Celebrate the Author 2009

About the challenge:
The challenge is designed to “celebrate” author birthdays. Choose one author for each month of the year. Read at least one book a month. 12 authors. 12 birthdays. If you like, you can read MORE than that. If you’re really obsessive, you might want to “celebrate” all 52 weeks of the year. (But even I am not THAT zealous!) The challenge is designed to ‘celebrate’ the special bond–the connection–that occurs between the author AND the reader as well as the connection between readers. It is very easy to “bond” with other readers over certain works, certain authors, etc.
You can choose picture books, poetry books, early readers, chapter books, fiction for middle grades, fiction for teens, adult reads, nonfiction, whatever you want. You could choose 12 picture books. You can read books in or out of your comfort zone.

You might want to make a list and choose alternatives for each month…that way you can narrow it down as you go. And you do NOT have to choose a book until the very moment you’re ready to start reading. Just pick a handful of authors.

And here’s the secret. If you change your mind, just be sure to change your list to reflect that change. I don’t care how many times you change your list.

Why make a list at all? Good question. It’s not that I want you to stick to your list. I don’t care if you change it. I don’t need to see it in advance. But I mention lists because I think–and this could be me–that it is easier to visit those sites and jot down a few authors per month to give you ideas then it is to wait until the last minute and try to figure out which birthday is when and what counts etc. But if you want to be completely spontaneous then that’s fine with me!!

This year the round ups will be here on this wordpress site. You’ll be leaving links to your reviews. If you write reviews that is. Or you’ll be leaving comments to say what you read.

Jan: Rosemary Wells
Feb: Russell Hoban
Mar: Dr. Seuss
Apr: Ludwig Bemelmans
May: Leo Lionni
Jun: Maurice Sendak
Jul: Beatrix Potter
Aug: Don Freeman
Sep: Tomie de Paola
Oct: Susan Meddaugh
Nov: Nancy Tafuri
Dec: Jan Brett

[if I can, I'll post on their birthdays, and if Im really on the ball, I'll post a picture of me reading the books to one of the kids]