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We Want You! Batty About Books Goes Wild! – Maria Selke and Kathy Burnette

Posted by on February 17, 2014 in Reading Lives | 7 Comments


I’ve always wanted the chance to be part of a book club. Unfortunately, most of the local people I know don’t tend to choose the books I like. So when I had the chance to “buddy up” with Kathy Burnette (aka @thebrainlair) last year, I eagerly jumped on board.


We formed an alliance called “Batty About Books,” choosing books and chatting about them via Google Doc in 2012. We even wrote a post about our book buddy process for Nerdy Book Club back in January of 2013.


Last year we were delighted when Sherry Gick (aka @libraryfanatic) joined us to chat about Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities. It was so energizing to have another voice; another perspective as we read and discussed.
 


Time marches on, and we’ve had a few breaks in our reading cycle. Kathy has been on several intense committees, and we both were second round judges for the Cybils Awards this year. When we got to finally meet face to face at ALA Midwinter, though, we began talking about what our next read would be.


Kathy suggested The Archived, by Victoria Schwab. She had already read it, and was chomping at the bit to discuss it with me. Since The Archived has been on my radar for a while, I was immediately on board. Our excitement grew, and we tweeted about our plan. A few twitter buddies thought it would be fun to join us, so we extended a few more invitations to our in-person and Facebook friends.




As interest grew, we decided to take a big plunge. We’re opening up the discussion to anyone who would like to join us. Batty About Books now has a Facebook page and a Tumblr, and we’d love to have you all read and discuss along with us! We’ll schedule a Twitter chat or two along the way as well. After all, reading lives are so much more fun when we have a community of readers sharing the experience.
Our newest read with our signature shoes


Grab a copy of The Archived from the library, your local bookstore, or for your e-reader,  and come join in the fun! Tweet your thoughts using #ReadTheArchived and tag us #BattyAboutBooks. We’ll have links to our blog posts and interesting questions and quotes up for discussion on the Facebook and Tumblr pages.


Kathy chunked the book into three sections. Here’s the schedule:


February 22nd Cover Appeal – a lot of thought goes into cover design and copy. We’ll chat about our thoughts and invite you to come share what you think!


Read part one – pages 1-110. We’ll post intriguing quotes and snippets this week for us all to consider and discuss.  Facebook | Tumblr


March 1st – We’ll be with done part one and post links to our full discussion. Join us in the comments on our blogs, or add your thoughts directly on Facebook or Tumblr. Even if you finish up later, come back and chat! OK!


Read part two – pages 111 – 224. We’ll continue to post intriguing tidbits along the way. Facebook | Tumblr


March 8th – We’ll link our blog post with our full discussion. Join in using whichever format is most comfortable for you.


Read part three – pages 225 to the end. Facebook | Tumblr


March 15th – We’ll link our blog post with our full discussion. Join in using whichever format is most comfortable for you, and go back to older discussions to see what everyone else has said!

Take the plunge with Batty About Books and join our first ever virtual book club. Follow us on one of our social media sites listed above to stay in touch and learn about the dates for informal Twitter chats and other surprises along the way. We can’t wait to get started!
 
 
Maria Selke is an elementary gifted resource teacher in West Chester, PA. She tweets as @mselke01 and blogs at Maria’s Melange.
Kathy M. Burnette is a middle school (grades 6 – 8) librarian in Granger, IN.  She tweets as @thebrainlair and blogs at The Brain Lair.