Conversations at The Compass

[Theresa]

How joyful for your family, Nancy!

[Booknblues]

Congratulations Nancy!

I wanted to pass these along to anyone interested in finding books from diverse authors.
Pura Belpré Award: This award is given annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best represents and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.
Diverse BookFinder: A valuable resource for finding children's books by Latino/Latina authors and illustrators.
The Core Collaborative: Features lists of Hispanic children's authors and books to celebrate.

[Sue]

Booknblues wrote: "Congratulations Nancy!

I wanted to pass these along to anyone interested in finding books from diverse authors.
Pura Belpré Award: This award is given annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illust..."

I just finished the 2026 Pura Belpre' Award winner for illustration: Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music. It was delightful! I don't read a ton of children's books, but will definitely look for these award winners when I do!

[Booknblues]

Sue wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Congratulations Nancy!

I wanted to pass these along to anyone interested in finding books from diverse authors.
Pura Belpré Award: This award is given annually to a Latino/Latin..."

I love that you found that book, I've never read it before and was thrilled to read about it.

[Holly R W]

I went to the library today and with the help of the children's librarian, took out 4 children's picture books about different countries. Each one is short. I'd like to review each one.

I don't plan to travel to each place. Where should I post the reviews?

The first one read is about Viet Nam - Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhhà Lại

[NancyJ]

Sue wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Congratulations Nancy!

I wanted to pass these along to anyone interested in finding books from diverse authors.
Pura Belpré Award: This award is given annually to a Latino/Latin..."


This sound great for Ellie!

[Theresa]

Looks like this week we have a bit of a Free Pass Support Group going - Amy, Holly R W, and myself all have spins that aren't working with what we need to be reading in whatever time we each have to read. Free Passes will be used!

JoAnne however finally got one that works for her - 3 cheers 🥳🥳🥳 and a raised glass🍸!

[Linda C]

I am currently leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina and heading SW. I can probably look for Chile's lowest parts or further down in Argentina. But both are hard to find books for. If I go past there to use Antarctica, do I need to find a point SW or can I just consider a book set in any part of Antarctica as my SW bering? I am considering reading How the Penguins Saved Veronica Would that work? How do I calculate distance? Any help on this is welcome.

[NancyJ]

I’m pretty sure the book Who Is Vera Kelly? involves a southwesterly trip by boat to escape from Buenos Aires to Chile. I recall that she saw penguins along the way. This could work under the rules of the game.

Antarctica. The research stations in Antarctica all seem to be directly south of you, or slighly SE. Livingston Island, Palmer Island, Shetland islands and Amundsen South Pole station in the middle of the continent. Those are the places that Veronica, Bernadette and the penguin researchers were stationed in various books. Wild Dark shore is set on an island to the east.

Joy might know if any of the historic ATA expeditions started or ended in a position SW of Buenos Aires.

You might consider Patagonia, or the Pompas region. There are also several books about ships that sail south around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. You could pick almost any spot along the trip as your map point. Also look for books set near Tierra del Fuego archipelago, Aguilar islet, and the Diego Ramires islands.

Joy is very familiar with the books about historical ship voyages and might have some other ideas.

[Joanne]

I need a book with penguins, too. I will check that one out.

[Joanne]

Linda C wrote: "I am currently leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina and heading SW. I can probably look for Chile's lowest parts or further down in Argentina. But both are hard to find books for. If I go past there to ..."

I have been just using the country, at times, Linda. Not sure if there will be an argument here about that, but I say go for it.

[Joy D]

Linda C wrote: "I am currently leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina and heading SW. I can probably look for Chile's lowest parts or further down in Argentina. But both are hard to find books for. If I go past there to ..."

Linda, One book I know that traveled to that specific area around the tip of South America and to Antarctica, which I'm sure would count, is Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night. If I recall correctly, there's a map that shows the course and "drift" (once they got caught in the icepack.)

