The Fifth Annual #Bookaday Challenge

Every year, I prepare for summer with the same comforting rituals. I buy a pack of Goody black hair elastics and new flip flops. I write end-of-year notes to my students. I recheck my summer travel plans. And I publicly announce my intention to read a book for every day of summer break.

This ambitious challenge began as an attempt to catch up on the landslide of books piled around my house and reconnect with my reading life. Over the years, the Book-a-Day challenge has evolved into a social event connecting readers who share book recommendations and celebrate reading. Nerdy Book Club fun fact, I “met” Colby Sharp for the first time when he joined the Book-a-Day Challenge on Twitter in 2011. Mini Book-a-Day events pop up during spring and winter breaks, and literacy gurus like Teri Lesesne post book titles under the #bookaday hashtag all year.

That book on your nightstand for the past two months? That biography someone gave you last Christmas? That cascading pile of journals on your office floor? Isn’t it time? Won’t you join me in the Fifth Annual Book-a-Day Challenge?

Imagine languid days reading an entire book in one sitting. Picture yourself staying up past midnight to finish one more chapter. Summer (reading) is coming.

The rules (more guidelines, really) are simple:

Read one book per day for each day of summer vacation. This is an average, so if you read three books in one day (I know you’ve done this!) and none the next two, it still counts.

You set your own start date and end date.

Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, audio books, poetry anthologies, or fiction—children’s, youth, or adult titles.

Keep a list of the books you read and share them often via a social networking site like goodreads or Twitter (post using the #bookaday hashtag), a blog, or Facebook page. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if you wish. Titles will do.

Let me admit a secret. I probably won’t make my Book-a-Day Challenge this year without reading more than a few picture books and graphic novels to hedge my bets. You probably won’t either. Book-a-Day is not a competition. It’s an opportunity to enjoy marvelous reading experiences and rededicate ourselves to daily reading. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we read, or how much, or when. What matters is that we have fun and indulge in our favorite leisure activity—reading a lot of books!

I like a little bit of everything, but here are ten books I plan to read:

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Dreams and Shadows by C. Thomas Cargill

Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman

Red River Stallion by Troon Harrison

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Winger by Andrew Smith

 

I hope you have an adventurous summer both inside and outside the pages. Please share the books you plan to read this summer and help our reading lists grow.

 

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer and the upcoming Reading in the Wild. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

Guilt Trip: Accepting My Reading Slump by Donalyn Miller

I pack books in my suitcase before packing clothes. I share book recommendations in my email signature. Every place I inhabit—my car, my classroom, and every room of our house—overflows with books. I talk about books and reading with anyone who will listen (and probably a few people who wish I would stop). I am well-known as a reader and reading teacher. As Chris Lehman said in this blog post last year, “…when you think ‘Donalyn Miller’ you instantly think reading.” My husband, Don, and our daughter, Sarah, read. My students read. All of my friends read. I am not interesting when talking with nonreaders. My conversational oeuvre beyond reading is limited to weather, the sequester, and why the Cowboys should get rid of Tony Romo. Reading touches every aspect of my personal and professional life. That’s why my recent reading slump saddens me. I haven’t enjoyed reading lately.

If you’re surprised, imagine how I feel about it. I am lost. I am a shadow.

I lose interest in the books I start. I am 100 pages into four books. I can’t commit to anything longer than 32 pages. My favorite authors don’t appeal to me. Given the option between falling asleep to episodes of Elementary, or falling asleep across my book, I choose the TV. I still order books and engage in conversations on Twitter with my book-loving friends, but every book mentioned seems to be a title I plan to read someday—just not today. I have lost my reading mojo. How did this happen?

For the past three years, I proudly served on the Children’s Literature Assembly’s Notable Children’s Books in the English Language Arts Committee. This position required me to read 600 or more books a year. Many of the books I read for the committee became beloved favorites like Hound Dog True, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, A Monster Calls, and The Scorpio Races. My term ended this year, but I still feel pressure to remain current on the latest books. I can’t slow down and read sequels or older titles that I missed or skipped. Reading has become an obligation.

