My brother won’t stop hitting, it’s like thunder in the walls, my brother won’t stop hitting, it’s like pouring rain drops… I hold a child’s hand-written poem in my hands. The author – a long ago student from one of my poetry residencies – dated their writing March of 2005. In ten lines, this elementary […]
Tag Archives: Laura Shovan
March
07
“My Brother Won’t Stop Hitting”: When Children Write about Abuse by Laura Shovan
posted by donalynm
March
21
An Invitation to a Community Poetry Project by Laura Shovan
posted by CBethM
Dear Educators and Parents, I am putting together a community poetry project for kids. Adults can play along too. For several years, I have run an annual poetry writing project. For one month, participants receive a daily writing prompt related to a theme. (In 2014 we wrote in response to Pantone paint colors; in 2019 […]
July
23
Cover Reveal for A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
posted by CBethM
Laura: This book started with a question: What does it mean to be an American when your parent is an immigrant? It’s an identity I struggled with as a child. Was I more American and Jewish, like my father, or did I feel most at home in my mother’s British culture? First generation American kids […]
November
15
A Long Way to Go on Gun Violence by Laura Shovan
posted by CBethM
We woke up on Thursday morning to news of another mass shooting in America, this time at a California bar. It was college night. As the mom of two college students, I was shaken once again. It had only been eleven days since Jews were gunned down in their Pittsburgh synagogue. Twelve since a man […]
January
29
#BookExpedition: How a middle grade book group came together to read widely for themselves, their students, and each other.
posted by CBethM
When I spotted this Tweet from educator Mike Contuzzi, I was intrigued. Educator reading groups were popping up on Twitter, but I had no idea how they worked. I replied to Mike (who has since left #BookExpedition), wondering what I’d signed up for. Now a #BookExpedition veteran, I love the distance reading […]
October
13
Cover Reveal: Takedown by Laura Shovan
posted by donalynm
I’m thrilled to be revealing the cover of my next middle grade novel at Nerdy Book Club today! Writing this book was a big stretch for me. My first book, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, was a verse novel. Not only is Takedown written in prose, it’s a sports story. My son had been wrestling […]
