I love words and word puzzles so every morning I dedicate about half an hour (sometimes a little longer if my mind is foggy) to the NYT puzzles: Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, Strands, Letter Boxed, and the daily crossword puzzle, the Midi, and the Mini. My friend and former Scholastic colleague, Nelson and I share and compare our scores on the Midi each morning. It’s a form of morning grounding for me.

Recently a new puzzle, Crossplay, joined my app. I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but it’s similar to Scrabble.

I do not like to use the word “addicted” to describe my behavior around Crossplay because the word “addicted” has some very heavy meaning in my family. But Crossplay reels me in … game after game after game. I set the level to hard and play against the computer. Before I know it … hours have passed.

I have been getting better and better: reconnecting with words—with lots of z’s and q’s—that I have only ever seen used in puzzles. And remembering the tricks of the game. It’s not really about the most elegant words, but rather about getting your letters aligned with the maximum point opportunities. And playing defensively, blocking your opponent from being able to score high points. 

Now that I’ve figured out, this is more like “word war” than “word play,” I beat the computer most of the time. Yay!

But I am also discovering that my obsessive compulsion to keep beating a computer at Crossplay puts me in an awful mood.

There is also no joy in beating the machine. No team member to high five with, no opponent to groan at over a sophomoric word choice, no opponent to gloat over, or pat their back. It’s just me and a computer that has no idea how to respond other than to play the next word. 

I don’t know my opponent. What are they like? What do they have for lunch? What do they wear? Are they mischievous or a rule follower? I am spending so much time in a one-way emotional relationship with an algorithm.

I couldn’t figure out why—when everything in our new nonprofit, Impact Reading, is going so well, when kids, teachers, and families are telling us how much they love having our signature book choice and access program, the United States of Readers, in their schools this year, when we just got some huge grants to bring the USoR program to kids attending high Title I, underserved schools who need it—I was feeling so lousy.

I usually push through feelings and focus on the work—or the puzzle—at hand, but this malaise was dragging me down.

I think I was spending too much time playing this game with an opponent I couldn’t get to know.

From now on, I am going on a strict online puzzle diet. Gone are flights home from a family reunion in Scotland where I played game after game for the entire 8-hour flight. I am going to limit myself to play three times a day. That’s it.

And I am going to fill my time instead with reading some new and old favorite books. 

Because, as readers understand, you make real friends, forge true relationships, and gain meaningful insights about yourself and the world around you by reading books. 

And there is no shortage of books to read. I will be going back to my favorite picture books: The Story of Ferdinand, The Little Engine that Could, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, Jabari Tries, Ruby Finds a Worry. I will read new titles by Kwame Alexander, Jerry Pallotta, Pam Munoz Ryan, Aria Joy Prichard, and Lauren Tarshis. And so many others. 

I spent the weekend at the American Library Association Convention in Chicago and came home with tote bags filled with galleys of new books. I can’t wait to dive into them all, lose myself in a story, travel to all kinds of new places, and develop deep relationships with a huge group of characters.

I still love puzzles! And I know that I will be spending some time on my app each day. Even if my partner doesn’t give me any emotional feedback, I still love the challenge of beating the computer. But I am also going to make sure I don’t steal the time I have to read. 

I am in a much better mood already!

—Judy

Judy Newman, Board Chair, Impact Reading, Chief Impact Officer Emeritus, Scholastic