Moving to 4^th grade, I spent a lot of time this year reading books that my students will enjoy. I want to reach the same level of confidence when making book recommendations that I had with my former middle school students. I admit that I do not love Geronimo Stilton and often wish there was a zombie edition of his books. It is hard for me to read for my own enjoyment when I cannot pass the book to a child, and I feel guilty reading the dystopian thrillers and high fantasy epics that I prefer. Reading has become work.

I spend every night after school and every weekend writing. Late on my deadline for Reading in the Wild, reading seems irresponsible and selfish. If I have ten minutes to spare, I need to write more. I enjoy writing, but it surprises me how much it cuts into my reading life. I can’t fall into a book right now. Endlessly obsessing over every word of my manuscript, the last thing I want to look at when I take a break is more writing—especially brilliant, polished, published writing. Reading has become an indulgence.

I know that I will fall back in love with reading again. We are just taking a break. I have wandered into the reading doldrums before and I always find my way through them. Revisiting Daniel Pennac’s Reader’s Bill of Rights (1999), reminds me that one of our rights is “The right to not read.”

The Reader’s Bill of Rights states that readers have:

1. The right to not read.

2. The right to skip pages.

3. The right to not finish.

4. The right to reread.

5. The right to read anything.

6. The right to escapism.

7. The right to read anywhere.

8. The right to browse.

9. The right to read out loud.

10. The right to not defend your tastes.

Do I allow myself the right not to read? Most readers experience this ebb and flow—alternating between reading binges and dry spells. When reading feeds my relationships, my self-identity, and my personal bliss, accepting periods when I don’t read much is hard, though. The only membership requirement for Nerdy Book Club is that you must read. Am I still a member? Isn’t there a difference between someone who chooses not to read and someone who chooses not to read right now?

Talking to colleagues and friends, everyone recognizes periods when other demands and interests move ahead of reading. Why am I embarrassed about it? Perhaps, I don’t think I have much to contribute if I am not reading. I must remember that my reading life belongs to me. I need to reclaim it for myself or I won’t have much to offer my reading community. Here is my plan for getting out of my reading slump:

• Reread some old favorites. The books I love contain little parts of me inside them, but the pressure I feel to read new books denies me the opportunity to revisit my old shelf friends. I dug out my worn copies of Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte’s Web today.
• Read something I usually avoid or ignore. Since the books and authors that usually excite me don’t entice me right now, I am going to try something else. I ordered Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life after watching the author, Jonathan Sperber, on The Daily Show. What have I got to lose?
• Admit that it is OK to read less for awhile. My book is almost done and my annual Book-a-Day summer reading binge is within sight. I know that I will get back into the reading groove eventually, so I shouldn’t stress about it so much. I am not a reading imposter if I spend an hour playing Spore with Sarah instead.

Is anyone else experiencing a reading slump right now? How do you feel about it? What are you doing to rebound from it or accept it? Have you experienced reading slumps in the past? Share your thoughts with other Nerdy readers. We can support each other during our non-reading periods, too.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

Canon Fodder by Donalyn Miller

Since the beginning of the year, Don and I have been sorting and culling our book collection. Our thirteen bookcases groan under double-stacked rows in the best of times, but life events last year worsened the situation. Changing schools and grade levels, I brought home hundreds of middle school books that weren’t suitable for my new fourth grade classroom. When our home flooded last October, we packed most of our personal books so contractors could replace our wood floors. When we moved back into our home, unpacking and shelving our books took three weekends. We still discover random boxes of books in the garage.

Determined to get rid of more books that we buy this year, Don and I decided to downsize our book hoard. Taking books to my kids at school and donating a few boxes to charity wasn’t going to cut it. We had to get serious.

It wasn’t difficult to find readers who wanted our books. We sent half of my middle school books to colleagues and their students. Our oldest daughter, Celeste, took stacks of picture books and early readers for her preschool class and our two granddaughters. When Sarah’s friends visit, we invite them to dig through the stack of young adult books in our dining room. Don dutifully hauls books to the mailing center or Half Price Books every week. Three months into our book reduction project, we see progress. We can walk in our back hallway without fearing an avalanche.

Three bookcases in our book room remain untouched. Reliquaries of our reading lives, the books that live on these shelves live in our hearts, too. Don and I don’t need to go through these books. We won’t be getting rid of any of them. These shelves hold our personal canons, the books that have shaped and defined who we are. To an outsider, these shelves store a hodgepodge of thrift store paperbacks, children’s picture books, and best sellers from the past 20 years. A lavish edition of The Odyssey, purchased when we moved into our first apartment, sits next to Confederacy of Dunces. We picked up Toole’s Southern classic during our New Orleans honeymoon. Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, the book Don and I discussed on our first date sits next to The Princess Bride. We call groceries, “grocs,” and Don whispers, “As you wish,” whenever I ask him to perform onerous tasks around the house. Our shared reading experiences weave through our married life, binding us to each other as husband and wife and as readers.

Don and I share books in our life canons, but many titles hold individual significance. My beloved copy of Bread and Jam for Frances lives next to Don’s volume of Curious George stories—two books that mark different personalities. I think George is annoying and Don thinks Frances is too fussy. On our worst days—we are Frances and George. On our best days, we are Griffin and Sabine (one shelf higher). When Don and I stew in separate corners, we are both probably reading.  That’s what matters.

We don’t have to agree on every book to appreciate each other. How boring life would be if we did. I often think about Don and me and our overlapping reading lives when I think about my students and me. Our reading lives overlap, too. My students and I swap books back and forth every day, but I don’t limit my students’ reading lives to the books that matter to me. If I define their book choices, reading will belong to me more than it ever belongs to them.

While the Common Core text exemplars collect a list of worthy literature, I question the premise that any reading list meets the needs of all readers. Creating such a list, anchored in a time or viewpoint driven by one group’s opinion of what literature is meaningful, marginalizes the personal aspect that readers bring to what we read. Ultimately, a canon grows from our individual experiences as well as our shared ones.

When we lead students to great works, we offer them a transformative experience, but only the readers themselves can define how reading a text affects them. When I pass The Diary of Anne Frank into Ashley’s hands, I know that she will find another girl, struggling with the same questions, the same need to carve out an identity and purpose. When I sit with Reed, discussing Patrick Ness’ dystopian epic, Monsters of Men, we weep for the Spackle, indigenous beings destroyed by a colonizing army—a tale as old as Mankind. Anne Frank’s diary appears on the Common Core list. Chaos Walking–a recent work that captures eternal themes–does not. Only the reader decides which book carries personal value.

As more experienced readers, it is our charge to lead children to reading, first as enjoyment, then a place to understand themselves and the world we must live in together, and ultimately as an appreciation for the power of stories to capture what Thomas Foster calls, “the one story, the ur-story, (which) is about ourselves, about what it means to be human.”

What children read shapes the men and women they will become, but what I want most for my students is the discovery that reading is a well that never runs dry. Beyond the confines of a traditional education—often designed by entities outside of the readers themselves—lies a vast lifetime of reading and learning.  Who can say which books will mark my students’ lives? It’s not my journey, but I am happy to walk alongside them for a few miles. Perhaps, some of the books I invite my students to read will become part of their personal canons. I hope they find many more without me.

 

What books appear in your personal canon? How have these books shaped your life? Thank you for sharing your reading lives with all of us.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

The Chatty Class by Donalyn Miller

I stayed home sick today. This is a big deal. I don’t like to miss school. I spend two hours writing sub plans that won’t be followed and worry all day about my students. Forget the fever. Forget the chills. Forget the body aches. Unless I am contagious or coughing up a lung, I might as well go.

The only reason I didn’t go to school today is because I lost my voice.  Doubtful that I could go five minutes without talking with my students—much less eight hours—I decided to stay home and spare my raw throat the agony. My students and I spend our days talking—conferring, discussing Auggie’s disastrous Halloween while reading Wonder, sharing our writing, or debating which book should win this year’s Bluebonnet Award (our prediction: Zita the Spacegirl). We talk constantly.

After visiting our classroom, my principal left a note on my desk praising my students’ “love for language, confidence, and sense of empowerment.” I laughed and wondered if this was principal code for “so much talking it sounds like a beehive in here.” The only time my students and I aren’t talking is when we read and write. Destiny, one of my chattiest students, points out, “We are still talking, Mrs. Miller, we are just talking in our heads.”

A few years into my teaching career, I realized that there was no way I always drew the “party class” during scheduling. It’s me. My students figure out quickly that I don’t mind talking as long as we remain productive. My students seem as starved for conversation as they do for books. They need to talk—to express themselves and process what they are learning.

Spending as little as ten minutes a day engaged in conversations about what they read and write positively affects students’ reading achievement, comprehension, and writing. As James Britton famously said, “Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.” Setting aside time for students to talk is one of the most effective learning strategies and one of the least utilized. Teachers see too much talking as a problem and invest a lot of time into developing classroom routines and consequences that shut down talking.

Recognizing my students’ need to talk and the value of talk in the classroom, my instruction has changed over the years to include more opportunities for talking, not less. Here are some easy-to-implement methods for increasing productive talk in the classroom:

Every time you ask the class as question, invite students to discuss their thoughts with each other. Classroom questioning historically follows an initiate-respond-evaluate cycle in which the teacher initiates a question, one student responds, and the teacher evaluates the response. Most of the other students sit disengaged and the teacher can’t evaluate what more than one student knows. Posing a question to my class, I circulate and listen to groups’ discussion, assessing what my students know and addressing misconceptions as needed. Gathering my class back together, I call on groups randomly to share their conversations. I don’t just call on hand raisers. It could be anyone.

After students read, invite them to share what they discover or wonder about their books. Through these conversations, students process what they have learned from their reading and increase their understanding of what they read. Sharing their reading, students provide their peers with reading recommendations that lead to more reading, too. The primary way readers respond to books is through reader-to-reader endorsement. The more students talk about their reading, the better their writing about reading becomes, too.

When writing stalls, talk more. Setting aside time for students to write every day, I notice that some students have difficulty beginning or sustaining writing. When I notice students’ enthusiasm for writing flagging, we spend more time discussing our life experiences as potential writing topics and sharing snippets of our writing. Presenting new writing topics, I often ask students to discuss the topic first, and then write.

If side talking and chatter interrupt classroom instruction, provide students with a minute or two to talk. Right before or after the weekend, holiday breaks, assemblies, snowstorms, library visits or any other disruption from our normal routine, I notice that my students chat more. When I offer students a few minutes to chat about these events first, I can usually lead them toward making a connection to something we have read or spark ideas for writing.

Include students in conversations about classroom organization and routines. When my students begged me for a new seating chart, complaining that they didn’t like our desk arrangements, I asked students to design our next seating plan. Working during our morning meeting time, my homeroom developed several seating designs and pitched them to the rest of the class. After voting on the most workable plan, we moved the desks and chairs. Every morning, my students straighten desks that shifted and set out the chairs. They own that seating plan and work to maintain it.

I know that many of these ideas aren’t new, but I need the reminder that talking isn’t a bad thing if it leads to students’ learning, sense of belonging, and investment in our community. Inside my classroom, I always have a voice. I want my students to feel that way, too.

My voice will come back in a few days. I predict that my sub will leave me a nice note about how great my class was, except for the talking. My students will have a lot to tell me about what I missed. I can’t wait to hear every word.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

Announcing the 2012 Non-Fiction Nerdies by Mindi Rench

Growing up, I was not a fan of non-fiction books.  I loved romance.  I loved sweeping sagas of families facing hardship.  I loved books about girls in itchy dresses.  I did NOT love books about the habitat of parrots or how to build a garden in my backyard.  In a pinch, I would read the encyclopedia if I had nothing else to read, but I didn’t necessarily like it.  This is due, in part, to the types of non-fiction books that were available to me in the late seventies and early eighties when I was developing my love of reading.  They often were something like this:

(Photo from http://awfullibrarybooks.net/.  If you haven’t checked out this blog… do so soon!)

Lately, though, as I’ve pushed myself to read more non-fiction written for kids and teens, I’m seeing that things have changed!  The books are engaging… they’re well written… they’re fun to read.  Good thing, too, with the new emphasis on non-fiction that’s come about with the Common Core State Standards.  Luckily for us, some amazing non-fiction books were released in 2012, and here are five of the best, as voted by Nerdy Book Club Readers like yourself.

Here they are… the 2012 NON-FICTION NERDIE WINNERS!

Temple Grandin:  How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery

In this book, Sy Montgomery describes Grandin’s childhood and shows readers how it was because of, not in spite of, Grandin’s autism that she was able to empathize with the livestock she loves and discover new, more humane ways for handling livestock.  The book includes blueprints from several of Grandin’s projects as well as great photography.  Montgomery is one of my favorite non-fiction authors, and this book did not disappoint.

