I’ve spent the last few years learning and growing my own reading life, and although I like to think of myself as a reader of diverse books, I have a long way to go. Last year I spoke with several students about their needs and interests as readers with the purpose of rebuilding our middle […]
October
03
Reading Along the Border – New Perspectives, New Understandings by Jennifer Sniadecki
posted by CBethM
October
02
Sitting On My Brains by Kenneth Kraegel
posted by CBethM
All the good teachers I have ever had have a place in my memory, a kind of pantheon. They are people who I admire and taught me a lot, each in their own way. Here I will write about Mr. Downey, because his wise intervention with me was so concise and is easily told in […]
October
01
Performing Books by Carolyn Crimi
posted by CBethM
I reread Winnie the Pooh every year. It’s my favorite book of all time, and always, always after reading it I remember why I became a writer. I loved that book so much as a child that I wanted to live in the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh and Piglet. I had it all planned […]
September
30
When Reading is More Than Just a Story by Carrie Rodusky
posted by CBethM
Sometimes I come across a story that is so special, so important, that I almost do not even feel worthy enough to have been part of something so beautiful; like I was let in on a secret and that secret changes me. I read many books. Not only because I love to read, but […]
September
29
Learning How to Navigate Feelings by Tom Percival
posted by CBethM
Okay! So… can we all just agree on something here? Well, actually—no the sad truth is that we probably can’t. Sometimes it feels like all we can do is disagree with each other. Disagreeing is just one of those things that human beings are especially good at, and that’s a good thing. If we […]
September
28
Top Ten Books for Current Foodies and Future Chefs by Kacy Smith Paterson
posted by CBethM
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” stated French politician and gastrome Brillat-Savarin. Food keeps us alive, but it also represents our culture, values, and history. America’s food culture is expanding, and food is connecting us among our cultures, values, and histories. Whether you have a little kitchen helper […]
September
26
A Post for National Dumpling Day by Kat Zhang, author of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao
posted by CBethM
I’m so excited to be celebrating National Dumping Day with you all here at the Nerdy Book Club! Making dumplings and baozi, or bao (a type of meat-and-dough bun!) with my family was an important part of my childhood, and an experience I drew on heavily to write my upcoming picture book, Amy Wu and […]
September
25
Jackpot is a Winner by Georgia Parker
posted by CBethM
I hit the jackpot (pun intended) when Nic Stone’s latest novel landed in my mailbox. I’m a huge Nic Stone fan, and her YA realistic fiction. I adore her debut novel Dear Martin in which Stone brilliantly uses a combination of prose and an epistolary style to give voice to her protagonist, Justyce, as he […]
September
24
Catastrophes and Connections: On Anxiety by Matthew Landis
posted by CBethM
“Maybe you should stop writing this book,” my wife said. This was three years ago while I was drafting my forthcoming novel, IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS I KNOW IT (Sept 24, Dial/Penguin). I was also stockpiling water in our basement in the event that Kim Jung Un made good on […]
September
23
THE WANDERING BOY by David Almond
posted by CBethM
Why write for the young? Maybe I write for the boy I was. Maybe everything is a message back to him, to tell him: be yourself; be happy; be free. All will turn out well. And maybe in the process, maybe I’m saying that to all the young. The world is difficult and wonderful, just […]
