Happy new year!  I’ve enjoyed having the month of January off, but am ready to get back to work!  I’ve started reading 2017 books, and will start reviewing them tomorrow morning.

Thank you for all your messages!  I got many emails and comments, and it was gratifying to hear how many people out there are using the reviews on this blog to choose books for kids, whether it’s for a library, classroom, or family.

As many suggested, I may slow down the pace, possibly taking a day or two off each week, and going on an occasional vacation.

What did I read in January?  I finished up some 2016 books, like Slacker by Gordon Korman, I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings, and Life in Motion by Misty Copeland.  I was planning on posting reviews of these, but I spilled water on my laptop, and am pretty sure the reviews I wrote are gone.  I recommend all three, although read I Am Jazz first if you’re planning to put it in a school library.

While I was gone, ALA announced all its award winners.  What did you think?  I was pretty happy overall, although I was disappointed The Wild Robot and Some Writer! didn’t get any recognition.

Well, onto 2017!  I do enjoy hearing from you, so feel free to comment or email me (jkdhamilton@gmail.com) any time.

I’ve been posting daily book reviews since February 20, 2015, and I’m ready for a break.  I love doing this blog, but as you can imagine, it’s time-consuming to read and review a book every day.  For the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking about shutting down, but I’m not ready to call it quits for good.

I’ve decided to take the month of January off.  It’s a good time, since I’ve read and reviewed most of the 2016 books I want to, and it will be a few weeks until I can start getting my hands on 2017 books.  I’ll use the time off to decide whether or not I’ll continue reviewing in 2017, and get back to you no later than February 1.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear feedback about the blog, so please feel free to leave a comment or email me at jkdhamilton@gmail.com.  Thank you so much for reading my reviews, and I will be back in a few weeks!