My Reading in 2022

See the rest of My Year in Books at https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2022/5706089

Reading in 2022 connected me with my grandchildren, deepened my faith, refined my teaching, educated me about the world, strengthened my empathy, introduced me to new viewpoints, helped me think about complex issues, and gave me hours of enjoyment. Tracking my reading on Goodreads provides me the opportunity to reflect back over the year of reading: 50,416 pages in 196 books including nearly every genre, format, and age level.  

Here’s a sampling:

• Get Real: Sharing Your Everyday Faith Every Day by John Leonard is an old favorite I return to every several years for encouragement, practical advice, and a lot of inspiring stories from the author’s life about how to live grace, love people, and naturally connect the two.
• Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst is the book from my summer professional reading that has most impacted my teaching this year.
• The Art of Talking with Children: The Simple Keys to Nurturing Kindness, Creativity, and Confidence in Kids by Rebecca Rolland I discovered as part of an audiobook offer free to educators from Libro.fm. Its principles are illustrated with many examples from the author’s experience as a school psychologist and as a parent.
• Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Dawud Anyabwile, and Derrick Barnes is a graphic novel where Tommie Smith recounts his life story within the frame of his 1968 Olympic race and the historic protest against racism of all 3 medalists at the award ceremony. It has been popular and eye-opening in my 6th and 7th grade classroom.    
• All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat is full of beautiful glossy pictures and graphics, explanatory insets about everything from hypothermia to Thai culture, and, of course, the story of the impossible rescue of the 13 boys trapped in the Tham Luang cave system by floodwater in 2018. I really enjoyed reading about the intense collaboration by many different people with different knowledge and skills from many different countries. It just arrived during the vacation, so it hasn’t been road tested with my students yet, but I have a couple who have lived in Thailand and a couple who are soccer players, so I think it will raise some interest.   
• A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny was pure recreation for me: #18 in the Inspector Gamache mystery series which is full of literary allusions, wisdom, and characters that actually grow over time. Also, the Quebec setting provides cross-culture interest as French and English speakers interact. 
• The Lost Ryu by Emi Watanabe Cohen is one of the most unique and insightful middle grades books I’ve read—with the added plus of being set in Japan, like my school. It’s 20 years after Japan’s defeat in World War 2, but it's a world where small, shoulder-sitting dragons are ubiquitous pets. Kohei, an English-speaking Japanese boy, is supposed to help Isolde, the Japanese/Jewish American girl who has just moved into the downstairs apartment, adjust to life in Japan. Actually, Isolde helps him uncover his family's stories and heal a little of the hurt in the world. As a 30-year resident of Japan, I can say the culture and language works. This was another libro.fm audiobook, and it was really delightful to hear the Japanese that sprinkles the text. 
• The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman was one I found when searching for books to allow my students to access stories of their Ukrainian neighbors. It alternates between the story of 2 girls whose fathers work at the Chernobyl power plant as they flee the nuclear disaster and the story of a girl fleeing the Nazi advance 2 generations earlier. It touches on bullying, antisemitism, domestic abuse, and is a beautiful tale of how love risks all to assert and protect the value and dignity of God’s image bearers.   

 
How do I find all these books? Here are 3 resources that I’ve been delighted to discover this year, plus one extra: 

1. The Redeemed Reader. This is a Christian organization with the tag line “We read ahead for you.” I love their philosophy, and their book lists are so helpful.
2. The Brainstorm Plus. This is the blog of the librarian at a Christian international school in Thailand. It is amazing—not only does she have lists and lists of books (here's part 4 for her "Top 10's of 2022"), but also every book is linked to her Goodreads review, which is quite thorough.
3. Libro.fm. This is an audiobook site that supports local bookstores and also offers a selection of 6-8 free new releases to educators every month. If you are an educator, don’t miss this great offer! I’ve enjoyed new releases by favorite authors (I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys) as well as discovering new gems (see above: The Art of Talking with Children and The Lost Ryu). 
4. Readeo.com. This is an online platform that has provided us hours of reading and chatting with our grandchildren even when separated by the Pacific Ocean while a global pandemic shut all travel down. For a modest annual fee, you get 5 accounts to share with all the children you want to read with. 

How about you? How has reading benefitted you this year? What are some books you’ve enjoyed? How do you find them?