Bomb:  The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
With Bomb, Sheinkin opens the door on a piece of US history often glossed over in textbooks.  His fascinating explanation of the development of the first atomic bombs and the spies who were stealing the plans, would be a great addition to any US history course that covers World War II.  It’s a book that takes a complex issue and breaks it down so that middle school readers can understand just what was at stake and the lasting effects in our world today.

Titanic:  Voices From the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, and there was no shortage of books on the topic. Among the best was this one by Deborah Hopkinson.  Using the voices of the victims and survivors themselves, Hopkinson brings the reader right onto the ship.  I felt as if I were there on that fateful April night, and I couldn’t put the book down, even though I knew how the story would end.  This book is a testament to the power of primary sources.

Guy-Write:  What Every Guy Writer Needs to Know by Ralph Fletcher
Ralph Fletcher hits another home run with this book targeted at, but not just for, boys.  Fletcher emphasizes the power of choice in this guide to writing, encouraging young writers to write about things they are interested in or are important to them, even if the grown-ups in their lives might not agree with the topics.  Like Fletcher’s other books for young writers, the voice in this book is approachable and engaging for middle grade readers.

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story of an American Friendship by Russell Freedman
Russell Freedman is another of my favorite non-fiction authors.  His ability to combine photographs and other artwork with words to create a compelling story that draws the reader in is unparallelled. In his latest work, Freedman takes on the friendship between President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. He shows how similar these two men really were and how their meetings changed the course of United States history.  This one, also, has a place in US history classrooms.

So there they are… five amazing books, all worthy of space in classroom libraries and all great books for young teens AND adults!  If you haven’t read them, go get them.  I’ll wait for you, and then we can share our thoughts!

Mindi Rench spreads the Nerdy Book Club love as a junior high literacy coach at Northbrook Junior High in Northbrook, Illinois, and as mom to two members of the Junior Nerdy Book Club.  You can find her on Twitter as @mindi_r and read her blog at http://nextbestbook.blogspot.com.

Book Gap Challenge by Donalyn Miller

Marking the end of another reading year seems artificial to me. There isn’t a noticeable difference between my reading life on December 31^st and January 1^st. I am caught in a book on any given day. I suppose the end of the year provides an opportunity to look back at the books I’ve read in 2012 and plan for 2013. According to goodreads, I will meet my 601 book reading goal with a few to spare. I have more than a few friends who outread me, but how many books I read this year isn’t that important. For a moment or forever, the books I read changed me. That’s what matters.

If anything, a new year offers me an excuse to buy more books. While pre-ordering 2013 titles today, I ignored our overflowing bookshelves. We don’t need more books. With three readers in our house, I refuse to consider our shared obsession a problem as long as Don, Sarah, and I keep feeding the pets and running laundry. We give away books. We visit the library. Our friends borrow books. I haul books to school. Nothing helps. When a book leaves our house, two more appear in its place. I suspect fairies, but I read too many fantasy novels.

I tell myself that I need to keep up with the latest releases because of my work with children, teachers, and librarians. Who am I kidding? Don teases me that only Nerdy Book Club members consider a book old if it came out six months ago. I could probably coast on my to-read pile for a year or two. I often sift through my book stacks like a dragon counting its hoard—moving whatever catches my eye to the top of the heap. Friends’ recommendations, great reviews, intriguing covers, or books my students requested, I create my own taxonomies for determining what to read next.

Selecting books by personal criteria, I miss a lot of books that other people read. Some books in our collection remain unread for months or years. I admit that I have never read Shiloh or Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, two beloved Newbery winners. I read The Story of Mankind last year, so I deserve some forgiveness on this account. I never finished Huckleberry Finn or Moby Dick. I would rather read Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time.

No one who reads should apologize for their preferences and reading experiences, but we can aspire to stretch ourselves or fill any perceived deficits in our reading lives. Cindy Minnich and other Nerdy readers on Twitter recently discussed their personal book gaps—titles they haven’t read in spite of popularity or acclaim. Even the most avid, open-minded readers admitted to skipping award-winners, avoiding certain genres, or postponing books for so long they remain unread.