Most of the books set in Antarctica (on the continent itself) will reference a location - mountains or seas or one of the Science Stations. If they don't you can always use the general continent, and the map will show somewhere in the middle.

I have asked what happens if you land in Antarctica, and you will need to get a northerly direction (N, NE, NW) for your next move (or I assume you can use a free pass). E or W would mean reading another book set in Antarctica.

Here's a link to my Antarctica shelf (but there's no guarantee I remembered to tag them all):
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Theresa]

Linda C wrote: "I am currently leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina and heading SW. I can probably look for Chile's lowest parts or further down in Argentina. But both are hard to find books for. If I go past there to ..."

I found myself exactly in the same position at one point earlier in The Compass. I also had the additional requirement that it had to be crime fiction which is my theme. In fact I was stuck in the Uruguay/Argentina area a couple of times. Here's a link to a post in my personal tracking that shows my findings - it is all crime fiction though: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I ended up not having to use them - both times I ended up in that area, the spinner gave me a direction other than South - first time I went to Shanghai and the second to Melbourne.

[Theresa]

Joanne wrote: "I need a book with penguins, too. I will check that one out."

There was a lengthy discussion and recommendations on books with Penguins earlier in this thread. I have an appointment to go to now and can't take time to look back for it and link it, but if no one has by the time I get back this evening, I'll do so for you, JoAnne.

[Linda C]

Thanks for all the recommendations.
I ended up finding a couple of memoirs by a woman named Margaret Winslow who did her geology research in Tierra del Fuego and various other areas in Patagonia and the southern Andes.
Over My Head: Journeys in Leaky Boats from the Strait of Magellan to Cape Horn and Beyond and The Cusp of Dreadfulness: Fifteen Seasons in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia
They look really interesting. I will use the first one for this direction and save the other for the next time I have a need to read something in this locale.

[Joanne]

Theresa wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I need a book with penguins, too. I will check that one out."

There was a lengthy discussion and recommendations on books with Penguins earlier in this thread. I have an appointment..."

Thanks Theresa, I found one at the library sale today The Penguin Lessons

[Theresa]

Joanne wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I need a book with penguins, too. I will check that one out."

There was a lengthy discussion and recommendations on books with Penguins earlier in this thread. I hav..."

That sounds wonderful!

[Linda C]

Joanne wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I need a book with penguins, too. I will check that one out."

There was a lengthy discussion and recommendations on books with Penguins earlier in this thread. I hav..."

The movie of Penguin Lessons is on Netflix. I just read that book and am looking forward to seeing the movie.

[Theresa]

I just got my 25th spin direction, thus starting my 3rd trip! I'm sticking to my theme of crime fiction - and this one takes me to Japan where I will finally read the last book I need to complete ATY 2025 -- prompt is translated novel from Asia. I am very fond of the translated Japanese crime fiction I've read - most from the Golden Age of Detective fiction - and I've had The Tattoo Murder Case in my ebook TBR Towers for too long.

I've been trying to get to Japan for 2 full rounds!

Will I finish a full 12 to make for 3 complete rounds? Probably not but who knows?

How's everyone else doing?

[Booknblues]

For a free ticket in October, read a book which mentions one of the following:
Pumpkins
Leaves turning colors
Apple picking
Harvest festivals
Costume ball, party or trick or treating

[NancyJ]

From the compass spins thread
Do we have any bonus topics for November?"

Elections
Military
Turkeys

[Linda C]

I finished my 12th book and am going to stop there. I posted my review on the COMPASS review thread. Do I need to post my summary there also or do we just leave it on our Tracking thread?

[NancyJ]

Linda C wrote: "I finished my 12th book and am going to stop there. I posted my review on the COMPASS review thread. Do I need to post my summary there also or do we just leave it on our Tracking thread?"

Oh no, I forgot about that. I guess I’m going to have to figure out how to set up a spread sheet on this pad to total up my miles. It’s always tiny little things that trip me up when using Microsoft products on an apple.

