing prompts in the weeks leading up to World Read Aloud Day on March 6th, 2013. You can visit the Litworld blog for the schedule and more specifics on what each blog post entails. I can't wait to read everyone's posts!

WRAD Read It Forward Blogging Challenge

Week 1: February 10 – February 16

What do you think is special about reading aloud?

Week 2: February 17 – February 23

Now & Then

Week 3: February 24 – March 2

A Snapshot of My Reading Life

Week 4: March 3 – March 6

Read it Forward!

World Read Aloud Day is a little over a month away! How will you celebrate? It's time to get those creative juices going. I have some book celebration ideas on my Bookish Un-Boring List if you need some inspiration. Please share your ideas in the comments so we can all see what others are doing!


This post is part of the ongoing World Read Aloud Day Read it Forward Blogging
Challenge. To learn more visit litworld.org. Join the Movement. Read Aloud. Change the World.

 

2013 Reading Challenges ACCEPTED - Bring It!

For 2013, we are going to try to push our reading even more than we did in 2012. We are truly looking forward to all the reading and book-related fun in store in 2013! The beginning of the new year always means new challenges to look forward to! Here's what we'll be up to in 2013!

Donalyn and other Twitter friends were recently talking about gaps in the reading - books that they haven't read that it seems like everyone else in the whole entire world has read. She proposed a Book Gap Challenge on Nerdy Book Club recently and we are totally on board with this challenge! 

Kellee:  Looking at my stats from last year, I definitely need to finish more professional books 

(I start many, but never make them through) and I, like Donalyn, 

need to commit to series and read more sequels. 

My goal for this year is to read more professional novels than last year. 

In 2012, I read only 2 complete books, so I hope to read more than that. 

For sequels, I want to read at least 20 off of my TBR list. 

As of right now, this is the 20 I plan to read though there can be alternates: 

1. Babymouse for President by Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm

2. Mira's Diary: Home Sweet Rome by Marissa Moss

3. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Vol. 2 (Manga) by Darren Shan

4. Eighth Grade is Making Me Sick by Jennifer L. Holm

5. In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz

6. The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers by Dav Pilkey

7. Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

8. Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

9. Rebel Heart by Moira Young

10. Island of Silence by Lisa McMann

11. Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

12. The Kill Order and The Death Cure by James Dashner

13. Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

14. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

15. Fever by Lauren DeStefano

16. Outpost by Ann Aguirre

17. A Million Suns by Beth Revis

18. Unsung and Unwholly by Neal Shusterman

19. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

20. Crossed by Ally Carter

Jen: Here are books I'm challenging myself to read for the Book Gap Challenge:

(I'm kind of going for classics here...just because they were the ones that came to mind.)

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

2. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

4. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 We also are challenging ourselves to keep reading more non-fiction books. We joined Kid Lit Frenzy's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge in 2012 and have decided to carry this over into 2013. 

Our goal is to continue to review a non-fiction book every Wednesday. 

We also are going to partake in the 2013 Reading Challenge. 

Kellee: This last year I read 397 books (419 including rereads) and had only challenged myself to 300. This year I think I am going to challenge myself to 333 (a little less because I want to read more novels) and see how far I can get. Here's to hoping I hit and overtake it! 

Jen: I realize this might be crazy and far-fetched and hair-brained but a challenge is a challenge, right? Who said it's supposed to be easy? I'm going to challenge myself to read 365 picture books this year - one a day - and then to read 213 non-picture books this year. That makes a total of 578...and I kind of want to round to 600...but I'm not that out of my mind. I'll stick with 578.

Part of my 578 books will be focusing on reading more early readers/chapter books this year. In 2011, I focused on upping the non-fiction books I read and last year, I (tried to be) all about poetry. With Peanut in kindergarten this year, I think it's time I really get extra intense and serious about easy reader/early chapter books. I'm not going to set a specific number for these books because they'll be part of my 578 but I'm going to start by checking out all the Cybils nominees for Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books. From there, we'll see what else I discover on my own!

What do you have in store for 2013? 

and

2012 Challenges Recap

2012 has now come to an end. This week will be a chance for us to reflect back on our reading this year as well as look at what is ahead. Today, we wanted to recap our challenges from the last year.

Kellee

The 2012 Dystopia Challenge was hosted by Bonnie of Bookish Adour and I had challenged myself to read 15 (Level: Contagion) dystopian, post-apocalyptic, or ecotopia books. I was on a major dystopian kick in 2011, so I wanted to continue it in 2012; however, I found myself wanting to expand and read other genres this year and actually only read 12 though I loved every minute of it! 

