FOR BLACK GIRLS LIKE ME: We Belong In All Kinds of Stories by Mariama J. Lockington

August 20

When I was seven, my parents pulled me out of 2nd grade and decided to homeschool me and my siblings. Even though I was struggling to read and keep up in math, I liked school. I liked having a desk and my own pencil case. I liked eating lunch out of my My Little Pony […]

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Cover Reveal for KEEP IT TOGETHER, KEIKO CARTER by Debbi Michiko Florence

August 19

  Do you remember your first heartbreak? I do. I was in the third grade. I had two best friends I did everything with – hanging out at recess and lunch and one another’s homes, reading together, watching our favorite TV shows, playing with dolls and stuffed animals. Then, I found out the two of […]

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Ten Ways to Get Reluctant Adolescent Readers Reading by Sherri K. Wilcox

August 17

I teach high school English, grades 9-12, on a Disciplinary Alternative Education Placement (DAEP) campus.  Talk about a tough audience!  Many of my kids arrive at our campus with huge gaps in their education from skipping school, being suspended numerous times, or being placed in In-School Suspension repeatedly.  They are in my classroom for approximately […]

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“Don’t Exceptionalize Me” by Amy Watkins

August 16

“JASON REYNOLDS! is coming to NErDcamp! JASON REYNOLDS! is coming to NErDcamp, and I’m going!” is what I was hollering back in February when I registered for what I knew would be an amazing, teacher-soul sustaining, book laden professional development experience. For those of you who are not familiar with nErDcamp, it’s a two-day conference […]

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Fantasy world-building through the lens of environmental science by Gabrielle Byrne

August 14

As a reader, there’s nothing more satisfying that falling into a new world where you can feel the bite of the wind, smell the soup cooking over the fire, and reach out and touch everything just as the characters do. Building those worlds can be daunting, but by observing nature we can learn how, and […]

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Friendship by Mina Javaherbin

August 13

Grandma was my buddy! We hung out together, played together, and even got into trouble together. One thing we both loved was reading. Born over one hundred years ago in Iran, when fewer than 15 percent of the world population could read and write, my grandma was an avid reader. She read every day and […]

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Creating a Reading Culture in the Classroom by Ann Hagedorn

August 10

When students walk into my classroom, I want them to see that I value reading and books and that my goal is for them to do the same. There is a sign that hangs in the front of my class that states, We read every day. I have a large classroom library that spans the […]

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Ideas for Teaching Writing A Book Review by Carrie Rodusky

August 09

“Since we don’t know who young writers are going to become, when they are writing we should let them be whoever they are.” John Warner This quote may be finding its way into my upper elementary classroom this year; not only as a message for the students but also as a reminder to me, their […]

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A Message My Sixteen-year-old Self Needed to Hear: Review of Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game (2019) by Abby Wambach – Review by Mandy Stewart

August 08

U.S. Women’s Soccer. The Ecosystem. Leadership. Bring these three seemingly disparate concepts together and you have Wolfpack, the book I wish 16-year-old me had read, yet my middle-aged self is now reveling. This is a crucial book that all of your high school students (male and female) should read by Olympic Gold Medalist and U.S. […]

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The Book That Readers Built by Chris Van Dusen

August 07

Sometimes I can be oblivious. Or maybe I just can’t take a hint. Or if I was to flatter myself, maybe I overthink things. I have a new book coming out this fall that I wrote and illustrated titled If I Built a School. It’s part of the “If I Built…” series which includes If […]

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