The Book Butcher: 2012

I have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews for librarians and teachers to use in the classroom. Well, I am going to try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday! I invite teachers and librarians to link to a recent book talk or book review that can be used by others- to help purchase new books, learn about new books and to help give us book talk ideas.

My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them.
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library!
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)

****

Ahhhh! Welcome to another year! Another chance to become the person you want to be! Another chance to accomplish your goals! Another year to feel guilty about all of the things you should be doing but don't. I have lots of resolutions for myself.... but I have realized that nobody cares about your resolutions. Unless you are a book junkie and you are talking about books. So, I will spare you my lofty personal goals and cut to the chase.

In 2012, I would like to read 100 books. Last year I set this very goal and logged 28. There is nowhere to go but up! The Internet holds a bounty of book challenges for you to take on! I am not joining any formal challenges- my only challenge is to turn off the tv and the computer and read. But, if you would like to join some challenges to increase your reading in 2012, try these:

LibLaura5 and A to Z Library are hosting The Caldecott Challenge: Read all 300 picture books that have won the prestigious Caldecott, from 1938 to the present. About the challenge:

"THIS IS A STRESS FREE CHALLENGE. It is intended to be fun! You are invited to participate in this challenge at your own pace and at your own level of "strictness" to the list of books. Some of those older honor books may be difficult to get your hands on. You may choose not to re-read titles. You may make this challenge about what works for you!"

Colby Sharp and John Schu are hosting The Newbery Challenge.Same as The Caldecott Challenge, but the books are a bit thicker and there are 16 more of them. Mr. Schu explains the challenge in this video.

Kidlit Frenzy and The Nonfiction Detectives are encouraging us to read more nonfiction in the year twenty twelve with The Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge! This is a great opportunity to try something new and learn something along the way! You can also use these nonfiction picture books for your overall goal! You set your nonfiction goal and then share your reviews each week. Get your students involved with the help of PageinTraining and her Passport Nonfiction site!

Ms. Houghton is hosting The Sibert Challenge to get your nonfiction mojo flowing. (I had to Google "Sibert Award" to get in the loop.)

No matter how many books you challenge yourself to read, you can track them at Goodreads.com. Just tell Goodreads how many books you'd like to read and they track your progress. They will also tell you how far behind you are. They offer a gadget that you can embed in your blog so your readers can track your progress.

******

Whether you'd like to read 2000 books or 2 books in 2012, you should be proud. Even if you read 1 book in the coming year, you will be forever changed. May be you want to read to your kids more- what a powerful goal that is! Don't define yourself as a success by the number of books you read... this is a powerful article by Donalyn Miller about just giving yourself permission to read in 2012- no matter the number of books.

So- what about you? What are your reading goals for 2012? Tell us! Are you participating in a reading challenge this year? Share it with us! The more the merrier! Leave a comment and tell us about your goals this year. One of your goals should be: Visit the links below and LEAVE A COMMENT for each blogger... bloggers love comments!

******

Now- on with the show! The reason you are all here! Book Talk Tuesday! Book Talk Tuesday will be a great resource to all of us as we create our reading lists this year! Check back often- and don't forget about the book talk archives (which I still need to update!)

*******

1.	Ms. O Reads Books-- The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman	11.	Mrs. Mattei	21.	The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (Kidsmomo)
2.	The Unwanteds (pageintraining)	12.	60 Not- to- be- Missed Picture Books	22.	Little Blue Truck (Flowering Minds)
3.	sharpread (Colby Sharp)	13.	The House Baba Built (NC Teacher Stuff)	23.	Never Forgotten by Patricia McKissack and the Dillons
4.	Mr Schu Reads	14.	Library Fanatic	24.	lit360 IJohn)
5.	Winterling (ICPL)	15.	King School Library	25.	Middle Grd Reads
6.	List of Snowy Books (Bigfoot Reads)	16.	Amanda @Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf	26.	Kid Lit Frenzy
7.	Niki	17.	When Life Gives You O.J. / Hound Dog True (Chocolate Air)	27.	The Spiderwick Chronicles (Lit Lad)
8.	Jen and Kellee @ Teach Mentor Texts	18.	Migrant @A Picture Book A Day (Natalia Ortega- Brown)	28.	Lib Laura5
9.	Caroline Starr Rose - Glory Be	19.	Baja's Cozy Book Nook (Scape Goat and The Secret Knowledge of Grownups)
10.	The Brain Lair	20.	Cynthia Alaniz (@utalaniz)

It is time to get my deepest, darkest secret out in the open. Are you ready? You won't judge me? You'll still read my blog and like me? Okay... here goes.

I have only read the first Harry Potter book.

I read it the year it came out.

I have only seen the first Harry Potter movie.

Let's not talk about it. Just know that in 2012, I will reread book 1 and the other 6 books. I promise.

Have you read them all? Take my poll here!

UPDATE: After all of the amazing feedback I received from this post, I have decided that, YES I will read the series this year- but there is no rush! There are so many other amazing books to be read! So, I will keep them handy and read them when I'm not reading so many other books!

*Hype has kept me from reading them. I know, lame. But it is true. Everyone has read them and has an opinion- why should I read them?