I briefly mentioned in a previous post that I had created reading journals recently and was waiting for proofs to arrive.
Well, they arrived! My daughters were really excited when we received the box and couldn’t wait to open it. I thought the reading journals looked really nice on the computer when I had created them, but I was a little nervous to see how they would look in person.
It didn’t take long for us to tear open the box and see.
I think they turned out beautifully. Obviously, it would be nice if there wasn’t a large strip across the middle of each of them that says “Not for Resale”, but that will not appear on the actual copies once they are published.
My cat was also eager for the box, which he fell asleep inside of shortly after we set it on the ground for him.
For those of you who don’t know, proofs are physical copies to view before publication. It isn’t necessary for me to order proofs before publishing them, but I prefer to order them so that I can see them in person to make sure there aren’t any errors that I may have missed seeing when they were displayed on the computer.
I’m glad I did! As we were looking through the journals, one of my daughters noticed that the lines were different on one page.
Oops! I had intentionally created the journals with two different line spacing options: wide ruled lines for little readers/writers
and thin ruled lines for older kids, and I accidentally missed changing the lines on one of the pages.
I carefully previewed all of the rest of the pages making sure everything else was accurate. Although it wasn’t necessary, I did decide to change a few words I had included within a letter to the reader at the beginning of the journal.
I also decided to add an extra page at the end to show all of the options I have created for the reading journals. It took me a little bit to format that page the way I wanted it, but I finally got it.
The page on the left was my first attempt, which I didn’t like very much. The page on the right is the page that will be added to the updated reading journals.
As shown in the picture, there will be seven different cover options to choose from for the thin ruled journals and five different cover options to choose from for the thick ruled journals for a total of twelve reading journal options.
They both include covers with a castle, frogs, teddy bear holding a book, kitten under a book, and paint. The thick ruled journals have a rectangle on the cover for kids to write their names. The thin ruled journals have additional cover options that include keys (as shown on one of the proofs) and colored pencils.
These large 8.5″ x 11″ soft cover reading journals have space to record a total of 100 books. Other than the spacing options, the insides are practically the same.
The interior contents include:
- Total of 124 pages
- A page to write the name of the journal owner
- Personalized Table of Contents – journal owner writes the title of each book on the line next to its number to easily refer back to specific books
- Letter to reader that explains each section, what the different numbers of stars mean for rating books, the difference between fiction and nonfiction books with examples, and some ideas to include in the section to write additional thoughts and comments
- 100 pages to record 100 different books with space to:
- write the book title, author, and number of pages
- color in stars for a personalized book rating
- fill in a circle next to the word fiction or nonfiction
- write the date started and date ended
- write any additional thoughts or comments about the book
- Pages to record new words and definitions
- Pages to write the titles of books to read in the future
I have already updated the files, which my cats “assisted” with. See how helpful they are?
Now I am waiting for the two updated proofs I just ordered. One will have wide ruled lines with the kitten cover and the other will have thin ruled lines with the colored pencils cover.
I look forward to sharing pictures of those when they arrive. I’m one step closer to getting them published.
Do you record books you read? If so, how?
Brigitte Brulz 