Donlyn Miller's Book a Day Project #bookaday

The article below is how #bookaday began...back in 2009. Post books that you read in any social media with the hastag #bookaday. Yes, you read a book a day but it can be ANY kind of book... picture books, non-fiction, magazines, novels...you name it, if you read it, post it. There is no prize, it's not a command, it's a chance to share your love of reading via social media. Use the hashtag #bookaday and the title of the book. You don't have to leave a review but you certainly can if you so desire. Donlyn Miller is the champion of the pure love of reading...that means that no child should be given a TEST after they read a book. Her goal in life is to get every child to become a lifelong lover of books! Her two books are inspiring...The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild!

Join me, and thousands more, and tell us the books you love!

From the Nerdy Book Club, click here for daily book love!

THE FIFTH ANNUAL #BOOKADAY CHALLENGE

POSTED BY DONALYNM ON MAY 19, 2013 IN PAY IT FORWARD, READING LIVES | 80 COMMENTS

Every year, I prepare for summer with the same comforting rituals. I buy a pack of Goody black hair elastics and new flip flops. I write end-of-year notes to my students. I recheck my summer travel plans. And I publicly announce my intention to read a book for every day of summer break.

This ambitious challenge began as an attempt to catch up on the landslide of books piled around my house and reconnect with my reading life. Over the years, the Book-a-Day challenge has evolved into a social event connecting readers who share book recommendations and celebrate reading. Nerdy Book Club fun fact, I “met” Colby Sharp for the first time when he joined the Book-a-Day Challenge on Twitter in 2011. Mini Book-a-Day events pop up during spring and winter breaks, and literacy gurus like Teri Lesesne post book titles under the #bookaday hashtag all year.

That book on your nightstand for the past two months? That biography someone gave you last Christmas? That cascading pile of journals on your office floor? Isn’t it time? Won’t you join me in the Fifth Annual Book-a-Day Challenge?

Imagine languid days reading an entire book in one sitting. Picture yourself staying up past midnight to finish one more chapter. Summer (reading) is coming.

The rules (more guidelines, really) are simple:

Read one book per day for each day of summer vacation. This is an average, so if you read three books in one day (I know you’ve done this!) and none the next two, it still counts.

You set your own start date and end date.

Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, audio books, poetry anthologies, or fiction—children’s, youth, or adult titles.

Keep a list of the books you read and share them often via a social networking site like goodreads or Twitter (post using the #bookaday hashtag), a blog, or Facebook page. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if you wish. Titles will do.

Let me admit a secret. I probably won’t make my Book-a-Day Challenge this year without reading more than a few picture books and graphic novels to hedge my bets. You probably won’t either. Book-a-Day is not a competition. It’s an opportunity to enjoy marvelous reading experiences and rededicate ourselves to daily reading. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we read, or how much, or when. What matters is that we have fun and indulge in our favorite leisure activity—reading a lot of books!

I like a little bit of everything, but here are ten books I plan to read:

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Dreams and Shadows by C. Thomas Cargill

Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman

Red River Stallion by Troon Harrison

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Winger by Andrew Smith

I hope you have an adventurous summer both inside and outside the pages. Please share the books you plan to read this summer and help our reading lists grow.

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer and the upcoming Reading in the Wild. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.

Mem Fox: Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever

Had to get up early to help my daughter get the grandloves off to school. Henry tells me today when we got in the car, "Grandma, I want to do the seatbelt myself. I will use your tactic." He's in kindergarten and he used the word "tactic" correctly. And I will tell you this. He is read to by his family every single day and has hundreds of books already. Vocabulary is only ONE of the reasons everyone should read aloud to their kids...and don't stop when they get in middle school or even high school. It's a simple pleasure that surely changes lives. Please, please give to the charities that get books into the hands of children without books in their homes.

Speaking of changing lives...I give books for baby showers. I also get the book by the children book author, Mem Fox, called: Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever  She has updated versions. Excellent!

Weekly Library Stack

Hubby finished the top book...from recommendations for readers who enjoy Harlan Coben. He loved it. Some of the picture books are from a list I found called "picture books for adults" : I Am Thomas, War Game, Black Dog, & The Promise. The others are off the "new books" shelf at the library. I finished my audible book Warbound, the third in the Larry Correia Grimnoir trilogy. Hubbby and I gave it 5 stars. George and I loved this series so much that I immediately downloaded the short story he wrote as a companion book, Tokyo Raider. YAY BOOKS! 

Library Bag Fave: Albie's First Word - A Tale Inspired by Albert Einstein's Childhood by Jacqueline Tourville & Illustrations by Wynne Evans

While I was teaching, I would head to the library a couple times a week. I'd grab as many new picture books as I could, making sure my bag was still light enough to carry to the car. Before teaching a tech lesson, I chose one new picture book to read to my classes FIRST. This is something I struggled with ...should  I be taking time from tech? But over and over it would prove to be a favorite time for all of my students. Especially the older kids, because they rarely got the chance to still read or check out picture books. And you know about peer pressure and looking "babyish". One day I needed to get the kids going on a project in tech, skipping reading a book. One of my redhead fifth grade boys (whom I'll lovingly NEVER forget) looked at me and said, "We're not going to read a book first?" with the saddest and most disappointed look on his face. It was one of the key moments when I knew reading to them was the right thing to do. My hope is that I instilled the love of books and reading in my students because I loved it myself, showed them, and read to them.

