I ran a 5k! I entered the Renton Candy Cane 5k and this time I jogged the whole way! This is a huge milestone for me and I was very excited about it.

My son had volunteered to run with me but picked up an emergency shirt at work at the last minute and my niece kindly stepped into his place. She had just done a half marathon so I guess it was a doodle for her. She accidentally set me a very fast pace (fast for me) but luckily I noticed and slowed down to make it the whole way. I will treasure the commemorative sweatshirt. I mean, I have the sweatshirts from many previous years, but usually I walk a lot if it.

thinks I am currently reading 56 books. That is still under my age so I take it as a win. The library thinks I have 61 books checked. Sadly 7 of the unread ones are due in the next three days.

Books Completed December 4 - 10

Kristy and the Snobs, Ann Martin. I do prefer the originals to the graphics, because Martin is doing a lot with emotional growth and kids perception of adults while still keeping to a comfortable pattern for a long series. I’ve also started watching the Netflix show, and it was interesting to see the differences; in the TV show her mom is also intimidated.

How I Got My Shrunken Head, R.L. Stine. A goofball kid who takes a long time to grasp where and from whom shrunken heads come from learns some things the hard way. I feel very lucky that my kids were nicer to each other and that my internal monologue was not so contemptuous of my siblings even when we were bickering.

Eagle Drums, Nasugraq Rainey Hobson. I liked this retelling of an American Indian myth, although I’m writing this so late I can’t remember which tribe or even how much Hobson invented. But the tone and the hero were compelling.

Isla to Island, Alexis Castellanos. This is a graphic novel telling the story of one of the kids evacuated from Cuba to America when things went bad. The kids were allowed in before their parents and were fostered with volunteers. It’s almost wordless, told with images and color, especially after the girl arrives in America and can’t speak English. The reader is also left without language for many pages.

The Latchkey Twins: Case No. 46: The Twins Solve a Murder, Kelly Nugent. A friend lent me this, and it was amazing. Nugent has recreated the feel of old kid adventure series books (think Enid Blyton) with deftly handled dips into real humanity or lampshading a common trope, like leaving bikes behind when chasing clues (they go through a lot of bikes), or how parents who are absent enough to enable the adventures might also be emotionally unavailable for their kids.

Charlotte Spies For Justice, Nikki Shannon Smith. This was one of my favorites of the Girls Survive series. It puts a kid near an interesting historical place but doesn’t make her too modern or too much smarter than all the adults who defer to her. Instead we see spymasters at work and Charlotte doing some things that kids could realistically be doing.

Barracoon, Zara Neale Hurston. This was fascinating on several levels. First there was the story of one of the last people brought to an America as a slave, told to Hurston and transcribed by her. He remembered his childhood and youth in Africa, the march to the coast to be sold by a rival nation, d his years in America afterward. They were a smuggled cargo brought in not long before the Civil War; most of his time in America was as a free Black in the south. But also there was the story of Hurston and her relationship with the text and the program that sponsored it, which was also a rich vein of discussion. And then we had cookies because it was the holiday meeting (the meeting was the next week, but I’m writing this well into 2026 so no sense quibbling).

Tom Lake, Ann Patchett. Another lovely read. It was very slow, being the story of a mom and her adult daughters hanging out at the family orchard during the pandemic and the mom telling the story of the guy she dated before their dad who later became a famous actor. I never regret reading Patchett.

Karen’s Brothers, Ann M. Martin. This a a Babysitters Little Sister book, and although I appreciate how kind the blended family is to each other I find Karen’s second grade boyfriends/husbands very bizarre, and her mercurial swings between abusing all males and honoring them a bit disturbing.

The Pursuit of… , Courtney Milan. A novella that I think is technically part of a series I like but also one of a series from different authors set in American history. I really liked the two guys, and I was amazed that Milan managed to pull off a believable HEA for them.

Annie and the Unsinkable Ship, Amy Rubinate. The characters did not seem of their time, and the ease with which a third class kid becomes dog watcher of the rich seemed unlikely, but here’s a Girls Survibe Titanic graphic novel!

Puck and Prejudice, Lia Riley. This was a fun call back to its namesake, with a determined willingness to let her have it all. Jane Austin makes a brief appearance at the start, which is fun, then returns as a slightly bigger character which is kind of annoying, but except for that I had fun in this hockey/regency crossover.

I Survived the Wellington Avalanche, 1910, Lauren Tarshis. Hey, this isn’t that far from me and I never heard about it! I like how Tarshis has her characters living a life that the catastrophe they have to survive interrupts, instead of just dropping kids into the event so they can show us around history. This kid was a real Oliver Twist type.

Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter, A Graphic Novel, Ann M Martin & Ellen T. Crenshaw. Jessi is awesome, cute animals are fun to draw, so this was a winner.

Audrey and the Big Top, Jessica Gunderson. Does what it says on the tin. I didn’t like the prophecy though.

Books Started

Charlotte Spies For Justice, Nikki Shannon Smith. A Girls Survive story set in the Civil War.

Eagle Drums, Nasugraq Rainey Hobson. I can’t remember why this was on my For Later shelf,

Isla to Island, Alexis Castellanos. Another book from my For Later library list.

The Latchkey Twins: Case No. 46: The Twins Solve a Murder, Kelly Nugent. This is a fun take on old fashioned serial stories for kids.

Barracoon, Zara Neale Hurston. River Runs Under It pick.

Puck and Prejudice, Lia Riley.

I Survived the Wellington Avalanche, 1910, Lauren Tarshis. I’ve never heard of this disaster.

Karen’s Brothers, Ann M. Martin. Babysitter Little Sister book.

Annie and the Unsinkable Ship, Amy Rubinate. Girls Survive graphic novel.

Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter, A Graphic Novel, Ann M Martin & Ellen T. Crenshaw. This came out after I started reading through the list, so it feels special.

Sherlock Society, James Ponti. Friday book club pick.

Audrey and the Big Top, Jessica Gunderson. A Girls Survive book.

Careful What You Wish For, R. L. Stine. I’ve been challenged to read all the Goosebumps books.

Bookmarks Moved

Tacoma Narrows, Perry Mitchell.

The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

This Is Our Rainbow, Katherine Locke

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!

True Colors, Abby Cooper

South Riding, Winifred Holtby

Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. I seem to have misplaced this.

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams.

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Little Red and the Big Bad Editor, Rebecca Kraft Rector. The wolf is defeated (or is it?) by its grammarian nature and some cunningly preferred sweets, I do love a picture book about writing and want that pokes at grammar nerds is especially tasty.

The Most Boring Book Ever, Brandon Sanderson. The illustrations are by Kazu Kabuishi, who did the Amulet series, and the whole book is a text vs illustrations masterpiece. A kid sits in a chair, until he gets up from the chair, but the text doesn’t mention the dragons, the falling, or any other bit that the illustrations are excitedly showing. Lots of fun.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Organizing one’s laundry is the current topic.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Emily Dickinson is cool.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.