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Summer Reading List.....Anyone?


Now that the craziness that comes with the end of the spring semester has ended, I'm looking at my summer reading lists.

I usually try to accomplish several things in the summer. First, to catch up on the stack of children's/YA books that I've been dying to read but haven't gotten to yet. Second, ditto for professional reading (books and journals). Third, to read something that will stretch me a little--beyond my comfort zone. Last summer, I decided to read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. I thought it would be interesting. However, it ended up changing everything (long story that I won't go into, but HUGE).

So, how do I top that? I'm not sure. You wouldn't believe how many stacks of books I have all over my office that I have taken a lot of time and money to put together and that are just begging to be read. Here are a few:

Stack One: Brain research
How Children Think and Learn (2nd ed -- I've read the 1st ed) by David Wood
Building the Reading Brain, PreK-3 by Pat Wolfe and Pamela Nevills
How the Brain Learns (2nd Ed -- I've read the 1st ed) by David Sousa
How the Brain Learns to Read by David A. Sousa
Teaching Struggling Readers (I've read this but it begs for a second reading) by Carol Lyons
Proust and the Squid (same as above) by Maryanne Wolf

Stack Two: On Reading
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
On Reading by Proust

Stack Three: On Children's Literature
Shattering the Looking Glass edited by Susan Lehr
Free Within Ourselves by Rudine Bishop
Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children's Literature: Mirrors, Windows, and Doors by Maria Jose Botelho
Children's Books for Grown-Up Teachers by Peter Appelbaum

Stack Four: On Technology
Teaching Writing Using Bogs, Wikis, and Other Digital Tools by Rick Beach, et al.
Interactive Literacy Education edited by Chuck Kinzer and Ludo Verhoeven
New Literacies in Action by William Kist
The Digital Pencil by Jing Lei, et al
Beyond Technology by David Buckingham
Literacy Moves On edited by Janet Evans

Now, none of these books really s-t-r-e-t-c-h me beyond my comfort zone. They really fall into the category of professional reading. Hmmmm.......... Any suggestions?

What about you? What are you reading this summer? Any "stacks" you'd like to share? Any thoughts about my stacks?

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