AWARD WINNERS, CHALLENGES AND REREADING

Brightly

A quick post today to suggest other ways to find a book to read. Brightly is a blog started by publisher Penguin Random House in 2014 to help parents and educators connect kids with the right books at the right time. The layout of the blog makes it extremely easy to use and provides some great ideas to make reading fun. They also have a newsletter that you can subscribe to. Be selective about what sites or blogs you follow. Manage your social media. If you find you are not getting great suggestions for you, then it's not a fit and unsubscribe. There are so many great places to find ideas today but don't get lost in the forest of social media time waste. Focus on that book a week or challenge of your choice for maximum pleasure.

Another place to find inspiration is on the ALA (American Library Association) website. You can follow them on all the regular social media outlets, but check out their "Award, Grants and Scholarship" pages and create your own reading challenges from the comprehensive Award Lists. Perhaps this year you will see how many Caldecott Award Winners you can read in 2018! Book Riot author Laura Sackton offers 50 DIY Reading Challenges to Make 2018 the Best Reading Year of Your Life! There are 50 great ideas here including number 8 "Read 52 comics - one comic per week!" or how about number 10, "Think of one or two authors who have written at least one book that  you've loved. Now read everything else those authors have published." (Madeleine L'Engle was "her" first!).

Visit your library or shop your local indie bookstore!

Speaking of Madeleine L'Engle, reading or rereading a book you've already read is another way to keep your reading on track - especially when a movie is about to come out! I'm not certain how many times or when I last read A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle -  you can see by the cover photo it's an older version! I'm rereading the book so I'm ready for the March 9th release of the Disney movie. If you follow this blog, you know I am a firm believer of reading the book FIRST. For me, I won't even watch the trailer before I finish rereading the book...but if you want to entice your students or child, by all means watch the trailers.