April 2026 Reading

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

This month I read:

  • The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Ours Kids Learning– And How to Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Cooney Horvath – I read this book because of the national conversations about educational technology, and kids access to personal devices inside and outside of school. We are having these conversations locally as well, and it’s important to read all of the perspectives out there. This neuroscientist delves into his concerns about AI, cell phone use, reading on digital devices, and the educational technology business boom. There were data points shared with assumed correlations that make significant assumptions about what happens in classrooms, most of which does not happen in any elementary classroom I’ve been in. However, there is always more we can do to ensure we are being purposeful and intentional with tech use, whether for our students in classrooms, or ourselves and the endless doomscroll we all get sucked into at times.
  • Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez [audiobook] – I love a fun romance by Abby Jimenez, and this was cheesy and silly and goofy and delightful to read. Our characters meet cute takes place in a vet’s office when Dr. Xavier meets his new patient, Samantha and her rescue kitten. After a rocky start, they realize they have a connection and go on a fun and disasterous first date (Come On Eileen plays a role, which is hysterical!). Then, they attempt a long-distance get-to-know-you situationship because Samantha has to take care of her mother with dementia. This book was full of family, friendship, hard choices, and real life challenges, along with grade sweeping romantic delcarations and gestures.
  • Told You So by Macyi Neeley [audiobook] – I know Macyi through the reality show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, but I clearly didn’t know the reality of her life before reading this memoir. Mayci grew up in Southern California in a very wealthy family. She was a young tennis star, working on a college scholarship when she began to test to limits of Mormon culture as a teenager. She details all of her experimentation with friends, her early dating, and dedicates a significant amount of time descripbing two key relationships she had, one of which was full of abuse and manipulation. I didn’t know these details of her past, as her current life as a working mom, a businesswoman, and TikTok and reality star, is very different. While I didn’t think the writing was strong, I was interested to learn about her history and sad to read so many hard details. I enjoyed this as an audiobook.
  • End of Watch by Stephen King – This was the end of a trilogy about the mercedes killer and the retired detective, Bill Hodges, who found and arrested him. In the final insallment, the killer, Brady, is in the hospital with such a severe head injury that he is not fit to stand trial for his crimes. Bill still finds connections back to Brady when mysterious deaths by suicide pop up around town, leading Bill back to his unfinished business with the sick and twisted killer. Bill’s friends, Holly and Jerome, play significant roles in this installment, and the action races to a dramatic closure. I loved this series; I enjoy King’s crime books as they are faster paced than his horror stories.
  • Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez [audiobook] – I loved this sweet romcom! When Bri first meets Jacob, there is a lot of miscommunication and you think they will be enemies forever. But once things are cleared up, they quickly become friends, then penpals, then friends who are pretending to be more, and then the fun begins. This was a very slow burn romance with a lot of funny side characters and a LOT of miscommunication, but I loved the main characters and I was rooting for them throughout it all!
  • Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser – This is my April book club book, and I would never have read it if it wasn’t chosen for me. This is a retelling of Cinderella, from the perspective of the wicked stepmother. Only in this story. Ethel is a mother of two and stepmother to one, after being twice widowed and saddled in debt, and she is doing whatever it takes to give her daughters a better life. While it was slow to start, I really enjoyed this story once it got going. Whatever you think you know about the Cinderalla story can feel completely different from a new perspective. The last third was so good I couldn’t wait to keep reading and find out how it would end.
  • American Fantasy by Emma Straub – My brother got me an autographed copy of this book, when he heard that the book was about a 50 year old woman who loves a boy band from her youth. He knows me well! I swear, this book was based on the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), who I have seen in concert 26 times, but never on their cruise. In this story, we meet Annie, who agrees to go on the Boy Talk cruise with her sister after her recent mid-life divorce. We also follow the 5 band members and one of the crew responsible for keeping them safe and on time. If you aren’t an avid fan of boy bands, or if you don’t want to know what rabid fandoms look like up close, this is not the book for you. For me, I pictured my beloved NKOTB members as I read the book, and all of the many wild, fun, and totally insane fans I’ve met in the 35+ years I’ve been following them.
  • The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai [audiobook] – Knowing that I am travelling to Vietnam in June, I asked my book club for recommendations of books that take place in Vietnam. This beautifully written story was high on the list. We follow a family from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, as their family suffers many tragedies during the Land Reform and then the Vietnam War, which they called the American War. This is a hearbreaking tale of a desperate mother and her children, and the people they become.
  • Em by Kim Thúy – This was a fascinating collection of interconnected short stories, based on real events around the Vietnam War. We followed soldiers, young women, orphans, babies adopted in America, young adults who return to Vietnam, and so many stories of how the Vietnam War impacted the lives of millions of people. The author, originally from Vietnam, based the stories on interviews and history and shares even more at the end of the book. I was proud to recognize a few Vietnamese words from my Duolingo studies!
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Praise, Feedback, and Pride in Education

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

I have a friend who convinced me, despite my protests, to record regular Marco Polo videos back and forth with her on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. One thing that we try to do on Fridays is share some joy from our work week and something we are proud of, which can be surprisingly hard for us, and for many educators that I know. Why is it hard to admit we are proud of our work? Why is it hard to toot our own horn?

Throughout my 30 years in public education, I have met very few educators who are comfortable with praise about their work, comfortable being in the spotlight, or even able or willing to name and share their greatest strengths and gifts as educators. What happens to us in this career that makes it so hard us for us to honor what we do? Is it because the world at large doesn’t often respect education? It is because we entered this career not for honors bestowed on us, but to see our impacts through the actions of those we teach? Is it because so many of us have received little to no feedback on our work?

As a school leader, I am passionate about being a life-long learner and an instructional coach. I believe that one of the best things I can do as a leader is provide feedback to the educators with whom I work. I believe that everyone deserves honest, specific, timely feedback on their work. Yet, each year I meet educators, from systems all across the United States, who have rarely or never gone through a formal evaluation and rarely or never receive feedback of any kind from a peer or a supervisor.

I still make it a goal to visit every classroom in my district every year. Every time I visit a classroom during one of my site visits, I follow up with a specific, personal email to each teacher. I continue to be amazed by how often teachers will thank me profusely for this small gesture, as it is more feedback than they usually receive. Just this week I had a teacher say to me, “Thank you for your reflective feedback; one of my favorite parts about your visits is your thoughtful follow-up email.” I don’t share this to brag (although I guess I could count this as something I’m proud of this week!), but to illustrate my point.

Every year our district holds one large professional development event we call “Teachers Teaching Teachers”. We have a two hour afternoon where we offer sessions created by teachers for teachers. Every teacher in the district comes together and have the chance to choose two sessions to attend, based on their own interests and professional goals. This event is something that I am very proud of! However, what happens every year is that when we first send out the email inviting teachers to submit their ideas for sessions, we get very few responses. Then, my team and I brainstorm who we want to reach out to and encourage to participate. I personally invite people to share sessions based on their strengths, their talents, the work I see them doing so well in their classrooms, and I try to be as specific as possible. Because, after 30 years of working with humble educators, what I know is that most teachers think they are ordinary, that everyone teaches just like they do. I know this is not true and I name the attributes that make one teacher unique from their peers. So many teachers do not know that what they do is special. They have never been given specific feedback about their strengths.

I have had the privilege, as an instructional coach and an administrator for the last 20 years, to visit thousands of classrooms. That is not an exaggeration. I visit more than 100 classrooms a year, so I been in well over 2,000, but probably closer to 4,000 throughout my career (and it’s not over yet!). I will brag about myself and say that I am very skilled at recognizing talented instructional strategies, key teacher moves, and evidence of successful student learning. I pride myself in being able to see evidence of high quality teaching and learning, even in very short visits in classrooms. If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing in schools, I would wish for every teacher to receive the direct, honest, specific feedback they deserve. I would wish for every teacher to be proud to name what they are exceptional at in their classrooms, to shout from the rooftops what they do that makes a positive impact on students, and for them to be paid a salary that matches these incredible strengths.

If you are an educator reading this, I encourage you to provide a fellow educator feedback in the coming week. Tell someone what you admire about their work, what you see them do that is impressive, be bold and generous with your praise!

This post is part of a series called Explorations in Instructional Leadership. I plan to use this series to dive into some of the topics that are rising to the surface in my work, topics that I am researching for future study, and topics that impact student learning and pedagogy.

Introduction to Explorations in Instructional Leadership

The Science of Reading

Scope and Sequence

How to Teach Reading

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Quotes aligned to EASE in 2026

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

I love quotes and I was inspired by this post by George Couros to gather some quotes to continue my 2026 with intentions to live my word of the year, EASE.

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. ~ Hal Borland

You won’t look back and remember the time you didn’t complete your to-do list, but you may look back and remember the beautiful life you lived. ~ Courtney Carver

Instead of focusing on how much you can accomplish, focus on how much you can absolutely love what you’re doing. ~ Leo Babauta

So in fact, narrowing down our choices means less overwhelm, and more creativity. ~ Courtney Carver

Being at ease with himself put him at ease with the world. ~ John Steinbeck

Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. ~ Bryant McGille

Some quotes you find about ease are derogatory, which feeds into that culture of busy and hustle that I’m trying to step away from this year. Many quotes imply that a life of ease is a lazy life or one not worth living. That is cultural message I am challenging for myself this year. My goal for the year when I chose the word ease was to bring presence, calm, gentleness, contentedness, and peace of mind into my life. As we near the halfway point of the year (how is this possible already?!), I think that I’ve done this well in some ways and I’ve struggled and had to remind myself of the goal many other times. But that is the joy of failure and the value of having a goal; EASE is always there for me when I’m ready for it.

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March 2026 Reading

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

Spring break fell during this month, so I got some good reading in despite a busy couple of work weeks to start. My word of the year, EASE, is showing up in my book choices and that feels like exactly what I need right now. This month I read:

  • March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell – I’m glad someone told me about this trilogy of graphic novels. I learned so much about John Lewis, his activism, and more human details of the Civil Rights movement from the perspective of some of the young Black leaders who fought for rights with peaceful nonviolence. While graphic novels aren’t my favorite way to read stories, I appreciate this method to tell this particular story. The final book in the series covered the Bloody Sunday in Selma and the march from Selma to Montgomery. What saddened me a lot was how so many lines from the book, about the 1960’s fights, rang true today, in 2026.
  • Stuck in the Middle with You by Frances M. Thompson – I found this author on Instagram and I’m glad, because she has a large collection of queer romance books. This was a fun story of Giles and Marcello, who are acquaintances turned gym buddies turned “sex tutor-student” to so much more. However, there was a lot a lot of details about ADHD and OCD, with affirming and supportive conversations. I enjoyed the family, the found family, and the honoring of each person’s individual quirks done so beautifully.
  • Margin of Error by Rachel Lacey – I read my first book by this author last month and knew I wanted to read more. In this sweet story we meet Charlotte and Marin when they meet by chance on a NYC bus. After a quick but fun conversation where they never even learn each other’s name, Marin gets off the bus and immediately gets into an accident on the street. Charlotte jumps off the bus to wait for the ambulance with this new stranger, and believes she may have died by the time the ambulance pulls away. Based on that information, Charlotte changes her whole life, eventually moving back to Vermont to start a new life as a realtor in her hometown. One of her first clients is Marin, the mystery woman from the bus, who didn’t die! Marin also changed her whole life after her accident, and the two quickly become friends. However, Marin is finally coming out as a lesbian, later in life, and is ready to date. This friendship is both fun and torture for both women, for different reasons that shift throughout the story. I loved how their friendship and their feelings evolved. And I really loved the representation of this specific story.
  • One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad – I heard about this nonfiction book from Laura Tremaine, but I clearly didn’t listen well because I had NO IDEA what it was actually about. The author, Omar, was born in Egypt, raised in Quatar, then emigrated to Canada, and now lives in Oregon. After reading about him, I’m interested in reading his novel as well.This book is an overview of the bombing of the Gaza strip and the genocide of Palestinians, along with historical and political context. The author points to the many ways in which most Americans/Canadians have looked the other way, depsite horrific atrocities, that our brains are somehow able to ignore. This genocide is horrific for many reasons, including politics, money, and power. It was interesting and hard to hear. A few lines that stood out to me were: ‘Vote for the librar though he harms you because the conservative will harm you more’ starts to sound a lot like, ‘Vote for the liberal though he harms you because the conversative might harm me, too.’ “Whose nonexistence is necessary to the self-conception of this place, and how uncontrollable is the rage whenver the nonexistence is violated?”
  • Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur [audiobook] – I have read other books by this romance author and enjoyed them. This one is about Truly, a romance author, and Colin, a divorce attorney, who meet on a podcast. Their initial argument turns into sparks, which they avoid, deny, and then address throughout this cute story. I found Truly a bit immature, but this was still a very spicy romance!
  • Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez [audiobook] – I enjoy Abby’s romance stories – they are like a well-written Hallmark movie. In this story, we meet Dr. Alexis Montomery, of the very rich and famous Montgomery family in the big city, when she has an accident in a small town and meets Daniel Grant, of the well-known small-town famous Grants. Despite their very different backgrounds, Alexis and Daniel have a connection they cannot deny. As they fight their feelings, and avoid facing the truth of their family legacies. This is a sweet romance with some hard truths about family expectations and domestic abuse woven in. I loved it!
  • You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate [audiobook] – This was a sad story, but I’m glad Christina was able to tell her own story her way before she loses the ability to communicate, due to her MS. I enjoyed hearing about her acting experiences. It was hard to read about childhood trauma and of course, her fight with breast cancer and now MS. I was most sad for her young daugther.
  • Culpability by Bruce Holsinger- I like this author was intrigued by the plot of this story. We meet a family just as they suffer an awful car crash. But this is not an ordinary crash. In this accident, the 18 year old son was “driving” but it was a self-driving car and he was texting just when something happened. His father was on his laptop in the front seat, not paying attention, and didn’t see what happened. The family is hurt and people in the other car are killed. The rest of the book is a look into the receovery, both physical and mental, of each family member, and the questions over guilt and responsibility, especially in an AI age. This was a thought-provoking story.
  • Kin by Tajari Jones – This was my book club book for March and it was incredible! I have loved Jones’s other books and this was did not disappoint. We meet Vernice and Annie in the 1960’s, as the are about to graduate high school and go off to new lives, after growing up motherless and as best friends. Vernice goes to a HBCU and Annie runs away on a quest to find the mother who abandoned her. As they lives diverge, they keep up via intermittment letters, sharing some of their stories but not all the details. They come back together for important moments, with a lot of emotion, found family, and life choices driving them forward. The writing was so beautiful and the story was bittersweet.
  • Finders Keepers by Stephen King – I read the first in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy last fall and knew I wanted to read more. Retired detective Bill Hodges caught the city center killer (who drove a stolen Mercedes) at the end of the first book, and we meet up with him halfway through this book, when he is called by a pre-teen daughter of a friend to help her brother. The brother, Peter, is one of our main characters, as he was lucky enought to find buried treasure and use it to his advantage until it caught up with him. This was a fun, fast ride, especially the last 10%!
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February 2026 Reading

