Book News

I’m participating in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon this Saturday, the 18th. However, for me it will be more like a 15-17 hour readathon. I don’t stay up late on Saturday night because it’s very worshipful to fall asleep in church on Sunday morning. So, I’m planning to be reading from 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning until maybe midnight, at which time I will turn into a well-read pumpkin. And the rest of the family is going camping, so I can read to my heart’s content.
UPDATE: I’m about to start my readathon at 8:00 AM, an hour late, since I had trouble sleeping last night. Excitement? At any rate, it’s off to the races with one of my Cybils nominees.

What will I be reading, you ask? Cybils Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, of course. We have over 100 books nominated, and I’ve actually read about 40. So although I’m pleased with how I’m doing so far, I have a lot more books to read.

UPDATE at 9:40 PM (CT): Well, I’ve read most of the day, and I’ve read two books for the Readathon, The School for Good and Evil: A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani and Grave Images by Jenny Goebel. Both were enjoyable and solid, but not amazing. I also wrote my reviews for these two, and now I’m going to pick another book and head for bed. Happy reading to all who plan to complete the remainder of the readathon. Bedtime for me (with a little more reading)!

Have you ever wondered how the books for the Newbery Award and the Honor books are chosen? Abby the Librarian writes about what the Newbery Committee actually does, and she does so without sharing any “classified” information.

The Texas Book Festival takes place in Austin next weekend, October 24-26. I can’t go, but for those of you who will be there: hug an author for me. Or buy a book. Or something. Enjoy. Some of the authors who will be there and who would be recipients of at least a smile from me: Kathi Appelt, Shannon Hale, Trent Reedy, Chris Barton (Hi, Chris!), Molly Bloom, Jon Meacham, Jon Scieszka, Varian Johnson, Susan Goldman Rubin, Jennifer E. Smith, Greg Leitich Smith, Deborah Wiles, Jacqueline Woodson, Annie Barrows, Nikki Loftin, and many more. (I met Chris Barton at KidLitCon last year in Austin.)

10 thoughts on “Book News

  1. Oh, a read-a-thon sounds like so much fun. Wish I could do it! I love author events, too – haven’t been to one in a long while.

  2. The last few times I did read-a-thons church started at 1. I could get a little over 6 hours of sleep before church. This year we go to church at 9. I might have to go to bed earlier also. Otherwise I’m only going to get 3 hours of sleep before hand. Well have fun reading.

  3. I always have trouble sleeping before I planned on doing anything. I’m used to it though. I hope you are having a great time. Looking forward to more updates from you. 🙂

  4. Hope you’re having fun making progress! You can do this 😀 15-17 hours is impressive enough!

  5. I hope you’re having a WONDERFUL day of reading! I won’t be able to make it to the Texas Book Festival either, but I sure wish I could! /

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