At the beginning of 2021, I was in a very different place. I was working at a public library, trying to decide what else I wanted to do with myself. And then, partway through the year, I decided (kind of on a whim) to apply for a job as a school librarian. That job, which I got, has led me to start working on a Master’s in Library and Information Science, brought me a 40-45 minute commute (compared to my 13-ish minutes before), and challenged me in many different ways.
One thing about this change that I’m really loving (other than currently being on a 12-day break from work) is the amount of books I’m reading/listening to. I made it a goal when I started the job to read all of the Goldfinch Award Books (intended for Iowa Kindergarten-3rd Graders), Iowa Children’s Choice Award Books (3rd-6th Graders), Iowa Teen Award Books (6th-9th Graders), and Iowa High School Award Books (9th-12th Graders) by the end of the school year, and I’m well on my way to reaching that goal.
I was always a reader as a kid, but when I started teaching, most of my reading happened on school breaks. There were several years in my 20’s & 30’s during which I hardly read at all, which never felt right, but I wasn’t making it a priority. Working at the public library I got back into reading more, especially when I took over leading a library-sponsored book club. And when 2020 started, I set my first ever Goodreads reading challenge goal: I decided I wanted to read at least 24 books for the year. I ended up reading 27. At the beginning of 2021 I decided to make my goal 30 for the year but, again, I set that goal when I was working at the public library. When I started my new job, and started reading the award books (of which there are about 65, I believe), I started working through them pretty quickly. I’m currently sitting at 70 books read for the year. That’s counting quite a few picture books, and several books that I’ve listened to (usually at 1.5x speed), but I think they all count. And I’m thrilled!
My new job has gotten me back into reading kid lit, and I love it. There are some really great books out there for kids and teens, and I’ve read quite a few that have so much more substance than a lot of the “popular” titles for adults. But I’m not abandoning books for adults–I’ve been continuing to participate in the book club through the library, and a few weeks ago I shared about going to see Nikole Hannah-Jones (creator of The 1619 Project) speak, and mentioned that The 1619 Project book was on my list to read by the end of the calendar year. And now, with five days left before the year ends, I’m going to start it. I just flipped through the table of contents, and am excited to see essays and poems listed by authors I’ve read other things from in the last few years, including Jesmyn Ward, Matthew Desmond, Carol Anderson, Bryan Stevenson, Yaa Gyasi, Ibram X. Kendi, and Jason Reynolds. The works by these authors that I’ve already read certainly made an impact on me, and I can’t wait to dig in to this collection.
My new goal for 2021 is to finish The 1619 Project and at least one other book to get to 72 for the year. I have less than a week, but I’ll honestly be surprised if I don’t get to 73 or 74 (school break + not great weather = home improvement projects while listening to audiobooks). Maybe I’ll share some book reviews next week (I’ve read some fantastic ones this year!), but for now I’m off to work on completing that goal. And I’ll be trying to decide what to set as my reading goal for 2022!
growingmoxie.com 