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

What a wild ride of reading in February! My book choices were all over the place, some that I read quickly and some that I have been reading slowly since January. There is a lot of spice this month, with more to come since I’m leaning into the romance genre more this year! This month I read:

  • Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think about Abortion by Gabrielle Blair – This book, with the shocking title, was mentioned by a librarian in a professional meeting and there was much giggling amongst some people I know. However, we wanted to know more about it. I’m so glad I checked it out of my public library. In this short collection of essays, Gabrielle Blair, known as @DesignMom on social media, makes 28 points about fertility, safe sex, men, women, social expectations, and more, all backed by facts and statistics. Here are just a few of the key points: Men are 50 times more fertile than women. Ovulation is involuntary, ejaculation is not. We expect women to do the work of pregnancy prevention. Men cause all unwanted pregnancies. There are zero consequences for men who ejaculate irresponsibly. Her points hit hard against norms we have grown up being taught, subtly, through media, a lack of clear sex education, and inbalanced access to affordable birth control. Every parent raising a young man who wants to sleep with women should read this and prepare to read and discuss it with their child. Everyone who participates in hetero-cis sex should read this. WOW.
  • Game Changer by Rachel Reid – Game Changers is the first book in the series that was turned into the show Heated Rivalry. This book was the basis for episode #3, but I’m so glad I read this because SO MUCH was left out of that brief story on tv. In the book, we get to know Scott Hunter and Kip in much more detail, feeling Scott’s fear of being a closeted hockey player, and Kip’s frustration over not being able to share his love in public. I love Scott, Kip, and all of Kip’s friends and family! The ending of this book was incredible, and so much more joyful and rewarding than I expected.
  • Margot’s Got Money Troubles by Ruffi Thorpe – This was such an interesting reading! Margot is a 19 year old who finds herself pregnant after a brief affair with her college professor. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to have the baby, and we follow her journey to learn how to be a mother, make money, and create a life. Meanwhile, she discovers how much she can earn on OnlyFans, using TikTok to find fans. We also learn a lot of professional wrestling, since Margot’s father is a famous retired wrestler. This was a fascinating look into the creator life and what people do to create and maintain a fan base on these sites.
  • The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Féret-Fleury – I heard this book described on a podcast, so I found it through my library. It’s a short novel about a young woman in France, who stumbles into a life-changing situation because she always reads on the Metro. With a bit of magical realism, a quirky book collector and his daughter bring Juliette into their unique world. This is a book about the joys of reading, of good books, and of enjoying the journeys.
  • Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann – I’m so glad this is the Secret Stuff book club choice for February, because without that I would have never picked up this book, written in 1967! While the book takes place in the 1940’s – 1960’s, it felt like it could have been about today – from the diet culture, judgement of women’s bodies, cheating men, and pill popping (those are the dolls!) to get through each day and night, this felt so modern that it was clearly ahead of it’s time. I loved the book, and the three heroines, Anne, Neely and Jennifer, with the strengths, their flaws, their career ambitions, their narcissism and their loves. This is a lot of hope and a lot of sadness throughout, but Anne was especially strong. It’s so hard to believe how the author dared to write such things in such a different time, and that they even published it!
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune [audiobook] – I first read this magical, beautiful, wonderful story back in 2021 and LOVED it. The second book in the series came out recently and I knew I needed to revisit the first book to remember all the great details before I jump into thew new book. I listened to this as an audiobook and it was just as sweet as I remember. Linus, who works for the government, is assigned a secret mission. He must visit an island orphanage full of magical creatures under the care of mysterious Arthur. Linus, a rule follower and a simple man, can barely handle all he learns from the creatures and about love and found family, and oh how he changes throughout the book. I love them all!
  • Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune [audiobook] – I LOVE TJ Klune! He is a beautiful queer author with a gift for storytelling that is both unique and yet universal. In this follow up to the Cerulean Sea story, we meet up with Arthur and Linus and their children while the government is trying to take away the kids, especially Lucy (the antichrist). We see a family find love, happiness, and safety in spite of significant bias and fear. They fight an uphill battle, but they do it together. Klune’s epilogue supporting Trans People was also beautiful and so well said.
  • Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy – This was a devastatingly beautiful Climate Fiction story about a near future when all wild animals are just about extinct. We follow wanderer Franny as she tries to find the last Arctic Terns on their final migration, while also learning about her past through flashbacks across time. We meet her family, learng of her childhood trauma, her marriage, her need to wander because of her fear of abandonmnet, and we fall in love with nature and the crew she adopts. This was sad and bittersweet and yet hopeful.
  • Fire Base Illingworth: An Epic True Story of Remarkable Courage Against Staggering Odds by Phillip Keith – Because I am travelling to Vietnam this summer, my friend and I have been on the look out for books that take place in Vietnam. When my friend sent me this title, I knew I had to read it since it is MY last name, though a historical retelling of one specific battle in the Vietnam war is not exactly my kind of book. This one little battle in one little area of Vietnam on April 1, was named after a young solider named John “Jack” Illingworth from Connecticut who died early in his first tour. The craziest part of all is that my father’s name was John “Jack” Illingworth and he was from Connecticut. The difference is that my father was unable to fight in Vietnam due to diabetes at the time. As I read about the Illingworth in this story, I felt like I was in a sliding doors moment – if my father had gone, I probably wouldn’t be here. Instead, a different Illingworth family (no relation to mine as far as I can tell) lost their Jack and mine didn’t. I wish my father was alive to read or at least hear about this wild story. After that personal touch, this was literally a minute by minute retelling of an awful nighttime attack where many soliders from both the US and Vietnam were killed or injured. It was horrifying and awful to read the details of the battle and horrors our soliders witnessed; it’s no wonder PTSD exploded after this war. This was hard to read but a detailed account of a moment in our history and I honor the lives lost and the heroes within the story.
  • Learning Curves by Rachel Lacey – Deep into my romance era, I found this new-to-me author will a full catalog of sapphic romance books to enjoy. I loved this story of younger Audrey being hired by her alma mater as a new professor of art, excited to work with her college mentor as a colleague, only to discover that her mentor, Michelle, is jaded and angry at the world. As Audrey makes it her mission to befriend this woman, we learn more about female artists left out of books and history, and see the sparks start to fly between the women in this slow burn story. I loved it!
  • Tough Guy by Rachel Reid [audiobook] – I love this Game Changers series! It’s so fun to read about big, huge, hockey players who are also sweet men who love men. The romance between Ryan Price and Fabian was very different than that of Shane and Ilya or Scott and Kip, but was equally enjoyable. Poor Ryan has a lot of anxiety, but when he reunites with an old friend from his teen years, their sparks are evident to everyone but Ryan at first. Fabian is a cool musician with a ton of patience as he gets to know Ryan. They are very sweet together and this was a fun story!
  • Common Goal by Rachel Reid [audiobook] – Big surprise – I’m still reading the Game Changers series and I love it! In this story, we meet Eric, who is a hockey teammate of Scott Hunter. Eric, recently divorced, realizes that he is ready to act on his bisexuality for the first time in his life. At the same time, Scott and his fiancee Kip decide that Eric would make a good friend to their friend Kyle, a bartender at the Kingfisher bar. We travel with Eric and Kyle as they become friends (and more) and try to avoid their true feelings. This story was not enemy to lovers but more like friends to lovers slowly… it was sweet!
  • Role Model by Rachel Reid [audiobook] – This series makes me so happy! One of the best surprises is the role that Ilya Rosanov plays in all of the books in the series. He shows up as a hockey teammate, a quiet ally, or a fierce defender of LGBTQ rights in serious and important and silly and sarcastic ways, and he can read people so well. I love how he supports his new teammate, Troy, who is traded to Ottawa because he chose to stand up for abused women, against a former teammate accused of sexual assault. At the same time, we learn that Troy is a closeted gay man who might be ready to go public. Harris, the Ottawa team’s social media manager, is the perfect gay “friend” for Troy as he gets to know his new home and team. This story was beautiful and sweet and sadly too realistic to our world todaoy.
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January 2026 Reading

