Some of My Memorable Summer Reads

Summer is over, and with the first day of school tomorrow,  I'm doing some reflecting on my reading. I glance over at my bookstack on my side table, and look at the titles I have kept there. Somehow, they didn't make it back to a shelf, or to my personal library upstairs. I know why.

I had a busy summer and really wished I could have read more than I did. But I will not feel ashamed because I am proud of what I did read. I read some great new and upcoming titles, and some published long ago, still loved by many. So when someone asks what I read this summer (and I may not wait for them to ask), the titles that come to my mind quickly are the ones that I know left a big impression. Those happen to be the same books on my table. I can't put them away because I want them near me. I want to be able to look at them, open them, remember the precious words, and mostly, how they made me feel. 

While I won't write at length about them here, or evaluate them at all right now, I will share them with you. And I will tell you that they have become a part of my remembered reading timeline (not every book makes it here) and that even though I have many, many more books to read, I will make time to reread these--although in bits and pieces, in stolen moments on busy fall days.

Nest by Esther Ehrlich:

An unforgettable main character named Chirp. A book dealing with tough issues. A story that will tug and break and enrich your heart. A book you will not be able to put down. Release date: Sept. 9th. Mark it on your calendar. In a really bright color! I have. I have! 

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin: Available October 7th from Feiwel & Friends. A girl with an obsession for homonyms. Un-put-downable. Does that make sense? I will forever appreciate Ann M. Martin for giving us A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray (Scholastic, 2005). 

Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere: Published April 8th, 2014

I wished I had known about this book earlier in my "reading life".  I would have shared it more. I would have recommended it more. So I'm making up for lost time here. This is a powerful, powerful book. You won't forget what it makes you think and feel. 

Brown Girl Dreaming: available on August 28th! Next week! 

I read this one in April, and since then, I have grown to love it even more. Here's my final copy from Penguin. Some books stay with you. Some books inspire you. Some books beg to be reread. This one does all of those things.

Revolution by Deborah Wiles

I read this one in April, too. Every page is an experience. Nonfiction paired with fiction in a way that makes you say: "Wow! How did she do that?" And then you realize exactly what Deborah Wiles did with this book. And you marvel again. And again.

I'll start the school year with wonderful book memories. And I know I'll make many more with the readers in my library. And more importantly, I'll help them make their own.