Sandcastles #SOL19

I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge.  
This year I decided to complete my slice of life challenge through the use of quickwrites.  By doing this, I hope to explore my own writing, identify problems my students may be experiencing with these quick bursts of writing, and show them authentic revisions in the writing process.

Today's quick write comes from Paula Bourque's new book SPARK! Yesterday, on her blog, Lit Coach Lady, she encouraged us to use pictures to spark our writing. She provided a link to a Google photo album, filled with pictures. I chose a picture which led me to think about my mother and my grandmother and to today's quick write.

In true quick write form according to Kittle and Graves, my process began like this:

1. Choose a starter.
2. Write rapidly for ten minutes.
3. Change nothing.
4. Lower you standards. (This is hard to do when you are writing publicly!)
5. Let your own thinking guide you, not the prompt.

Here we go:

Sandcastles.

As children, we scramble with shovel and pail, digging deep to fill it with wet sand. We turn the pail over, carefully wishing that the packed sand doesn't collapse. We dig a moat around our castle to protect it from seaweed creatures and evil villains.

And the ocean from washing it away.

We squeal with delight as the waves inch closer and closer and our sandcastle remains strong.

As adults, we scramble with shovel and pail, digging deep to fill them with memories. Memories of family, and friends, and life. We turn the pail over with each year that we grow older, carefully wishing the packed sand doesn't collapse and leave us with emptiness. We dig a moat around our castle to protect it from burdening love ones,

And dementia from washing it away.

We sigh with relief as the waves inch closer and closer and our sandcastle remains strong.

For one more memory.

I wish my students knew...#SOL19

I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge.  
This year I decided to complete my slice of life challenge through the use of quickwrites.  By doing this, I hope to explore my own writing, identify problems my students may be experiencing with these quick bursts of writing, and show them authentic revisions in the writing process.

Today's quick write is a teacher version of the popular prompt, "I wish my teacher knew..."

In true quick write form according to Kittle and Graves, my process began like this:

1. Choose a starter.
2. Write rapidly for ten minutes.
3. Change nothing.
4. Lower you standards. (This is hard to do when you are writing publicly!)
5. Let your own thinking guide you, not the prompt.

Here we go:

I wish my students knew...

that I come from a not-so-perfect childhood. Sometimes I think they believe no one understands them. But I do. 

I had many nights where my parents fought, and I would put the pillow over my head, wishing them to stop.  My parents ended up in a divorce.  I remember vividly the night my mom came to tell me.  I was a sophomore in college.  Many people say that divorce is hard on young children, but I believe differently. When you are older, you know the reason; you understand the consequences. 

I made some bad choices, choices I wish I could change.  Sometimes those choices are the ones we learn the most from. I believe those mistakes have made me a better mother, a better wife, and certainly a better teacher.  

I understand heartache. I understand pain. 

I understand that sometimes things don't go the way we want them to go.

But I also know perseverance and determination. My mom was 40 with two kids in college and two more at home...and divorced. She made it.

I wish my students knew there is always a way out. Stand tall. Stand proud. Work hard. 

This is what I wish my students knew.

Shiny #SOL19

I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge.  
This year I decided to complete my slice of life challenge through the use of quick writes.  By doing this, I hope to explore my own writing, identify problems my students may be experiencing with these quick bursts of writing, and show them authentic revisions in the writing process.

Today's quick write comes from Jennifer Laffin's word of the day.  Jen is the mastermind and owner of Teach Write, LLC. Each day, she puts out a word of the day to entice people to form a daily writing habit. Today's word of the day is:

Shiny

In true quick write form according to Kittle and Graves, my process began like this:

1. Choose a starter.
2. Write rapidly for ten minutes.
3. Change nothing.
4. Lower you standards. (This is hard to do when you are writing publicly!)
5. Let your own thinking guide you, not the prompt.

Here we go:

Shiny is not a word in which I would describe myself.

I don't dress shiny. I'm not a jewelry person, and I only wear my single gold wedding band every day. No diamonds - just a solid gold marriage of 28 years. I tend to dress more classic and conservative in black, brown, and grey along with cable sweaters.