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

It’s a new year, but I’m the same reader! This is what I read in the first month of 2026.

  • March: Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell – I am enjoying this graphic novel series, teaching me more of the history of the Civil Rights movement, and specifically John Lewis’s role.
  • Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery – I heard this book described and knew I would enjoy it. Author Sy and her illustrator, Matt, spent many months during the COVID pandemic volunteering for the Turtle Rescue League in the North East, where owners Natasha and Alexxia save as many turtles as possible each year. We are talking about hundreds of rescues, emergency patchwork, nest protection, and more, all to help many endangered and old creatures who are loved wholly in this beautiful tale. Each person who interacts with turtles can see that their eyes tell a story, their wisdom, their patience, and how slowly time moves for turtles. This was a wonderful story about conservation and found family and nature.
  • Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry [audiobook] – I have loved Michael J. Fox ever since I “met” him as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. We even named our childhood cat Alex after him! I also loved Back to the Future, so it was fun to listen to Michael share the story of how he filmed this movie at the same time as filming a season of Family Ties, working on the sitcom by day and the movie by night. He goes into the details of how this couldn’t even happen today, how little sleep he got during the time, how fun it was, and how interesting the characters, the filming, and the actors were. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look, but wished it was a little longer with more details.
  • What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown – This is the second book my cousin gave me for Christmas that I LOVED (thanks JJ!)! We meet Jane living off the grid in Montana with her father in the 1990’s, but soon Jane realizes that what she thought she knew about her life was not all true. We follow along with Jane as she discovers lies and tries to figure out the mysteries that led to her current circumstances. This book travels across time and states, exploring the role of technology in our present and future in interesting ways.
  • We are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter [audiobook] – I believe I heard this recommended on a podcast, but I can’t remember for sure. I wish I had paid closer attention, because I got it as an audiobook and I wish I had had it in print. This was a great, fast-paced thriller, with a 12 year time jump and a lot of characters to keep up with. Officer Emmy Clifton worked hard to solve the cases of the two missing teenage girls, alongside her father, the sheriff. Twelve years after that case, another local girl goes missing and Emmy has to face her own past, family secrets, and race to find the bad guy. I’m glad to know this will be a series and I look forward to reading more.
  • Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce – I heard this book described and it sounded cute and innocent and silly. It was those things, along with a slow start. We meet Margery in mid-life, unhappy with her teaching job and her life, when she suddenly decided to fullfill a lifelong goal: to travel to New Caledonia to discover the Golden Beetle. Her father had read books to her about this mythical creature in childhood and then a man at the National Museum taught her all about insect collections. Margery hires an assistant to travel across the world with her on this wild exhibition, completely out of her comfort zone. The journey, and the assistant, are nothing like Margery expected, with lots of bumps and challenges along the way. I like the quirky characters enough to read through the slow pace because I cared about that beetle and wanted to know how this adventure would end. This was a sweet story about friendship and goals and dreams.
  • Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2) by Rachel Reid [audiobook] – The TV adaptation of this book became all the rage in December and January, so of course I had to see what the hype was about. I loved the TV show for the beautiful world created – Canadian television has less rules than America, and just like the show Schitt’s Creek, it is possible to create a world without explicit homophobia. After loving the show, I wanted to read the book, which is just one of a longer series, based on the hockey players Shane and Ilya. When the Canadian and Russian superstars meet as rookies, there is an instant rivalry but also a secret connection. Despite the implied homophobia in the NHL, this connection follows them across more than a decade before the conclusion of the book, which was a slow-burn queer love story with heart. I’m sad that the epilogue wasn’t part of the TV show, but I know they are coming back for another season and I can’t wait to see what happens there, and in other books in this series.
  • The Long Game (Game Changers #6) by Rachel Reid [audiobook] – Having a back injury was a great excuse to stay still and listen to another book in this series! This book, while #6 in the series, picks up right after Heated Rivalry (which is #2), where we left Shane and Ilya. It is also probably what Season 2 of the show will be based off of. I LOVED spending time in this love story, where Shane and Ilya now face building their secret relationship, deciding who they can trust, and how to create a life together carefully. There are new depths of anxiety and mental health addressed beautifully, as well as the spicy scences this series is known for.
  • Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben – I was excited when I learned that one of my favorite actresses (who picks good books!) was writing this mystery/thriller with one of my favorite authors. I was not disappointed by their partnership! We meet Maggie after her husband Marc has died. They were both surgeons who worked in traumatic areas, trying to help underserved populations. Maggie’s grief caused destruction across her life, which is when the action begins, crossing countries and problems as she tries to figure out what truly happened to her husband.
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My Word of 2026

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Amy's Reflections

I really enjoy the process of selecting my word of the year. Each year, a word finds me or I find a word that I really need. Some years I need creative energy, some years I need activity and spunk or to be stretched, while other years I need to rest and recharge. I journal through a series of prompts to consider what energy I want to bring into a new year, and what I was to manifest.

For 2026, I want to continue to build on the healthy habits I began this year, including my meditation practice and my refusal to embrace the culture of “always busy”. I want to embrace a slower, calmer, more purposeful life whenever and wherever I can. I want to feel at ease at home, at work, and on all my travels. This year, I am inviting EASE into my life.

What is your word of 2026?

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My 2025 Reading Year

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Amy's Reflections

Tracking my reading brings me so much joy! Not only does it help me remember what I read, and what to recommend to others, but it teaches me about myself each year. This year I learned that I while I still enjoy mysteries and thrillers, they don’t bring me reading fulfillment in the same way that a well-written literary novel of substance does. The stats are always fun to see as well, so here are some stats that summarize my year of reading.

Number of Books Read:

  • 2025- 123
  • 2024 – 130
  • 2023 – 113
  • 2022 – 127
  • 2021 – 146
  • 2020 – 71

Nation of Author’s Origin & Genres:

Fun Facts:

  • 46% of what I read was digital, 30% was in print, and 24% was audio
  • My top three genres were: Mystery/Thriller (23%), Literary Fiction (14%) and Memoir (12%)
  • 78% of what I read I rated 4, 4.5 or 5 stars, with an annual average of 4.1
  • 20% of the books I read this year were published in 2025, with 27% published in 2024 and a mix after that, going back to pre-1900!
  • I read 75% fiction and 25% nonfiction
  • I read 39,857 pages!
  • 52% of the books I read included people of other races, ethnicities, languages, and/or abilities than me
  • 55% of what I read I checked out from my local public library

Reading Superlatives

  • Best Mystery that had me guessing until the very end (and the one I’ve recommended the most this year): After the Crash by Michael Bussi
  • Best Backlist Nostalgic Family Saga: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
  • Best Epistolary Novel that packs a punch in the most beautiful way: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
  • Best Book about race told in a unique and fascinating way: Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
  • Best Nonfiction book that hits way too close to home for me: They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms by Mike Hixenbaugh

In 2026, I am looking forward to more enjoyable reading experiences, whether I’m reading at home, in a pool, in a plane, or on my daily commute.

