2020 Reading Challenge: A Re-Read

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my post the other day. Thank you also to those of you who saw my post about it on Facebook and took the time to pray, share, and donate. I am just in awe of people's generosity. It has truly uplifted me the past couple of days. A family I know from Huntington contacted me yesterday evening and said they'd like to match up to $500 in donations. I put it out on my Facebook, and so did this family, and in a matter of one evening over $1,000 was donated to the fund! I was in tears. As an aside, I do want to mention that at least $1,185 of the $2,500 currently donated was donated by people from West Virginia. (Some donations were given anonymously, and I have my suspicions about who those people might be!) Not all of them still live there, but they are West Virginians. These people have never met and will never meet Mildred's family. Some of them don't have a lot extra to give, and some of them are facing their own overwhelming medical challenges. Nevertheless, they just donated to a total stranger out of the goodness of their hearts. Guys, if you know me you know this is a mountain I'm willing to die on: West Virginians are just the world's greatest people living in the world's greatest state. Almost Heaven.

UPDATE: I just learned that Mildred's claim for some necessary at-home post-surgery supplies for Mona was denied by their insurance company. Therefore, they have had to increase their goal again, this time to $3,500. Donations are still accepted at this link.

Thank you also to everyone who wished Joe a happy birthday Monday. He doesn't have social media, and he doesn't go to an office with coworkers every day, so basically Joe just has us to wish him a happy birthday, and Bert, Asha, and Jane Austen can't talk. So he's low on people!

Today I want to check in about the 2020 Reading Challenge that I wrote about last week. As I stated in that post, since I was starting the challenge midway through January, I decided to read a short book for this month. What I chose was Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin for the category "A Re-Read." I had been wanting to re-read this book since my parents brought me a box of my old books when I moved into my new house in May.

Short verdict: Kristy's Great Idea did NOT disappoint. It is, in fact, just as good as you remember!

Long verdict: I have been a fan of the Baby-Sitters Club since I honestly don't remember when. I truly have no recollection of picking up Kristy's Great Idea for the first time. What I do know is that I spent a great portion of my childhood reading and collecting BSC books and loving every minute of them. I have read them all, most of them more than once. For a decade or so now I have toyed with the idea of donating my giant collection to a library or to a young girl, but I JUST CAN'T. I don't like clutter, but I just cannot part with these books. In fact, they are now all housed on a bookshelf in our home library. Re-reading Kristy's Great Idea was my great idea for this month, for sure. There's nothing in the book that makes you think, "Wow, I can't believe I thought this was good when I was a kid!" It's just a good book, period.

One of my favorite parts to re-read was the very beginning, when Kristy gets in trouble in Social Studies, and her teacher makes her write an essay on the word "decorum." Kristy didn't know what that word meant, and I remember that I didn't know what that word meant at the time either. Ann M. Martin taught it to me. Truly, I cannot use, read, or hear the word "decorum" without thinking of Kristy. (Additionally, it's worth noting that the first time I learned about a person with autism and a person with Down Syndrome was in Baby-Sitters Club books. These aren't just silly books about teenage baby-sitters. They are so much more. Thank you Ann M. Martin.)

Re-reading Kristy's Great Idea has inspired me to re-read all of the BSC books! Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, here I come!

My next pick for this challenge is The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand. I am reading this for the category "Book Recommended by a Source You Trust." I picked it up at the library yesterday, and, even though it's not February yet, I've already started it. Maybe I'll get to read more than one book per category this year. We'll see! I'd love to spend all day today reading, but I have this annoying baby who, like, wants to be fed and stuff. Sigh.

____

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a book through this page, I may receive a small commission. All the thoughts shared here are my own.