Tamora Pierce – Becky Levine

I keep track of my reading in The Story Graph app, which–if you haven’t checked it out–is, IMO, much nicer to use that Goodreads. I’m guessing the community is nowhere as big, but since I don’t really use it for social media, that’s not a problem for me.

Anyway, rather than list every book I read in 2024, I’m just going to list some of my favorites, including rereads I binged for multiple books in a series/by an author. (I did a LOT of rereading this year. Not sure why, although I tend to reread for comfort, and you can guess why I might have needed some of that, especially in the Fall.) You can also see my ongoing lists of favorites at Pinterest.

Picture Books

Knight Owl written & illustrated by Christopher Denise
A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion written by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank’s Diary written by Meeg Pincus, illustrated by Jordi Solano
Nobody Hugs a Cactus written & illustrated by Carter Goodrich
Small Things Mended written by Casey W. Robinson, illustrated by Nancy Whitesides
Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott written by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist written by Heidi E.Y. Stemple, illustrated by Emily Paik
The Fighting Infantryman: The Story of Albert D.J. Cashier, Transgender Civil War Soldier written by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
The Bear Must Go On written by Dev Petty, illustrated by Brandon Todd.

Middle Grade

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
Sincerely Sicily by Tamika Burgess
The House with a Dragon in It written by Nick Lake, illustrated by Emily Gravett
The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga

YA/Adult (I started to separate these two categories, but when I looked at the list, it’s all crossover.)

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky, translated by Tess Lewis
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald
The Vampire of King Street: A Mystery by Asha Grayling

Rereads (Links go to first book in the series)

James Ponti’s City Spies series
Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes series (and DO watch the movies!)
Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic series
Stuart Gibbs’ Charlie Thorne series
Meg Cabot’s From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess series
Jo Bannister’s Castlemere series
Becky Albertalli’s Simonverse series

It’s official. I will be adding in specific time this summer for reading. Not just reading, but…yes, I”ll say it: PLEASURE reading!

The last few days have been pretty jitter-buggy around here, with my writing on hold for fun family stuff. It was hard at first, but then I really saw that I’ve been applying just a bit too much pressure to myself. How do I define “too much” pressure?

The amount of pressure that makes you step away from productivity and cross the line back into spinning fruitlessly in your own socks.

That would be the technical explanation.

I will write and write and write this summer. My editor just sent me an email saying that The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guidewill probably be on its way to copy edits soon. (Whee!) I’m going to get that first draft of the YA done, done, done–if not by June 30th, but soon after. I’m going to play outline with another nonfiction project.

And I’m going to do research. Four more books have shown up (mysteriously!!) in my mailbox, all about Chicago history and women and garment workers and “fun.” I’ll be making my way through those.

But I am also making a commitment to myself to push all of those away for at least a short time–30 minutes or an hour–as many days as I can. I just grabbed three more books by Tamora Pierce at the library today, and I feel like my son when he discovered Terry Pratchett. Ms. Pierce can keep me in relaxed, curl-up-and-dream reading ALL summer long! When I was a kid, even a teen, that was my favorite thing about summer–all that reading time. Reading whatever books I felt like, rather than something a teacher thought I should pick up. I want that back.

Son and I are discussing going with the whole siesta thing. Our house is almost 100 years old (I think!) and insulation is not in it’s vocabulary. So, during the summer, from about 2:00-4:00, it tends to bake a bit. We use fans, and it’s tolerable, but the brain synapses don’t always fire so great. We’re talking about meeting on the couch with books and popsicles, pointing the fans straight at ourselves and declaring it READING TIME.

Okay, I’m talking about it, with strong hints that this would NOT be a good time for video game noises. But he’s listening. And nodding a bit.

Frankly, I see this as therapy. And recharging. And a recognition that the word vacation IS an important part of the summer months.

What about you? Got your summer reads picked out yet? Your nesting/escaping spot in the house, or by the pool? Fridge stocked with your favorite cold drink?

Let’s all relax together this summer…just a bit and just enough!

Tag: Tamora Pierce

My 2024 Reading Recommendations

Reinstituted: Summer Reading