Sunday Salon: April 2, 2017

My life in books:
What a great two weeks of reading. I read amazing books before spring break began and then a week off (with UK visitors) was also a good week:

• Serpent King by Jeff Zentner--So darn good! It's a 2017 YA Award winner.
• In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear--the most recent Maisie Dobbs mystery as part of a TLC Books Tour.
• When We Collided by Emery Lord--Another amazing 2017 YA Award winner.

• City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson--Set in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, this one is really good
• Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner--And yet another incredible YA book!
• Amina's Voice by Heta Khan--a nice middle-grade novel

Challenge updates:

• Read Your Own Damn Books--My goal is to read 25 books from my TBR shelves this year. So far I've read 13, but I didn't add any in the past two weeks. I've been on a YA library-borrowing binge.
• Travel the World in Books--The idea is to read books set in as many countries as possible. This month I added a book set in Kenya and DR Congo.
• Literary Escapes--Similar to the previous challenge, this one tracks the US states. This month I added a book set in Illinois.
• Read all of the ALA YA Award Winners--Three of the books that I read in the past two weeks were 2017 YA winners and they were all incredible.

My life outside books:

Work has been a little stressful as we contemplate going one-to-one with iPads in grades 4 through 12. There is a lot of misinformation amongst the teachers (not their fault) and fear of change. We also have some people who feel more comfortable with laptops/Chromebooks so can't see the advantages of iPads. I definitely feel like I am on the front lines trying to educate them about the advantages, price, etc, but since I have no authority in their eyes (in other words, I am not an administrator), I feel I am not really being heard.

I've also been working to plan a professional development day (Monday, tomorrow!) for all of our social studies teachers. I want it to be useful and interesting so that stresses me out even though I know I can't make everyone happy no matter what I plan. :-)

This past week was spring break and for the first time in many years I didn't go anywhere because my daughter's break is different from mine for the first time. Instead, my brother and his youngest daughter, age 10, came to visit from England. It was so great to see them! We went to our town's brand new science/exploratorium (that's my niece, my mom, and I on the rooftop. The views are stunning), the zoo, the wharf, went for walks, and just hung out. Very relaxing and just what I needed. One of the things we do as a family is to do Liberty puzzles. These are the most beautiful puzzles ever! They are made out of wood and each piece is different--they are in the shape of birds, bugs, butterflies, people, snakes, spiders, flowers, and more. This break we did one that was a family photo--you can see all our heads floating, partly done.

I also got to spend 24 hours with my daughter before she flew off to the east coast on a school-sponsored college visit trip. She was a little pouty that she was going and not just coming home to relax, but I know she'll be fine once she gets there with her friends and starts seeing various colleges between DC and Boston.