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 Every year I challenge myself to read certain number of books - usually 40 per year. This fiction/nonfiction reading includes picture books, graphic novels, ebooks and audiobooks, among other professional development books, and religious books. Most of the time I'm able to finish all 40+ books, other times I only read up to 30, sometimes less. Last year I only read 32, without counting PD and religious reading. For this year's challenge I decided to include everything I read, even if it's a collection of articles, a book of recipes or instructions manual. Why? I want to make sure that students understand that reading is reading. That, when they are reading the subtitles of a Japanese movie, or the instructions on a video game, it counts!

Life inside my mind edited by Jessica Burkhart it's my first finished book of the year. 

An emotional rollercoaster! Reading through this pages opened up a broader perspective of what mental illness can do to someone, no matter their background. I've yet a lot to learn, but it is a start for me. I have experience mental illness through someone closed to me. There have been many times when I don't understand, and get angry because this person does not have the drive to get up and move. I do pray that God can reach deep down to show the light and the way out of "darkness." I think he does through people around them who love them and are there no matter what, of course, therapy and medication.  Thanks to these authors that shared their stories, I know it's not easy to talk about mental illness, but it is so necessary. Even though this is just a window to the mental illness world, it is definitely a beginning, a must read!

I will be posting more books, fiction and non fiction, about this topic to help readers navigate through mental illness, whether it is a direct or indirect personal experience.

Buzzing Rise above the noise graphic novel by Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Rye Hickman is my second book of year.
Wow! It cannot be more graphic than this (at least for me)! Buzzing provides a visual of what OCD can do to a person, in this case a teenager. Also, shows how the people around them play an important role on the success to "rise above the noise." While we/me sometimes joke with the OCD episodes of some who is obsessively cleaning the house, or keeping an overly organize desk at the office, we cannot be more wrong to joke about it. That is ignorance of a bigger problem. OCD is not just about "cleaning" or being "organized." As I am reading more about mental illness, I am also becoming more aware of signs that make me stop and rethink my words or comments before they out loud, leave my mind.

Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

Here are some of my favorite series - I have many favorites:)

Matched by Ally Condie
The Society has calculated every aspect of existence--meals, jobs, family, life span, marriage--for its citizens. When Cassia is unexpectedly "matched" with two of her (male) friends, she struggles between a safe, predictable Society life with Xander and the unknown world of passions, choices, and possibly danger in the Outer Provinces with Ky. Condie's dystopian setting is vivid and her story is thought-provoking.Horn Book



Crossed by Ally Condie
Sequel to: Matched. Cassia, having arrived in the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, learns he has escaped from the Society and follows a series of clues he left, which result in rebellion, betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander. Horn Book





Reached by Ally Condie 

Last book on the Matched Trilogy, Reached. After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Six months have passed since Katniss and Peeta won the Hunger Games, with the next Games--the seventy-fifth anniversary--fast approaching. The story kicks into gear as the fascinating horrors of the Hunger Games are re-enacted with violence and suspense; a stunning resolution sets the stage for a grand finale. Collins has again delivered a page-turning blend of plot and character with provocative themes.Horn Book

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
In this final volume in the saga, Katniss has been rescued by the resistance only to learn that her home has been destroyed and that her friend Peeta has been captured. In District 13 she accepts the role of Mockingjay, the rebellion's symbol, but is she still a pawn in a larger game? Horn Book

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a hunger games novel by Suzanne Collins
This is a prequel about President Snow. The absolutely abhorrent embodiment of all evil, keen on sending children to death while oppressing the country. This is not a hero story! Snow is not a born sociopath. He is bright but unlikeable, ambitious, resentful, conceited and very entitled, with capacity for manipulation and ruthlessness. But he has some humanity in him - capacity for friendship, capacity for love, capacity to care and even a degree of sacrifice. It is the story of a ruthless man doing what he thinks is right to keep his home and country in one piece. Horn Book

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Nora finds bad-boy Patch dangerously attractive. She suspects him of stalking her but discovers that the truth is even more frightening. As a fallen angel, Patch can either reclaim his wings by saving Nora's life--or become human by killing her.
Patch's abrupt redemption foists the role of villain onto a previously marginal character, defusing an otherwise suspenseful denouement. Horn Book



Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
Sequel to: Hush, hush. Nora, concerned that she seems to be in danger more than the average high school student, and having decided she relies too much on her guardian angel, Patch, sets out to investigate what really happened the night her father left for Portland, Maine, and never came back.Horn Book

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Nora Grey can't remember the past five months of her life. After the initial shock of waking up in a cemetery and being told that she has been missing for weeks - with no one knowing where she was or who she was with - she tried to get her life back on track. Go to school, hang out with her best friend, Vee, and dodge mom's creepy new boyfriend. But there is this voice in the back of her head, an idea that she can almost reach out and touch. Visions of angel wings and unearthly creatures that have nothing to do with the life she knows.

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick

As the battle lines are drawn, in the last of four books in this series, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.

Intertwined by Gena Showalter
There’s nothing ordinary about Aden. He is an orphan, lives on a ranch for troubled boys, and is a “schizo.” This last description, however, can be blamed on the four souls he has living inside his head: Elijah, who can see the future; Eve, who can travel into the past; Caleb, who can possess another’s body; and Julian, the “corpse whisperer.” What starts as just another day battling zombies instantly changes when Aden meets Mary Ann, a girl with the mysterious power to quiet his inner voices. Aden joins Mary Ann’s school to be near her, but instead he falls for a teleporting vampire princess guarded by a very handsome werewolf. And that’s just the beginning—before this complicated supernatural romance is over, ghosts, demons, witches, goblins, and fairies will get in on the action, too. Burdened with untangling this knot, lines like “Without Riley, Mary Ann blocks Aden’s abilities” sometimes come off more like D&D rules than plot development. But with pages that turn this easily, fans of the genre won’t be complaining. Booklist


Unraveled by Gena Showalter
The sequel to Intertwined finds sixteen-year-old Aden in Crossroads, Oklahoma, a mecca for paranormal creatures. Named the new king of the vampires despite being human (sort of), Aden keeps busy hunting witches, defeating death curses, romancing a vampire princess, and attending high school. Breathless pacing and an over-the-top plot won't deter fans of supernatural romance eager for the next installment. Horn Book

Twisted by Gena Showalter
His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he's never felt more out of control. There's a darkness within him, something taking over; changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.  Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker - just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened. Life couldn't get any worse. Could it?