Read Harder - January check-in

My goals for this month were to read Both Can Be True, a book about a trans character written by a trans author, and Whiteout, one of my favorite authors' favorite books.

Whiteout: Read. Such a delight. Review coming next week.

Both Can be True: Well, my book delivery containing this book came last night, I read it (in between taking care of a drugged-up post-surgery pup until I went to bed, and then I finished reading it after work today. So...I guess you could say it was good! It made me very emotional, and I'm not sure I'll write a full review of it, but five stars, across the board. Also, I'm pretty sure Ash's mom is based on my sister, even though Jules Machias has, to my knowledge, never met them.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Next up, February. The shortest month of the year. Can I read two challenge books plus everything else I'm reading in 28 days? Yeah, I totally can. Probably.

Challenge #3: Read a book about activism.

I'll be reading A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee. I've book talked this with my students before but never read it, and I've been trying to actually READ more of the books from award lists that I recommend to students, instead of relying on synopses. This one has been on my to read list for a while, too, so I'm glad this is pushing me to finally get to it.

Challenge #4: Read a book that’s been challenged recently in your school district/library OR read one of the most-challenged/banned books of the year by a queer and/or BIPOC author.

WHEW, wow, super fun challenge for a school librarian. I am very fortunate that families at my school haven't challenged books, but with the rise in challenges hanging over you and the knowledge that you have to be EXTRA able to justify each selection JUST IN CASE, acquiring new material gets incredibly stressful. I try to do my due diligence and pre-read things that seem like they might be questioned, so I'm prepared to defend their addition, but there are many challenged books that aren't in my library's collection that I have not read. I'm going to read The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson for this challenge (and then probably add it to my library - shhh, don't tell the fascists).