I love looking through my old book journals and taking a stroll down memory lane each month. This month has been especially interesting to reflect back on what life was like in 2010. I remember what I was doing while reading certain titles back in April 2010 - and it wasn't sheltering in place or social distancing. Although this has become the new norm in the past few weeks, it makes me wonder what I will remember a decade from now. I'm hopeful that what was "normal" in 2010 will be close to what life is like in 2030, not what we are currently living through.
This look back at the reading I did in April 2010 makes me wish for these days again....
Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas -this was a five star read for me (according to Goodreads). I love Dallas' work and will read everything she writes. This novel opens with an avalanche that engulfs nine children walking home from school. Not everyone survives, and this novel shares each family's story, and how they all survive and move toward the future. I loved the Colorado mining community this is set and Dallas' writing is always a treat.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor- I read this one to my girls ten years ago. I am not sure they appreciated it or loved it like I did, but we had some good discussions about racism and life in the South. This classic is one that is often overlooked these days, but I'm hoping with the release of Taylor's finale to the series this winter, it might get a little more attention.
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper- since I read this ten years ago, I've re-read this novel a few times with various groups at school, and as a read aloud with my youngest daughter. I still love Melody's intelligence, the way Draper shows how much a child with disabilities can accomplish and contribute. My youngest daughter was heartbroken by the way Melody's "friends" treated her and I hope most readers feel the same way so that in real life they can make good decisions about how differently abled people are treated.
The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson - non-fiction, Dickinson, who writes the Ask Amy advice column shares her story as a single parent who does her best to use the females in her family as role models. Though she moved to exciting cities in adulthood, it is Freeville, a town of just over four hundred people - and Amy's hometown - that she settles in to raise her daughter.
The Confederate General Rides North by Amanda C Gable - a debut novel. I just remember loving this novel about a girl and her mother who go on a road trip across the Confederate South. Katherine was just eleven and a Civil war buff when her mom tells her they are going on a trip. She then plans their itinerary so they can visit Civil War battlefields. There is family drama - a troubled marriage - seen through an eleven year old narrator.
I loved these books and many of the others in my journal that I also debated highlighting. What were you reading back in April 2010? Last April? Have you read any of these titles?
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