Discovering Reading Communities

(This post was on my original blog host, and I'm moving it over here. It originally posted December 30, 2011)

What does every book addict need in her life? An online reading community that provides a constant flow of “next book” suggestions, of course.  Just in case you have the same problem, I’d like to welcome you to two of the communities I have discovered over the past year.

Nerdy Book Club - http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/

This is a brand new site that celebrates reading. It just began in December, but is already full of inspirational posts about passionate readers and teachers of reading. The philosophy is that if you love books, you are already a member. You can also follow the hashtag #nerdybookclub for some entertaining tweets. The site just held voting for the “Nerdies” – the best books of 2011 in a variety of categories. I’m adding many of the nominees and winners to my own reading list.

Several Nerdy Book Clubbers are starting a reading challenge to read all the Newbery books over the course of two years. I think I’ll give that a shot, too. Gotta have goals, right? This also ties back into my goal from earlier this year to "Read Outside My Comfort Zone" - Thanks again, Danya 

I’ll update this site with a longer post specifically about the challenge and keep you posted on my progress.

I’m hoping to write some submissions for the site myself. Who knows?

Read 2 Dream:  www.read2dream.com

This site was created by a coworker and is designed to help encourage readers to keep track of what they have read to keep their enthusiasm high. Teachers can help kids set goals for reading, but kids can sign up on their own as well. The site also includes articles for parents and teachers about a variety of reading and language acquisition topics.