With the pandemic, my reading has gone downhill. I really thought I would read more. That was not the case. This last year I took on a new subject to teach. I picked up a reading class and then was asked to teach Theatre. I had never taught theatre before. Once again with all the new things, my reading was not where I wanted it to be. So for this next year, I am going to complete two reading challenges. Both of them are A-Z challenges. I am not formally joining anyone's challenges. I am doing this on my own. I have made a list of books I own either in my classroom or on my Kindle that I haven't gotten to yet. I have a list of twenty-six books by title and an alphabetical list of books by the author. Below you will find my lists. I will not read them in order. Some of them have a review date. I am doing this for two reasons. First, I need to meet my goal for this school year set by a student, and this will help. The second reason is that I need to read these books and be knowledgeable enough to recommend them to my students. It is hard to talk up a book you have not read. I will post reviews and I will post links to those reviews. Below my challenge, you will see links to some of the other challenges I considered. I even made lists for them. I am not going to stress myself as I have done in years past trying to hit all of the reading challenges. I will however introduce them to my students as I think it would be interesting to see if any of them might like a challenge. I have attached links to where you can find the official challenges. I reserve the right to change books I have listed. The idea is to have fun and that means changing up books as I see fit.
A-Z Titles
Alone - D.J. Brazier
Bats and Bones - Jeffrey Hickey
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost
Easy Target by Tim Shoemaker
The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager
I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster, 1937 by Lauren Tarshis
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
Katia by Bruce Judisch
Lions of Little Rock by Kristen Levind
Missing Okalee by Laura Ojeda Melchor
Ninelands by K.E. Boyer
Of Wise Oaks and Weeping Willows by Diane Robertson
Plum Springs by Dan Lawton
Quest Chasers: The Deadly Cavern by Thomas Lockhaven
The Robber Girl by Franny Billingsley
Sacred Mountains of China by Ryan Pyle
Trapped in 1867 by Christopher Francis+-
Unteachables by Gordon Korman
Voices of the Sea by Bethany Mason Harar
What Waits in the Woods - Kieran Scott
Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
Yellow Star -Jennifer Roy
Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick
Girl in the Lake - India Hill Brown
February Keywords: Midnight, Never, Into, Sun, Love, Good, Spell, Search
March Keywords: End, Fall, Loud, Queen, Woods, Nine, Beautiful, Crown
The Boy on the Wooden Box - Leon Leyson
April Keywords: Race, Now, Chose, While, Stop Burn, Red, One
One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance - Nikki Grimes
May Keywords: Thorn, Catch, Black, Under, City, Cloud, Sing, Legacy
Dragged from Under: The Bull Shark - Joseph Monninger
June Keywords: Sea, You, Hate, Perfect, Shade, Until, Beach, Little
Four Perfect Pebbles - Lila Perl & Marion Blumenthal Lazan
July Keywords: Star, Next, Infinity, Iron Word, People, Rise, Clear
Words With Wings - Nikki Grimes
August Keywords: Breath, Case, Hundred, Day, Happy, Language, Stay, Lie
Rhyming Poetry to Change Your Day - Philip Lister
September Keywords: Bright, Here, Out, Life, Strange, Rule, Story Salt
From the Inside Out - Erik O. Ronningen
October Keywords: House, Bone, Haunt, Body, Blood, Witch, Murder, Mystery
Keesha's House - Helen Frost
November Keywords: Many, Boy, River, Fever, Down, Gold, Jade, Hill
Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
December Keywords: Still, Cabin, Night, Lake, By, Holiday, Fire
Terror At Wolf Lake - Max Elliot Anderson