Grand central station for #BlitsySwap check-ins. Thanks for tagging me in your personal posts!

My #StoryGraph Reading Wrap-Up for 2022: https://app.thestorygraph.com/wrap-up/2022/che11eo?user=che11eo

My 2022 (exceeded) and 2023 goals are to read 50 books.

My kids had a major influence on my reading this past year...we listened to Tui T. Sutherland's entire Wings of Fire book series...making Tui my most read/listened to author. For a series about dragon's it's VERY good!

1. Black Panther, Michelle Obama
2. Old school hit hop artists in general: Salt N Pepa, LL Cool J, Heavy D, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte
3. I love learning about little known Black History (people, places, events)
4. The Seasonal Pages: https://theseasonalpages.com/ I discovered this shop a few years back and just love their stuff.

#BlitsySwap #BlitsySwapQuestionnaire

Matches have been sent out! Please let me know if you DID NOT receive your match email. Also take a second to help your new match find the perfect goodies for you by filling out this #BlitsySwapQuestionnaire.

Hi all! Thanks to all those who have signed up. I‘m behind making matches due to cold and flu season wreaking havoc. I will have matches made by Friday, December 22. I‘ll reach out via email to confirm any necessary info before then. Thanks for your patience and understanding! Looking forward to another great swap! #BlitsySwap

Reminder…Please share! The #BlitsySwap celebrates Black History Month (U.S.) with books by Black authors and bookish and/or Black cultural gift items. Open internationally to kids & adults. Please complete one form per person: https://bit.ly/bhms2023

Sign-ups Close: December 11
Matches Sent: December 19
Open Date: February 28, 2023*

Although I wasn‘t really in the mood to read this, I‘m glad I did. The authors presented interesting perspectives on the police killing of an unarmed black boy through the eyes of two best friends. One a Black news reporter covering the story and the other, the white wife of one of the officers involved in the shooting. #audiobook #Blitsy

The #BlitsySwap celebrates Black History Month (U.S.) with books by Black authors and bookish and/or Black cultural gift items. Open internationally to kids & adults. Please complete one form per person: https://bit.ly/bhms2023

Sign-ups Close: December 11
Matches Sent: December 19
Open Date: February 28, 2023*

#BlitsyHistoryMonth #Blitsy #BHMS @Chelleo

Seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago when we attended the #OhioanaBookFestival It was a pleasant surprise when I pulled this from my book.

The boys chatted up author Brandon Snider and decided they wanted to check out this new series. Looking forward to this fictionalized story based on Rube Goldberg about a kids who likes to invent and build wacky machines. #BooksByTheBanks #BoysReadToo #RaisingReaders #BlackBoyJoy

So happy to see my guys enjoying books and reading and seeing themselves in those stories. We‘re big fans of the Miles Morales graphic novel and Jameson wouldn‘t let us leave #BooksByTheBanks until we bought the latest Miles book by and get it signed by Justin Reynolds was so cool and patient as he chatted with Jameson (and confirmed the correct spelling of his name). Jameson was so excited that he had the chance to meet him. #BoysReadToo

I staffed a pop-up book display for our campus‘s LGBTQIA+ Read-In event.

The youngest had to do a book report and make a pumpkin craft based on a character from the book. He chose to create a bee (the striped “butt” is the pumpkin). #BlackBoyJoy #RaisingReaders #BoysReadToo #BadHairDay

My little Harry and his creepy little finger at The Friends Warehouse on Halloween. #BlackBoyJoy #BoysReadToo #KidsOfLitsy #RaisingReaders #HarryPotter #BookCharacterCostume

#BookByTheBanks is back! #OhioLittens #CincinnatiLittens #DaytonLittens

https://booksbythebanks.org/

Thanks @Rachel.Rencher for hosting this cool #BookishCoupleGiveaway! I love YA, chick lit and romance.

One of the few physical/print books that has kept me engaged and coming back. So sad that it‘s been on my shelf since 2018. I purchased it at the Ohioana Book Festival during a Litsy Meetup.

The library had a cool display about libraries and librarians in celebration of National Library Card Sign Up. I picked up a couple of titles from the display, including this one. I‘m a sucker for photo books.

Wearing his shirt from the 2022 #blitsyswap. He wears this all the time, @Amandajoy

Fun trip to the library to return and borrow more books. #blackboyjoy #boysreadtoo #kidsoflitsy #raisingreaders

First Library Card. Kam filled out an application for his very own library card. I allowed him to sign up for a adult card under a teen profile so that he had full access to all library materials. We headed to the kids and teens area and he found several books to check out. He was also picked up his summer reading prize. He checked out his books using his new card. Big day! #boysreadtoo #blackboyjoy #kidsoflitsy

We usually forget or miss the bookmobile when it‘s in our neighborhood but we caught it this day and made the most of our visit by borrowing a stack of books and getting the boys signed up for the summer reading program. #boysreadtoo #blackboyjoy #raisingreaders

We picked up this book (along with a large stack of others) from our local library‘s bookmobile and J jumped right into it. After dinner tonight I picked it up myself and read it in one sitting. #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

My oldest kid has me hooked on the Wings of Fire series! He owns and has read the first 4 graphic novels in the series. We all recently started listening to book 1 in audiobook format during our car commutes. I‘ve get so caught up in the story then it‘s time to drop the boys off and I hate to wait for the kids to get back into the car to continue the story. It‘s so tempting to just keep going but my oldest gets annoyed if I jump ahead.

