Candles Galore!

Today is a premium book birthday day! AND my first day back in the building! May I request chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting with a side of a whole bunch of candles?

Here's what I've been waiting to celebrate today. Some I've read. Some I haven't. All are worth adding to your TBR list and your next book order.

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

I read this back in June and I am still thinking about it and not just because I listen to football podcasts with my son. In my mind, Jacqueline Woodson's verse can do no wrong and this book is no exception. It's 1999-2000 and ZJs dad, a tight end for an unnamed football team (I think the Giants) is not his hero but his "every single thing."When his dad's head is just "not right anymore" ZJ's world as he knows it comes to an end. I really haven't read a book like this before. The topic is unique and so important. It's easily accessible and will spark many conversations among the young and not so young.  My husband always says that football will not look the same in our 14 year old Giants fan lifetime.  This book will  get us all talking while Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" plays in the background and Sugar Hill Gang is queued up next.

I am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James

LOVE.  Period.

You'll fall in love with this book like I did.

Flamer by Mike Curato

I have been waiting for this book for months! I would check back on Netgalley and Edelweiss impatiently refreshing hoping the arc would be loaded up in the time I hit the curved arrow but alas it never happened. Today is my day!  I look forward to cozying up and escaping into this graphic young adult novel memoir asap. 

Millionaires for a Month by Stacy McAnulty

Even though Stacy lives in North Carolina now, I still consider her a local girl having grown up in a zip code only a few miles from Castleton.  She likes her numbers and writing about math.  I'm excited for this one and to attend this crowdcast event this evening.  Stacy has already agreed to be a part of our #AuthorFanFaceOff on her book, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl. Yay!

Punching the Air by Ibi Zboi and Yusef Salaam

This book almost makes me want to teach high school.  The discussions we could have. The documentaries we could watch. The poems we could write. The artwork and artists we could analyze. The difference we could make.  Read. Share. Talk. Check out Salaam's website. Ken Burns's documentary.  Ava Duvernay's miniseries. (Check out my friend Alicia's blog post about the book here.) As an aside, it was definitely cool to read about Picasso's Guernica after just seeing it in person while I was in Madrid.

Plus a new one by David Wiesner (Robobaby) and one I'm excited to share with my music teacher, Wild Symphony by Dan Brown. 

So, yeah, worth getting the candles out for sure. I'll be having my cake (and cake and cake) and eating (and eating and eating) it, too.  It's a book birthday bonanza! 🎂