Looking at my groaning bookshelves, my book gap is clear. I have series commitment issues. A devout fantasy and science fiction fan, I can’t keep up with the endless tide of sequels. Bitterblue, Insurgent, Flesh and Bone, and The Mark of Athena glare at me from the closest bookcase. I started Froi of the Exiles four months ago. It sits in limbo on my nightstand—never finished and never abandoned. Maggie Stiefvater’s Forever held a similar spot last year.  I read her new (thankfully stand alone) book, The Scorpio Races THREE times, but it took me six months to leave Mercy Falls.

Instead of finishing series, I endlessly start new ones. I read The Raven Boys, The Diviners, and Shadow and Bone this year—all three launch a new fantasy series. Perhaps, once I fall in love with a new world and new characters, I am reluctant to leave them. More likely, I enjoy falling in love over and over again.

Determined to finish what I have started—and purchased—I embrace the Book Gap Challenge. This year, I resolve to read more sequels. I invite you to reflect on your reading lives and join me in the Book Gap Challenge. What book is glaring at you? Whether it’s books with dragons on the cover (Yes, Mindi, I am talking to you), romance novels, or that Abraham Lincoln biography you bought last summer, we all have personal reading challenges. The Book Gap Challenge differentiates for every reader, recognizing individual needs and goals without competition.

Share your book gaps with other Nerdy readers and publicly declare your goal by posting a comment or linking to your blog post.

I have a copy of Shiloh if anyone wants it. There are two sequels:)

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

2012 Nerdy Book Club Awards: Let the Voting Begin! by Donalyn Miller

I have enjoyed spending the past two weeks catching up on outstanding books from our 2012 Nerdy Book Club Award nominee list. I trust your book recommendations and your suggestions have helped me prioritize my towering pile of unread books.

Voting is now open for the 2012 Nerdy Book Club Awards. Please cast your ballots for your favorite children’s and young adult titles published in 2012. Select five favorites in each category, including picture books, early readers, poetry, graphic novels, nonfiction, and fiction. After tabulating your votes, we will announce one winner and four runners-up for each category in daily feature posts beginning December 26^th.

The ballot will close at midnight on December 22^nd. This gives us another week to read a few more books and share them with children before casting our final votes.

**Note: Colby Sharp requested photographs, asking Nerdy readers to share images of their favorite 2012 books. Recognizing that many folks needed a few more weeks to finish and select favorites, Colby has extended the deadline for submitting photographs until December 22^nd. Please email your photos to nerdybookclubblog@gmail.com for inclusion in a future post.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

2012 Nerdy Book Club Award Nominees

I spent the day combing through your 2012 Nerdy Book Club Award nominations–discovering many new titles and revisiting many books that my students, colleagues, and I enjoyed reading this year. Thank you to the hundreds of readers who took the time to nominate books. Narrowing a wonderful year of reading into a short list of titles challenges avid readers, and I know you had to make tough choices!

The 2011 Nerdies shortlist contained 97 titles. Click the link on the blog’s tool bar if you would like the 2011 list or visit last year’s Nerdy Book Club Award finalists post, Mooning Over Book Lists. This year’s finalists’ list contains 154 titles in seven categories. We planned to shortlist the top twenty nominees in each category, but tie votes and landslide nominations for many books resulted in more or less titles than twenty in some categories. You don’t mind more books, do you?

In two weeks, we will open the final ballot and invite readers to select our final 2012 Nerdy Book Club Award winners. These two weeks will give readers time to review the finalists and consider titles before voting begins. I plan to spend the next fourteen days catching up on the unread Nerdy nominees I have in my to-read pile. I want to be as informed as possible before I cast my final vote! I hope you enjoy poring over the list and finding new books to read and share.

Congratulations to our Nerdy Book Club Award authors and illustrators! Your work has been chosen by teachers, librarians, children, booksellers, and readers everywhere as one of the best books of 2012. Thank you for providing marvelous reading experience for the children in our lives (and us). Everyone here at the Nerdy Book Club looks forward to sharing your books with more readers!

2012 Nerdy Book Club Award Nominations

Picture Books: Fiction (22)

A Home For Bird by Philip C. Stead

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead

Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead

Boy and Bot by Ame Dyckman and Dan Yaccarino

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Scott Magoon

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and E. B. Lewis

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

hello! hello! by Matthew Cordell

I’m Bored by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi

The Monsters’ Monster by Patrick McDonnell

Oh, No! by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo and David Small

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce

This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul Zelinsky

Picture Books: Nonfiction (20)

A Leaf Can Be . . . by Laura Purdie Salas and Violeta Dabija

A Rock Is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long

Annie and Helen by Deborah Hopkinson and Raul Colon

Birds of a Feather by Bernadette Gervais and Francesco Pittau

Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland

A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix

Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick and Steven Salerno

Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim and Bryan Collier

Helen’s Big World: The Life of Helen Keller by Doreen Rappaport and Matt Tavares

Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette ‘Daisy’ Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure by Shana Corey and Hadley Hooper

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. and Kadir Nelson

Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin

It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw by Don Tate and R. Gregory Christie

Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola

Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman

Nic Bishop Snakes by Nic Bishop

The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins

There Goes Ted William: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived by Matt Tavares

Those Rebels, John and Tom by Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham

Early Reader/ Chapter Books (10)

Bad Kitty for President by Nick Bruel

Bink and Gollie, Two for One by Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee and Tony Fucile

Let’s Go For A Drive! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems

Listen to My Trumpet! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems

Lulu Walks the Dogs by Judith Viorst and Lane Smith

Marty McGuire Digs Worms! by Kate Messner and Brian Floca

Penny and Her Doll by Kevin Henkes

Penny and Her Song by Kevin Henkes

Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett and Ann James

Graphic Novels (20)

Amulet #5: The Prince of Elves by Kazu Kibuishi

Babymouse #16: Babymouse for President by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt Holm

Bird & Squirrel on the Run by James Burks

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Earthling! by Mark Fearing

Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre

Hades: Lord of the Dead (Olympians) by George O’Connor

Legends of Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andres Vera Martinez

Lunch Lady #7: Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes by Jarrett Krosoczka

Lunch Lady #8: Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril by Jarrett Krosoczka

Mal and Chad: Food Fight! by Stephen McCranie

Squish #3: The Power of the Parasite by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt Holm

Squish #4: Captain Disaster by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt Holm

Teen Boat by John Green and Dave Roman

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle and Hope Larson

The Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell

Poetry (20)

Dare to Dream…Change the World by Jill Corcoran and J. Beth Jepson

Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems by J. Patrick Lewis and Michael Slack

Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart by Mary Ann Hoberman and Michael Emberley

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine and Matthew Cordell

In the Sea by David Elliott and Holly Meade

I’ve Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky and Jackie Urbanovic

Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge and Andrea Dezso

A Meal of the Stars: Poems Up and Down by Dana Jensen and Tricia Tusa

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar! by J. Patrick Lewis

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies and Mark Hearld

Poem Runs: Baseball Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents by Susan Katz and Robert Neubecker

Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer and LeUyen Pham

A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home by Marilyn Singer and Ed Young

UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School by Timothy P. McLaughlin, S. D. Nelson and Joseph Marshall III

Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs and Meilo So

What’s Looking At You Kid? by J. Patrick Lewis

Middle Grade and Young Adult Nonfiction (19)

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport

A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano and Michael Carroll

Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

The Book of Blood: From Legends and Leeches to Vampires and Veins by H.P. Newquist

The Fairy Ring: Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World by Mary Losure

Guy-Write: What Every Guy Writer Needs to Know by Ralph Fletcher

The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin W. Sandler

Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank

The Mighty Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity (Scientists in the Field Series) by Elizabeth Rusch

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose

The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth by Anita Silvey

Seymour Simon’s Extreme Earth Records by Seymour Simon (new addition to the list)

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery and Temple Grandin

The Giant and How He Humbugged America by Jum Murphy

Titanic: Voices From the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals by Michael Hearst, Jelmer Noordeman, Christie Wright and Arjen Noordeman

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson

Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead by Rebecca L. Johnson

Middle Grade Fiction (22)

Capture the Flag by Kate Messner

The Cloak Society by Jeramey Kraatz

Crow by Barbara Wright

Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

May B by Caroline Starr Rose

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Young Adult Fiction (21)

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Boy21 by Matthew Quick

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein

The Crown of Embers (Girl of Fire and Thorns) by Rae Carson

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

Every Day by David Levithan

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Grave Mercy by R.A. LaFevers

Immortal Lycanthropes by Hal Johnson

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Me & Earl & the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

The Raven Boys Maggie Steifvater

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

The Wicked and the Just by Jillian Anderson Coats

** Corrections

No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie was incorrectly placed in the nonfiction category. It has been moved to the YA fiction category. Thanks to Monica Edinger for the heads-up.

