Sunday Salon: August 8, 2021

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon. 

 

• Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
• Unpack Your Impact: How Two Primary Teachers Ditched Problematic Lessons and Built a Culture-Centered Curriculum by Naomi O'Brien and Lanesha Tabb (for work)
• Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau

I am now back at work full time. Sigh. School doesn't begin until August 17 and teachers come back August 12, but I work extra days so here I am back at it. We are back in person, which is nice and I have 2 new supervisors (one for the social studies work and another for the tech work) so that will definitely be different. Our school board voted to mandate vaccinations for staff except if you aren't vaccinated you will get tested every week at district expense, so I am not sure how that's a mandate. And here in California, students and staff have to wear masks at all times. So, I feel like we're going back in the safest way possible. I do find it interesting that the people complaining about masks in schools are the parents and they are even there during the day! Their students just wear the masks mostly without complaint.

We watched the International Space Station soar through the sky last Sunday night. I must say, it's pretty incredible that we can see it with the naked eye and it made me feel very small to think there are people in it, hurtling through space. Pretty amazing.

The CYBILS are coming! The CYBILS are coming! The CYBILS are the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards and they are really fun. Anyone can nominate their favorite books, but there is also a call for panelists and judges, which begins August 14. I have been a round 2 judge for the past 4 years and highly recommend the experience. Panelists and judges are assigned a category (picture books, children's nonfiction, YA graphic novels, etc). Round 1 panelists read a ton of books in the Fall, getting to choose the finalists while Round 2 judges read about 7 books and pick the winner.

I actually participated well in a readathon! I managed to read all of Mary Jane, the 3 chapters i needed in Unpack Your Impact, and I started Jane Harper's third Aaron Falk novel, The Survivors. Yay me!

I logged onto Susan's Bloggin' 'Bout Books this past week and saw her new blog design, which is totally fun! I was inspired and have also hired Amanda at Simply Stella Design Studio to re-do mine. While I like what I have now, it is from 2009 and I am ready for an update. So... stay tuned.

This image links to my Challenges page: