The Journey Begins

I used to read all the time. When I was in elementary school and my mom dragged me around on errands, I would beg her to buy me the latest Sweet Valley kids/twins/high books, Christopher Pike mysteries, or Bobsey Twins books. I would read every every night before I fell asleep, and my mom would bring books home for me to read from the middle school where she was librarian. I was even allowed to skip school on special occasions when there was a middle school author visit! A signed book on my bookshelf was a prized treasure....and still is. Dork.

I also used to write all the time in my journal, for the high school newspaper, and for my college literary magazine. I was an English major in college and loved the "homework" of reading a classic by the next class and writing a critique on it. My writing was good. It was unique. Clever. Witty. Now I've gotten sucked into the world of short, unimaginative emails and Facebook chat. (I am still holding out on text messages. I do see the value of a face-to-face conversation. That's a subject for a whole other blog though.)  

I am challenging myself to read at least one young adult book every week for a year. Why?
I am a high school librarian, and I see it as part of my job to stay on top of trends in the young adult literature world. During the past few years, I've gone on periodic reading rampages, reading book after book after book until I'm burned out and then don't want to read again for a couple of months. I've pretty much exhausted my public library's young adult books on cd, listening during my 35+ minute commute to and from school each day, and my heart beats a little faster each time new titles come in.

And so, here I am, challenging myself to do something I've never done before. I hope to walk away from this experience with my head held high, able to share new titles with my students and colleagues. This will give me an excuse to set a reading pace and not go through any lulls for a while. Maybe this will make me famous-- probably not. Maybe no one will even read this, but at least I will be intrinsically satisfied, and it can only strengthen my status as high school librarian extraordinaire!

My rules that I totally just made up:
1) Audio books count.
2) I can read plays, verse novels, and nonfiction.
3) Each book must be published in 2010 or later.
4) Aim to start and finish on Sundays.
5) I can read ahead (but I'll try not to).
6) Update blog within 3 days of finishing a book.
7) Highly consider student and teacher recommendations.
8) Books must be of young-adult interest.
9) I must read at least 5 sci-fi/fantasy and 5 historical fiction books.
10) I reserve the right to stop reading a book and start a new one if I still can't stand it after 40 pages.
11) I reserve the right to break my own rules.

The journey begins NOW! Read my next post.