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December 2025 Reading Update

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Amy's Reflections

The three weeks between Thanksgiving break and winter break are also so busy for us in education. I didn’t read much personally during that time, but I took advantage of my winter break to catch up and end this year of reading well. This month I read:

  • Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei – I love a climate fiction story that takes place in the somewhat near future, when humans have basically ruined the environment and life is a big struggle, with good versus evil battling it out for society. In this CliFi, we follow two sisters, Skipper and Carmen, on their boat journey to find their missing sister, Nora. Life is rough in this future and the girls must fight pirates, hunger, weather, and lies to find their sister and the truth. I enjoyed the adventure!
  • The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier – This was a fun, tense thriller. We meet Samantha, an author writing a book about the serial killer The Butcher, caught by her boyfriend’s father, the famous Chief Edward Shank. Soon, we learn that the man caught as the butcher may not have been the serial killer, then we know more than Samantha does, as she tries to solve the mysteries that present themselves to her. It was fun to be a reader who had the information and wait to see how the characters would figure it out. I enjoyed this story, despite the darkness of the murders.
  • March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell – Someone told me about this graphic novel, one of many that she read this year, and I was intrigued enough to find it in my library. I love to read a graphic novel in print. This book tells the early history of John Lewis’s life, and what made him the peaceful, nonviolent protester that he is known for being. We learn about his childhood, how he met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins he was a part of. I will continue to read this series, as it is a first-hand account of important events from America’s history.
  • The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy – I first read this book about 30 years ago and remember discussing it with my parents, who were both Conroy fans. Conroy’s writing is exquisite – detailed, rich, figurative, poetic, and impactful. This story, about the Wingo family, is heart-wrenching, sad, personal, and touched with sibling love. The poverty and abuse the three Wingo children suffered was enough to drive Savannah to deep depression, forgetting entire years, and multiple attempts to end her own life, which is when we meet her as an adult. It affected her twin brother Tom very differently, and their older brother Luke, even more so. We root for these siblings to survive their horrible childhood, story after story, while knowing that tragedy will befall many of them right from the beginning. Despite the dark storyline, the beautiful language and messages of love and compassion shine through, making this a worthwhile read at the end of this year.
  • Palaver by Bryan Washington – I received this book as a Christmas gift (thank you, JJ!) and loved it! I had never heard of the author or the book, but my cousin knows that I like to read diverse stories by diverse authors and this fit the bill. We meet the son and his mother when she shows up to visit him in Tokyo, from her home in Texas. While we never learn their names, we learn so much about their lives, their backgrounds, the challenges of a Black gay man living abroad and an immigrant mother raising children. Their lack of communication was both real and frustrating, but I appreciated the unspoken feelings shared through the pages. This was a literary story that make Tokyo come alive, as we rode trains and walked through city streets. I enjoyed the entire reading experience!

Stay tuned for my end of year wrap up summary and a few favorite superlatives coming soon!

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November 2025 Reading Update

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Amy's Reflections

I read a number of excellent books again this month. I’m so glad my reading choices have improved this fall, since the first half of this year felt very MEH. This month I read:

