slow compared to the months before – in my defense, tougher reading – or maybe i’m just making excuses:)

“what happened” – hillary clinton’s book on the election – obviously, your political view will influence how you read this book – honestly, you probably don’t read it if you don’t feel for her in the first place – that said, i liked it – i know no one else did – they wanted her to take more of the blame for the election – whatever…

“i’m buffy and you’re history” – great book – very much enjoyed it – made me go back and listen to “once more with feeling” a few more times – even used one idea at the gifted conference – basically, that series is just super rich and there’s a lot in it to write about

“my gold” – frank shorter – good book about the US marathon gold medalist at Munich – he’d actually written a book before – maybe like 1984 – and I’d read that one too – this one went into the abuse he suffered from his father – a beloved small-town doctor – abuse that shorter kept secret for most of his life – so his courage to now come forward, i thought that was good and powerful

“becoming brilliant” – read so i could be a good uncle to my niece – who’s one-years-old – but the book wasn’t really about child development – it was about how terrible schools are – and it blamed testing – grrr – basically, just written by peeps who didn’t know what they were talking about – but you know, throwing stones at public education always works…

j

“One Goal” – great book about soccer in Maine – how a longtime soccer coach at a high school incorporated Somalian refugees to construct a state winning team – it was predictable what would happen, but the book was interesting b/c it explored the complexities of immigration on small towns

“What Made Maddy Run” – exceptional book – but very sad – I think I’m presenting on this book tomorrow – about the term destructive perfectionism – the idea of what happens when a high achiever comes back to the back – a lot of kids can’t handle that well – I see it all the time in middle school – so very good

“Hideout” – middle school BOB – good read – and by a local author, that was a nice plus

“Black Bruins” – love this book – about the 1939/40 UCLA Bruins – they had four African-American football players – including Jackie Robinson – at a time when football was fairly segregated (the NFL had re-segregated) – I learned a lot about that time – I knew a lot about Robinson, but not much about his UCLA years – he was truly an amazing athlete

j

“disappeared” – ms. fuller of the county lent this book to me – i love that author – tackled a difficult subject – with good writing – and included the great question of where God was in the midst of it all – which is a great question to explore in life

“winner take all” – definitely not a middle school book – was about highly gifted kids though – but pretty shockingly not YA material – was glad to get through it

“geeked up” – short book about LAME – new superheroes at a middle school – it had cute moments – and lots of drawings

“thinking in threes” – teaching book – incorporated some of it into our five paragraph essays – I am hopeful to include more later

“all’s faire in middle school” – i used this example with sixth grade on our essays – highly recommendable – homeschool kid whose parents are renaissance fair workers tries middle school – cute premise and pretty okay

“extreme ownership” – what i talked to seventh and eighth grade about – US Navy seals who advise businesses – wish i could turn teaching into the same big buck advising:)

“Violated” – sad, sad book from ESPN reporters – about the problems at Baylor – made me think of how schools at the local level could do a better job in addressing student concerns – or whether there would always be a problem – but in light of the Secretary of Education’s address last week, an apt book to be reading

“Dandelion Fire” – book 2 of the 100 cupboards series – good – definitely recommendable as young adult – like 4th-5th grade reading – it does bug me that the female characters are underdeveloped – I don’t have to have them fighting dragons and being superheroes – but I’d like them to at least do more than fix dinner…

“No Other Team” – great book by an MLS player – lived his life in Kansas – good stories about the US National Team – but moreover, good life lessons – I’d like to use one of the passages with my scholars bowl kids – about how to properly ride the bench – to be a contributing, positive force rather than a nuisance when you don’t play

“Train Smarter, Run Forever” – mom’s book – I borrowed it after she finished – new book from Runner’s World on how to preserve your running life as long as you can – how to be smart about it – good read

j

so i call the early lead in the race to complete one’s book card from ms. blount…

“golden days” – compared the lakers of 1971-72 to the warriors of 2017 – the tie-in was jerry west – it was an interesting book – lots i already knew, but still entertaining

“100 cupboards” – really good middle grades book – first in a series – it’s about 10 years old – the prequel just recently came out – i will definitely read the second and third books