Tap! Tap! Tap! 🎤 Is this thing on?? We’re fully into SUMMER break and I figured it’s time to hop on and give a quick reading update on some new K-12 reads I’ve enjoyed. Feel free to follow or “friend” my Goodreads account where I update my reading, almost daily.
With the extra craziness this spring, I’ve only read/reviewed 145 new books since January. However, the good news is that I’ve nearly finished all of the 93 Cybils Awards 2021 Finalists. I am working on the very last one this week and I’m a bit sad this challenge is coming to an end. Beth of Library Chicken created an amazing finalists checklist that is easy to navigate. So if you’d like to join us, CLICK HERE to set up your account and check off which ones you’ve finished.
Here are the 93 book covers. Vespertine is what I’m currently working on. Whew!
🌞 Summer is a really great time for students, teachers, librarians, and parents to squeeze in some extra reads. That said, Sue Jackson over at Book by Book is hosting her 10th annual Big Book Summer Challenge for 400+ paged books. The challenge group may be closed at this time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t grab up a few of those “big books” and hit it while you can! And feel free to CLICK OVER to check out how the annual challenge works (and maybe consider signing up next summer)!
In other news, we’re heading to Texas to spend July with our families. I cannot even BEGIN to say just how excited we are to get to see our parents, siblings, aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews, and cousins (while taking our children around to all our old stompin’ grounds)! So I probably won’t be blogging a whole lot during the entire month of July. But I’ll certainly have my pile of books while we travel and I look forward to sharing what I enjoyed just as soon as humanly possible!
Currently Reading:
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson is a young adult, paranormal, high fantasy novel that has me clamoring for extra reading time. It was a finalist in the Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction category. I can’t wait to tell you more about it, next week!
To Be Read:
As always, I have a stack of picture books from our college Interlibrary Loan, another from our local public library, and more through Overdrive/Libby. As I’m finishing the Cybils 93 books challenge this week, I’ll probably be heading back to my #MustReadin2022 challenge to select a new pile for our upcoming travels.
Reading Challenge Updates:
Goodreads Challenge: 145/200
CYBILS Finalists 2021: 92/93
#MustReadin2022: (Um… I really need to update this challenge!! 😬)
If this is your first visit to my blog, welcome! Today is Monday, and I regularly participate in a weekly #IMWAYR meme. Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give Kathryn’s (at Book Date) “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” meme a kidlit focus, reviewing books in children’s literature (picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in the world of kidlit). If you enjoy this type of reading, join us every Monday to share what you’ve been reading.
The Miller Memo 
Some really great book covers here! I have to check my #MustReadin2022 list, too. I feel I have been neglecting it!
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Yeah, I hate getting to October and suddenly needing to spend the remainder of my year ONLY reading from my “must read” list. LOL Thanks for visiting, Lisa!
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Shaye! I’m excited to see you on IMWYR again! The list challenge for the Cybils finalists is a great resource – I’ve only read five, so I need to get moving! Vespertine looks very atmospheric and mysterious.
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Thank you for the excitement in my return. ❤️ It looks like I’ll be moving in just a few weeks, so we’ll see if I can make it back on here again before July. And I think “atmospheric and mysterious” is quite accurate. There’s such depth to the feelings in this book. I’ve been drinking it in and taking my time. Thanks for dropping by, Wendi!
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It’s great to see another update from you, Shaye! I’m so impressed that you’re just about finished reading all of last year’s Cybils finalists—that takes resolve that I must say I don’t have! And I hope you and your family have a wonderful time in Texas in July—it must be nice to get together with everyone again. Enjoy your reading, and thanks so much for the wonderful post!
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Awww Max, it’s so nice to be back. ❤️ So I’ll *try* to post again before July – I gain so much by participating regularly!! And making Cybils my priority has helped me make it through before July. My e-book copy of Vespertine just returned yesterday before I was finished. AGHHHHH! And since there are two more people on the waiting list, now I have to decide if I’m willing to go buy a copy OR wait until it’s available again. Yes, we’re sooooo looking forward to being back with family. I’ve missed seeing everyone so much and I especially hate that my children have missed out on years with their cousins. We will see how much we can squeeze into three weeks. Thanks for swinging by this week, Max!
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I’m so sorry your copy of Vespertine just returned itself—I hope you’re able to get ahold of it again soon!
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While my borrowing period ended through my Libby/Overdrive account, I turned off my WiFi on my iPad and the book is still downloaded there. So I’m hoping that will allow me to finish the last bit of the book. 😂 So far, so good!
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Ha—that’s perfect, and I hope it works out!
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Hello Shaye! I did the happy dance seeing your post here today. Vespertine sounds fabulous! My library even has copies of it in many formats. I noted that it is 400 pages so it qualifies for Sue’s Big Book Challenge. I don’t think it’s too late to join for now at least.
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I’m honored by your happy dance, Cheriee! ❤️ I’ve missed participating. I ALWAYS gain so much by showing up and your lists have inspired an incredible amount of my reading. Oh that’s so great that it’s not too late to join the Big Book challenge! I’m not sure how much reading time I’ll have with all the travel, but perhaps I can squeeze in a couple 400+ paged books. I’m not yet finished with Vespertine, so that could be my first. 😂 Thanks for visiting!!
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I’ve been missing you, Shaye, so how on earth did I miss this one post from June?? I guess I stopped checking after awhile 🙂
Thanks for the shout-out to Big Book Summer Challenge – FYI, you can sign up at any time all summer long – even now in August, if you wanted to fit in one Big Book before Labor Day!
I hope you enjoyed your summer in Texas with family – sounds like fun! And I bet you’ve read some great books this summer. I can’t wait to hear the highlights when you get back online!
Sue
Book By Book
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