March in Review

My Reading

# of books read: 15.5 (I skipped the middle sections of one)
Best(s)
Best historical fiction: Dreamland Burning
Best graphic novel: Swing It, Sunny
Best adult novel: Moonglow
Best YA novel: Far From the Tree

Personal Favorite: The Wicker King

Challenge Progress: 14 of the books were backlist, and 14 were from the library. Basically Let's Talk About Love and Batman: Nightwalker were the only 2018 books I read, and Swing It, Sunny and Ms. Bixby's Last Day were from my classroom, not the public library.

Bookish Events and Happenings

After I tweeted that #ArmMeWith picture and got attacked by a few trolls, the highlight was receiving boxes of books for my classroom library from strangers and friends alike. People really are kind. Our wish list is here, just in case you were wondering.  Yes, there's a lot of graphic novels and horror on there. I give the people what they want.

On the Blog

I took a break! 

IRL

Oof. I took a break for a reason. But I also got to spend some time in Seattle with one of my kids. She no longer lets me post pictures of her publicly (smart kid, right?), and I got sick for half of our trip, so we didn't see all that much, but here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

My sister's cat, who was originally my parents' cat, the aptly named Velcro.

The Woodland Park Zoo was remarkable. We really enjoyed our time there. 

I'd never seen a Komodo dragon before--HUGE. And cool. Very reptilian with the tongue-flick thing.

Meerkats are as adorable as you'd expect.

Sign by the wolf area: "Thank you for not howling at the wolves." I commented on it to the volunteer nearby, and he said it's not so much that the wolves care, but that other humans complain about people making all the noise.

Me, as we approached the flamingo area. "Let me get a picture of you in front of the penguins!" My daughter is NEVER gonna let me live that down.

There were some seriously exotic birds. Gorgeous.

This sums up the weather the whole week. Grey spring.

There was also the March for Our Lives, which I attended with my kid, her cousin, and my sister-in-law. 

It was cold out. 

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Great signs everywhere.

The sign my sis-in-law and niece made. I was excited to see she'd specifically labeled the book "Rain Reign," which I got her for her birthday last year.

One of my colleagues died unexpectedly. I worked on this during my prep period the day we had to tell our students. (Not my original sketch, just my interpretation of a pinterest pin.) It's not normally how I spend my prep period, which is, after all, time on the clock. But "getting through the day" was the priority.

March is a birthday heavy month. My niece turned 30 this month, and my dad would have turned 86. My husband was at a bridge tournament in Philadelphia from his brother's birthday to his mom's birthday. (He and his partner took second in their class. I'm very proud.) One of my longest-term friends turned 49, as I will this summer. Next month my daughter turns 12. In literally our first conversation ever, she asked me through a translator if she could get her ears pierced, and I told her when she was 12, so we're both looking forward to that. For that and other reasons, I'm hoping April will be slightly less heavy going than March was.  (April is also the next Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, after all.)

Think spring!

My monthly summaries are always linked to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up on Feed Your Fiction Addiction, along with many other terrific blogs' monthly reflections.  Nicole usually puts together a fun scavenger hunt giveaway too, so go check it out!