Starting this audiobook today.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫🎧 Sisters play out a generations long fried chicken feud on a food reality show. At one point I hated almost all of the adult characters. Everything came together at the end but it ended abruptly. This would have benefited from an epilogue.

The hippopotamus entry page. I really like the chapter on how to use your dictionary which includes exercises.

Thanks to my mom‘s penchant for keeping everything, I was able to find my beloved, first dictionary. According to my note written inside the cover, my grandmother gave it to me when I was in the 3rd grade. I included “if lost” addresses for 3 different homes over the years. This one includes metric conversation charts, chronology of American events (up to 1978, which includes an entry for 1619), & a spread about how the states got their names.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoy the Kilts & Quilts series. A go to favorite for a good read with lots of laughs. This was a fun, quick little romance with a lot of sass.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ A collection of short stories. The stories were ok…I felt as if they all ended pretty abruptly…would have enjoyed if a few stories were expanded into longer form, novella or a short novel. It was a decent palette cleanser read.

We cleared 2 boxes of books from their bookshelves and stocked 2 local Little Free Libraries. The one at the YMCA (the repurposed newspaper stand) was pretty bare so we donated 1/2 a box there and the other half at a spot not far away. We‘ll spread the rest of the books later in the week. #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

Lucky approved the final weeding list of books to be discarded from the boy‘s collection. We‘ll do a round of Little Free Library drop offs and whatever‘s left will go to Friends of the Library‘s used book warehouse. #dogsoflitsy

I really like the layout and design. It‘s a very nice introductory dictionary. It also has a small thesaurus, maps, flags and list of U.S. presidents.

Finally picked up a dictionary for the boys. I was listening to the Merriam Webster podcast and realized that I really needed to get them a print version so that I could ensure they knew how to use a dictionary. Sometimes we Google definitions and they can be too advanced for their needs. I was way more excited about it than they were. That didn‘t stop my youngest from asking to look up: butt, fart and booty 😂🤣😂

One of my favorite book buddies joined me on a trip to our Friends of the Library Warehouse. He had a pretty good haul and we also picked up a couple of titles for little bro. #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

@Amandajoy You and C made his day! He was soooo ecstatic about this late #BlitsySwap arrival! He was walking around like the cat who caught the canary, saying, “This ball is so sick!” It‘s absolutely perfect. Thanks so much for your thoughtful and generous gift!

@MeganAnn … you made my day! Not only did you send these lovely items, the kind note was perfectly timed after a busy day and an anticipated stressful one tomorrow. I‘m so thankful for the Litsy community and Littens like you! #BlitsyHistoryMonth #BlitsySwap #BHMS

#LibraryHaul

Working on reading more print from my personal bookshelves and randomly picked up this book. I purchased it from a library book sale and have had it for years. Thought I‘d read a few pages to get the gist and read 7 chapters. It seems like it‘s going to be a wild story!

Thank you @GreenGrl87 ! I‘ve actually been looking for something exactly like this to help my husband and I keep track of stuff at home (bc he hates using calendars outside of work 🤦🏾‍♀️) So glad I dragged you into the #BlitsySwap and that it led to our book club! Thanks friend!

Here I was lusting over this shirt and tote (I‘m a tote junky) and come to find out @jploves2read graciously gifted me a set of my own! And this candle smells soooo good! I‘m constantly amazed by the kindness of Littens…you continually restore my faith in humanity. So many thanks! #BlitsySwap

Thank you @j9brown for the cutest stationery set and for being a part of the #BlitsySwap!

@Sbonnette You hit the ground running by joining Litsy and the #BlitsySwap at the same time! So glad to have you here. J loved all the great books, super cute bookmark and of course, the candy! And since we can‘t just take a simple pic, you get the funny face too. Please tell N that, Yes, J does like Encanto (he asked in the card) 😚🥰 #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

@Amandajoy He‘s been begging to open his #BlitsySwap package non-stop since yesterday & within 5 minutes of opening everything asked if he can do the swap again next year! He loved everything but the hands-down winner was the Lego book light. He uses them all the time and we can never have enough around the house. Looking forward to reading the books together. I loved Amari and can‘t wait for him to read it too! BTW, C did a great wrapping job!!

Heading out to you tomorrow, @Nalbuque ! 📬
Thanks for the special delivery @GreenGrl87 🥰
#BlitsySwap

Kam‘s #BlitsySwap package arrived today, @Amandajoy #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

Thank you @jploves2read for the surprise mail! I think I‘ll wait to open on the 28th with everyone else! I appreciate you thinking of me!

#BlitsySwap kids package has arrived, @Sbonnette ! #boysreadtoo #raisingreaders #blackboyjoy

#BlitsySwap kids packages are on their way! #BHMS

Thanks to all who have already sent off packages! This will serve as our updates post. International packages should be in transit. Reminder: post and tag me in your sent/received posts. Also let me know if you anticipate or are experiencing issues. Opening Day is Monday, Feb 28.

All participants were tagged as an FYI. No need to respond UNLESS you‘re having issues.

Thanks! #BlitsySwap #BHMS