It's Monday! What are you reading?

Summertime reading is HERE!  This is my reading pile this week:

From top to bottom, I have a Bluebonnet Award nominee, a book club selection from a Dripping Springs pastor, a professional development book study, a just-for-fun graphic novel, and a self-improvement choice.

This is how I typically read!  I very rarely have just one book "going" at a time--unless it's a really, really good story and I have the luxury of slipping into a book coma.  

Three of these books are deadline driven--I'm reviving my summertime goal of reading all the Bluebonnet Award nominees, the pastor is holding the book club meeting tomorrow (don't know if I can make it yet, but the book is good enough to keep reading!), and the professional development book study started today.  Sometimes deadlines help me focus on the reading, and sometimes they make it harder to read, because it becomes work instead of an enjoyable experience--which just happens to be a big message in Drive.

Speaking of reading as an enjoyable experience--please take a moment to read this article shared by a teacher friend of mine today, from the blog for The National Council of Teachers of English:

Promoting the Pleasures of Reading: Why It Matters to Kids and to Country

My takeaway from the article?  

"Our data clearly establish that students gravitate to the kinds of books they need to navigate their current life challenges, and that many ancillary benefits accrue in the realms of cognition, psychology, emotional development, and socialness. So much so that we developed the mantra: Kids read what they need!" 

--Jeffrey Wilhelm

It's Monday!  Read what YOU need!