The publisher is using a new address for their RSS feed. Please update your feed reader to use this new URL: http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/atom.xml ..read more

New Year's Greetings to any of you who are still following my sorely neglected blog. December 17th marked the blog's 15th birthday. I had hopes of doing a post to celebrate that, but today will have to do. I am still here, and grateful for my years of blogging and reviewing books. Sadly, however, juggling work and family responsibilities in this pandemic year has caused blogging to fall off my plate.  I popped in today to share two things: my "one word" for 2021 and my list of books read in 2020.  Last year, my "one word" was LESS. I intended that to mean spending less time on thing ..read more

My family was having a discussion about the (still undecided) question of whether my daughter's school would re-open for in-person learning in the fall. We agreed that a benefit of in-person schooling would be (I think?) access to the school library. My daughter sighed a bit over her months-long separation from the library and said: "I need the library because I'm out of call-out books."  My husband was perplexed by this term, but I was not. My daughter was referring to the books that "call out" to her from the shelf. She is a big believer in this method of finding her next read. [Yes, s ..read more

I haven't been blogging much of late, but my daughter (now 10) has continued in her development as a reader. Today I share a small moment that may resonate with fellow book-lovers.  My friend Jennifer Wharton at Jean Little Library recently recommended a book that I thought my daughter might enjoy: The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi. Discovering that it was available in paperback, I decided to order a copy.  I gave it to my daughter and told her why I had thought she might like it (including a mention of Jennifer's recommendation). She picked it up and gave it a careful look. Then, strugg ..read more

Here are highlights from the links that I shared on Twitter over the past 3 weeks @JensBookPage. Topics include #BookLists, #coronavirus, #DistanceLearning, #FreeSpeech, #GraphicNovels, #Homeschool, #HybridLearning, #JoshFunk, #JoyOfReading, #literacy, #MentalHealth, #play, #ReadingChoice, #SchoolReopening, #SummerReading, #VirtualLearning, reading, and schools. Hope you find some useful tidbits!  Top Tweet of the Month It's time for adults to Rewrite the arbitrary Rules of #Reading they impose on kids, says @citecitebaby @nerdybookclub http://ow.ly/Egyl30qU4am#ReadingChoice #GraphicNove ..read more

Today, I will (finally) be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on growing joyful learners, especially bookworms. The newsletter is normally sent out about once a month, depending on how frequently I'm able to post on my blog. However, during the COVID-19 lockdown I've found my time for blogging to be severely limited. I always work full-time from home (in a job unrelated to the blog), but doing that with my 10-year ..read more

Here are highlights from links that I shared on Twitter over the past month @JensBookPage. Although blogging got away from me over these past two months, I did continue sharing links as I found them on Twitter. Fewer than before (I pruned my blogroll significantly due to time constraints), but still lots of good stuff.  Below you'll find articles on #AchievementGap, #AntiRacism, #BookLists, #ClassroomLibraries, #Coding, #DistanceLearning, #EdTech, #EducationalEquity, #HigherEd, #Introversion, #JoyOfReading, #Lockdowns, #MentalHealth, #Play, #RemoteLearning, #ScreenTime, #Statistics, #Sum ..read more

In these conflict-ridden times, a love of books is a gift. If you have a book that you love, no matter what happens in your regular life, you can always go back to visit. You just have to open up the book. Here are a few places I continue to visit every so often: Gone-Away Lake (and Villa Caprice) The Four-Story Mistake Pemberley Dunnian (and the town of Ryddleton) Hogwarts The Velvet Room Green Sky I own most of these books in multiple formats. Just in case. There are other places I haven't visited in a while, but I still like knowing they're there: Kirrin Island The Secret Garden Sara Cr ..read more

I hope this post finds you all safe and well. I'm doing fine here. However, I haven't been blogging very much lately, as I balance work and family responsibilities. I have continued to read a few newsletters and blog posts, and I've been  sharing links that I think are useful as I find them. Here are highlights from my twitter @JensBookPage. Topics include #BookLists, #conversation, #DistanceLearning, #HarryPotter, #HomeLearning, #Homeschooling, #IdeologicalDiversity, #JoyOfReading, #MentalHealth, #MTHAdventures, #OutdoorPlay, #Podcasts, #ReadAloud, #RemoteLearning, #SocialIsolation, #St ..read more

My daughter ran across a brand new copy of Raina Telgemeier's Smile that I had stashed on a shelf where I keep potential gifts. (You never know when  you might need a solid graphic novel for a short-notice birthday gift.) Here's the conversation that followed: Daughter: "Can I read it?" Me: "You already have a copy of Smile." Daughter: "PLEASE!? I don't know where my copy is." Me: "Fine. Go ahead." Daughter: "You're the best mommy in the world." Me: "That's true." (Best bookworm mommy she'll ever have anyway) I haven't been very motivated to blog of late, but thought that readers might e ..read more