This week I held my first session of our Writers Circle Read Like a Writer Book Club. We have a great group. The kids are rising 7th and 8th graders and we have two boys and three girls. It is really a perfect mix.

For months, I have been reading one middle grade book after another trying to figure out the best options for the group. I feel really strongly that kids and tweens especially should choose what they read. I am even ok with them reading pretty junky stuff when they read on their own as long as they are reading. I believe that if a kid loves reading, they will eventually gravitate to the good stuff so they really should be given free reign for quite awhile.

That said, for this experience my goal was to find a handful of books for the kids to choose from that would be good for group discussion. I wanted to find a mix of genres, lengths and main characters. I wanted this for the kids and also to make our conversations lively. I began our first session with book talks of the following five titles.

Both boys choose Crossover and left talking about their joint love of basketball. Two of the girls immediately chose The Night Gardener and the remaining chose Fish in a Tree. My hope is that by next session the kids will be convincing each other to read their first choices and conversation will flow easily.

Here’s to happy summer reading for all!

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was the first book that made me laugh out loud.

Are You There God It’s Me Margaret was the first book that I closed if anyone was reading over my shoulder.

Fudge is one of the first books that I remember loving as a child myself and as a mother reading aloud to the girls.

The Pain and the Great One is one of the first chapter books that Caroline read to herself.

And I could go on.

And last night, I was lucky enough to be in the same room as Judy Blume. The crowd was so big that I did not stay for the signing so I did not get the chance to meet her but I felt like I did. She is as great a speaker as she is an author. As she stood in front of a huge crowd, I felt like we were sharing a cup of coffee.

She started her presentation by saying, “You know, I’m a Jersey girl.” and then launching in to many fascinating stories behind her current book, In the Unlikely Event, which I have not yet had the chance to read. I feel like I will have much more to write after I’ve read so I won’t write too much more for now except for one super inspiring tidbit.

When asked the generic but inevitable question, “What advice would you give young writers?”, Judy Blume said the following:

“First, read, read, read and read.”

And then know that,

“Determination is as important as talent. Cry  in the closet if you need to and then say, ‘Look what I am doing now.'”

Pretty good advice for us all I would say.

It’s time for my monthly re-cap of our favorite new picture books. Enjoy and please do let me know what pictures you and your family are loving these days!

Naptime by Iris De Mouy is a sweet tale of many animals who give many great excuses for why they will not take a nap. It turns out that a sweet little girl has a super clever idea that makes them change their minds.

All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom written by Angela Johnson & illustrated by E.B. Lewis tells the story of the day the slaves were freed. Katherine sensed right away that this would be a serious book and at first she asked me stop reading. The gorgeous language and picture drew her in though and fortunately, we read all the way through. This is a simple book that told a big story .

Brother Hugo and the Bear written by Katy Beebe & illustrated by S.D. Schindler. Who knew that small children would enjoy a book about monks but somehow this one is very appealing. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that there is also a book eating bear in the story.

The Potato King by Chrisoph Niemann was a slightly strange story about Frederick the Great who helps the potato become a food we all love. While I’m not sure that I am any better for knowing this story, it is an interesting look into history and the illustrations, made with potato prints of course, were fun.

Blue on Blue written by Dianne White & illustrated by Beth Krommes is a rain storm told between the covers of a book. Simple text and gorgeous illustrations make this a book to read again and again.

This is the first time ever that I will be listing only one completely read book for my Quick Lit post this month. It has been so incredibly busy in my world and apparently my reading is a great example of this. I have started and stopped quite a few books but my attention wavers so quickly that I move on before I have finished.

I began Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Mary Norris’ Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen and Heather Cock’s and Jessica Morgan’s The Royal We. These all seem to be good books that I will get back to as soon as I can focus.

But for now, my one book of the month is:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Crossover is this year’s Newbery winer and I now know it is well deserved. Crossover is a free verse story of two basketball loving brothers. I am always amazed when an entire story is told in poetry. The depth of character development is really incredible. These are boys that I will remember for a long time.