I guess the biggest thing that happened in July was that I celebrated my ten year anniversary at work which you can read about here.
Other good things that happened were:
-I’ve been meeting up with a couple of my co-workers every week for a writing session.
-I reached and surpassed my goal of doing 100 volunteer hours.
-I reached and surpassed my goal of reading 104 nonfiction picture books.
Even though, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, I’m quite proud of myself for having kept a cat alive. A couple of my housemates went away so I watched their cat for what ended up close to a month. I don’t like animals and never had a pet before so this was a huge learning curve. I have to say I didn’t come out of it liking animals any more than before nor did I want to suddenly have my own.
So far in 2022, I’ve read 354 books. The breakdown is:
12- Adult novels
6- Adult non-fiction
27- Graphic novels
51- Middle Grade novels (Goal: 52)
249- Picture Books and Board Books
79- Young Adult novels
of which
107- Nonfiction Picture Books (Goal: 104)
37- Audio Books
15- Books by Filipino Authors and/or Illustrators
64- Books by LGBTQ+ Authors and/or Illustrators
I had been trying The StoryGraph for the first half of this year to avoid the Amazon-owned Goodreads. Unfortunately, it didn’t provide the convenience Goodreads offered so I’m back using Goodreads.
I thought I reviewed more of the books I actually read but apparently not.
I really hate the formatting on WordPress. So, apologies for the weird spacing issues.
A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hilarious. Fun read-aloud for fans of cooking shows. If Julia Child was a witch and one of her ingredients was out of control.
Kind Like Marsha: Learning from LGBTQ+ Leaders by Sarah Prager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This introductory picture book on LGBTQ+ leaders was a bit too bare bones for my liking. It’s great to see them but a slightly longer biography for each of them would have been nice.
Hooves or Hands? by Rosie Haine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A fun book for inquisitive minds that may inspire them to continue this train of thought- or to come up with new interesting questions.
A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Gorgeous illustrations with lyrical text make learning about butterflies easy and enjoyable.
You can view all my reviews over on Goodreads.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Happy Reading!
The Chronicles Of A Children's Book Writer - Earl Dizon 
I recently put a Spoonful of Frogs on hold at the library. It looks and sounds like a lot of fun!
I’m enjoyed reading your updates about reading this year! I’m going to find you on Goodreads!
Congratulations on 10 years at Green Bean Books, Earl! I hopped over to your post on memories of working there, and it sounds like such a wonderful experience. And taking care of a cat for a month is a huge accomplishment, even if it didn’t change your opinion of pets much! (I don’t think I’d be much of a pet person either.) And all of these books look excellent—I made note of A Spoonful of Frogs because I loved a novel by the author Casey Lyall (called Howard Wallace, P.I.), and I love everything by the illustrator Vera Brosgol! Thanks so much for the wonderful post!
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary at Green Bean Books. It sounds like a wonderful place to work. Thanks for sharing these lovely books today.
Congratulations on your anniversary, I enjoyed reading your top 10 and am certainly placing it on my list if I am ever in Portland. I am also moving Spoonful of Frogs onto my PB list. Thanks for the post.
Congratulations on your ten-year anniversary! Thanks for this week’s recommendations. They are all new to me.