My Book-ish Week (and a Preview of Book-ish October...or is that Boooook-ish October?)

October is always book-ish here. First we have the school Scholastic Book Fair, including the always-exhausting yet ever-fun Open House late night book fair. It's followed by Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon. Next weekend, I'll be cheering you on while trying desperately to read, complete mini-challenges, and---most of all---stay awake. Then it will be time for the Texas Book Festival. Once again, I'll spend Saturday taking photos and making short videos of author presentations to share with children at my school. On Sunday, I'll be an Author Escort. In years past, I've escorted children's author Adam Rex and children's author/pop star Jewel. Who will I get to escort this year? Can't wait to find out! And this whole month is the start of Cybils time. I set my alarm for midnight on October 1st so that I could be first to nominate my favorite children's books of the past year. I started putting in requests at the library to find all the books I'll be reading as a Round 1 Cybils Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books panelist. And then I'll try once again to read all of the sixty (seventy? eighty?!) nominated books!

Want to come to the Texas Book Festival? Take a look at the lineup of authors here.

Want to join in for Dewey's Readathon, but think you can't do 24 hours? Check out my Readathon Lite.

Wanna nominate a children's book for the Cybils? You have until the 15th. Click here.

What I Read Last Week I thought hosting the school book fair would put a crimp in my reading last week, but, happily, this did not happen. Three excellent reads.  Are you a teacher, too? Or raising kids? Or (oh dear!) both? You should read master teacher Rafe Esquith's new book, Lighting Their Fires. Have you almost given up (in despair) your hope of raising and teaching children who are respectful, hard-working, and self-motivated learners? Esquith tells it like it is. He shows us a few of his best at a baseball game and showcases their amazing behavior in sharp contrast to other children (oh double-dear!) and adults. You will be moved to try again. Esquith will light your fire so that you can light their fires.  Debbie Stier? What a mom! Her underachieving son prompts her to figure out a way to light his fire toward being accepted into a top college. The way she comes up with is helping him score big on his upcoming SAT. And how to do that? She decides to jump in and take the test herself. Seven times. Yes, seven times in one year. And, in the process, she tried every single possible SAT-score-enhancing practice method. This book is full of ideas for ways to do better on this all-important test. The Perfect Score Project is a must-read for anyone with an SAT in one's future.  Sisters. A graphic novel that captures that love-hate relationship between sisters that happens from the very beginning. It's a memoir for our young students that interweaves themes all children face---sibling rivalry, parent conflict, parent-child conflict---in a way that is reassuring yet genuine.

What Arrived Last Week Here's the plot: In A Fifty-Year Silence, Mouillot tries to discover what happened to her grandparents' marriage shortly after WWII. Her grandfather was an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials and her grandmother was a physician. After the war, the two moved to a small isolated village in the South of France. One day, her grandmother moved out. Her grandparents never spoke again, never saw each other again, and never explained what happened between them. Doesn't that sound intriguing?

What I'm Reading Now Next week, we will be going to France at my school library. I'm pulling together a Madeleine costume (did you know this is the 75th anniversary of this classic children's book?) and we are taking a trip to France. This will be the perfect time to read my new book, 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go. I also hope to read a couple more Frenchies, Madame Pamplemousse and Her Incredible Edibles, Dodsworth in Paris, Everybody Bonjours, and Zat Cat!

What are you reading today?!

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.