[Booknblues]

I had to look back at the rules to see how the rating is done :

11. Awards for completion of challenge will be:
Most creative goals.
Greatest distance traveled per 12 books.
Least distance traveled per 12 books.
Points for tag match per 12 books.
Points for the whole year of the challenge.

Since so many have completed way beyond 12 books, choose which set of 12.

You may certainly only choose one item to calculate or opt out.

[NancyJ]

Booknblues wrote: "I had to look back at the rules to see how the rating is done :

11. Awards for completion of challenge will be:
Most creative goals.
Greatest distance traveled per 12 books.
Least distance travele..."

How about goal attainment?

Should we post it on the compass review page so you know when it’s done?

[Theresa]

Booknblues wrote: "I had to look back at the rules to see how the rating is done :

Since so many have completed way beyond 12 books, choose which set of 12...."

I read this to mean it's each consecutive group of 12? I.E. I read 30 books, so I would indicate the first 12 or the second 12 - those are my options.

[I've been editing legal briefs all day which is very nit picky work especially on choice of term/phrase used. I haven't shaken that off for the day yet.]

[Booknblues]

Theresa wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I had to look back at the rules to see how the rating is done :

Since so many have completed way beyond 12 books, choose which set of 12...."

I read this to mean it's each cons..."

Yes, that is correct, that is what I should have said.

[Booknblues]

NancyJ wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I had to look back at the rules to see how the rating is done :

11. Awards for completion of challenge will be:
Most creative goals.
Greatest distance traveled per 12 books.
Lea..."

The review page would work.

[Linda C]

Completed and post final summary on COMPASS - Reviews page
and I included a link to my tracking thread, if needed

[Holly R W]

Fran, what do you want us to include in our summary for the challenge and where do you want us to post it?

[Booknblues]

Holly R W wrote: "Fran, what do you want us to include in our summary for the challenge and where do you want us to post it?"



Post in the Review thread any of the following you wish to compete in:
Most creative goals.
Greatest distance traveled per 12 books.
Least distance traveled per 12 books.
Points for tag match per 12 books.
Points for the whole year of the challenge.

Review thread-
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Theresa]

BnB - 'most creative goals' I assume refers to the theme or goals you applied to your reading - mine was reading crime fiction for each spin location - is it by 12 books as I believe you could change your theme if you wanted after the initial 12?

[Booknblues]

Theresa wrote: "BnB - 'most creative goals' I assume refers to the theme or goals you applied to your reading - mine was reading crime fiction for each spin location - is it by 12 books as I believe you could chan..."

That is correct.

[NancyJ]

I can’t even guess which of the goals would be judged as most creative. It’s just too subjective. The goals based on genre or location were more objective and measurable than others. Ellen’s goal was noticeably more challenging given the constraints of the game. Joy’s had good goal alignment with her other long-term goals.. I don’t think my goal was very creative or objective, but I focused on the criteria most important to me this year. I kept it top-of-mind, and it guided my decisions all year. I can’t say all my books were highly meaningful, but as a group, they met my goal.

I didn't want competing goals to influence my decisions each week, so I never kept a running total of miles or points. Tag matching is a strongly ingrained habit, so I might have done ok there. I have no idea how I did on miles.

Some of us also had separate quantitative goals, even though they don’t count in the game. My simple goal was 48 or never skip a week.

[Theresa]

So for the final summation, in the review thread, we each post the set of 12 The Compass reads we are submiting to one or more of these award competitions:

Most creative goals - this is the goal you set for each set of 12
Greatest distance traveled per 12 books.
Least distance traveled per 12 books.
Points for tag match per 12 books.
Points for the whole year of the challenge.

Last spin is 26 November. Since that will only be my 30th book, i can only use for all but last either the first 12 I read or the 2nd 12. But those additional 6 books will count towards the last whole year competition. I have tracked points and miles all long. Will be easy to decide!