It was almost one year ago today that I decided to leave the school building and accept a job as a school improvement director.  There was an abundance of mixed emotions as I reflected on over 15 years spend in a high school as a teacher, coach, and administrator.  Although I nearly stumbled into the career, education had become my passion and profession all based on my love of reading (and teenagers).  

As I looked at my bookshelf with over 300 books, primarily young adult novels, that I still checked out to students, I contemplated what I would do with all these books.  Could I really just hand them over to another teacher?  Maybe I should donate them to the library?  Perhaps I should just let the kids come take their favorite book.  I really didn't want to pack them up and store them in my house...

Not being completely sure of my decision, I packed up the books and carefully displayed them in my college daughter's bedroom until... I decided to pack up my bags and move back to Phoenix.  

This time, the answer was clear. I was not going to pack up these perfectly good novels yearning to be read to be displayed in my house in Phoenix.  It was time to take the dream to action.  As you can see, this blog has been active for quite some time as my students used it to find book recommendations and recommend books to me.  But I wanted more...I want to be able to share these books, with not just people I know, but with people who may come in contact with my books. 

The to do list was created, and it sat to collect some dust as I prioritized other tasks. But, it is time!  The labels are printed, and the books are ready to go!

As I make my travels from Oregon to Arizona in a week, I will leave a little piece of my love of reading at places along the way. My only hope is to watch as these books get shared and discussed as they venture from place to place. 

I hope you enjoy the journey as well.  

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies, and I hope to inspire others to read.  Be prepared for too many teen novels as I just can't shake that English teacher vibe just yet.  Oh, and I am retiring the couch for many hours of reading by the pool this summer!  

I'm BACK!

It has been three years since I have written a post. Not because I wasn't reading, I just was simply busy in other elements of my life.  Now is the time to return to the blogging world with a little bit different of a focus this time.  

Some updates:

• I am no longer teaching English although I will always be a teacher at heart.  It is my passion and greatest love; however, I was ready for a new adventure. 
• After two years of school administration, I worked as a school improvement director for a year. Now, I am venturing into the world of educational technology working in support.  Wish me luck!
• The changes on the job front have allowed me more time to focus on some of my life goals - including this blog/social media to share my love of reading.  

I look forward to taking you along my journey of sharing the love of reading.  Make sure to follow me on social media for my current readings. Don't forget to share your love of reading with me by recommending a book, tagging me in your reading posts, and, hopefully, finding one of my shared books to read along the way.  

This is the book label I will attach to each book that I send out into the world.  If you find one, read it, share it, and follow it!

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Your Now Is Not Your Forever

Sorry John Green lovers, but I am not a big fan. Perhaps I read too many Nicholas Sparks books a few years ago (okay, maybe more than a few).  However, this book will make my top ten teens novels for the rest of my life. Skink, No Surrender is on that list also; buy them both right now!  Sorry for the digression...

I can't put my thoughts into words, so I am going to let Ariel at Goodreads.com do it for me: 

Like always, I’m thankful for Green’s refusal to dumb anything down. He treats his teenagers like adults because they are adults, or nearly are, and at the very least deserve the same respect as adults. When we are introduced to Aza’s life, and her way of living it, nothing is hidden. Her anxiety and mental health continue to be an unrelenting problem in the narrative because they are an unrelenting problem in her narrative. It doesn’t ease up, it doesn’t get fixed, and at times it is nearly physically painful to read about a sad girl who can’t get better. You do just want to reach into the pages and give her a shake, or a hug, and tell her to please get better. But that’s the point. She can’t. Or not forever. And that’s okay. Because she’s still lovely and wonderful and loved.

I have a particular love for the ending. My dad and I agree that watching a good movie is more fun the second time. Now you know that every thing is going to be all right and you can just relax and enjoy it. I went into the ending so nervous that it would be cheesy, or unrealistically hopeful, or really unnecessarily sad. I was so surprised by an ending that moved on from being a teenager, looked at a life beyond teenage hood, that I nearly cried. I nearly cried because not enough teenagers hear that what they’re going through truly matters, but also that they'll be leading a completely different life very soon. It was something I told my brother constantly when he was still in high school and I had gone on to University and suddenly had to try and remember how hard high school had been. 

A note on technology: I feel very strongly about the use of technology in YA. It frustrates me to no end when a teenager “leaves their phone at home” or “runs out of data” or “doesn’t think to text someone something time sensitive.” It isn’t the way that teenagers function, it doesn’t make any sense, it ignores a huge part of the way that teenagers understand themselves and each other, and can you tell that I really care about it yet? John Green does the impossible here: he manages to include technology organically, to make it important to the story and to their lives, but without making it gimmicky. For that, I am also thankful.

Finally, I am thankful for this representation of mental health. It is ugly, sad, disturbing, frustrating, but not hopeless. It isn’t everything (even though sometimes it is) and it’s honest. I am so happy, so unbelievably happy, that kids and teenagers and also adults will have this. That they will read it and feel understood, or empathize, or both. You know how we always want books to “make us better people”? To “show us new perspectives we couldn’t imagine”? Pick up Turtles All The Way Down.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35504431-turtles-all-the-way-down

"I like big parties...

"They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any intimacy."

I have always said that my students like this book better than I do. Maybe its my age, a mid-life crisis, or just a change in attitude, but I really loved reading this book with my students.  We laughed, rolled our eyes, sighed, and almost cried throughout the whole book.  

The Roaring 20's, the lifestyle, the changes in society, the intelligence, the bad decision making, the hope for a better future, the fear of staying the same, the need for help, and the suspense that comes with human nature.  It's a must read.  

The Ones that Got Away

Thanks, Makenna, for sharing this title with me as it was the perfect spring break read.  Although I would NOT recommend this for the younger high school students (sexual content), it is a great story based on a tragic event.  When a group of students return to their high school for a documentary interview ten years after a school shooting, they confront their unsettled emotions and friendships.  This book focuses on the impact a tragic event can have on people and how they must work through the emotions. 

Little Women...a classic

I hadn't read this book since...maybe 5th grade...and I was so excited to read it again.  As I remembered, this is such a great story of four sisters just trying to grow up in the world with struggles and triumphs.  Louisa May Alcott does a great job of portraying transcendentalism at its finest.  When I got to the end of book one, I was so excited to continue.  After reading book two, I had a completely different thought.

Read this book and come talk to me...I will explain why.

All the things we lost

This was an impulsive buy on Amazon as I was wanting to read a quick teen novel instead of the stack of books by my bed, and this book was the perfect respite from the district writing assessment blues.  It's a quick read that will keep you wanting to turn the pages even when you are supposed to be doing other things.  

Katie is back in the town; the town that she doesn't want to be in...the life she doesn't want to live...the people she doesn't want to see.  However, things change when she is reunited with Julian, a boy who has his own trouble...his own disappointments...his own dreams to be somewhere else.  You will fall in love with Julian and Katie as they do their best to make light of their situations.