What is this all about?

    Like most people, I usually think of New Years Resolutions every year. Well, there's only so many times you can resolve to eat better, lose weight, read more and drink more water. No one ever does those things. Why? Because they're not SMART goals. If you're in corporate America, you know what a SMART goal is:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time Bound

Also, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty damn tired of trying to starve my body into submission. I still wanted to make some kind of goal though so I came up with a family goal for us this year. We decided to read and discuss all of the books on the top ten most banned and challenged books of 2020 this year. I would have picked 2021, but that list isn't out yet, I guess. Here are the books on the list from the American Library Association:

1. George by Alex Gino
2. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
3. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
6. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
8. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
9. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
10. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

To be fair, I didn't really ASK my family if they wanted to do this goal with me, but I made an executive decision for us all and they were all fine with it. The kids love when I read to them and Jeff knows I'm going to do what I want anyway ;) 

We picked Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You for our first book. As we were reading it I realized I also wanted to document what we were doing, and write down our discussions as we were reading. I know blogs are way more passé today than they were when I started my first one way back in 2006, but I don't really have the equipment, time or energy to create and edit a podcast, so this is what we're doing. In our discussion posts I will just use a first initial to indicate who's thought it is. Our family is 4 people:

• Kate (me) 38 yr old F
• Jeff 45 yr old M
• Makayla 13 yr old F
• Liam 7 (almost 8) yr old M

And because it probably matters for some of the books on the list, we are all white, Jeff and I are liberals and we live in a red state that used to be more purple. Jeff and I are also atheists, but the kids do attend a protestant church with my Dad. 

So welcome to our new blog! Please feel free to comment on any of our discussions! If you're inspired, take up reading banned books yourself!