What I read in June

Spiritual Formation: Native by Kaitlin Curtice. In this book, the author shares her own discovery of her own Citizen Potawatomi Nation heritage. This was a portion of the tribe relocated from Michigan to Kansas and then on into Oklahoma in the Shawnee area, which is in the same area as my hometown. The intersection of her story with my own history helped me connect way more to what she shared, plus the recent visit to the Heritage Center helped me understand the background of the story of the Potawatomi that she shared throughout the book. 

Poverty/social justice: Church Forsaken by Jonathan Brooks. I got about halfway through this one. It was one I checked out digitally and my phone just would not format it correctly. I finally gave up! I will try to find a physical copy somewhere I finish it.

Leadership: Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, et al.  This is another one I started reading as digital but quickly determined I needed a physical copy. It is an amazing resource to learn how to have conversations with others, especially the difficult ones that seem to crop up weekly at work and with family. I highly recommend and will refer to it often.

Fiction: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This was one of the choices on my son's high school summer reading list. I realized I hadn't ever read it, and that it was time. Again, a timely choice and by an author born in Oklahoma. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Finished the whole set! And even found some parts I didn't remember reading before.

With my daughter: .The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky by Holly Schindler. This was a re-read she handed me, about a girl and her neighborhood's fight against a developer on the city council. 

One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Garcia-Williams. I like to read historical fiction with Grace, as you may have noticed. As a response to the Black Lives Matter discussions and protests, I looked through the Coretta Scott King Book Award list for some ideas of what to read with her. That reminded me of One Crazy Summer, which I had on our shelf from reading it to Isaac back in the day. Now, though, it is part of a trilogy, so I added the next two. The third will be a July finish (we are halfway through). The characters are fun and I have loved walking through their lives with them, as they traveled to Oakland to meet their mother and a group of  Black Panthers there, and then in the second one, back to their home in Brooklyn, continuing to adapt and negotiate the changing times with letters back and forth to mom. 

I think that was it. I think.

Edit: I remembered one more! After watching a seminar conversation led by Julie Lythcott-Haims, I read her book How to Raise an Adult. It was a timely read since my son is almost there. Thankfully I have a little more time with her sister to adjust as needed!