Usually the kids react somewhat. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. They asked what Thomas Jefferson meant with this line. Why he said “all men” when not everybody was treated equally then. A stir is usually felt in the room. Then we move on to the other […]
September
29
Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley – Retro Review by Ginger Healy
posted by CBethM
September
28
Verne in Bogotá by Juana Medina
posted by CBethM
As a child I devoured books. My hunger for reading drew me to the newspaper, where there would be fresh material to read every single day. My mother, however, was not a fan of my newspaper reading. I grew up in Colombia. The day to day events in my country in the 1980s were terrifying. […]
September
27
FINDING THE RIGHT BOOK: How Kevin Henkes Helped Me Keep My Name and Continue Writing by Booki Vivat
posted by CBethM
Everyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of Kevin Henkes. It’s not surprising—there are a lot of us. After all, he’s kind of a picture book legend. For me, though, it isn’t about the awards or achievements. It’s because he wrote the book Chrysanthemum. For those of you […]
September
26
THREE SIMPLE WORDS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE by Robert Hoge
posted by CBethM
I had so much surgery as a kid, my doctors had almost as much of a right as my parents to call me their creation. I was born with a tennis-ball-sized tumor in the middle of my face and mangled legs. All up, I had 24 operations by the time I was 12 – […]
September
25
A MIND IN THE GUTTER by Deborah Freedman
posted by CBethM
I’m obsessed with books. Obviously. I’m in the club, after all, and isn’t an obsession with books our only membership requirement? I do read eBooks, but like so many members of our tribe, my husband and I also have actual books in every room of our house, piles of them, as though they have […]
September
24
Top 10 Podcasts to Use in the Classroom by Liza Lauter
posted by CBethM
After 11 years of teaching, here’s what I know about 8th graders: They like a good story. They think they hate non-fiction. They love any time they can sit and listen. They (I’m sure) get sick of hearing my voice, even when it means they get to sit and listen. So whenever I can […]
September
23
Loving Lafayette by Selene Castrovilla
posted by CBethM
As an author who has spent over fifteen years researching the American Revolution in the hopes of bringing it alive for readers (particularly young ones), I’m thrilled with — and, yes, even a little jealous of — the attention and interest the hit Broadway musical Hamilton has brought my beloved subject. At the Queens Book […]
September
22
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach – Review by Oona Marie Abrams
posted by CBethM
Whoever said “don’t judge a book by its cover” has never taught high school. Even a cursory glance at covers during independent reading reveals boys who choose books based exclusively on their dearth of pinkness. The cover of We All Looked Up offers images of the four narrators, two male and two female, their backs […]
September
21
The Changelings by Christina Soontornvat – Review by Nathaniel Hardman
posted by CBethM
Witches, goblins, fairies, elves – these are fairy-tale creatures that have endured and become a staple in our fiction centuries. Partly that’s due to Disney, who kept dipping into the Grimm well (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas (jk!)), but it’s also Christmas traditions and bedtime stories and old books and any number of things. […]
September
20
The Truth behind TRUTH OR DARE by Barbara Dee
posted by CBethM
My sixth novel had the unlikeliest inspiration: a YouTube video. Remember this one, titled First Moon Party? A few years ago, it went viral. Everyone was chatting about it, charmed by its mischievous humor and its empathy for the mom and daughter going through that most sensitive time, a girl’s first period. At the time the video […]
