We are reaching the halfway point for the year and I am slightly behind where I should be to achieve my goals.  I do expect to get caught up by the end of July. This is what I have planned for June.

My June reading is a little of everything. I have set aside a work of fiction that I picked up at the local bookstore. Another book focuses on online teaching. I am hoping to advance my content market acumen with another book by Pamela Wilson. Finally, I will read about the men and women from West Point class 2002. I expect that this will be another great month for reading.

Here is what is on my reading list for June 2019:

Tiny Americans: A Novel by Devin Murphy

I picked this book up at the local bookstore, Off the Beaten Path, based on the recommendation of the owner. A local writer wrote the book. I am curious what it will be about.

Via Amazon:

From the National Bestselling author of The Boat Runner comes a poignant, luminous novel that follows one family over decades and across the world—perfect for fans of the film Boyhood.

Western New York, 1978: Jamie, Lewis, and Connor Thurber watch their parents’ destructive dance of loving, hating, and drinking. Terrance Thurber spends this year teaching his children about the natural world: they listen to the heartbeat of trees, track animal footprints, sleep under the star-filled sky. Despite these lessons, he doesn’t show them how to survive without him. And when these seasons of trying and failing to quit booze and be a better man are over, Terrance is gone.

Alone with their artist mother, Catrin, the Thurber children are left to grapple with the anger they feel for the one parent who deserted them and a growing resentment for the one who didn’t. As Catrin withdraws into her own world, Jamie throws herself into painting while her brothers smash out their rage in brutal, no-holds-barred football games with neighborhood kids. Once they can leave—Jamie for college, Lewis for the navy, and Connor for work—they don’t look back.

But Terrance does. Crossing the country, sobering up, and starting over has left him with razor-sharp regret. Terrance doesn’t know that Jamie, now an academic, inhabits an ever-shrinking circle of loneliness; that Lewis, a merchant marine, fears life on dry land; that Connor struggles to connect with the son he sees teetering on an all-too-familiar edge. He only knows that he has one last try to build a bridge, through the years, to his family.

Composed of a series of touchstone moments, Tiny Americans is a thrilling and bittersweet rendering of a family that, much like the tides, continues to come together and drift apart.

Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby and James Lang

This book was discussed on the Teaching in Higher Education podcast episode 240 and I knew that I needed to read it. I intend to write a book review for a journal based on the book. 

Via Amazon:

Find out how to apply learning science in online classes

The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers small teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom.

This book outlines practical and feasible applications of theoretical principles to help your online students learn. It includes current best practices around educational technologies, strategies to build community and collaboration, and minor changes you can make in your online teaching practice, small but impactful adjustments that result in significant learning gains.

• Explains how you can support your online students
• Helps your students find success in this non-traditional learning environment
• Covers online and blended learning
• Addresses specific challenges that online instructors face in higher education

Small Teaching Online presents research-based teaching techniques from an online instructional design expert and the bestselling author of Small Teaching.

In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point’s Class of 2002 by Bill Murphy

I have always been fascinated with the military academies and the men and women who graduate from these institutions. I have read books about the graduating classes of 1941, 1966, and the first class with females. I will be curious how this book compares.

Via Amazon:

The “inspiring and heartbreaking” story of West Point’s class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime (The Washington Post).

They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would “take the battle to the enemy,” the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.

Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.’s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers—and their families—as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.

Master Content Marketing: A Simple Strategy to Cure the Blank Page Blues and Attract a Profitable Audience by Pamela Wilson

Last month, I finished reading Pamela Wilson’s book, Master Content Strategy, and it was wonderful. Since the strategy book was the second in the series, I knew that I had to rush out and grab Master Content Marketing. 

Via Amazon:

Content marketing is how marketing happens today. You know you want to use it, but you’re unsure about where to start. You may not feel confident about your writing abilities, either. Master Content Marketing is a step-by-step guide through the content marketing process. Pamela Wilson’s 30 years of marketing experience infuse the guidance in the book.

“Scores of people profess to be content marketing experts. Who can you trust? You can trust Pamela Wilson.” – Brian Clark, CEO Rainmaker Digital and founder of Copyblogger (from the Foreword)

This book breaks down the content marketing process so you have what you need to create consistently excellent content that’s effective and fun to put together. This system works for both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) content. Read Master Content Marketing and you’ll come away with:

• Clear content marketing goals so you know what to aim for
• Step-by-step guidance for creating your content: you’ll never get stuck again!
• A content marketing strategy that builds your audience with every piece of content you create
• Content marketing examples that will show you what to aim for
• Ideas and templates for headlines, subheads, first sentences, and more
• The encouragement, resources, and guidance you need as you build your online presence with content marketing.

During her award-winning 30-year marketing career, Pamela Wilson has helped local, national, and international clients communicate their messages effectively. Her passion is teaching — and she has a gift for making complex topics simple and easy to understand. She wrote Master Content Marketing to provide step-by-step help to empower people (even non-writers) to create effective content marketing in a stress-free, fun, and repeatable way. What will happen to your online presence when you lose your fear of hitting publish? Read Master Content Marketing and find out.

That’s it for this month — I want to hear what good books YOU’VE read lately! Please share in the comments below.

If you missed previous months in 2019, you can still check them out:

January | February | March | April | May 

My Reviews for This Reading List

• Book Review: In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point’s Class of 2002
• Book Review: Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes
• Book Review: Tiny Americans: A Novel
• Book Review: Master Content Marketing: A Simple Strategy to Cure the Blank Page Blues and Attract a Profitable Audience

Keep on reading!

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Plus, when you order through my link, it helps me to continue to offer you lots of free stuff. 🙂 Thank you, in advance for your support!