My house isn't shiny. We built our cabin-style house 26 years ago, and it doesn't have the newest appliances or furniture or decor. We have hardwood floors made of rough hickory wood, showing all their grainy flaws.

My personality is not shiny.  I tend to be an introvert, and I don't seek attention. If I would be in a room with a lot of people, you would find me in the back, probably in a corner. I'm rather quiet, and I would rather write words than speak them.

But my heart is shiny.  I give freely and love deeply, and try to put others before myself.

No, shiny is not a word in which I would describe myself.

And I'm OK with that.

Childhood Chore #SOL19

I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge.  
This year I decided to complete my slice of life challenge through the use of quickwrites.  By doing this, I hope to explore my own writing, identify problems my students may be experiencing with these quick bursts of writing, and show them authentic revisions in the writing process.

Today's quick write comes from the "My Quick Writes" a notebook/source book from Inside Writing:  How to Teach the Details of Craft by Penny Kittle and Don Graves. In this book they talk about the difference between quick writes and traditional writing prompts, which is a common way many students are taught to write.  They describe quick writes as something that "nudge us to discover topics that matter, not to respond to a question that many have nothing to do with our experience."

They suggest the following process:

1. Choose a starter.
2. Write rapidly for ten minutes.
3. Change nothing.
4. Lower you standards. (This is hard to do when you are writing publicly!)
5. Let your own thinking guide you, not the prompt.

Here we go:

"When I was a kid I had certain chores I had to do. The first one was..." Write about that chore in all the details you can remember and show your feelings about doing it."

Growing up with three siblings brought many trials and tribulations. My older sister and I are a year apart, so we were nine and ten when my younger sister was born.  We used to wash dishes together, but fought a lot. My mom decided it was best to separate us.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I washed the dishes.  On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, my sister washed the dishes.  Sunday was Mom's day. On the opposite nights, we would have to walk our baby sister in the stroller.  

I really didn't mind either of those chores when I was younger.  But as we all got older, the one chore I hated was emptying the ice trays!  I grew up before automatic ice makers were a thing.  Or if they were around then, well, we didn't have one.  Instead, we had blue plastic ice trays.  A family of six used a lot of ice, so we had eight stack-able trays! There was nothing worse than going to get a glass of Kool-aid or Hawaiian Punch, and no ice!

As a solution to this problem, we created a list that went:  Mom, Dad, Janis, Leigh, Doug, Cris.  The list ran down the side of the paper and down the middle.  Each time we emptied the ice trays, we put the date beside our name. When the ice trays needed emptied, first name up had to do it.

Now, back then, I was not the procrastinator that I am now.  I would get ahead several turns.  I might of have been three or four ahead of anyone else.  So when the ice bin was empty, and the trays needed emptied...nope, it wasn't my turn!

Ways to Use this in My Classroom

This quick write could easily be revised into a narrative, building in small moments with rich details. I could capture a scene of finding the ice bin empty and write about those emotions, or I could create a scene where I proudly announce it wasn't my turn. 

How could you use this prompt for your writing or slice idea?

I'm From...#SOL19

I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge.  This year I decided to complete my slice of life challenge through the use of quickwrites.  By doing this, I hope to explore my own writing, identify problems my students may be experiencing with these quick bursts of writing, and show them authentic revisions in the writing process.

This quickwrite comes from Linda Rief's book and the poem, "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon.  I thought I would start the challenge by telling you a little bit about me. This is always a great quickwrite for students.

I’m From…

I'm from a dad who I disappointed
From the day I was born
And a mom who is one of the strongest women I know

I'm from Friday night trips to the library
And sharing bowls of popcorn
And butter-stained pages with my mom
She reading her book, and I reading mine

I'm from fried chicken Saturdays
And warm donut Sundays
Family vacations with my siblings all dressed alike
In Buster Brown stipes of green, yellow, red, and blue
No chance of us getting lost

I'm from a shared bedroom but separate sides
Divided by an imaginary line
She stays on hers, and I stay on mine
I'm from slipping on Pledge waxed floors
She calls it cleaning, and I call it sabotage

I'm from eight jelly donuts and innocent pranks
With the best friends ever
From paper routes and babysitting
And from behind the McDonald's counter
"Would you like fries with that?"
Saving money to buy clothes
And a way out of this small town

I'm from falling in love
and moving back home
Something I thought I would never do
Something I would never change


Welcome to a month of slicing. I look forward to sharing my space with all of you.

