This time last year, I was fairly new to Twitter and Goodreads and saw many posts of people committing to a reading challenge for the new year. Having been in a bit of a reading slump myself, I figured I'd give it a shot and set my Goodreads goal for 211 books for the year. That number would include the picture books I read to my early elementary classes along with any other books I'd read along the way.
Well, I'm happy to say that I met my goal quite a few months ago. And I've actually had to up it twice since meeting the goal because I met the new goals, too! During the reading challenge, I found myself picking up books I've always wanted to read, but just never had the time to. Having two young boys of my own at home also allowed me to get picture books that we could share together. We have had many fun adventures at the Lawton Memorial Library during the challenge where it was fun for me as a mom to watch my boys pick out the books they wanted to read from the shelves.
Over Christmas Break, it has been fun to get involved in The Nerdy Book Club via Twitter and keep track of all the great books that people have been reading over break and raving about. Speaking of the Nerdy Book Club, some of the members are getting involved in new reading challenges for the year including #nerdcott and #nerdbery. What are these challenges, you ask? Well, members are challenging themselves to read all the Caldecott winners (#nerdcott) and Newbery winners (#nerdbery). Both challenges prove to be stress-free, allowing members to complete the challenges in 1, 2 or 3 years. Whatever works best for the reader. I will be participating in #nerdcott so that I can share the books with my boys, too. I'm looking forward to see how picture books have evolved over the years since the Caldecott was first awarded.
So, I challenge you to get involved in a reading challenge of your own. It's amazing what great books you discover along the way!
Happy reading in 2012!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
A New Book Christmas
As a teacher-librarian, I love books! Picture books, YA novels, graphic novels...anything that will get a child reading. I am very fortunate to be married to a man who shares a love of books and wants to pass that on to our two sons, Brock and Jake.
We started something this Christmas with our boys that we're planning on making a tradition in our household and that's the tradition of getting at least two books at Christmas time. We had so much fun shopping for the boys at our local bookstore, Bramble Books, and we're hoping to frequent there more often! We'd like to include the boys in our next trip there. It will be fun to see what books they pick out to purchase.
Books foster a love of so many things. Our oldest son, Brock, is 5 now and discovered fishing this past summer. He was able to land a very nice sized small mouth bass while we were on vacation and he's been hooked on fishing and learning about fish ever since! We purchased the book Adventures With Jonny: Let's Go Fishing for him as a Christmas gift and he loves it! He's been studying the unique features of a variety of fish in order to better identify them when we get back out on the water.
Our youngest son, Jake, is 3 and a loon lover! When on vacation this past June, we were able to daily hear and see a beautiful family of loons on the lake in which we were staying. We had never seen them before and to watch them was truly fascinating. Jake even wanted to purchase a stuffed animal loon when at a local gift shop and that loon travels around with him everywhere! When I spotted the book entitled Loon while we were Christmas shopping, I just knew I had to get that for him. I have really enjoyed reading this book to Jake over our Christmas Break because I have learned a lot about loons in the process.
So, the next time you're puzzled as to what kind of a gift you should buy someone, consider a book or a gift card to a local bookstore. Maybe giving books is a tradition that you, too, want to start. We're so glad that we did!
We started something this Christmas with our boys that we're planning on making a tradition in our household and that's the tradition of getting at least two books at Christmas time. We had so much fun shopping for the boys at our local bookstore, Bramble Books, and we're hoping to frequent there more often! We'd like to include the boys in our next trip there. It will be fun to see what books they pick out to purchase.
Books foster a love of so many things. Our oldest son, Brock, is 5 now and discovered fishing this past summer. He was able to land a very nice sized small mouth bass while we were on vacation and he's been hooked on fishing and learning about fish ever since! We purchased the book Adventures With Jonny: Let's Go Fishing for him as a Christmas gift and he loves it! He's been studying the unique features of a variety of fish in order to better identify them when we get back out on the water.
Our youngest son, Jake, is 3 and a loon lover! When on vacation this past June, we were able to daily hear and see a beautiful family of loons on the lake in which we were staying. We had never seen them before and to watch them was truly fascinating. Jake even wanted to purchase a stuffed animal loon when at a local gift shop and that loon travels around with him everywhere! When I spotted the book entitled Loon while we were Christmas shopping, I just knew I had to get that for him. I have really enjoyed reading this book to Jake over our Christmas Break because I have learned a lot about loons in the process.
So, the next time you're puzzled as to what kind of a gift you should buy someone, consider a book or a gift card to a local bookstore. Maybe giving books is a tradition that you, too, want to start. We're so glad that we did!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)