Let's Celebrate 2013 and 2014 Challenges!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating 2013 and 2014 Challenges!

*throws confetti*

In 2013, I had a few challenges I set for myself and am excited for 2014 challenges! Here's a recap from 2013 and new challenges for 2014. 

Donalyn proposed a Book Gap Challenge on Nerdy Book Club and I jumped in. I read almost all of my book gap books! I just missed The Princess Bride. 

Here are books I'm challenging myself to read for the Book Gap Challenge:

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - read 7/27/2013

2. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - read 9/23/13

3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - read 10/9/13

4. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen - read 9/24/13

5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - read 06/30/2013

2014 Book Gap Challenge!
For 2014, I'm going to keep filling in my book gaps! Here's my 2014 list!
1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
2. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

I'm joined Alyson and her Kid Lit Frenzy's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge  with the goal to continue to review a non-fiction book every Wednesday. I definitely discovered some great non-fiction picture books and plan to continue this for 2014. If you are looking for great non-fiction, I recommend checking out Kid Lit Frenzy and all the bloggers who link up with their non-fiction reads!

Well...I said my challenge was a little crazy for 2013 when it came to the number of books I hoped to read...and it ended up being crazy because I just didn't get there. I challenged myself to read 365 picture books - one a day - and then to read 213 non-picture books this year for a total of 578 books. It just didn't happen. While I read every day with my kids, it's hard to keep up with a new book every day and we just didn't get there. We did read a lot of books though! Here's a slideshow recap of my book pics from 2013...for as long as I kept up with the book pics at least! 

2014 Reading and Running Challenge!

In 2013, I read 234 books. I actually think I read more but I don't think I did a good job of recording all of my picture book reads on GoodReads. It's kind of hard to pick a number now! I know I can do more than 234 this year. The question is, can I do 400? 400 seems like a good number. I hoped to read 578 last year but read 234...so 400 seems kind of in the middle and enough of a challenge PLUS, Franki challenged people to run 400 miles in 2014. I'm thinking 400 miles of running and 400 books...which kind of reminds me of Colby's running/reading challenge last year. I think it'll be fun and even if I don't get there...at least I can say I tried! Another part of Franki's #runteacherrun challenge is to run 4 races this year and I've already signed up for one. I have two more I'm hoping to run and then I'll have to find one more. 

As a side note, if you are interested in sponsoring me, I'll be running in the Race to Wrigley 5k and raising money for Lurie's Children's Hospital in Chicago. I'm going to run in honor of my (former) student, Michelle, who you might remember from my post about meeting RJ Palacio, author of Wonder. Michelle is such an inspiration and I'm so glad to have her in my life. I can't believe that she's a sophomore in high school now! She's amazing and I'm happy to celebrate her by running and raising money for Lurie's. To donate on my fundraising page, click here.

Latinos in Kid Lit is hosting a challenge to explore books that feature latino/a characters. I've thought about diversity a lot lately so when I saw Linda Baie talking about this, I thought it would be great to join in. I'm excited! The goal is to read one book per month. I'll add the books I read to my 2014 Challenges page.

I'm super excited for these challenges and for everything I've planned on my 2014 Un-Boring List! Do you have any books to recommend for my Latinos in Kid Lit challenge? I would love to hear your favorites!

What are you celebrating this week?