Two kinds of people in the world

In my first year of teaching, a colleague and now my principal, once gave me some words of wisdom. He said,"Leigh Anne, there are two kinds of people in the world:  those who get it, and those who don't."

Now I know that is a very fixed mindset and a simplistic view of the world. But many times after something happens at school that leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what in the world just happen, I will utter the words, "Two kinds of people in the world."

Some days, it is the only thing that gets us through.

Last week, a student came up and asked me if I wanted to read her story she was writing.  It was a mystery, and she was already on chapter three.  In one scene, her main character was dared to eat a worm for a dollar. Both of these boys were a little mischievous, and her character development was amazing for a 6th grader.

After the boy ate the worm, this line from that scene left me laughing out loud.

"Well, I guess there are two kinds of people in the world, those who eat worms for a dollar and those who are picky eaters."

Yep, two kinds of people in the world.

I Have a Secret

I have a secret.

I know something I'm not supposed to know.

I hate knowing.

We have a secret pal activity for teachers at my school.  We start in the fall and leave a gift each month until May.  We all try to guess who each other has, and then we have a big reveal party at the end of the school year.

Buying the gifts is so much fun.  My secret pal loves the color pink, so this month I got her some OPI nail polish in pink and a file that says "Girls just want to have fun!"  I gave it to her on Valentines Day with a card that says "Hope your day is tickled pink!"

But that's not the secret.

This morning I arrived a little before my usual time.  We have sensors in our rooms, and when there is no movement, the lights go off.  Yes, I was sitting at my desk in the dark.  I had my 70's rock music quietly playing on my Pandora station.

And I see something sneaking in the hallway.

It's a gift bag with green and pink tissue paper at the end of an arm.  The arm of my secret pal.

I have a secret.

I know something I'm not supposed to know.

I hate knowing.

What's saving your teaching life right now?

This week has been one of those weeks that seems like it had an extra day (or two).  One day we even found ourselves asking if there was a full moon.

It was also one of those weeks when I found myself repeating, "I can't do this anymore...I can't do this any more."

I'm tired, and I feel defeated.

And I have no answers on how to fix it.

Then today as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I clicked on a tweet from Tricia Ebarvia about blogging in her classroom.  She linked to a post on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog. This post tells about how Barbara Brown Taylor, the author of Leaving Church, was asked to speak on the question, "Tell us what is saving your life right now?"  I began thinking about my teaching life.

Many times it is easy to name what is killing our teaching lives.

For me this week, it was disrespectful students, crazy schedules, being spread too thin, and behavior issues. This was the root of my negativity at the end of Friday as a group of us sat at the end of the hall, thankful that the weekend had finally arrived.

But do we ever stop to think about what is saving our teaching lives?

That same day, after the hall became clear of students, we began talking about our weekend plans. I looked down the hall and saw someone walking toward us.

Although I couldn't clearly see him from that distance, I knew who this was. I would recognize that walk anywhere. I hollered out, "Is that you, Dante?"

"Yep, it's me, Mrs. Eck." he replied with a big ole smile on his face.

It was a former student, and I stood up gave him a big hug.  Dante and I have a history, a rocky history.  He is one of the students I had as a 4th grader and as a 6th grader after I moved to the middle school. He is one that has a special place in my heart.  It has been awhile since I have seen him, and he has changed, he has grown, and he has become a young man. We talked for several minutes, and as he hugged me goodbye, he told me how much he missed me.

I walked into a colleague's room and tried to hold myself together.  We were both holding back tears as we acknowledged the power of that epiphany.  How did he know I needed that moment?

We all have a Dante, a student who reminds us of why we became teachers and why we keep coming back, even after we have had a bad week.  As teachers, we know that relationships matter.  They matter every day, but sometimes they matter even more when we, as teachers, need them the most.

