“Gone to the Woods” – by the author of Hatchet – wonderful book – his story of the start of his life – and it was compelling

“The Other Half of Happy” – a Ms. Blount new CMS book – pretty good – about the challenges of being Hispanic in America – identity issues

“Passing the Baton” – Book on the significance of African-American women in track and field – beginning in 1948 – it was probably used for a doctoral thesis – so it was less narrative than repetitive analysis – but still was entertaining to me b/c of the running tie-in:)

“Rapture” – Coach of the Raptors – good read – made me think of Coach Mac – I think he’d enjoy the book

“The Big Three” – yes, it was a basketball week – this book was on the Celtics – their Big Three from 2008 – wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped – I’d heard most of the stories

“Bluebird, Bluebird” – when your friend’s mom in Tennessee says to read a book, you read a book

“The Great Pauline Fink” – absolutely loved this book – YA – clever, funny – if you grow up in a rural area, you’d like it too:)

“The Tyranny of Merit” – great read by a Harvard prof on problems in the Ivys – and problems with the Ivys are problems gifted kids have too – so I got a lot out of the book

“The Book Thief” – fabulous book – don’t know why I didn’t read it earlier – just wonderful – and a great example of how every YA doesn’t have to be a love story – there are more important issues in life…

“Cod” – the legacy of the previous 8th grade ELA reg ed teacher – she ordered a ton of books that stayed shelved for years – this one was one of them – not great, even if you love fishing (and if you love fishing, you’re probably not reading a long biography about a fish…)

“My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich” – I wanted to like this book – the narrator wanted to go to space camp in Huntsville – but she was not likable and the book wasn’t either

The Promise of Change – great book about the integration of TN schools in 1956 – written in free verse – outstanding

“Bringing Down a President” – Nixon and Watergate – for YA, outstanding – not sure how many kids will be into it though

“The Year We Fell From Space” – great book that tackles adolescent depression – and her conversations with a rock were amazing:)

“Dalko” – what do you do when your talent doesn’t come through? Outstanding baseball book – loved it – the inspiration for Bull Durham

“The Answer Is” – Alex Trebek’s book – really well done – sad, of course – but well done and enjoyed it – hoping for the best for him

“A Free Man of Color” – when your friend’s mom gives you a book, you read the book

“Chase Your Dreams” – great book by a current soccer star, Julie Ertz – used a bit of the coachable part in class

“Parenting with Words of Grace” – great book for teachers – and for parents:) reminded me that what we say reflects what we believe about God

“42 Today” – great book about Jackie Robinson – I have read so many things about him – and could read so many more b/c there’s so much about his life that is fascinating

“Rise of Skywalker” – waited for a long time to get this book – disappointed, like the movie…

“Home is Where the Heart Is” – New book I raided from our library from Ms. Blount – not a fan:)

“The Time of Green Magic” – meh, not a fan – way overhyped – a younger grade book – Iffen…

“Bad Boy” – wonderful book – wonderful memoir by a wonderful author – great gifted takeaways

“Taking Flight” – given to my by a friend – harrowing story of a ballerina – escaping Sierra Leone – wonderful NF I somehow missed a few years ago

“The Warden’s Daughter” – liked it – Goodreads didn’t – but I thought it was okay – Spinelli’s books are similar (write what you know, right?)

“Bravey” – by far, the highlight of the week – probably the month – probably the summer – lots of takeaways – about fathers, about running, about creativity – just a wonderful book and highly recommendable

“a great reckoning” – louise penny novel – had a friend recommend the series – i can’t do series, but i can do a book – and it was good – surprisingly good – even gave me the ability to write a satire with it too – so yeah!

“star wars from a certain point of view” – great book – enjoyed the stories – what does everyone say about an anthology? that it’s too uneven – this one had chapters i did love over others – the sith of datawork was wonderful – as was the final story – but it was all pretty entertaining:)

“rabbit and robot” – creative YA – not really YA though – the review i read said it was R-rated YA – so yeah, that’s not really YA – but it was creative and i did enjoy it

“the room where it happened” – another one i started out not really liking and came around too – and it was funny – ironically so – that John Bolton so craved power that he became a Trump aide – only to see Trump endorse so many positions Bolton didn’t believe in – so the lesson here kids is that power isn’t everything:)

“out of left field” – great book from the author of green glass sea – another favorite – this was a book related to it – and in time for baseball season:)

“The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell” – wonderful book on a forgotten baseball player – amazingly, he was in the Hall of Fame 20 years before his own state of Mississippi got around to honoring him

“Becoming a Teacher” – not my book – at all – disappointed with it – could’ve been so much more

“Football’s Fearless Activists” – didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know from Howard Bryant’s book

“Culturize” – read b/c of a friend – it’s from that “positive mindset is everything” shelf – which is a nice thought, but there are also analytical ways to attack problems

“Homesteading Space” – wonderful book on Skylab – came from Space Camp – our speaker – great, great book – David Hitt is the author

“Waiting for Fitz” – library book I won – not great

“Ickabog” – JK Rowling’s latest – cute – took a while to get into – and I needed to know it came from stories she told her own children – after that, I could get into it

“His Truth is Marching On” – great book – John Lewis – really enjoyed that book and reminded me to keep fighting