  • Nothing Can Erase You by Michel Bussi – Last month I read and loved After the Crash by Bussi, so then I went back to his catalog to request more of his books from my library. I enjoyed this thriller almost as much. We meet Maddie and her son Esteban right before Esteban disappears. Maddie spends the next decade trying to figure out what happened to Esteban and having to convince the people around her that she isn’t crazy, especially when she moves to a town just because a young boy named Tom looks just like Esteban (but would be 10 years younger). This was a wild ride of twists and turns with lots of quirky characters.
  • Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben – I love Harlan Coben’s books and I’m always happy when I rediscover him and find new ones to read. The first book in this series was written in 2016 and I read it then, but didn’t realize the connection until after I finished this, which could be a standalone story. Our main character Kierce, kicked off the police force, is hired to help solve a very old kidnapping case in which he has a surprising connection from the past. Along the way, we learn about Kierce’s family, his past, and the family of the young girl who was kidnapped. There were a variety of twists in this, as well as some information hidden from us as the reader, but I enjoyed the entire ride!
  • The Black Wolf by Louise Penny – I love the Three Pines series and everything Louise Penny writes. This book was a continuation of book 19, the Grey Wolf. The message between the books being that there are grey wolves, which are good, and black wolves, which are evil. Armand and his crew stumbled upon a government conspiracy to poison the water in Montreal in book 19, and this book begins with the ramifications of their arrests, injuries, and them doubting whether they truly caught the right black wolf. Penny’s introduction says that she turned in this manuscript in September of 2024 and was shocked to see some of her plot in the news in 2025. What follows is an eery story that feels more like nonfiction than fiction, with connections between Canada and America, with leaders no one can trust, and plot lines reminiscent of Animal Farm and 1984, both of which are quoted a lot. This book SHOOK me. The writing was flawless and the characters were so human it hurt to watch them make mistakes, even as I cheered them on to keep going. This was a PHENOMENAL book, which is incredible when you realize it’s #20 in a long series!
  • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – This is my book club’s “classic read” for the year. Since I never read it, I was interested to read it, despite my hesitation with classics. Plath’s writing is very informal in tone and rich in details. The beginning of the book we are on a journey to NYC in the 1950’s with a young woman, Esther, who is selected as part of a magazine scholarship group for summer work and fun. Right away, Esther is different from the other young women in the group and much less interested in the fun they are having. The second part of the book is Esther’s fall into madness, with suicidal ideations long before there was a name for this. The book is dark, sad, and a vivid portrayal of deep depression and the failings of the mental health system back then.
  • I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy [audiobook] – When this book first came out, I hated the title and refused to read it on that principle alone. Over time, I heard good things about it from many people, including my cousin, who confirmed that the mother in this memoir is nothing like mine and wouldn’t bring up sad memories for me. Well, she was right about that, but it brought up other feelings. This memoir chronicles the life of a young girl whose imbalanced mother forces her to become an actress, to become anorexic, and other awkward and inappropriate situations that were described through the lens of a young child. The majority of the book was gross to me, espcially as it was told from a child’s point of view, with no reality checks or reflections until the very end of the book. This was a hard memoir to read with not a lot of impactful lessons. I didn’t enjoy the reading experience.
  • The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron – I’ve been reading a chapter a week from this book since early September, as part of the Secret Stuff book club with Laura Tremaine. I have also written morning pages and gone on artist dates, two key principles the author outlines in the book. Along the way, she provides concrete actions to take to unblock creativity, leaning into the fun and silliness of childhood and the importance of being disconnected and bored long enough to tap into your own creativity.
  • A Killer’s Wife by Victor Methos – This was a quick, fun mystery to read, that is first in a series that is new to me. in this book, we meet Yardley, whose husband, and the father of her teenage daugther, is on death row after being prosecuted for multiple murders. Just when she is moving on with her life, Yardley hit some significant bumps along the way. This story takes place in Las Vegas, in and out of courtrooms and jails, with many dark characters. Though I disliked almost all of the characters, especially most of the men, I enjoyed the fast-paced story and I will look into the rest of the series.
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell – I decided to read this very old classic because Louise Penny mentioned it and 1984, also by Orwell, so much in the last Gamache book. I have read 1984, but not Animal Farm, and she used both to illustrate governmental lessons of significance. This is a dystopian tale of a farm where the animals take over, chase off the humans, and create their own society. Everything is peaceful at first, but as the pigs become more powerful (they are the only literate animals on the farm), the rules keep changing, the blame keeps shifting, and the enemies are always responsible. This was written as a dystopian story mocking governmentla overreach, and it is scary how many similarities you can find to today’s political climate. Now we use terms like propoganda and gaslighting, but in Animal Farm, it was the literate pigs changing the commandments of the group. I’m glad I read this.
  • Drive Here and Devastate Me by Megan Falley – I bought this poetry book last summer, when Megan’s partner Andrea Gibson passed away after a long battle with cancer. Both Megan and Andrea are gifted poets, and known for their spoken word performances. I just watched the documentary about their love of life, each other and poetry, called Come See Me in the Good Light on Apple TV (must watch!). It was stunningly beautiful and simple and profound. Both of these people are gifted with words and their poetry is gorgeous.
  • Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanaugh – I love this Eddie Flynn series! Eddie is a former con man turned lawyer, who will only defend innocent people.. In this story, he is defening Sofia against the charge of murdering her own father. Her sister Alexandra, is also on trial for the same charge at the same time. We know that one of the sisteres committed the crime, but it seems like we will never figure out the truth. This was a fast-paced court drama that came to an explosive conclusion!
  • Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida – While visiting a 6th grade class with a group of principals, we saw students just beginning to read this middle grade novel. Once one of my principal colleagues told me what it was about, I knew I needed to read it. This beautiful little book tells the story of one Japanese-American family in California and what happened to them, here in the U.S., right after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The father was immediately arrested and interned in Montana, while his family was forced to remain at home with no contact with anyone. Then they were relocated not once, but twice, until they, and all other Japanese families, were taken out of California. It’s a devastating part of American history that is a blib, if even mentioned in some history books. Told from a young girl’s eyes, it’s sweet and innocent and still hard to believe. This is an important story for more Americans to know and understand.
  • Sold on a Monday by Kristin McMorris – For some unknown reason, I have owned this e-book on my Kindle for years. I finally got around to reading it and it was a delightful historical fiction story. Set in the Depression era, a young journalist takes a photo of two children with a “children for sale” sign in front of them and stumbles into quite an adventure. The reporter, Ellis, is fighting for his own bylines, while a work friend, Lily, is doing the same but as a woman in a male-dominated field. Both Ellis and Lily have their own secrets that drive them towards success, but they come together to help children in need in this story. It was sad, sweet, fun, and depressing, and I enjoyed it all.
  • The Last Beekeeper by Pablo Cartaya [audiobook] – I found this middle grades story through my library, and was so happy to read yet another Climate Fiction story that takes place in the near future. In this traumatic story, humans have killed most living creatures and are trying to make technology the only thing of value for communication and survival. One young girl, Yolanda, is a gifted coder who uncovers family secrets related to the last known bee colony. Soon Yolanda and her friends are on a quest to save humanity from the evil taking over their world.
  • The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards – This book takes place in a very tense dinner party, with flashbacks to a summer in 1999 when all of the dinner party guests lived and worked together on a dating app start-up. We are in the beautiful home of rich Georgina and Theo, and Will, Sophie, and the others are not sure what this reunion is all about. Quickly we learn that everyone has some secrets, some held since that summer in 1999. As bad things happen, we learn that each of these characters is less likeable than we thought. Without giving anything away, I enjoyed the fast-paced action, the twists, and the ending!
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