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

2. The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

3. Dark Falls by Kat Falls

4. Blood Red Road by Moira Young

5. XVI by Julia Karr

6. The Griff by Christopher Moore

7. The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

8. Redwing by Holly Bennett

9. The Girl Who Remembered Horses by Linda Benson

10. The Infects by Sean Beaudoin

11. Son by Lois Lowry

12. The Last Free Black Cat by Jon Blake

The second challenge I decided to take part in was The Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  For this challenge, I challenged myself to read 12 books from 12 different genres throughout the year. 

1. Literary Fiction- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

2. Crime/Mystery Fiction- Man Overboard! by Curtis Parkinson

3. Romantic Fiction- Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez

4. Historical Fiction- For What It's Worth by Janet Tashjian

5. Young Adult- Teen Boat by Dave Roman

6. Fantasy- Gossamer by Lois Lowry

7. Science Fiction- Star Challengers: Moonbase Crisis by Rebecca Moesta

8. Non-Fiction- My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

9. Horror- This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

10. Thriller/Suspense- This is Not a Drill by Beck McDowell

11. Classic- Maus by Art Spiegelman

12. Dystopian- Son by Lois Lowry 

The Award Winning Reads Challenge was hosted by Ashley at Basically Amazing Books & Jacinda at The Reading Housewives. With this challenge I got to set your own goal and I set it at 10 award winning books which I did meet. 

1. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (Printz Award)

2. A River of Words by Jennifer Fisher Bryant (Caldecott Honor)

3. Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm (Newbery Winner)

4. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (Printz Honor)

5. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (Odyssey Honor)

6. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Newbery Award)

7. Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegalman (Pulitzer Prize)

8. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanha Lai (National Book Award)

9. Shine by Lauren Myracle (Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award)

10. Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri (Odyssey Award) 

11. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Odyssey Award)

12. Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Caldecott Honor)

13. Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel (CLA Book of the Year) 

My final two challenges go together: 100+ Books In a Year hosted by Book Chick City and the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge. I challenged myself to read 300 books this year and I am so proud of myself that I hit the goal and actually surpassed it. I hit my goal of 300 on September 12th and if you count my rereads, I read 416 books this year! 

142 Juv/MG/YA Novels

7 Early Chapter Books

84 Graphic Novels

82 Picture Books

2 Adult Novels

6 Nonfiction Graphic Novels

36 Nonfiction Picture Books

21 Nonfiction Juv/MG/YA Books

6 Poetry Collections

6 Interactive/Game/Cooking

2 (Complete) Professional Books

1 Short Story

Reread 3 Graphic Novels

Reread (at least) 6 Picture Books

Reread 10 YA Novels

Reread 2 Short Stories

Jen

Oh, 2012, you were a fun year! I keep thinking over 2012 and keep still shaking my head at how it was just a great year. I'm so looking forward to 2013 after how great 2012 was. 

One thing that I love in general is setting goals and pushing myself...but I also know that if I didn't meet my goals that's okay, too. The good thing is that there's another year to look forward to, right? 

According to GoodReads, I read more books this year than last year. Last year, I read 378 and this year I read 414...but that includes picture books. My goal this year was to read 212 novels/chapter books but I only read 170 books. I think I'll try for 213 for 2013...aim high, right?!? 

 I chose to do the Fearless Poetry and Exploration Challenge by Savvy Verse and Wit just because I needed more poetry in my life! The challenge was to read 2 books of poetry. I read 12 poetry collections and 4 novels in verse. 

I didn't anticipate having a hard time on the 2012 Young Adult Audiobook Challenge hosted by A Book and a Latte but WOW! I listened to 54 audiobooks! How crazy is that? I guess it makes sense because I listen to a book a week as I drive my long drive to and from work but I've never counted them all before. It's cool to look back the titles and to be able to hear the narrators' voices in my head.

How did your 2012 reading go? 

and 

2012 Reading Challenges

It's almost 2012! I can't believe it. It has been such a fun year of blogging. Last week I reviewed the challenges I did in 2011 but now it's time for us to think about our 2012 challenges!

Kellee has decided on a bunch of challenges and I'm going to tag along on a few of them.
I'll let her tell you about them! Here's Kellee:

Below are the 5 challenges that I am going to participate in during 2012.
This is my first year participating in blog reading challenges (and I think I went majorly overboard) and I am very excited!!!

