What will be the hits this year?

 

Last week a romance author I love, Lucy Score, had a post on her reading group asking for teacher's classroom wishlists. I posted one and a lovely reader purchased every item I had on my list. So unbelievably kind. As I took the books into my classroom today, I began to label them and wondered what books will be the hits this year. If you've been in the classroom, you know what I'm talking about. The books that are passed hand to hand, never seeing the shelf, but always moving on to another reader. 

Every year I can count on certain titles to be included in that group, but often new books become "hot" based on the interests of the new group of kids. Last year's class found Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet series, one I was certain they would have read before seventh grade. Somehow they missed it and the kids devoured the books, not understanding how lucky they were to only have to wait until February for book nine. Another hit last year was the young adult romance, Better than the Movies. Kids loved it so much that one girl borrowed it from me for the summer so she could read it and pass it on to her friends before school started back up. I can't wait to hear what she thought.

As I sat in my room shelving my new books today I looked over the spines of old favorites as well as the new titles. The kids will be here in two weeks. The books and I cannot wait to meet them.

Surrounded by Possibilities

 

It's one of my favorite times of year, the lead up to the start of school. I posted on TikTok a video of the first day I went into my classroom this summer and while some viewers shared my excitement, others said they absolutely do not want to go back into the classroom when it's still their time. 

And I get that, I really do. Summers have a whole bunch of feelings wrapped up in them because some folks point to them and say teachers have it easy because they get paid to take the summer off. To say that is to ignore so much - some teachers work jobs in the summer to supplement a lower income, some teach summer school, some work at year round schools, and many of us have our pay checks spread over twelve months instead of ten, meaning we're not paid for this "time off." Whatever the case may be, I support teachers that don't want to go back a minute before they have to, that just isn't the case for me.

I love going in to my classroom to set it up slowly - an hour here or there when I feel like it. I love looking around the room and wondering what the upcoming school year will be like. I love wondering which class will be my chill one, which the funny class, etc. I wonder what books will be popular this year, what genres. The possibilities of what lies ahead is what gets me excited about going back. 

My room is essentially ready, but I'll collaborate with colleagues several times before August 14th. Year twenty-nine is coming up and I cannot wait.

A return to blogging and... Momoa

This summer I was talking to a friend about blogging. Both of us had blogged regularly back in the 2010s. Is that how you write that? At any rate, neither of us had blogged for years and as we discussed it, realized I missed it.

When I was blogging in 2018-2019, I struggled to figure out how to manage the time I had to write. I was still debating writing a book for teaching. I wrote articles on the regular for Choice Literary. I had begun to make tentative steps to writing a romance book. And I blogged. When I sat down with the small writing time I actually had, I never knew what "writing" I should actually work on. Whatever it was, I always felt like I'd picked incorrectly.

Flash forward three years since I last posted here. I've published seven romance books under the pen name Kat Ryan and am working on an eighth, and that is where the majority of my writing energy goes. I love writing something that has nothing to do with teaching. I love crafting a newsletter for my subscribers each month where I shine a light on things I loved that month. There's so much negativity in the world, my newsletter and my romance books are my way of trying to bring some bright spots to others.

So why jump back to blogging? Honestly, even though I missed it, I didn't think it was something that would fit into my writing life time-wise until I saw a social media post from my friend, Tony. He basically posts one social media post a week. There's a little text and three pictures: a pic of the week, a book of the week, and a song of the week. I love it. 

My commitment for anyone that wants to follow along on my foray back into writing blogs is this: One posts a week with a picture and some type of reflection. You can find today's picture above, the reflection below. 

**

Today I headed to my classroom to get it set up. Once the shell of my room is ready, I can take the next three to four weeks for me without the stress of telling myself I need to do "x." As I placed some tables where they needed to be, I looked up to see my cardboard cutout of Jason Momoa watching over the room.

When I published my first romance book back in 2021, my friend Cindy sent me this guy from Amazon. My hero, Max, was loosely based on Momoa. Cindy sent it to me for laughs and, once I messaged her my thanks, I wondered what to do with this giant cut out. 

After thinking for a minute, I decided to bring him into my classroom. Surely seventh graders would get a kick out of it. And boy was I right. Momoa has become a talking point for every class since. My favorite comment was two years ago from a girl that joined our class midyear. I was sitting by her desk one day, reassuring her that moving to a new school would, indeed, get easier. 

"D" looked at me, then moved her head to look at Momoa. With all the sarcasm a thirteen year old can muster, she said, "You ever going to tell me why that dude is in here just staring at us?" 

Ahh, bless. So Momoa is there, just waiting for our year to being. And I'm now at home, furiously working on book eight so I can focus on my seventh graders in just a few short weeks. 

It's good to be back.