End of Year Update - #mustreadin2018

I opened my blog yesterday to post a slice of life (which I never got around to doing) and discovered this post that I hadn't published. Maybe because I was sad to have only read 5 from my list of 13 titles. If only I didn't get so distracted each year by reading Newbery possibilities, I might do a better job with this list. Several of these are migrating to my list for 2019. The books I finished are in green. All I can say is that I'll try to do better in 2019!

1. Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell
a leftover from a summer of reading chicken titles several years ago
This title gave me a whole new outlook on chickens!

2. How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor 
How can it be that I still haven't read this book?

Barbara O'Connor never fails to amaze. 

3. A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
Highly recommended by my middle school readers in book club
You'll want to head to the kitchen to try out one of the cake recipes in the book. 

4. Matylda Bright & Tender by Holly M. McGhee Won this book from a giveaway on Linda Baie's blog

5. A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord  Purchased after I heard Cynthia Lord speak at Western Washington University's Children's Literature Conference in 2017

6. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass a title I've started twice and loved but never finished

7. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon my one nod to YA, unread from last year's list (Can you tell that I love mostly middle grade?)

8. Hello Universe by Erin Estrada Kelly
this year's Newbery winner! 
An adventure of middle school friendship

9. Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech a parent told me once that this was the book that made a reader out of her son.

10. Greenglass House by Kate Milford
a title I discovered from a list of cozy books for winter reading

Don't miss this wintry mystery! You'll need to read with a mug of hot cocoa close by.

11. Looking Back by Lois Lowry an ARC that I borrowed from our middle school librarian and promised to pass on to one of the classroom teachers

12. Poems Are Teachers by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater a book that made me break my promise to self to not buy any more professional books   

13. Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers by Ruth Ayres Not in the stack of books pictured because I just have the electronic copy. I gave my print copy of the book to my niece.

Here are the Newbery possibilities I've read (huge distraction for me every year). I've enjoyed reading and discussing these books with a lunchtime book club at the middle school where I taught before retirement.
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (Picture books can win the Newbery. It happened in 2016 with the book Last Stop on Market Street.)
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller - Love the way this one is set up using the scientific method
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis
*Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes - My #2 spot
*The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connors - My current personal favorite!
Louisiana's Way Home by Kate Di Camillo
The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock