My annual Stephen Kind Summer Book Club kicked off in June, so be prepared for 3 months of Stephen King along with some other books! This was my best reading month all year in terms of number of books read, and I really embraced a wide range of genres and styles, including one poetry book, and lots of audiobooks. One of the reasons for SO MANY books this month is that I was doing a slow read of a few of these books, especially the nonfiction ones, over the course of a number of months and I just happened to finish them all in June. Reading a lot, however, did not mean I read a ton that I loved this month; only two five star reads for me this month. This month I read:

• The Librarianist by Peter deWitt – I picked this book up as an impulse at my library. I usually just run in to get the books I put on hold, but this book was in a summer reading recommendation area and I was intrigued enough to bring it home. Bob Comet is a career librarian and this is sort of his life story, told in present day (after he retires) and through flashbacks. We learn of his short marriage to Connie, who ended up leaving him for his best friend Ethan. We learn of his life of books and libraries and his simple life. This was a deep character study. While it was not fast-paced or full of adventure, it was an interesting slow read.
• The Wild Robot Escapes (#2) by Peter Brown [audiobook] – I read and loved the first in this middle grades series based on the recommendation of a number of kids in my life. I finally got around to listening to the second book, in preparation to read the third before the movie comes out, based on my nephew’s recommendation. In book two we meet our robot friend Roz after she has been fixed up and sent to work on a farm. She is there to help a widower and his children run their family farm, after a sad accident, and during good and bad times. Roz quickly befriends the cows and the children realize her special skills, all while Roz tries to figure out how to escape and get back to her son, the goose Brightbill. The second half of this story is a fast-paced adventure as we root for Roz!
• Annie Bot by Sierra Greer [audiobook]- I heard this book described by Katie on Currently Reading and knew I wanted to read it. Annie Bot is an AI robot build to look, feel, and act like a real human. She is a purchased companion for Doug, who can control her settings include her desire. She exists to please him and continues to learn and adapt as she gets to know him and what might displease him. They used the word “displease” so often it made me crazy! This is a wild ride that hints to the future of AI… the good and bad! There is some debate online about whether the author is a real person or whether this was written by AI, which is part of what intrigued me. This is not well-written literature. This was a fun, silly fluffy read which was just what I wanted! It also explored the role of gender, of control, and of AI in interesting details.
• Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Curriculum and Instruction by Gholdy Muhammad – I received a copy of this book to review for AASA’s journal. I loved Gholdy’s first book and enjoyed a deeper dive into her equity framework. In this book Gholdy weaves music, art, and joy into planning historically and culturally responsive lessons to benefit all students, especially Black students. There were sample lessons for teachers to follow the framework and specific ideas to support instructional planning.
• ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King – I’m participating in another Stephen King summer book club and this was our first read of the summer. The area of Jerusalem’s Lot in Maine has a scary old house that some people believe is haunted. When author Ben comes back to town, presumably to write a story about said house, Ben getes more than he planned on. Like most King books, there are hundreds of pages of description of the town and all the people who live there, leading up to a very fast-paced and tense ending.
• The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson – The title drew me to this book, which ended up being a cute story about a town living in the past, a little bookstore, and Maggie, who comes to help her pregnant friend out at the bookstore. Maggie quickly learns the rules of the town and then accidentally begins to break them. The book references are fun and quippy and the romance was light and fluffy. This was a quick, run read.
• The Wild Robot Protects #3 by Peter Brown – I borrowed the third book in this series from my nephew, who got me so excited about the movie coming out soon based on the wild robot books. I enjoyed this story more than the second book, even though it was mostly our favorite robot Roz traveling alone in the ocean, trying to save her island friends from the “poison tide” threatening to ruin ocean life forever. This book had a lot of messages wrapped into a fun story.
• Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult [audiobook] – My friend Lauren and I are travelling to the Galapagos Islands next month and she heard about this book and got me excited about it. I was happy to dive into a story that takes place when Diana travels to the Galapagos. Sadly, I didn’t know the story was set in 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Diana’s boyfriend was a doctor in NYC. There was a lot of darkness in this, as we relived the pandemic along with the couple. I loved the beautiful descriptions of the nature and animal life on the island, even as Diana freaks out because she is stuck on a shut down island, with no wifi, and no money. This was a bittersweet story told around trying times.
• You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson – I heard this author interviewed on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast a long time ago and I purchased their poetry book and then didn’t read it for over a year. I am not much of a poetry reader, but I enjoyed reading one a day. Andrea is known for their spoken word performances, their truth telling about their life as a queer poet with a chronic illness, and they are a talented writer. Some of the shortest poems spoke to me the most.
• Silent Witness by Robin James (Cass Leary Legal Thriller #2) – I like this series because the main character, Cass, is a smart woman who cares about her family, all of whom are flawed and continue to get mixed up into trouble she has to save them from. In this story, her sister Vangie is arrested for the murder of the couple who adopted Vangie’s daughter. Cass trusts her sister, despite all signs pointing towards her guilt. In the rush to find the missing child, we learned a lot more about this family’s backstory and what makes them tick. I enjoyed the ride!
• All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma Jones #2) – Now that I’m into book two in this cozy mystery series, I’m enjoying the main characters of Duncan and Gemma more. In this story, Duncan’s neighbor dies, which shouldn’t be unexepcted because she has terminal cancer. However, Duncan suspects that someone helped her along before her time, and he is determined to figure out what happened.
• Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom by Katie Cunningham, Jan Burkins, & Kari Yates – I borrowed this book from one of my work friends, after my travel buddy was reading the primary version on a recent trip we took. I had heard about the shifts, and knew I wanted to explore the upper grade version. We have already dialed in a good plan for our primary grades, but we are still researching options for upper grades when it comes to phonics, phonemic awareness and morphology. I appreciated the structure of the book, as there are real-life classroom examples, myths that are busted (many of which I used to believe), research, and specific ways to make a shift. The chapter on comprehension strategies was so important for me to read, as someone who paid a lot of consultants a lot of money over the years for comprehension professional learning. I appreciated the vocabulary chapter a lot more than I expected and learned a lot from all of the shifts.
• Count Your Lucky Stars (Written in the Stars #3) by Alexandria Bellefleur – I read the first in this queer rom com series, didn’t realize it had continued, and then randomly read this one, which was the third. I vaguely remembered the characters, so this could stand alone as a single read. In this story, Margot meets up with her high school BFF/ crush Olivia and there is obvious chemistry and significant miscommunication. Eventually they begin to connect, but the communication continues to be a problem up until the end, like a typical rom com. This series has a fun cast of characters and a cute, likeable style!
• Both/ And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems by Wendy Smith, and Marianne Lewis – I read about this leadership/ business book in an educational journey and was intrigued. The idea of paradoxes is not new to us. Everytime I read large scale feedback I can see competing messages back and forth across the feedback. The authors’ premise is that we need to learn to stop thinking in a binary yes/no either/or way and instead think in a both/and way. We must look at a paradox, or a situation that seems to have conflicting issues, and decide how to move forward in an innovative way. They describe a clear theory, provide lots of examples from different businesses and leaders, and share their own mistakes along the way. It was a little too long and jargony at times, but the overall message was a great reminder for leaders.
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie [audiobook] – This book has been on my “TBR” list in Goodreads for 3 years. I finally decided to get purposeful about cleaning up that list and found this audiobook available through my library. This is a hard story but well worth the read. We meet three orphan young adults, Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz, who live in London and who are of Pakistan heritage. As they each come into their own as adults, they find ways to explore who their parents were, what their religion and heritage means to them, and what it means to be a Muslim in England. This was a beautiful “window” book for me, to get a small glimpse into a lifestyle so different from my own.

Favorite Books

Fiction: Wild Robot Protects

Nonfiction: Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom