So as I tie shoes, sign papers, make lunches and send my daughters off to school with a kiss and an I LOVE YOU, I begin to switch back into my reading mode. My mind starts making lists that my fingers have to write down about which books I want to read. Back to school time is the kickoff season for our family to start really reading again.
Summer is great. There is so much to do and my soul yearns to be outside enjoying the fresh air and warm sun. My family is constantly on the go, enjoying trips to amusement parks, water parks, the zoo, walks on trails and anything else that gets us out of the house. Summer is release for us Missourians. Most of our winters are long affairs with bitter cold and various types of wet cold precipitation. So when the warm winds come and the sun stays around longer we embrace it with a passion.
Then school starts and we start getting into a more academic mode. This means reading, writing and critical thinking of various types. Our minds start wandering to books, libraries and bookstores. We begin discussing books we want to read and need to read. My husband looks forward to kickoff time for the NFL and his daughters and wife looks forward to quiet Sundays, curled under the warm blankets reading a enthralling book.
So this book season I have two main goals. The first goal is to read all the Mark Twain and Truman Reader nominee books. These lists are read by my two older children as well. I have been pleasantly surprised by some books on both of these lists in the past so I cannot wait to see what I'm in store for this year. I will post the list of nominee books at the end of this post.
My second goal is one I plan on writing more about in the near future. I am on a mission to discover the very best Post-Apocalypse/End of Earth type of book for both adults and young adults. I must admit this has been a while in the making. I have been wanting to do this for a while now, but those sneaky vampires and weres just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go. While I still love them both, I'm feeling a need to be prepared for 2012-so I must read about the end of earth as I now it. Of course getting addicted to TNT's new show Falling Skies didn't help in this need. It only made it worse.
So any suggestions for me? I would love to hear them!
Mark Twain Award 2011-2012 Nominees:
The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin
Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell
Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner
Faith, Hope and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry
Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
Storm Chaser by Chris Platt
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta
Truman Reader Award 2011-2012 Nominees:
Invisible Lines by Mary Amato
Double Eagle by Snead B. Collard III
If the Witness Lied by Caroline Cooney
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Adventurers Wanted: Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
The Shifter by Janice Hardy
The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Pop by Gordon Korman
Jane in Bloom by Deborah Lytton
The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel
Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams
Showing posts with label summer reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer reading. Show all posts
Friday, August 19, 2011
Monday, June 21, 2010
Spark of Creativity
This weekend my middle daughter asked me why I wanted to write. I gave her the usual answer of how much I love to be able to express myself, having something that has lived in my imagination come alive and take form on paper (or screen) and because it makes me smile. She nodded and we went about our Saturday. There was something about the question that stuck with me though. Something more about why I wanted to write.
What had been that initial spark? Was there one thing that jumpstarted my writing? I thought about it overnight and into Father’s Day. As we waited for our table for our Father’s Day dinner it hit me. I knew exactly the moment I wanted to be a writer. I was reading Go Ask Alice by Anonymous when I was eleven.
Yes eleven was probably a bit young for that particular book but I was blessed with a mother who didn’t really believe in restricting books and the arts from her children based upon age. I remember the day I got Go Ask Alice. I had gone to a garage sale with my grandmother. She was an avid glass and Avon bottle collector and we scoured the garage sales for finds. While she was inspecting a table of breakables (as we call them), I was immediately drawn to the huge table of books stacked upon one another. Now, if I could have had my way, we would have taken that whole table home. However, as it was my grandmother and being concerned with cost (can you imagine?) I was limited to one book.
I spent at least an hour reading the backs of the books and putting them in three piles, Keep, Nope, and Maybe. Then I narrowed through the Maybe and Keep piles until I was down to two books, Go Ask Alice and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I asked for both of them and was told quickly it wasn’t going to happen. Finally I left with Go Ask Alice. I devoured that book in one sitting. I didn’t move until I finished the book.
That night I put pen to paper and started writing down ideas, thoughts, cares, concerns, characters, etc., anything and everything. I haven’t stopped yet. I never really thought of it as a career though, more of a love. It was my release and a time when my imagination could be allowed to run wild. I was one of those kids that adults would say they had their heads in the clouds. I daydreamed while I walked.
Go Ask Alice is still listed as being Anonymous though now is mostly believed to be by Beatrice Sparks. It is listed as a work of fiction though was presented much differently in the early 1970’s when it was published. It deals with a fifteen year old girl’s battle with addiction and the myriad of problems that comes with this battle.
It completely captured my attention and had me paying attention to people around me from that moment on. I started to “people watch” and speculate on what their stories were. I wondered about everyone from the grandmotherly lady behind us in the shopping line to the boy who sat behind me in class and pulled on my braid during silent reading. I started writing down those musings and giving them voices.
I still have that much battered copy of the book and am planning to re-read it this summer. I wonder what it will spark this time!
What had been that initial spark? Was there one thing that jumpstarted my writing? I thought about it overnight and into Father’s Day. As we waited for our table for our Father’s Day dinner it hit me. I knew exactly the moment I wanted to be a writer. I was reading Go Ask Alice by Anonymous when I was eleven.
Yes eleven was probably a bit young for that particular book but I was blessed with a mother who didn’t really believe in restricting books and the arts from her children based upon age. I remember the day I got Go Ask Alice. I had gone to a garage sale with my grandmother. She was an avid glass and Avon bottle collector and we scoured the garage sales for finds. While she was inspecting a table of breakables (as we call them), I was immediately drawn to the huge table of books stacked upon one another. Now, if I could have had my way, we would have taken that whole table home. However, as it was my grandmother and being concerned with cost (can you imagine?) I was limited to one book.
