The Best Books I Read in 2024
books
Best Books I Read in 2023
Every year, I join the reading challenge on Goodreads. More often than not, I don’t reach my goal of reading 100 books, but last year I exceeded it. I credit this to our nighttime reading switching from picture books to chapter books. We are deep into Who Would Win, Magic Tree House, and Junie B. …
Writing as a Spiritual Practice
This week the book fair is at school and I found myself transported back as I wandered the shelves. A first grader showed me a diary that came with a key and I was instantly transported back to wandering the book fair and buying my first diary with a lock. A smile crept across my …
On Not Meeting Goals
This year, I didn’t meet my reading goal. I joined the Goodreads Reading Challenge and set my goal to read 100 books by the end of the year. I read 88. It would be easy to look at this picture of the quippy, “Better luck next time!” and feel disappointed or discouraged. It would be …
The Top Five Books I Read in 2022
Every year, I join the Goodreads Book Challenge. This year for the first time, I increased my goal to 100 books. I didn’t quite make it this year, but even so, I have set the same goal for 2023. As I conclude the year, I take the time to think and reflect on the books …
Giving Up the Entrepreneur Hustle
I opened Harrelson Press with the release of our first book in 2013. The idea came to me after working with authors and realizing that the majority not only do not maintain the creative rights to their creative work but they also don’t see much profit from each book sale. Book sales is not a …
The Best Books I Read in 2018
For the last two years, I have participated in the reading challenge on Goodreads. I’ve challenged myself to read 50 books. In 2016, I read 23. In 2017, I read 34. This year, I read 47. I’ll also challenge myself to read 50 books this year. It’s good to recognize challenges often take longer than a …
Children’s Books that Teach Kids to Love Language
Sometimes in our desire to make sure our children are learning all of the important preliteracy skills they need, we forget the power of loving language. Words are powerful, but words are also fun and funny and whimsical. As I was studying to be a reading specialist, one of the things I always wanted to …
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The Best Books I Read in 2017
For the last two years, I have participated in the reading challenge on Goodreads. I’ve challenged myself to read 50 books. In 2016, I read 23. In 2017, I read 34. And this year, I’ll also challenge myself to read 50 books. It’s good to recognize that sometimes challenges take longer than a year to …
5 Best Parenting Books of the Last 17 Months
Tomorrow, Ben will be 17 months! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been caring for this mini-human for 17 months swinging from days where it all feels natural and days where I am desperately scouring the internet and parenting section of the library to figure out what is going on. Over the past 17 months …