It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1-21-13

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Last week was the last week of the semester for my students. We did not end our semester before the winter holidays. I wish we did. We used to, but the school year calendar is not as student friendly as it once was.

So, we had a week of review after vacation and then last week,  a short week,exams.

My consumption of text falls under many influences: school, family, health, life, even the dog. Busy weeks remind me that my students' reading lives are also determined in large part by their schedules. While I brook no time excuses, I do know that I myself read less when I have a lot on my plate. I cannot grade reflective essay exams and read a book for pleasure at the same time. I cannot cook meals and read (though I've heard rumors that others can do that). I cannot read while listening to my son and talking to him about his day or his science project. I do read every day. Morning and night and some afternoons, but I also exercise and grocery shop and lesson plan. Some weeks I'll read one book, some I'll read five. It's not a competition--not in my heart nor in my classroom. I have to make that clear to students because we're different. We are different when we run (I'm the slowest) and when we read (I might be the fastest in my room).

So this week, I only read one book. While I did go to the library to watch An Evening of Awesome, I did not manage to squeeze in picture book reading time which is high on my to-do list.

This week's book,  Just One Day by Gayle Forman, was the perfect book to follow Why We Broke Up. Whimsy and heartbreak, devotion and rebellion, Allyson "Lulu" Healey personifies the contrasts and extremes teens live. She has a magical day in Paris at the end of an almost obligatory European tour. That day re-defines her very self and she embarks on a transformative process wrought with difficulty, depression and hard conversations. A breezy read, it would be perfect for a beach day or afternoon by the pool sort of read. I'm bringing it to school tomorrow to book talk. I know just the girls who need to read it.

Up Next

I'm finishing up the sequel to Monument 14 (an ARC I brought home from NCTE and ALAN). Then I've got two professional books in the pile Poetry Mentor Texts by Lynne Dorman and Rose Cappelli and the second edition of Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning.  I think my son's kindergarden teacher will love Miller's book, so I'm being careful not to write in it.  For fun I'm going to read Tupelo Hassman's Girlchild and Emily Danforth's The Miseducation of Cameron Post. The latter of which reminds me (from the book blurb) of Harmon's Last Exit to Normal. I'll see how it compares.