I spent at least an hour reading the backs of the books and putting them in three piles, Keep, Nope, and Maybe. Then I narrowed through the Maybe and Keep piles until I was down to two books, Go Ask Alice and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I asked for both of them and was told quickly it wasn’t going to happen. Finally I left with Go Ask Alice. I devoured that book in one sitting. I didn’t move until I finished the book.
That night I put pen to paper and started writing down ideas, thoughts, cares, concerns, characters, etc., anything and everything. I haven’t stopped yet. I never really thought of it as a career though, more of a love. It was my release and a time when my imagination could be allowed to run wild. I was one of those kids that adults would say they had their heads in the clouds. I daydreamed while I walked.
Go Ask Alice is still listed as being Anonymous though now is mostly believed to be by Beatrice Sparks. It is listed as a work of fiction though was presented much differently in the early 1970’s when it was published. It deals with a fifteen year old girl’s battle with addiction and the myriad of problems that comes with this battle.
It completely captured my attention and had me paying attention to people around me from that moment on. I started to “people watch” and speculate on what their stories were. I wondered about everyone from the grandmotherly lady behind us in the shopping line to the boy who sat behind me in class and pulled on my braid during silent reading. I started writing down those musings and giving them voices.
I still have that much battered copy of the book and am planning to re-read it this summer. I wonder what it will spark this time!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Favorites
This past Saturday my oldest daughter asked me to drive her and two friends to the local mall. I obliged willingly, knowing that my presence would not be required or appreciated and I could slip across the street to the local book store. No children, and a free trip to the book store, who would turn that down? Not me!
As I walked into heaven, also known as the book store to mortals, I inhaled deeply. Have I mentioned my love affair with the written word? If not, I have one. It’s a small one, but intense nonetheless.
I wandered through the aisles, wide-eyed and wistful, mentally adding titles to my “Want” list. My fingers traced the spines of the various titles and my eyes drank in the pretty covers. I am going to need at least two more jobs to pay for the many books on my list. Or my husband is :P.
That’s when I spied it. The very thing I didn’t even know I was looking for. The Summer Reading book table in the center of the main aisle, piled high with the books I’ve loved to read over the years. A Tale of Two Cities, Tom Sawyer, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and so many more. I wanted them all. My head hurt from the many choices, and my hands ended up hurting from picking up book after book and then my arms were aching from the load.
Eventually I settled on four. I bought Catcher in the Rye, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Outsiders. My heart ached every time I had to make a choice between books. I didn’t want to give any of them up. Needless to say, more trips to the book store are planned.
The choices I made were based partly on my two older girls. They both are fanatic readers and have already started summer reading lists for the Mark Twain Awards, but I want them exposed to so many more titles beyond the new ones. I am a strong believer in the classics. They have withstood the test of time for a reason.
I remember the first time I read The Outsiders. I immediately wanted to be a Greaser and fell hard for the Curtis brothers. Wuthering Heights? Catcher in the Rye? Pride and Prejudice? All of the ideas that capture today’s hearts in books can be found in these classics. We may modernize the stories, twist them and flip them a bit, but the foundations are all there for what we continue to write today.
These books have the power to transport you to another time, another place and surround you with people you love, you hate and that you love to hate. How powerful is that for a person, especially a young person?
So this has me to thinking, wondering what other titles I want to have around for my children and myself to enjoy. Any suggestions? I’m making my list and my husband is perusing the want ads as I type!
As I walked into heaven, also known as the book store to mortals, I inhaled deeply. Have I mentioned my love affair with the written word? If not, I have one. It’s a small one, but intense nonetheless.
I wandered through the aisles, wide-eyed and wistful, mentally adding titles to my “Want” list. My fingers traced the spines of the various titles and my eyes drank in the pretty covers. I am going to need at least two more jobs to pay for the many books on my list. Or my husband is :P.
That’s when I spied it. The very thing I didn’t even know I was looking for. The Summer Reading book table in the center of the main aisle, piled high with the books I’ve loved to read over the years. A Tale of Two Cities, Tom Sawyer, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and so many more. I wanted them all. My head hurt from the many choices, and my hands ended up hurting from picking up book after book and then my arms were aching from the load.
Eventually I settled on four. I bought Catcher in the Rye, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Outsiders. My heart ached every time I had to make a choice between books. I didn’t want to give any of them up. Needless to say, more trips to the book store are planned.
The choices I made were based partly on my two older girls. They both are fanatic readers and have already started summer reading lists for the Mark Twain Awards, but I want them exposed to so many more titles beyond the new ones. I am a strong believer in the classics. They have withstood the test of time for a reason.
I remember the first time I read The Outsiders. I immediately wanted to be a Greaser and fell hard for the Curtis brothers. Wuthering Heights? Catcher in the Rye? Pride and Prejudice? All of the ideas that capture today’s hearts in books can be found in these classics. We may modernize the stories, twist them and flip them a bit, but the foundations are all there for what we continue to write today.
These books have the power to transport you to another time, another place and surround you with people you love, you hate and that you love to hate. How powerful is that for a person, especially a young person?
So this has me to thinking, wondering what other titles I want to have around for my children and myself to enjoy. Any suggestions? I’m making my list and my husband is perusing the want ads as I type!
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