global news segment

This month, I had the opportunity to go on Global News and share my most anticipated books of 2020 for National Reading Month, along with tips to help children and teens pick up a book. One of my passions as an educator is to inspire children to read for both meaning and enjoyment. With that said, here are my 5 tips to get back into reading - and stay committed...as well as some new releases and books to look forward to. 

1. Always have a book on you. 
Whether its an eRead, an audio book, or a tangible copy in your vehicle. Instead of aimlessly scrolling through social media sites as you hunker down and partake in social distancing, you can be reading to help pass the time. I've recently adopted audiobooks when I'm cooking or walking, and I find it makes the more mundane parts of your day quite enjoyable.

2. Set an attainable reading goal.
Read one book a month, or read for 15 minutes a day. The average 300 page book takes approximately 5 hours to finish. With fifteen minutes set aside in the morning while you have your coffee or in the evening before bed (which will actually help you sleep better), you can easily finish a book in about 20 days.

3. Quit Early
If you’re not completely invested in a book by the 1/4 mark, abandon it. Life is too short to settle for mediocre books

4. Swap TV Time
During this isolation period, I know it's so easy to resort to watching hours upon hours of TV...flying through series after series...but borrow 30 - 60 mins of this time and devote it to reading a book. I've always found that it takes me about 50 pages, or 30 minutes, to really be invested in a story. It's like starting a TV show and watching 5 minutes... you've barley been introduced to the characters. Take the time, and I promise you, it will be so much easier to swap your TV time to read. On average, people watch between 3-5 hours of TV per day, so don’t say you don’t have time to read! Reduce your screen time by 30 minutes a day and try reading instead. We want to model the importance of reading to our kids. 

5. Have your next book ready!
Its great to jump right into your next book. There are so many awesome instagram accounts dedicated to sharing new and noteworthy books. I always know which book (or in my case...books) I'll be reading next. With so many amazing companies providing free listening and reading experiences during this self-isolation, you have many to choose from! I've been recommending libro.fm for listening, and scribd for e-books!

---

Upcoming and Noteworthy Books by Canadian Authors:

1. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

• Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: “Why don’t you swallow broken glass.” High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients’ accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.
  
  In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, the business of international shipping, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.

2. Hurry Home by Roz Nay

• Close to my heart you’ll be, sisters forever you and me...
  
  Alexandra Van Ness has the perfect life. She lives in an idyllic resort town tucked away in the Rocky Mountains, shares a designer loft with her handsome boyfriend, Chase, and has her dream job working in child protection. Every day, Alex goes above and beyond to save children at risk. 
  
  But when her long-lost sister, Ruth, unexpectedly shows up at her door, Alex’s perfect life is upended. Growing up, Ruth was always the troublemaker, pulling Alex into her messes, and this time will be no different. Still, Alex will help Ruth under one condition: we will never, ever, talk about the past. But when trouble befalls a local child, both women are forced to confront the secrets they’ve promised to keep buried.

3. The Upside of Falling by Alex Light

• A fun, flirty teen debut from Wattpad phenom Alex Light about a fake relationship and real love.
  It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having had a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she’s been secretly seeing someone. 
  Brett Wells has it all. As captain of the football team and one of the most popular guys in his school, he should have no problem finding someone to date, but he’s always been more focused on his future than who to bring to prom.
  When he overhears Becca’s lie, Brett decides to step in and be the mystery guy. It’s the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not having a meaningful relationship and she can keep up the ruse that she’s got a boyfriend. 
  Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy, though, especially when you barely know the other person. But with Becca still picking up the pieces from when her world was blown apart years ago and Brett just barely holding his together now, they begin to realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.
  When the line between what is pretend and what is real begins to blur, they're forced to answer the question: Is this fake romance the realest thing in either of their lives?
  

4. What if Bunny's Not a Bully by Lana Button

• Ideas about bullies (and how we define people) are turned on their heads in this playful rhyming story that questions why a child is being labeled a bully. 
  Gertie the elephant says everyone on the playground should stay far away from Bunny because she's super mean. But Kitty has questions: How did Bunny become a bully? Was she born that way? Was she stung by a bullybug? Or maybe she caught the bully flu? Wait, does that mean bullying is contagious? And if it is, couldn't the other animals catch it, too? But ... then no one would play with them either, and that doesn't seem fair. Is it possible that Bunny is sorry? Should they give her a second chance?
  Not your typical bullying story, Lana Button's fresh take flips the focus from the child being bullied to the one being called a bully. In cadenced rhyming text, the compassionate and insightful Kitty leads children through a series of questions that get at the core of the assumptions we make about others and how it feels to be on the other side of name-calling. Christine Battuz's expressive illustrations use tenderness and a touch of humor to complement the emotional level of the text. Altogether, this is a perfect child-level exploration of empathy. It would be an excellent choice for discussions about bullying, or more broad issues of social development. It also works for character education lessons on empathy, compassion, fairness and inclusiveness.
  

5. Mama Needs a Vacay by Tage Lee

• This book reminds you to find a little vacation in your imagination, even if your next solo trip is a long while away. Feel the sun on your skin and stir memories of evenings spent with bottles full of champagne instead of milk. You deserve a break, even if it’s just to disappear into a tropical daydream for a little while.