How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg and Kevin O’Malley is ineligible because it was originally published in 2011. Seymour Simon’s Extreme Earth Records by Seymour Simon earned the next nomination slot.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

2012 Nerdy Book Club Award Nominations by Donalyn Miller

I know you are still reading.

I am still reading, too.

We will never stop reading, but sometimes we need to take a moment, reflect, and celebrate the books we have enjoyed and shared.

It is time for the second annual Nerdy Book Club Awards, the Nerdies. In a sea of end-of-year book lists and awards, our little award seeks to honor the 2012 children’s and young adults’ titles that teachers, librarians, authors, booksellers, parents, and most of all, young people, have loved reading this year.

Have you ever dreamed of serving on a book award committee? Did you know you were already on one?

Here is how the Nerdies works:

Nominate: The Nomination Ballot is open until November 30th. Nominate up to 10 books in each of the following categories:

Picture Books: Fiction

Picture Books: Nonfiction

Early Readers/ Chapter Books

Graphic Novels

Poetry

MG/YA Nonfiction

Middle Grade Fiction

Young Adult Fiction

You do not need to nominate books in every category or nominate a full slate of ten nominees. All nominees must have been published in 2012 and written for children or young adults. In order to prevent ballot box stuffing for beloved titles (Colby, I am watching you), we have restricted the surveys to one response per computer.

Read: The top nominees in each category will be announced on December 2nd. Readers will have two weeks to catch up on any books they may have missed.

Vote: The final ballot will be open from December 16th-21st. Vote for your top choice in each category. You do not need to vote in every category to participate.

Wait: Enjoy the holidays. Read some more.

Celebrate: The 2012 Nerdies winners will be announced in daily category posts beginning December 26th.

Join us in honoring the books that matter to all of us and the children we encourage to read. No matter what wins, the ongoing conversations about these books will benefit every member of our community. Thank you for participating.

Let the Nerdies begin!

**If you are shopping for holiday gifts, don’t forget to give the gift of Nerdy this year. Proceeds from the Nerdy Book Club Cafe Press store benefit Reading Is Fundamental, and help provide books for needy children.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

Viva Nerd Vegas

The Nerdy Book Club descended on the National Council of Teachers of English Convention in Las Vegas this weekend. This annual convention is Nerdy Heaven, a reader’s rock concert, with author sessions and signings, book giveaways, and conversations with bookish people all weekend long. Meeting many Nerdy posters face-to-face for the first time was like catching up with old friends who are dedicated to promoting books and reading to children.  I hope that the readers who discovered Nerdy Book Club during the NCTE convention contribute posts and add their voices to our community soon. For those of you who couldn’t attend the convention, it only takes two readers to have a Nerdy Book Club convention any time or place you want!

Here are a few photo and video highlights from our weekend gatherings.

Jonathan Auxier, Nerdy poster, and author of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes amazed attendees at the Nerdy Book Club party with this yo-yo summary of his marvelous book.

 

Colby Sharp and Katherine Sokolowski hang out at the Nerdy Book Club party.

 

Everyone was starstruck when R.J. Palacio showed up at the Nerdy Book Club party. Beth Shaum’s giant smile communicates how much we all love Wonder.

                                                                         

The Michigan contingent of the Nerdy Book Club includes Brian Wyzlic, Nikki Barnes, Colby Sharp and Beth Shaum.

 

Beloved Nerdy author, Jenni Holm, and equally beloved Nerdy poster, Mindi Rench.

 

It was a packed house at the Nerdy Book Club roundtable session.

 

Jen Vincent and Brian Wyzlic at the Nerdy Book Club party.

 

Cindy Minnich talks up Twitter during the Nerdy Book Club Roundtable.

 

It might take awhile to share Nerdy’s inscribed copy of Wonder with over 200 posters!

 

Thanks to everyone who participated in Nerdy Book Club events and presentations this weekend and to all of you who help make Nerdy great every day.

 

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.