BETH: That’s how I remember it. In November, I was lucky enough to win an ARC of Booked. When I tweeted a pic of it and Stacey tweeted back, I knew I could either keep staring at this prized possession on my bookshelf, or I could send it her way. After I tweeted I was sharing it with Stacey, Kristen reached out next.

NICOLE: Stacey sent me a text asking me if I’d be interested in reading Booked. She said her friend was reading it and was planning to pass it around before its release. Of course I jumped at the chance!

KRISTEN: I actually first learned about the #BookJourney idea from Michele Knott. She and I have been connected on Twitter and Voxer for some time now. Last school year, Michele started a journey of Yard Sale by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Lauren Castillo. The premise of that journey was for the book to make its way to various classrooms around the country. By the time it reached my classroom, other students from other classes had written comments to Lauren on the inside of the cover. My students added their thoughts, and the book eventually reached eleven different classrooms!

JIMMY: My #BookJourney started with Stacy, too. I saw her post of Booked on Instagram and casually mentioned I’d love to read it. She told me a couple of teachers were ahead of her, but she’d happily send it to me after.

SCOTT: What I remember is that either Beth or Kristen mentioned on Twitter –top ten greatest inventions of all time — they had an ARC of Booked, and I replied I would love to read it. Moments later, someone replied that I was on the list.

SCOTT: I remember tweeting out pictures of the post-its from previous readers and pictures of my own post-its. After the playful back-and-forth continued with tweets, it got really hard to reflect and include all the members at the same time on the one tweet. One of the members — Jimmy I think– suggested we make a Google Doc. Then someone else suggested we also start a Voxer so we could reflect.

SARAH: When Jimmy was kind enough to add me to the #BookJourney Voxer group, that was my ticket into the amazing!

AMANDA: To be honest, we had no clue what we were starting or even doing. It sort of grew and took shape and then eventually became #BookJourney. When it first started, it didn’t even have a name.

KRISTEN: The #BookJourney hashtag seemed to happen organically for this particular group. The first time I used the #BookJourney hashtag was when I finished Booked. Beth used it next when she received Rookie of the Year. After that, we started using the hashtag so we could easily find our tweets.

For many of us, our professional learning network (PLN) has roots in the Nerdy Book Club. What’s your Nerdy story? How did you get involved?

BETH: Years ago, I read Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and saw her at a local conference. I read the Nerdy Book Club blog from time-to-time, but it wasn’t until I became more active on Twitter that I really began to embrace it. Last summer I attended nErDcampMI for the first time. It was amazing!

STACEY: Nerdy Book Club came into my life three summers ago. I set up a teacher Twitter account after reading Donalyn Miller’s Reading in the Wild and The Book Whisperer. Right away, I felt something click inside of me. I knew my life-long passion for books and my new career as a teacher could finally be happily married.

JIMMY: When I first got started on Twitter, the Nerdy Book Club hashtag was one of the most frequently used hashtags I saw. I discovered the website, and my life changed forever.

SCOTT: After serving as an instructional coach and building facilitator for five years, I was thrilled when the opportunity came along to teach fourth grade in the same district and building where my three children went to school. Being out of the classroom for five years, I wanted to see what everyone was reading these days because I’d focused so much of my last five years on professional learning. That’s how I got hooked up. The Nerdy Book Club awakened me as a reader and reignited a kidlit reading passion I hadn’t seen in myself for a while.

Are there any #BookJourney rules? Any norms or guidelines that have evolved over time?

AMANDA: Our rules are simple: Love books and have a strong gif game!

NICOLE: You definitely have to have a strong gif game in this group! We love to send animated gifs for a variety of situations. We also have quite a few inside jokes. You have to have a tolerance for Scott singing the bananas song when something good happens!

KRISTEN: Some people in the group are incredibly talented artists and have gotten really fancy with their envelopes. I wish I had those art skills! We’ve gone from simply mailing books to sometimes including little treats or special post-its along with the books.

AMANDA: We use Google Docs to determine who’s next for each book, and we always ask first in case someone has a backlog of books. If they’re not ready we skip and go to the next person. If we have a big decision, we take a vote or ask for everyone’s input.

SCOTT: We’ve never really specifically set up norms or rules. We simply “clicked” from the beginning and seem to really have the same foundational beliefs. We want to share amazing books and the amazing work that authors, illustrators, and publishers have been doing. We truly believe that this sharing — with each other, with social media, and with the authors, illustrators, and publishers — has a direct impact on our students and families.

STACEY: Stay humble, be kind. We work hard to develop relationships with authors and illustrators because we are genuinely interested in knowing and supporting them and their work. It helps connect our kids to more people and more stories. It always comes back to the kids. The more we develop relationships and understand books and publishing, the more positive experiences our students will have with this world.

BETH: I think the most important norm is one that all of us hold deeply in our hearts –this is a privilege. To hold the work another person has poured their souls into, to share it with each other, and then put it in the hands of young readers–it’s an honor.

What has been the most unexpected part of the #BookJourney experience?

SARAH: How quickly we became a family. #Bookjourney came into my life around the time my boyfriend deployed with the Navy. He’s been in the military for about four years so this lifestyle isn’t foreign to us. However, that doesn’t make a deployment any easier. How quickly and easily the #BookJourney crew became a daily part of my life was amazing and has really helped me through these last few months.

SCOTT: Hands down it’s been the relationships we’ve built with each other.

AMANDA: Yes. Finding lifelong friends has been the best and most unexpected part of this entire experience. My #BookJourney crew is kind, genuine, and passionate. In just a few short months, we’ve shared a lot, from inside jokes to classroom ideas.

JIMMY: The most unexpected part: I now consider this tribe of people my friends who came together around a share love for our passion of kid lit. We talk just about everyday.

STACEY: The friendships have been the best and most unexpected part. Both between members and between members and authors.