So, the decorations are down, the schools are back in and the New Year is officially under way. New year is traditionally a time of looking forward to the future as well as reflecting back and, here at YLG Northwest Headquarters (there is no such actual place by the way, I just thought that sounded cool) we thought this would be the perfect time to share some of our Reading Resolutions for 2016 with you.
We would love to here what yours are, so please do comment on this post or drop us a tweet @YLGNorthwest.
Jake
At the moment I’m feeling very inspired by ‘Let in the Stars’ a collection of new poetry for children that was compiled by Manchester Metropolitan University as part of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival http://www.mcbf.org.uk/get-involved/let-in-the-stars-of-childrens-poetry. Poetry can be a hugely potent force when it comes to expressing and articulating ideas, feelings and experience and it can often prove accessible in a way that other literature is not. All too often children’s poetry gets overlooked so my resolution is to read more poetry and to actively promote this when out and about. It’s always great to hear people’s recommendations so if anyone has come across a piece, collection or anthology that they feel is unmissable I’d love to hear about it.
Becky
My school is taking part in the Wirral Paperback of the Year awards so my reading resolution is read every book on the shortlist before March. I have read three thus far and I have another twelve to go, which means on average I need to read at least one per week. I’m looking forward to the challenge and I hope to keep up this reading rate once I have finished. This means less time looking at nonsense on my phone and more time reading!
Emma
I stumbled across the 2016 Classics Challenge the other day and thought it sounded like such a good idea that I immediately signed up! Basically it entails reading one classic book each month and blogging / tweeting about it using #2016ClassicsChallenge. The challenge is the idea of book blogger Stacey and more information on how to take part can be found here: https://theprettybooks.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/2016-classics-challenge/
I have decided that all my choices for the challenge will be children’s titles and had great fun coming up with my shortlist (I was also more than a little bit mortified to realise just how many classics I haven’t actually read!)
I am kicking off the challenge with Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (I know!) and, in no particular order, my choices for the rest of the year are:
- Stig of the Dump – Clive King
- Holes – Louis Sachar
- Peter Pan – JM Barrie
- Goodnight Mr Tom – Michelle Magorian
- The Railway Children – E Nesbitt
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L Frank Baum
- I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
- Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfield
- Moby Dick – Herman Melville
- The Iron Man – Ted Hughes
- Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmans
I will keep you all updated with my progress via the blog and twitter!
Ann
My reading resolution for 2016 is quite simply to make more time to read and to try and read at least one book per week.
Jill
As Carnegie Greenaway rep for the Northwest my resolution is around those lists this year, particularly once we have our shortlists announced. I will be doing my best to promote these to colleagues and encourage as many people as I can to look over the shortlists and read them if they can.
On the work front, it is the 30th anniversary of the Lancashire Book of the Year, which I co-ordinate through work. So, again, it will be a resolution of mine to ensure I read our shortlist for this year’s award and promote it as widely as possible.
Lizzie
Mine is to keep a better reading record – I’m actually pretty bad at remembering details from the books I’ve read and I find this infuriating when I’m talking about them or writing reviews about them. I end up going back and rereading sections just to make sure I know what I’m talking about! So I’m going to try and take notes of things I’ve liked, quotes or passages that stand out for me as I go along.
So there you have it! It looks like 2016 will be a busy year of reading for all of us. Whatever your resolutions we wish you a very happy new year!
Youth Libraries Group North West 
Brilliant new year resolutions. I agree Jake poetry should be promoted, good start. I have introduced my reading group to young adult fiction and we (a group of adults) would really like to hear about your recommendations.. Thanks for all the work you do promoting books for children and young people, as well as keeping up with the rest of the day job. Best wishes. Deb
Hi Deb, Happy New Year! It’s great to hear your book group is looking at reading some YA fiction, I love YA and am trying to read lots more of it. I really like Patrick Ness and The Rest Of Us Just Live Here could be a good one for generating discussion, particularly for anyone who is familiar with Buffy and the “chosen one” kind of narrative the book plays with. I have also recently really enjoyed All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt. Combining poetry and YA is One by Sarah Crossan, a story about conjoined twins that is written in free verse. I must confess I personally haven’t read this one yet but everyone I have ever heard speak about it loves it, including other members of the committee.
I’m sure there must be loads of other brilliant titles that I’m not mentioning but those have been some of my recent favourites. My favourite YA novel of all time is probably The Book Thief.
I hope that helps – do let us know how you get on!
Emma
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Thank you for joining the 2016 Classics Challenge, Emma! 🙂