Now that I've retired, I haven't changed my habit at all. My Goodreads 2015 goal is 365 books and I'm 20 books ahead of schedule. Finding and reading new picture books really is one of those simple things in my life that brings me pure joy. When I walk up to the shelf with the new picture books, more times than not, I will start giggling at one of the covers. Or I will get really excited because someone I LOVE is featured in a new book. This time it was a new book about Albert Einstein. (Check out a previous post on an Albert Einstein book titled "On a Beam of Light".)

From debut illustrator Wynne Evans' gorgeous illustrations to the what if question posed by author Jacqueline Tourville, we have "Albie's First Word". She has written many books about child health and development. An article she read about Einstein being a late talker interested her. She herself had a child that was a late talker and so did I. I would call my mom and fret about our son STILL not talking. She'd tell me that he was fine and when he started talking we'd wish he'd stop. And of course she was right. Albie's mother worried, too, and took him to a doctor who suggested taking him to the symphony, a professor's lecture, and being around other children...like at a local boat race. Albie won the race but still did not talk when he was presented the trophy, he just held it high in the air. Albie's parents decided if he never spoke one word, they would always love him anyway.

We know of course that he became a brilliant scientist and a great mind of our times. Tourville gives us a delightful "tale" of what that first word could have been. Of course, no one knows for sure, but I think she came up with the perfect choice. I'm not tellling, so, what do YOU think his first word might have been?

Library Bag Fave: Is There a Dog in This Book? by Viviane Schwarz

You can't tell, but the yellow part is a different piece of paper that covers the cats. This SHOULD have given me a clue that INSIDE the book would have flaps and cutouts. But, no, I was delightfully surprised. Lots of fun in this story and the illustrations....many, many giggly surprises! The cats talk to the reader, inviting us into their story. Two of the cats discover there is a dog in the book...the third asks what a dog is. The dog in the book is just the cutest little thing. I particularly love his thought bubbles...they are kiddish line drawings of what he is "hearing" the cats tell him. Schwarz has cleverly hid the cats under flaps because they are afraid of him. Well, except Tiny, she wants to be friends. She eventually convinces the other two to feel his soft fur. But then they ask the reader if they want to cuddle their new dog friend. The reader sees the dog looking at them with sheer terror, his ears straight up in the air, with a line drawing of a human in his thought bubble is hilarious! He runs off and hides...behind flaps of course! Such a delightful, unique, fun book! Grab it at your nearest library or independent book store! YAY BOOKS!

Reading Goals, and Young Adult Titles

Go here to read Colby Sharp's reading goals he set for himself. He is one of my favorite sources for everything books and teaching. He and John Schu, another of my go-to sources, collaborate often about books. Colby's goals are sensible and logical, instead of just a number. Colby's Reading Goals

One of his goals is to read young adult books...this is the one that caught my interest. So...of course I had to suggest a BUNCH of books and decided to post it here, too. 

Colby, I LOVE your idea! I’m particularly interested in your YA reads…I’m a little obsessed with YA at the moment…well, for chapter books. I still get a boat load of new picture books each week. May I make a few suggestions regarding YA? (Notice how I’m going to go ahead. And I KNOW that you probably know all of these books and authors…so basically, these are MY favorites.) Maggie Stiefvater: Scorpio Races was a fave of hubby and I…and it’s going to be a movie, but we have joyfully devoured ALL of her books. Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens…wicked hilarious…reminds me of adult writer Christopher Moore. Markus Zusak…Book Thief, of course, but his I Am the Messenger is SO different from BT but fab…I think every teenager should read this book before graduation. Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart series, think reluctant boy readers. John Green, goes without saying. Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell…another ALL teenagers should read…great music references! Perks of Being a Wallflower. Every Day, David Leviathan. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman…half dragon/half human…waiting for sequel in March! On the lighter side but the story telling is exquisite, think reluctant girl readers, Cinder series by Marissa Meyer. Colby, I admire you…thank you for doing what you do!

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Moira Young was an actress, dancer, singer, and opera star when she took a bad fall. During her recovery she discovered a forgotten old goal...to write a novel. Promptly taking a class in writing, she is now an award winning novelist with her first attempt, Blood Red Road, the first in her Dustlands trilogy.


A desolate world that has become a dusty wasteland, has a mad King who controls his slaves with a drug they call Chaw. Saba knows nothing of this outside her little world...her family lives near a dried up lake, but they get by and are happy, even though their mother died giving birth to Emmi, the youngest. Until the day the men in black cloaks come and kidnap her beloved twin brother Lugh. Her quest to find her brother will not only make Saba stronger and braver then she could ever imagine, it will lead her to the man who makes her heartstone blaze.