Right now, it is students like Dante who are saving my teaching life.

What's saving your teaching life right now?

...alone

I've been thinking about friends lately. 

Not my friends. 

But my students' friends.

Or the ones who have none. My heart is heavy.

I have three students who are friends. They are rather unique as individuals, yet have similar stories. They carry different colored suitcases, yet have similar baggage. Two of the students no longer attend our school.

And I'm worried about the one because he hasn't been the same since they left him...

alone.

I sit in a parent conference and share their child's progress and how well their child is doing academically. The parents are concerned because their child has no friends.

Never invited to birthday parties or sleepovers.

A tear slips out, and the mother asks, "Do you see him...

alone.

I walk into the cafeteria.

No matter how hard we stress that no one eats alone, I see a student sitting at a table with others, yet not talking, laughing, or leaning in to share a secret with someone. She is with others, but still...

alone.

Middle school is difficult enough without sharing it with friends.  These are the kids who break my heart.

I can teach writing skills.  I can motivate readers. I can be a positive and highly effective teacher each and every day.

But I can't teach how to not be...

alone.

It is in these moments when I feel helpless, when I feel I don't do enough. Why are these kids the ones who need us the most but are the first ones to shut the door?

These are the kids who remind me of why I teach and why I'll return again on Monday.

The Privacy of Reading Levels

Reading levels are surrounded by controversy.  Many discussions have taken place in the education world about the use, misuse, and abuse of labeling students according to their reading levels.

I am sure I cannot add anything new to the discussions; however, I had a light bulb moment tonight and felt the need to write about it.

My students are getting ready to write open letters where they can combine their research skills with argument skills and write about an issue that concerns them.  Believing that teachers should be writers, too, I set out tonight to research articles on Accelerated Reading.  Yes, I am writing a letter to my superintendent arguing that we should do away with AR.

I wanted to find an article about the inconsistencies of the reading levels with age-appropriate levels of books.  I was immediately disheartened (but not surprised) by the number of images of color coded stickers for classroom libraries that came up in my initial my search.

Reading further, I came across a position statement on labeling books by reading level by the American Association of School Librarians.  It states the following:

"Labeling and shelving a book with an assigned grade level on its spine allows other students to observe the reading level of peers, thus threatening the confidentiality of students’ reading levels. Only a student, the child’s parents or guardian, the teacher, and the school librarian as appropriate should have knowledge of a student’s reading capability."

I began thinking about the teachers who level their classroom libraries, school libraries with non-standard shelving practices and the students who select books from those shelves, and students who carry around cards or name tags identifying them by reading levels or colored dots.

All of these practices are public displays of confidential information.  If I were to tell a student or a parent another student's test scores, grades, or even their address, I would be breaking the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Yet, we are making confidential information public for all to see in our classrooms and in our schools.

I have always believed that reading labels should be for books and not students, but honestly, I never thought about it as breaking a law.

Until tonight.

For more reading on this same issue, check out this article by Dr. Molly Ness. 

Time #PoetryFriday

Join Tara at Going to Walden for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up.

After a year of academic writing and writing from my head, I still find it quite a struggle to write from my heart. My creative side may still be a little rusty, but I'm hopeful it will return.

Today, as I was visiting Margaret's space, Reflections from the Teche, I learned a new poetry form called a Skinny.  You can learn more about a Skinny at the The Skinny Poetry Journal.

Margaret challenged us to write a Skinny using a metaphor that she and her students created from her metaphor dice.  Although I didn't keep it as a metaphor, I still used the same words - Time is an impossible super hero.

Here is my first attempt at a Skinny...

Time, an impossible super hero, is
power
of
healing
hearts,
power
of
hope.
Who says
power
is time, an impossible super hero?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1-21-19

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kelle and Ricki at Unleashing Readers co-host It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Be sure to stop by and see what others are reading and recommending this week.

It was a slow reading week, but the snow day today helped me finish this one!

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

I recently posted about how my boys felt that my classroom library lacked "boy books." While I don't believe in boy/girl books, I do feel that a gap exists. This was a book that I had in my TBR pile and moved it to the top so that my boys could read it. I don't think they will be disappointed. 

The Boy Who Dared, based on a true story, is about a how a young boy resists the Nazis by using the power of words. Though in the end, people called him a fool because a 16 year old boy could not change the government. But I think he believed and knew that there is power in words and even more power in the truth. 

That is what I want for my students, and I hope that by reading this book, it will help them to understand Helmuth's story and courage, but to also understand the power they each have in them.

Books (still) On Deck

Happy Reading!

Narrowing the Gap

Right after Christmas Break I had my students go book shopping. I was blessed with a grant to purchase books for my classroom library, and along with books from Scholastic book orders and my own purchases, I had quite a stack for students to browse through.

As students were shopping, I heard a boy say, "These are girl books." I dismissed it and kept moving throughout the room. Then I heard a similar comment from another boy. I replied, "There is no such thing as boy books or girl books. There are just books."

It happened again during the next period, so I thought it was time to take a look.

And I found out they were right.

I saw that many of the books had female protagonists and many of them were realistic fiction - both which had been influenced by my own preferences and interests. I have always tried to be cognizant of the genre gaps because I tend to avoid reading certain ones. It seems in the process, I have unintentionally overlooked what books might appeal to or interest my boys.

I knew I had to take a look at my library and evaluate its access for all of my students. Research shows that boys tend to not read as much as girls, and they have lower reading achievement scores. Having classroom libraries that do not include the interests of all students adds to this problem.

There is a lot of emphasis on creating diverse libraries that represent all students, but that same diversity must stretch across interests too. My students pointed that out to me. Today, as I placed a new Scholastic book order, I am happy to say I am narrowing that gap as the order includes many new books recommended by my boys. I can't wait to see what they say now.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 1-14-19

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kelle and Ricki at Unleashing Readers co-host It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Be sure to stop by and see what others are reading and recommending this week.

It has been awhile since I have participated in #IMWAYR because I have been working on my Master's degree. That work took a huge chunk of my reading time, and I am excited to get my reading life back and to share with other readers.

Here is what I read last week:

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

I have heard a lot of Newbery talk about Front Desk, and I can certainly see it as a contender. One of the things I like most about reading middle grade books, are the lessons I learn not only as a reader, but also as a teacher.  This book had several (the spelling notebook and the choosing of the monopoly pieces), and I will be writing about those in another post.

Mia's family are Chinese immigrants, and this story confronts injustices of immigrants, racism, and poverty, all social issues that are important for students to read about. 

Mia is spunky, and I like spunk. She sets out to fight the discrimination against her and her friends who stay in the motel her family runs. The very last paragraph of the author's notes is a lesson we can all learn.

"Often during tough times, the first instinct is to exclude. But this book is about what happens when you include, when, despite all your suffering and your heartache, you still wake up every morning and look out at the world with fresh, curious eyes."

Dry by Neal Shusterman

Neal Shusterman is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. Although I typically do not like to read dystopian or science fiction books, I have devoured everything I have read of his.  And Dry was no exception.

California is experiencing a Tap-out and find themselves with no water.  Desperation is at an all-time high as families and neighborhoods turn against one another in their effort to find water. Alyssa, Garrett, Kelton, Jacqui, and Henry all have to work together, but how can you do that when you can hardly trust each other?

Dry is one of those books that makes you think and makes you wonder, what if...?

Books on Deck:

My Writing List for 2019

A new year always brings new goals, or at least thoughts about what we want to accomplish.  Many reading communities that I belong to create reading challenges. I love creating reading lists because it gives me a plan. Now I want a writing plan, which is the reason for #letswrite2019.

Here is my writing plan for 2019. I know I will not accomplish everything, and I know I will wrtie many other pieces not mentioned here.  But it is a plan, and it will help keep me focused and guide me throughout the year.

• Write at least 100 blog posts.
• Rethink the purpose of my blog and write more about literacy for literacy teachers.
• Explore more professional opportunities. 
• Open my eyes to the small things around me and write more poetry.
• Keep a writer's notebook.
• Complete the Slice of Life March Challenge.
• And now for the biggie - I have wanted to write a professional book, even if no one ever reads it!  My goal is to write an outline and look into the publishing process.