“This Book is Not Yet Rated” – great YA – enjoyed it – and just in time for Father’s Day when I read it – great book for someone who loves books:)

“The Undefeated” – great picture book – it won an award this past year, after all:) but great book

“Scary Stories for Young Foxes” – another great book – took a while to get to “great,” but it got there – and I enjoyed it – would love to add it to my sixth grade reading list

“Deacon King Kong” – Oprah liked it – so how could I not? 🙂 took a few pages, but I really enjoyed it after that – highly recommendable

“We Are Not From Here” – another great read – not for middle school, per se, but really good, gripping account

“SNES Encyclopedia” – AND if you’re a child of the ’90s, a must book recapping every game ever made for the SNES – wow, upon reflection, there were some really bad games made:)

“A Synthesizing Mind” – Howard Gardner – great book – will be my AAGC presentation this fall

“Female of the Species” – very strange YA book – very strange – not every day you get to identify with a killer:)

“A Way With Words” – good reminder that what we say online is important – meaningful – and we are held accountable

“Luke Skywalker Adventure: Weapon of a Jedi” – book I won from Ms. Blount – enjoyed it

“Schoolhouse Burning” – excellent book about how we’re not funding public schools to the degree we should

“Kind of a Big Deal” – really funny YA on a kid who “peaked” in high school and her struggles afterwards – references to musicals!!!

“Mighty Justice” – for young readers – probably high school/upper middle school – excellent book

“Exercised” – Harvard researcher on the conflicts between our bodies really always wanting to lounge around but having been designed for activity – great book

“Be All In” wonderful new book by a former USWNT player – wrote 3 pages of notes on all I learned from the book

“Pastport: Alabama” – breezy guide to all 67 counties in the state for the bicentennial – it was interesting

“Furyborn” – funny in all the wrong ways:) definitely not a YA book if the Y means young:)

“This is Shakespeare” – good overview of 20 of his plays – the chapters on the ones I cover were interesting

“The Outside Circle” – graphic novel about a program for Native Americans in Canada – good

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – Hunger Games prequel – good – lived up to the hype – feel like there could be more of these books coming

“The Football Girl” – book prize winner – meh

“Some Tellable Tales of Shelby County” – Judge Head’s recollection of Columbiana – enjoyable read

“Forever Terry” – great book on a great person – still remembered well in Canada 40 years later – really enjoyed this one

“The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss” – cute YA – good math jokes in there – good description of math/sci gifted characters

“Go Set a Watchman” – took me long enough to read, I guess – really hadn’t missed anything though in my opinion

“Rise and Fall of Stan Lee” – interesting read – Lee was the face of Marvel – and there’s a good case for why he shouldn’t be – complicates his legacy – and the last 20 years of his life were bad

“Code Name Verity” – reread – from the Ms. Blount files – a book I won – did not remember it nearly as well as I thought I did

“Gods at Play” – really good book – needed a sports book – and this one was the memories of a sportswriter – new stories – I enjoyed it

“Hunger Games” – beginning of the trilogy – Katniss was a more sympathetic character than I remembered

“Catching Fire” – this is was my first reread of the trilogy – to have not watched any of the movies beyond the first one, I gave myself credit for remembering quite a bit

“Mockingjay” – good friend told me she reread the series and appreciated the politics – I didn’t remember any but the anti-war message – but I caught a bit more this time – b/c honestly, why would you wear a Mockingjay pin at the end of the book? the rebellion was just as problematical as the Capital – and I did not remember the ending as “hopeful” as the final key was

“Here to Stay” – a Ms. Blount freebie – and good – it was set in Boston – that’s all I need – but some basketball references – and the book definitely wins for most correct uses of “whom” I’ve ever read

“Blood for Blood” – highly recommendable – I am not a fan of WWII fan fiction – I think it’s overdone – but this one was well done

“Cary Grant” – book for my mother – I read it b/c it’s not like I don’t have time to read everything right now:) interesting book – sad though

“Evil Angels” – from Dr. Rush – she gave up sports radio for podcasts – and this book was about a podcast – it was an interesting book – took me 30 pages to kick it into gear, but I did enjoy it – and I’m counting the book as professional learning:)

“The Called Shot” – my sweetspot – a sports book – about the 1932 baseball season – I did enjoy that one

“Elway” – this was another sweetspot – Broncos QB when I grew up – his dad was a coach and I learned a few lessons in the book from him

“Stars of Alabama” – disappointing – I guess – I mean, if everyone likes it, that’s usually a sign I won’t, except…

“Kite Runner” – should’ve read this book long ago – very well done – SCHS summer read at some point – I got it from a former student – but very good

“She Comes by it Natural” – another pleasant surprise – about Dolly Parton – I enjoyed the book’s effort to tie Parton into feminist themes from the past 40 years – very well done

“Above the Clouds” – book on a mountaineer – but he’s also a really good distance runner – it was okay – I knew if I didn’t read it and saw people later saying it was great, I’d be upset that I hadn’t read it – so now that I’ve read it, meh, was better off not reading it:)

“Racing the Rain” – first in a running trilogy that’s my all-time fave – so a re-re-re-read – at least – but good

“Once a Runner” – probably fourth time I’ve read it – but first time in at least 5-6 years – I did enjoy it

“Again to Carthage” – the final book in the series – and, again, a great read:)