Hosted by Bonnie of Bookish Adour

For this challenge you can read Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic or Ecotopia books.

Level: Contagion- Choose 15 books to read

1. Fever by Lauren DeStefano

2. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

3. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

4. The Death Cure by James Dashner

5. Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

6. Bumped by Megan McCafferty 

7. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin 

8. Legend by Marie Lu 

9. Crossed by Ally Condie

10. The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

11. Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

12. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

13. Dark Falls by Kat Falls

14. All of These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

15. The Kill Order by James Dashner

Alternates: 

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

Shadows by Ilsa Bick

Middle Ground by Katie Kacvinsky

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman

Son by Lois Lowry 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
Outpost by Ann Aguirre

Hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out

For The Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge I am challenging myself to 
read 12 books throughout the year from 12 different genres. 

Although I usually hit most of these genres, 

the literary fiction one and classics will definitely push me.  

The genres are: 

1. Literary Fiction

2. Crime/Mystery Fiction

3. Romantic Fiction

4. Historical Fiction

5. Young Adult

6. Fantasy

7. Science Fiction

8. Non Fiction

9. Horror

10. Thriller Suspense

11. Classic

12. Your Favorite Genre (Dystopian!)

Hosted by Ashley at Basically Amazing Books & Jacinda at The Reading Housewives

With this challenge you get to set your own goal and I am going to go with planning on
reading 10 award winning books this year.  I'm not going to plan, though,
because many of them will probably be award winners from this year.

Once again I'll be participating in the Goodread's reading challenge where I'll challenge myself to read even more than this year.  I set my goal at 255 for this year and then read over 270 books. For 2012, I'll set my goal at 275 and hope that I will hit it and go over like this year.  

Hosted by Carolyn and Laura at Book Chick City

This one is self explanatory.  The 100 cannot include audio books or nonfiction.

As you can see from the GoodReads challenge, I aiming to read 275 books in 2012,
so at least 100 should definitely fit this challenge.


I am also going to start a couple of multi-year (possibly many years) challenges.

Mr. Schu at Watch. Connect. Read. and Mr. Sharp at SharpRead have started a stress free Newbery Medal Reading Challenge (#nerdbery). I am challenging myself to read all of the Newbery Medal winners.  I don't know how long this will take, I don't know if I'll do them in order and I don't know if I'll reread the 35 I've read, but I am accepting the challenge.


Along the same lines, Anna at A to Z Library and Laura at LibLaura5 are also doing #nerdcott which is reading all of the Caldecott winners (and honors; though I am only going to do the winners).  I will jump into this one too, but with the same promise as #nerdbery: I don't know how long this will take, I don't know if I'll do them in order and I don't know if I'll reread the ones I've read, but I am taking on this challenge.

Lastly, Kathy at The Brain Lair is challenging herself to read all of the Printz winners and honors, thus crowning #nerdprintz.  Again, who knows how long it will take, etc. etc., but I am jumping in.


Check out the Goodreads lists for each:
#nerdbery list
#nerdcott list
#nerdprintz list

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Kellee really chose some great challenges! I really like the idea of the Eclectic Reader Challenge...except the horror and suspense/thriller one have me hesitant. I know that I really cannot handle those kinds of reads so I'm not committing to that one. I am, however, definitely doing the GoodReads challenge to read more in 2012 than I read in 2011. That was a goal I set for myself in 2011 and I definitely want to do that again. I did read a ton in 2011 but that's okay, it's a perfect goal for me.

In 2011, I wanted to read more non-fiction because I didn't feel like I read enough non-fiction. This year, for the same rational, I'm choosing to do the Fearless Poetry and Exploration Challenge by Savvy Verse and Wit. I only have to read 2 books of poetry which I don't think will be a problem at all. I will probably read poetry from somewhere in children's literature. And especially novels in verse.

I love audiobooks and listen to them on my long drive to and from work so I am so excited about the 2012 Young Adult Audiobook Challenge hosted by A Book and a Latte! I shouldn't have a problem listening to 12 audiobooks throughout the year but I met a representative for Books on Tape at NCTE and realized I need to make sure to share that I've listened to a book and to incorporate a review of the audiobook aspect of my experience. For me this challenge is about reviewing audiobooks that I read as much as it is about listening to the audiobooks. I already have a great line up ready to go!

What challenges have you signed up for in 2012?
We look forward to another great year of reading and sharing books!

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