That's it!  Seven areas that I want to explore, improve, and expand in my own writing life.

If you would like to join #letswrite2019, check out this post.

Let's Write in 2019!

#letswrite2019

For the past several years, I have participated in a reading challenge with Carried Gelson at There is a Book for That.  I love making a list of books that I want to read, share the progress, and then celebrate.

But what about those of us who also write?  Where are things like this for writers?

Thinking about this, I decided to create a writing challenge for this year, although I wouldn't really call it a challenge.  It's more like creating a writing plan, but with the support of a community of writers, much like my Teach Write community. Each day the Teach Write community has a place to share what we write, and I will continue to do that.  But I see #letswrite2019 as more of a panoramic view - a bigger picture.

So how about joining me? Where do you want your writing to take you in 2019?

Maybe its writing a certain number of blog posts?

Or finishing a book?

Or trying out a new genre?

Or writing more of what your students are writing?

Or completing a thesis or a dissertation?

Or venturing into professional writing?

Or taking a writing workshop?  (Here is link to a good one!)

No matter what your writing list looks like, it is the spirit of the challenge, support from other writers, and the celebration that matter. Pulling goals out of a notebook and putting them into the world can be scary. Who cares what I want to write? And that may be true. When we make our goals and plans public, we create a type of accountability that some of us may want and maybe even need if we want to truly expand our writing life. And having the Teach Write community to cheer us on each day is an added bonus!

Think about what you want to accomplish in your writing life this year. If you would like to share it on your blog, then contact me via Twitter at @Teachr4 or leave a link here in the comments, and I will add you to our #letswrite2019 community.

Don't have a blog? Not a problem. Maybe make an image of your plan and send it to me, and I will include it in the list of participants. Or just write your plan in the comments.

The important, yet optional, part will be celebrating our success. I learned about writing celebrations from Ruth Ayes, the queen of celebrating the small things.  So I will have four update posts where we can celebrate together, the big and the small.

First Celebration:  March 31st
Second Celebration:  June 30th
Third Celebration:  September 30th
Final Celebration:  December 31st

So what are you waiting for? Let's Write in 2019!

My post is here: My Writing List for 2019

Check out Kendra Limback's plan here:  Let's Write

You can find Sarah Valter's post here:  #letswrite2019:  Refocusing on Writing

Ruth Ayres is joining us here:  let's write 2019

Margaret Simon is writing from the bayou:  Let's Write 2019

Kali Sosa has joined here:  It's all about VISION & MISSION: #letswrite2019

Trina Haase's plan is here: #letswrite2019

Here is Brent Gilson's plan for an "unplan": Plans a #letswrite2019 post

Check out Michelle Olson's goals:  Books on the Backporch


This is also space for those who do not have blogs. Send me your plan and I will post a picture!

Melissa Wood-Glusac's goals:

Melissa Sawetch's goals:

Hannah Johnson has her goals in her bullet journal:

#MustReadin2019

It's that time of year when resolutions are made, goals are set, and reading lists are created. I am joining Carrie Gelson at There's A Book for That and many other readers to create a list of books that I want to read in the upcoming year.  Click on the image above if to take you to Carries's round-up link.  Please consider joining us or taking a peek at some great book recommendations! But beware - you risk your list growing exponentially!

My list for 2019 has a little of everything, and I currently own all but one.

Making a list is the easy part; completing the list is much harder!  Especially when I still have boxes of books just waiting to be read as well.

But I still enjoy participating.

Last year I had eight books on my list, two for each quarter of the year, and I read six. This year I have 15 books!  My reading life should get back to normal now I have completed my Master's degree!

Here is my Must Read in 2019 List:

Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles

After Zero by Christina Collins

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman Read May 28,2019

Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen

The Truth as Told Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen

Front Desk by Kelly Yang Read January 2, 2019

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart Read March 21, 2019

Blended by Sharon Draper  Read January 23, 2019

Dry by Neal Shusterman Read January 12, 2019

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti Read January 21, 2019

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

The Third Mushroom by Jennifer Holm Read May 28, 2019

A Very Large Expanse of See by Tahereh Mafi

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!