May Theme: Summer Reading Kickoff by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

I dug into my summer reading over the weekend, with books that have been in my home for ages: First up was THE APPRENTICES, Maile Meloy's sequel to THE APOTHECARY.

It's been a while since I was in Janie's world -- it's definitely a more harsh, violent, and acutely painful one this time around.

For some reason, I've torn through every one of Chimamanda Adichie's books but HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, which has been staring accusingly from a living room shelf for YEARS. Romance, Nigerian history, and spectacular writing by one of my favourite authors. The writing! Characters so carefully and lovingly sculpted...I am already wishing I could start all over again. As most of you may know, Adichie's "Danger of a Single Story" TED Talk went viral some time ago; check out this both hilarious and heartbreaking "Danger of a Single Book Cover" post from the wonderful AFRICA IS A COUNTRY blog. Seriously, go look now.

Dani Shapiro's STILL WRITING, which is both fresh and delightfully familiar, is perfect for subway and wait-during-lessons/activity reading, reminding me of those lessons I need to keep learning in my writing process.

Then I'm moving onto THE MAKING OF A POEM: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland, which is not me at all, because I actively avoid the writing of poetry, but I know I can learn a lot and my daughter loves to write poems, so I am (a little grumpily) making this a joint summer study -- we'll read it aloud together, I think.And bell hooks' TEACHING COMMUNITY: A Pedagogy of Hope, because, well, bell hooks.

For the rest of the summer I've got a couple of never-read oldies like THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH and THE WESTING GAME; I've got Varian Johnson's GREAT GREENE HEIST; Claudia Mills' ANNIKA RIZ, MATH WHIZ; STRANGE FRUIT, VOLUME I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History, and a glorious boatload of middle grade joys. Middle-grade novels are my summer reading sweet spot. Those fictions packed with truth. The place where I lose myself and find myself and am inspired. I can't wait! (Oh yeah, I didn't.)