Debuts that Celebrate Diverse Friendships

February is a great time to celebrate friendships because friends are important people in our lives. As educators build their library collections, it’s always important to provide titles that reflect the readers. Classrooms are becoming more and more diverse and it is very likely that youth have friends in different racial and ethnic groups. In this blog article, I highlight new #OwnVoices #ChildrensBooks & #YAlit that celebrate diverse friendships by #DebutAuthors.

Looking Back Helps Us Look To The Future – spotlight on picture books that celebrate women’s historical contributions

At my son’s swim meet last month, I overheard a group of adults complaining that kids these days rely too much on spell check and calculators. I wanted to point out that spell check and calculators were created by people. And the students today, while dependent on the tools that have been invented before them, need to be innovators and make new and more powerful tools. I decided not to contribute to the discussion and instead write this blog article. March is Women’s History Month and March 8th is International Women’s Day -- a perfect time to look back and recognize the individual contributions by women that have shaped our country’s historical accomplishments. I hope these books will inspire today’s students to be innovators as well.

Classic Books Made Into New Movies

The holidays are a great time to go see a movie with family and friends. My sons and I love to watch movies that are adapted from books we’ve read first. We love to analyze and compare, critique and evaluate. And more times than not, we declare the book is better than the movie. Learn more about three classic books that have been made into new movies this holiday season.

Engage All Readers: Fill Your Library With A Variety Of Book Formats To Meet The Diverse Needs Of All Students

Fostering a love of reading is one of our goals as educators. All students benefit from having a variety of different types of texts available, especially reluctant readers. When building your collection, be sure to include a wide variety of titles in different formats to meet the diverse needs of all students.