If tomorrows' Grade 5 and up book review session at the Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference, #KULITCONFERENCE, should be my LAST book review session, here is a list of things I will no longer have to do:
1. Enter every single chance to win YA and Middle Grade advanced reader's copies, paper or digital.
2. Get and attempt to read 4 to 7 enewsletters or blog posts that each include four or more book reviews EVERY SINGLE DAY, five days a week - and a few on weekends.
3. Save all the bi-weekly newsletters because I don't have the time to read them all the way through.
4. Make sure I save every single book review I see on FB, Twitter and Instagram.
5. Visit Goodreads daily to make sure that my reading goal is being met.
5 a. Make sure I steal my Goodread friends' recommendations.
6. Read the YA dystopian books that are the "groundbreaking" novels that all sound like last year's "earth-shattering" books. (Alas, sometimes they are so very similar.) (Also, girls with sharp things books.)
7. Run out of tissues when another middle grade novel discusses the loss of a much loved (Insert your favorite here), pet, friend, parent, author, imaginary buddy, grandparent, sibling, neighbor, bus driver, teacher, fantastic animal, superhero actor that the main character always hoped to meet, bicycle, other.
8. Discover that at least TWO new MG novels are about people "Destroying the Universe" and wondering how that happened.
9. Read proof, through current non-fiction, that people treat each other horribly for the most trivial of reasons.
10. Occasionally laugh til I cry, or vice versa, at MG stories about middle school kids dealing with middle school (insert you favorite here), bullies, retiring teachers, Safety Drills, science fair contests, band practices, talent shows, school council elections, hair raising hijinks, ridiculous rules, cafeteria food, other.
11. Struggle through the "NEXT Harry Potter" OR "For readers who LOVED Harry Potter" offerings three times a year.
12. Groan out loud when another teenager chooses to do the WRONG things for the right reasons or the WRONG thing for the wrong reasons just to make sure the book doesn't end too soon.
13. Skip the third quarter of the book because I am pretty sure I know what kind of thing will happen and then discovering I was right.
14. Stay up ALL NIGHT because THIS book is so awesome I can't stop reading.
15. Find a book I would never have picked up, if I didn't have to read it for a book review session and reading it THREE times because it is so good.
If this IS my last book review session - (I'll let you know on Monday) - it was worth every minute over the last decade - or more. I lost count.
Go #KULITCONFERENCE
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