Flipping Over Summer Reading!

This post is a jam-packed mélange of summer reading and literacy ideas, my hometown library of the year, big thanks, and a few shared guilty pleasures!

I'm checking the Kindle Daily deals...well, daily and loading up my Kindle App with books! That's right it's #SummerReading time!  Every year our Howard County school district summer reading list is compiled by Teacher Librarians and HoCo public librarians, and is jam packed with great recommendations!

You can download the PDF below & and check out the Middle School List:  “Groundbreaking Reads!”
2013 MS Summer Reading List Final_with graphics
Here’s the Grownup Summer Reading List for Parents & Teachers!
2013 Adult Summer Reading ListFINAL
You can also visit my Summer Reading Wiki to see the lists from years past. For more #SummerReading sharing follow the Twitter hashtag, check out the Google Doc, and discover the Nerdy Book Club!

Top 10 Literacy Activities for the Summer 
Check out these great ideas brought to you by BoomWriter who is also running a Storytellers Camp in association with WGBH Boston & Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney! Yes...it costs $, but if you have an avid rabid writer in your life, this sounds like a lot of collaborative and creative fun!
Register today!  Camp sessions start July 22, 2013
Get $10 off with this special code: BWCamp10

2013 Gale/LJ Library of the Year: Howard County Library System, MD
Speaking of Howard County, I'm really, really proud to share that my hometown library system has been awarded Library of the Year by Library Journal Magazine!  I am honored to be an A+ partner with my library system and can't wait for my local branch to re-open this fall after a much needed renovation. Follow @HoCo_Library on Twitter!

Super thanks dear readers! I'm so very honored to have been named in the top 5 of the 50 Must-Read K-12 IT Blogs 2013 in Ed Tech Magazine! Woo hoo! My Mum & Dad are dead proud! I gotta admit, Love Me A New Geeky Blog Badge! Congratulations also to a host of my beloved and much admired PLN for making the list, too! Cheers!

 
Our end of the year Blabberize Overdue Book Parody. Thanks to my TV studio kids for the idea! (View Full Size)

My Supernatural Summer Guilty Pleasure Series!
The final Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery by Charlaine Harris is out!  ICYMI, This series of books is the basis for the hit HBO series True Blood, and I have to tell you, it's a fantastic fun read and show! I got to the series backwards.  I loved the TV series so much that when a friend said that reading the book series doesn't ruin the TV viewing, but just provides bonus enjoyment - I had to give it a whirl and I'm so glad I did! Thirteen books later, and the contretemps of the "out of the coffin" vampires and other creatures in bayou town of Bon Temps Louisanna and the telepathic perky but pragmatic barmaid still entertain me greatly. I'm greatly tempted to re-read the whole series over this summer!

Season Six of the TV show starts next Sunday, June 16th and I can't wait! The show differs just enough from the books that it doesn't ruin the fun, so if you haven't tried either let me invite you to consider it! I also have a bit of a fan girl crush on the character Eric Northman and the yummy Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård. Swoon!
Ahem! 

---

Resources & Credits
Dead Ever After Cover Art from GoodReads
MHMS Summer Reading Edublog Post
HCL pic from Flickr: Geoffrey S. Baker Photography's Photostream
Write the Summer Away: WGBH, BoomWriter Media