Last year, I gave in to horribly un-American behavior. Confident that my citizenship would not be revoked if indulged in censorship, I picked up a thick sharpie and blackened out offensive words in A Child’s Garden of Verse on my daughter’s shelf. Other “classics” just plain aren’t on her shelf. I’m confident her childhood can […]
Category Archives: Reading Lives
May
16
Moon Shadow and the Magic of Author-Teacher-Student Collaboration by Erin Downing, Jason Lewis, and Lynn Flynn
posted by CBethM
Today’s Nerdy post is a joint essay from an author and two teachers about editorial collaboration. We wanted to share an example of how authors, teachers, and students can work together for mutual benefit. Our hope is that by writing this post, other authors and teachers might connect to create similar experiences for more student […]
May
07
Love and Books by Donalyn Miller
posted by donalynm
Yesterday, Don, Sarah, and I drove three hours to Cedar Park (near Austin) for Don’s sister and brother-in-law’s 40th wedding anniversary celebration. The trip got off to a rocky start. Sarah was grouchy and argued with me about her outfit of blue jeans, Gatsby t-shirt, and Converse, which I deemed inappropriate for the occasion. […]
April
24
Reading Aloud: Or How I Found My Voice I Thought to Have Been Lost by Paul. W. Hankins
posted by CBethM
I’m not well-known. Not famous for much. However, my bite wings, impressions, and molds placed in articulators have featured in at least two major universities in my lifetime. Professors gather around the display and wonder how a person with this kind of artifact may have survived to his middle-forties. They may also wonder why he […]
April
17
Storytime: What Matters Most Cannot be Measured by David Rockower
posted by CBethM
I remember fist-pumping and high-fiving my friends in two different arenas during elementary school: on the playground–during kickball or football–and when my teachers gathered us on the carpet to return to a favorite book. Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Hang Tough Paul Mather. These were books that […]
April
09
Desertification by Donalyn Miller
posted by donalynm
Our oldest granddaughter, Emma, is eight. She looks just like her mother did at the same age. Long limbs accessorized with a rotation of Band-Aids that move from one knee to the next. Wind-blown dark blonde hair that needs brushing. Piercing blue eyes that have already mastered the skeptical shade throw passed down through generations […]
April
03
Read in 48 Hours or Less by Rebecca Marsick
posted by CBethM
“I am a child of books. I come from a world of stories.” And so begins Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston’s picture book, A Child of Books, the story of a young girl’s journey through classic children’s books and the power of imagination that reading fosters. I wanted to dive into these pages […]
March
27
Reflections From My Reading Life by Lainie Levin
posted by CBethM
My reading teachers probably hated me. It’s not that I was a struggling reader. Quite the opposite, in fact. I intuitively learned to read at age two and never looked back. My reading life as an elementary school student, however, reveals a history of reading the wrong thing at the wrong time, or […]
March
20
The Incredible Birth of Tyrel by S.J. Dahlstrom
posted by CBethM
“Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realize it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world.” – C.S. Lewis The most […]
March
13
5 Reasons I Love My Middle Grade Book Club by Sandy Deyoe
posted by CBethM
They help me find great stuff. You wouldn’t think I’d need to find more — I work in a public library — but there is SO much out there, and our lives are busy with other distractions like working, doing laundry, taking care of family members, watching Netflix. I never know what we’re going to […]
